I need to learn Qabalah, whats the best book.
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Hi.
I have crowleys Liber Magick with Book 4 and ABA. Also, a Thoth deck and the book of Thoth. I have also read a few of regardies books about magick. What I must learn now is a systematic study approach to Qabalah so that I can get it all into my head. What is THE book for this study. I ask because I see many on amazon but I know that there is always one that at least bears the distinct title of being THE place to begin.
Thanks in advance.
ps. I have learned to read and write in greek, and ought to learn hebrew. Is this something covered in most modern qabalah books or should i pursue that in another resource? -
As a start, understand the Sephiroth thoroughly. For this I recommend you start with Dion Fortune's Mystical Qabalah.
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@BNNHKDSH said
"Also, I have a copy of the Sefer Yetzirah by Aryeh Kaplan. I've read it through many times. Good or no?"
An excellent book but with attributions quite different from the Hermetic Qabalah which is the foundation of our work. Just keep this in mind, and you'll be fine.
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@Jim Eshelman said
"An excellent book but with attributions quite different from the Hermetic Qabalah which is the foundation of our work. Just keep this in mind, and you'll be fine."
What a refreshing change it is to hear that compared to some of the rather vitriolic opinions I have heard just lately from the real and authentic Kabbalists. Some people seem to take offence if the first book you recommend to the beginner isn't Aryeh Kaplan's. This is usually followed by a lecture from Gersholm Scholem.
"Kabbalah - Gersholm Scholem Pages 202-203
…The many books written on the subject in the 19th and 20th centuries by various theosophists and mystics lacked any basic knowledge of the sources and they very rarely contributed to the field, while at times they even hindered the development of a historical approach. Similarly, the activities of French and English occultists contributed nothing and only served to create considerable confusion between the teachings of the Kabbalah and their own totally unrelated inventions, such as the alleged kabbalistic origin of the Tarot-cards. To this category of supreme charlatanism belong the many and widely read books of Eliphas Levi (actually Alphonse Louis Constant; 1810 – 1875), Papus (Gérard Encause; 1868 – 1916), and Frater Perdurabo (Aleister Crowley; 1875 – 1946), all of whom had an infinitesimal knowledge of Kabbalah that did not prevent them from drawing freely on their imaginations instead. The comprehensive works of A.E. Waite (The Holy Kabbalah, 1929), S. Karppe, and P. Vulliaud, on the other hand, were essentially rather confused compilations made from secondhand sources. "
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Here is an excerpt from the Foreword to my translation of the Sepher Yetzirah - it will reflect my basic thinking on the subject.
"Permit us, at this point, to make something clear: There is no more historical evidence that the Hermetic attributions are the correct ones than there is that the Hebraic ones are correct. The matter simply cannot be answered by historical examination. Our statements earlier were intended to point out, quite vividly, that the fact that a particular Qabalistic tradition is Hebraic speaks neither for its authenticity nor for its historicity. The Sepher Yetzirah version preferred by Kaplan and his rabbinical colleagues of the past was produced by committee action more than half a millennium after the Sepher Yetzirah is KNOWN to have existed. The particular literal attributions of which we speak do not, mostly, appear in the Saadia version one way or the other; and those that appear in the Long Version are mostly (but not entirely) in agreement with the Short Version. Only in a place or two does the Long Version agree with the Gra Version. If we were to rely primarily on the available historical record, and reasonable conclusions based thereon, we would have to conclude that the attributions of the 22 letters as listed in the Short Version are very likely the correct ones.
But we need not come to so final a conclusion. We need not even question the Medieval Hebrew approach within its own context. Ultimately, we need only assert that the initiated Hermetic Qabalistic tradition, of which the Temple of Thelema is a recipient, employs a set of attributions which are those of the Short Version of the Sepher Yetzirah, and which frame a self-contained system of tremendous efficacy. We need not apologize for employing what has been proven, on many interlocking levels, to work."
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From the perspective of the Western Hermetic tradition, which is the best published version of the Sefer Yetzirah? I own three different translations. Aryeh Kaplan, Knut Stenring, and W. Wynn Westcott's. The first two use attributions that differ from the Western Hermetic trad. While the Westcott version has come in for some serious criticism for it's inclusion of various errors that supposedly make the text less than useful. To make matters worse I'm not even sure what these errors* are.
*The doctrine of the Abyss?
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Hi Jim,
And when would your book be coming out? Soon, or a long time from now?
In L.V.X.,
chrys333 -
I would like to suggest Wang's Qabalistic Tarot, as it has many visuals that show patterns of the Tree of Life and the sephorith.
In L.V.X.,
chrys333 -
@Chris Hanlon said
"I would like to suggest Wang's Qabalistic Tarot, as it has many visuals that show patterns of the Tree of Life and the sephorith."
I agree. Plus his very clear explanation of how the court cards fit on the Tree is excellent.
Did Wang make a mistake with the court cards though? The Golden Dawn Book T seems to suggest that the King of an ordinary pack is the Prince. And the Knight of an ordinary pack is the King. (Crowley let the name Knight stand)
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I just finished Gareth Knight's "A Guide to Qalabalistic Symbolism" and found it quite informative.
It's going to require some reflection and many re-reads on my part, but it was definitely time well spent.
I think my next read will be Sefer Yetzirah by Kaplan; just waiting for it to arrive.
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@photogasm said
"I just finished Gareth Knight's "A Guide to Qalabalistic Symbolism" and found it quite informative."
"Quite informative" is how I would sum up Knight's book too. His constant references to Christianity and "Our Lord" got on my nerves after a while. And even though I'm straight I still found his comments on homosexuality a little shocking. Evil, perversion, and black magic?
It's easy to see that Knight graduated from the Dion Fortune school of moral occultism.
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Try Reading Lon Milo Duquette's The Chicken qabala of Rabbi Lamed Ben Clifford.
Good book for understanding Kabbalah and
A garden of pomegranantes by Israel Regardie
and The key to True Kabbalah by Franz BardonThose three are good books
and I encourage you to look into rosicrucianism for more knowledge
King Solomon
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@BNNHKDSH said
"Hi.
ps. I have learned to read and write in greek, and ought to learn hebrew. Is this something covered in most modern qabalah books or should i pursue that in another resource?"I can recommend The Chicken qabbalah of Rabbi Lamed Ben Clifford (Lon Milo DuQquette).
It may not go in deph like Mystical qabbalah (wich is realy good too).
But this makes it easy and fun to read but for hardcore qabbalist this book may be seen as blaspheme.It helps a good deal if you want to learn the hebrew letters.
"Tau looks lika a resh holding a dead dolphin by the tail."
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- Chicken Qabalah by Lon DuQuette
- 777 by Crowley
- Mystical Qabalah by Fortune
This should be a good primer set... you can really start making your 'own' Qabalah once you have assimilated the info in these books (especially Mystical Qabalah re: the Sephiroth and 777 re: everything).
I would keep in mind that Qabalah is a map, and Korzybski reminds us carefully that "the map is not the territory!" (the menu is not the meal!) A trap that many Qabalists fall into.
65 & 210,
IAO131 -
@aum418 said
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I would keep in mind that Qabalah is a map, "I have read that you can see the tree of life like a file cabinet. Each sefira is like a drawer you put stuff in that correspond to that energie, the same goes for the paths. In this way it will be easier for newbie to understand it. Well anyway I like it
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Basically what the mind seems to do with it anyways. Being a machine for comparison and all.