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Mmothra
07-20-2004, 03:11 AM
nooneknows
07-05-2004, 08:29 PM
I'd like to learn at least a smattering of Qabala, since it seems to be somewhat of a cornerstone of Western mysticism. I've seen several beginner's books on Qabala around, and I was wondering if someone could recommend a good one. Thanks.
doh
07-06-2004, 05:33 AM

I wouldn't recommend a beginner's book. I would recommend reading it in it's entirety first. You can find it in the Grimoires section of Ceremonial Magick here.

Fr. Qim
07-06-2004, 11:14 AM

Chicken Qabala by Lon Milo Duquette

Yes, it is actually called that. It is probably the most condensed, accessable and entertaining book on Qabala ever written. On a scale of 1-5 it gets 6 stars.

palindroem
07-08-2004, 06:48 AM

Yep, Fr. Qim has a winner there.

For a more pagan approach, The Witches Qabalah (Ellen C. Reed) is a good intro . . . but don't make it your only reference.

Fr.NovumOrganum
07-08-2004, 12:30 PM

i agree, but add the garden of pomegranates by regardie

Tzimtzum
07-08-2004, 12:43 PM

and I'll take up the more conservative end of the spectrum (what a shock, imagine that ;)), and recommend Innerspace by Aryeh Kaplan and The Essential Kabbalah by Daniel C. Matt. Both are excellent references on the more traditional study and practice.

Mother Mo
07-10-2004, 02:13 AM

I just read Duquette's Chicken Qabalah & it is wonderful! I was in tears from laughing so hard while trying to read it. Spiritual enlightenment through humor is a delicious experience!

Mmothra
07-20-2004, 03:23 AM
spiritoflove07-10-2004, 07:17 PM
Hiya,

Can someone please explain Kabbalah/tree of life and the spheres as simple as possible...I have tree of life but all I see is words and spheres...does it work like this...if I am having a run of good luck say in love then I am having my being at that vibration so to help me go deeper with this I use the correspondences colours numbers gods from that sphere to plug me in more?

Also if I notice someone attracts or wears a certain colour then they could be in the sphere of that vibration? So I try my best to understand it and I think it is like this that it is not all in front of me like in the picture of the spheres but in our actions and our environment...I try to simplify my knowledge of it...but can someone please enlighten me further in clear ways?

Thanks....

SpiritofLove

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Horus07-10-2004, 08:32 PM
Explain qabala as simply as possible? You are joking right :mrgreen: ? No, seriously... that's all I saw at first too... you won't even begin to understand it until you have commited a certain amount of it to memory... eventually the geometry and whatnot will begin to make sense, and everything. People spend their entire lives trying to understand The Tree of Life... I highly doubt anyone here will be able to just give it to you. Just keep reading and studying, it'll start to click (as with most complicated things you might study in magick).

It's not so much what it is applied to as what is applied to it. You can map anything just about to the tree of life.

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Albino Crow07-11-2004, 12:30 AM
It's not so much what it is applied to as what is applied to it. You can map anything just about to the tree of life.
Very perceptive, and a complex, but positive way of looking at it. It really can't be put any better.

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Nalyd2307-11-2004, 02:34 AM
Which "Kabbalah" do you want explained? There really is no simple way to explain any angle or version of Kabbalah/Qabalah, so I will recommend a couple of books that helped me in the beginning.
1. The Secret Teachings of All Ages by Manly P. Hall
2. A Practical Guide to Qabalistic Symbolism by Gareth Knight
Neither of these books are geared towards beginners but they helped me when I knew nothing of the subject.
Also a book titled The Chicken Qabalah by Lon Milo DuQuette may be useful. I have not read this book, but, by coincidence, just happened to be glancing through it earlier this evening and it seemed pretty good (almost bought it myself).:D

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spiritoflove07-11-2004, 04:05 AM
Hi,

The magickal kabbalah - is this covered in the chicked soup book...or just the kabbalah that madonna follows?

Surely you must all know what you are doing with it...? I will keep reading and studying but I get the impression it is beyond logic...something that speaks to the inner world that gets reflected to the outer world by our attuninging to the spheres...god, knows where this came from it just flowed...lol.

I have tree of life charts...so will use them...but am I right in thinking or is that feeling, lol, maybe that depends upon the spheres as well...here's me asking you all to simplify it, mabe now you all know why I am going too deep with it.

It's the actual words that get me though (tipareth, etc.) Anyway, by the end of the day I might come across something on the net that ignites that spark....

Thanks

SpiritofLove

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fiat_lux_77707-11-2004, 05:11 AM
Can someone please explain Kabbalah/tree of life and the spheres as simple as possible...
93

I'll have a go at briefly surmising this topic from the point of view of Hermetic Qabalah - it won't "explain" anything (that takes many, many years) but hopefully will give a very brief overview.

The Hermetic Qabalah is based on the Hebrew mystical system of the same name (QBL, the root word, meaning to receive or "from mouth to ear" implying an oral tradition). Otz Chiim, the Tree of Life, is a diagrammatic representation of the lore and traditions of Qabalah, a map of consciousness, creation and evolution.

The Tree consists of ten spheres (disregarding Da'ath for the moment) connected by 22 paths. Each sphere is a level of consciousness/plane of existence and reflection of an aspect of God. The tree represents the process of creation, beginning with the Ultimate Source at Kether (disregarding the veils of negative existence - too in-depth for such a simple explanation) and continuing down through various, less-subtle spheres until manifestation in Malkuth (physical Earth). It is also the ladder of lights, the ladder by which the aspirant may climb towards the Ultimate Source.

Each sphere and path has certain attributes, from the Hebrew alphabet to Archangelic names, from precious stones to scents and perfumes (see 777 or Godwins for details). In effect, the Tree of Life is a cosmic filing cabinet wherein any and everything finds it correspondence.

I'm too tired (read: inebriated) to type any more :-) Hopefully someone else will step in an expand on this which, on reflection, is not very informative for someone who is unfamiliar with this superb mystical/magickal system.

93 93/93

Todd

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Nalyd2307-11-2004, 06:13 AM
Go to this site and browse around - Tree of Life (http://mysticalkeys.com/).
There are differing Cabala/Qabalahs based on differing traditions that use them. The most popular used in Magickal practices is probably different variants of the Hermetic Qabalah. To explain it simply requires a small book, hence me giving you some recommendations. If you can't do a little work and research then you might not be cut out to grasp it's purpose and use. The Tree of Life is a model that can represent the human body as well as Universe. Best understood, not as a schematic, but as a three dimensional living model. Creative visualization and meditation are the routes to this end. You also want to have a pretty good understanding of the Tarot. Crowley's 777 and The Book of Thoth are what I use for this side of it. Frater Achad had an interesting take on it, go here - The Bride's Reception (http://www.hermetic.com/browe-archive/achad/qbl/QBL%20title%20and%20TOC.htm). Knock yourself out!:D

Note : I am spelling it different ways because there doesn't seem to be any standard way of spelling. The mystical secret in the word Qabalah may be blah.:lol:

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spiritoflove07-11-2004, 08:12 AM
Hiya,

I hope this next question does not sound a put down as it is not meant that way. I want to know if you have trouble explaining it (the tree of life) simply then how do you know you have got it right?

How do you practise and follow it if you find it complicated, which I agree it is, and also you tell me to read and read but surely this thing cannot be grasped from a logical world view it has to be from intuitive understanding.

It is alright saying this path connects to that path but how can I put it to use...?

And "God" created the universe in seven days...lol...I don't think so...seven chakras maybe...!

thanks to you all for your continuing contributions

SpiritofLove

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Horus07-11-2004, 10:12 AM
It's like explaining how to put together a car engine to someone who doesn't know anything about engines, someone who understands can put together an engine, someone who doesn't understand will just look at you like "huh?" The Tree of Life is deceptively simple once you get the basic gist of it but to explain it to you would be beyond the scope of a single post.

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Caradoc07-11-2004, 10:58 AM
Hiya,

I hope this next question does not sound a put down as it is not meant that way. I want to know if you have trouble explaining it (the tree of life) simply then how do you know you have got it right?How do you know you have anything right? You have to remember that the Tree is, amongst other things, a blueprint for evolution. This means that our understanding of the symbol and the system is also evolving continuously, none of us can really say we have it 'right' in any Ultimate sense of the word. We could only give you our current understanding of any particular, and that might be detrimental to your progress.

Another problem is that the symbol of the Tree can be related to anything... so you can have a Tree of your mental world, your emotional world, your physical body, the entirety of 'living things', the planet, the star, the Universe, etc... as well as a Tree containing all those other Trees. Where do you pick your realm of interpretation in order to attempt explaining it to someone you don't know? As this symbol can be related to any/every/no thing, we each have our own personal QBL which is specific to us alone. Of course there are basic points which relate to all Trees and they have already been pointed out in the above replies, what you do with the information now is your personal choice. You should use the symbol to find your own personal QBL, not use other people's personal QBL to interpret the symbol - of course that's just in my world, yours may be different ;)

The difficulty in explaining this all-encompassing system lies in the fact that it is all-encompassing. The symbol of the Tree is already the simple, sublime expression of QBL (YHVH is another), just as e=mc squared is the simple, sublime expression of Einstein's 'system'. Studying the letters e, m and c can lead you to a full understanding, but only if you have the capacity for the kind of intellectual leaps it requires, and the dedication to spend all the necessary time and energy following it through; no-one can simply hand you that understanding on a plate, you have to learn it for yourself. The Tree of Life is much the same, the paths lead to many places but whether you can follow them is another matter.

And "God" created the universe in seven days...lol...I don't think so...seven chakras maybe...!
Read Crowley's 'Naples Arrangement' alongside the story of creation in Genesis and all will become clear.

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Nalyd2307-11-2004, 03:02 PM
How do you practise and follow it if you find it complicated, which I agree it is, and also you tell me to read and read but surely this thing cannot be grasped from a logical world view it has to be from intuitive understanding.I agree with Horus about explaining the engine. And about reading, those books were written to convey a framework/reference for what it is we are trying to understand intuitively. Intuition is also beyond the scope of any posting. Whether your intuition "gets it right" is entirely up to what you choose to think is right. The Tree of Life and it's purpose is entirely relative to the individual applying the meaning. Caradoc gave some examples of it's applications, but far from an exhaustive attempt, and rightly so. To exhaust it's applications would be to build a map of space/time that encompasses all of space/time and hence would not be a map at all. Here is something you can do. Break the Tree down to it's simplist attributes. Don't try to understand them, just memorize them. Go out and live life for awhile and see what happens. That's as simple as I can put it.:D

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kalki07-13-2004, 02:44 AM
Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.
As above so below.

Therefore every point has its equal and opposite and these make up its "world" and therefore this world has an equal and opposite.

In total then each point is assembled with 9 units.

existence perceives all this as the tenth.

I've just confused things haven't I? IO go back to what someone has suggested, BRIEFLY? you're having a laugh. the beauty of the system is it evolves and hence is never conquerable, with tha in mind be like the fool upon its path, run happy along it knowing you'll never map fully the course, and be wise in the fact, that that is the whole point.