posted August 13, 2004 09:51 AM         

I believe you're Lindaland's leading expert on studying the Qabalah, and I was wondering if you recommend any GREAT books for a beginner like me?

I study Astrology, Tarot, Yoga, and could you believe I've never got around to studying the Qabalah? I am so silly. Can you please give me some sort of a summary on the Qabalah? What is the purpose of the Qabalah? I do know that studying is a life long journey. I know nothing about this, so excuse me if I sound seriously ignorant.

posted August 13, 2004 05:16 PM         

Star...

Hrmmm... well I'd recommend Paul Foster Case's book called The Tarot: A key to the Wisdom of the Ages. There is also a book by Jason Lotterhand (edited by Arisa Victor) called Thursday Night Tarot.

Now... you have studied Tarot, but these 2 books offer a good foundation in the Qabalah as well, insofar as the Tarot relates to QBL, but it is a good foundation.

Dion Fortune wrote a book called The Mystical Qabalah, but I'd read the other 2 first, then move into that text.

If you are really interested in learning Qabalah, I'd also recommend going to the Builder's of the Adytum website (BOTA.org, I believe) and looking into doing their correspondence program. I am studying their curriculum myself, and it starts at the begining and moves logically, sequentially and methodically through from Occult Psychology, to Tarot, to Qabalah to Alchemy. It is a serious undertaking, and takes many years of study... so you may want to try reading those 3 books first and see what you think.

Qabalah is kind of like a metaphysical blueprint of The Cosmos, Man and everything in between. It's primary icon is the Tree of Life, which is kind of a neat filing cabinet for Tarot, Astrology, Numerology and Alchemy. It's like a skeleton that all the other stuff kind of depends upon.

Check out BOTA.org and then let me know what you think. Kind of hard to spin down 1000's of years of mysticism into a short, pithy post.

http://www.bota.org

In the Light...
A

posted August 14, 2004 11:02 PM         

Thank you.

I have recommended these books to a friend who found them to be rather sleep inducing, but she isn't necessarily interested in Tarot or Qabalah.

We aim to please!

In the Light...
A

posted August 15, 2004 12:01 AM         

I will buy these books, as soon as I can afford them.

My parents don't pay for any of my extra curricular activities or hobbies.

posted August 16, 2004 04:57 AM         

I will give you some basic background on the Kabbalah.

First of all it is a part of Judaism - its mystical side. It is like in Islam you have for example the Sufism...

Second of all - not until a couple of decades ago - the Kabbalah was forbidden to be studied (in the orthodox circles) by someone single under the age of 40. It was possible only for a man who observes the G-d's commandements and has already some background to move in to the more mystical side. The reason is that you learn a lot of quite interesting - but for someone maybe too heavy - stuff...And if he is not ready for it from the spiritual point of view - than he might not be strong enough to handle it.

So take the above mentioned into consideration,
PisceP.

posted August 19, 2004 12:21 PM         

Star...

Try Amazon.com. They often offer used or new copies of books for much less than the cover price if you click on the appropriate link. Some vendors are sick of having them on their shelves unsold, and reduce the price to move em along.

Blessings...
A

posted August 19, 2004 01:59 PM         

there is also a lot of good knowledge on the following website:
www.aish.com/spirituality/kabbala101

They start from A to Z,

I think it is quite a good source.

posted September 08, 2004 03:10 PM         

no, why should I?

posted September 20, 2004 11:04 AM         

so are you trying to say that what I have written about Kabbalah Sarah McDonald has come to as her final conclusion in her book?