I only had a cursory understanding of this from my studies of Tarot, but recently got a book on it. I'm finding it very interesting, although there seems to be a lot of controversary around "real Kabbalah" vs. "Kabbalah for the masses".

Anyone else look into this or ever read anything on it? Any thought on the Kabbalah Centre that all the stars seem attracted to? I went to the Kabbalah Centre in Los Angeles (I didn't see Madonna, Britney or Demi). It was a beautiful place, but I couldn't get past the obvious "money" feeling there.

Yes, its a "money religion" like Scientology

I think Kabbalah and The Zohar are worth studying if you are able and interested. Many occult practices are based on the teachings and the symbology of Kabbalah. But, I agree with you about the Kabbalism sold by the Bergs at the Kabbalah Centre. It's about the money.

Yes, you are correct. It is possible to study it without getting involved with the Bergs at the Kabbalah center

The Kabbalah is a decent map of existence. No more, and no less. 40+ years of study just scratches the surface of it though. Of course, no one ever said being enlightened was easy.

From what I have seen, it is a perspective. If it resonates with you, rock it.

There is extreme controversy surrounding the "Kabbalah".

I wouldn't even begin to try to sort it out.

I first ran into it through the Christopher Penczak books that you brought to my attention. In fact, I haven't even read the Book that Christopher actually wrote on the Kabbalah. I also noticed that it is also referred to as the "Tree of Life" although that term also refers to other traditions can concepts too.

In any case, I bought a book called "The Miracle Tree: Demystifying the Qabalah" by R. J. Stewart. He speaks to the historical issues claiming that the Qabalah (or Kabbalah) has a lot of history. Many people claim that this is a tradition that originated with the Jews and there is also a very strong Christian version of it. It has also been associated with the Egyptians and many other cultures.

Even the Ancient Indians of India had a version of it.

Stewarts book examines the Celtic Version of it, which is clearly built from the Christian version. I think it was the Celts who added the Tarot aspect, although I'm not sure about that.

Clearly the Tarot came in later. The earliest versions had different names for the pathways. It just turned out that their are exactly 22 paths which happen to line up with the Major Arcana of Tarot. Although it's my guess that this is no accident. The Tarot was probably designed around the Kabbalah, and then eventually placed back onto it. But that's just my guess.

In any case, from searching the web and history it appears that the Kabbalah, or Qabalah, or "Tree of Life:", or sometimes it's even referred to as the Bilé (pronounced Bee-lay), although that term also refers to other concepts of a tree of life too.

The whole thing has clearly been used by many different cultures.

I prefer to use the term Qabalah simply because, for me, it's just a prettier spelling.

The other thing to is that I've seen so many versions of the Qabalah that I've decided to design my own. Clearly there is no single correct version as much as some people would like to claim.

So I created my own version and claim that it's 'correct' for me.

This is a schematic of my version:



However, whilst I was meditating on this I had a journey where I had a great vision of this tree being reflected on a pool of water. The top tree representing the upperworld, and the bottom tree representing the underworld

so I reflected this tree around the body temple and came up with the following double-Qabalah



Now I would like to paint an actual tree where the limbs represent the upper tree and the roots represent the lower tree.

Of course the actual act of painting the tree will itself be a meditation into the Qabalah.

I'm in perfect agreement with PoisonSting.

In fact, from what I've read about the Qabalah (or Kabbalah), it is indeed a meditative tool for introspection (or possibly divination or a communicqué from a spiritual point of view).

Therfore it should be used in a way that best suits the user. And if you have your own insights and visions of how it should be you should incorporate those, IMHO.

However, clearly there will always be fundamentalists who will present the Kabbalah as a very rigid concept that must be followed in a very strict religious way. Those kinds of oppressive religious views will always emerge and be the opinion of someone.

This is especially true of people who view our creator as a jealous dictator who becomes easily peeved if we don't succumb to authority.

So there are people who will hold that view concerning a Kabbalah.

Clearly that's not my view at all. I say take what fits and chuck the rest.

I've modified my Qabalah quite extensively, yet I feel that at the same time the underlying introspective qualities have been preserved.

I like "Qabalah" better than "Kabbalah" too.

Unfortunately, I've never really understood the Qaballah. It seems like a very technical way of approaching spirituality, and I've never had the attention span to sit still and understand technical stuff. But I do think that it is a good tool/philosophy/ guideline for some people, and I'm not going to knock it if someone can follow it effectively. Who am I to say what works best for everyone?

From what I've read about it there are so many different versions of it and so many different ways that it can be approached that it's basically impossible to even say what it is with any precise clarity.

For example, I read once site where the Kabbalah is being put out as a very serious and demanding precise formalism that 'must be followed' and practice in a precise way. This is a direct result of religions that tend to be controlling and demand that some personified Godhead has precise expectations about what humans must do.

However, at the far end of that rainbow (where I'm actually at), the Qabalah (and I even spell it differently over here ), represents a tool for spiritual introspection. The idea is not that anything need to be firmly adhered to, but rather the idea is that it should be used intuitive as a person is naturally drawn to it for the purpose of discovering wisdom and enlightenment with respect to actual situations in their personal life's path.

So clearly it can be seen as something that is extremely dogmatic and almost religiously oppressive, or it can be seen as a wonderful tool of enlightenment for a free spirit who is simply seeking widsom and potentially divine guidance or divination.

What it turns out to be will depend on how a person views it (or on how it has been presented to them).

I would actually like to write a book about it.

(The problem with that is that I would like to write a book on just about everything)

But you might think, "Why would this guy think he could write a book on the this?"

Well, my book would start out with the proclaimation that everything I offer is merely a personal view as food for thought. It's not presented as rigid dogma, nor would it be persented as any kind of authority. It's merely one's person's view of how this system can be useful for introspection (for whatever it's worth to the reader).

In any case, you said that it appears to be quite complext, and I agree it is!

This is why I would recommend first becoming aware of something like the story of Tarot and the Journey of the Fool. And that kind of introspection first.

The journey of the Fool goes through the Major Arcana starting with the FOOL and going to the WORLD in a specfic order. Of course, that's just the underlying story.

In fact here's one person's exlanation of the Journey of the Fool:

http://www.learntarot.com/journey.htm

As you see this explains the Major Arcana of Tarot as linear story.

But if you are familiar with Tarot and dealing spreads and taking "readings" from those spreads, then it should be clear that as a deck of cards this permist the "Linear Story" to be examined from many different combinations of perspectives.

If you actually wrote out all the possible combinations of cards it would appear to be formidably complex.

But typically people don't view Tarot as being formidably complex.

That's because they don't see everything drawn out at the same time.

Well, with the Qabalah (or Kabbalah), it's just that everything is already contained within the tree diagram all at once.

So to understand it you need to just look at small pieces of it at a time and see how things are connected up. They usually call that, "Meditation on Triads". The reason they call them "Triads" is because every circle that represents a node has three paths connecting it. And if you take any three nodes you can always form a triangle between them by only considering the pathways that connect these three nodes.

So I would recommend fully understanding Tarot before you move on to the Qabalah. Then the Qabalah will make much more sense. I also might add that the Qabahah doesn't truly add anymore information, all it does is provide yet another perspective for introspection and/or divination.

Some people may find it useful, others may not. I'm not even attempting to suggest that it would be a 'step up' or anything like that. However, having said that, I think it does offer yet another persepective and surely that could always be potentially helpful.

I've seen things in the Qabalah that I would have never thought about otherwise. So from that perspective I've found it useful.

I'm starting a "web book" called "The Labyrinth Way. It's similar to the Journey of the Fool in Tarot, except I've added the planet Gods and the Zodiac (which are also present in the Qabalah I might add).

In fact, I'm imagine that part of my idea for this Labyrinth Way was probably partly sparked by my knowledge and experience with the Qabalah.

Anywhere, here's a link to my "Labyrinth Way" Web book.

It's not finished by far, and I may even go back and re-write what I've already written.

I've only completed it down to the High Priestess. I haven't even reach the "real world" yet which doesn't truly start until the Empress.

Anyway here's the link to what I've got so far. I almost hate to post this link because this kind of feels like an artist revealing an unfinished painting.

But I would love to hear any feedback on this truly.

http://users.csonline.net/designer/laby/labyway.htm

There's actually an introduction page before you even get here, but I haven't uploaded that intro page yet. So this just jumps you right into the Labyrinth Garden Path.

Please let me know what you think (I ask this of anyone who reads this thread and checks out my Labyrinth Way site)

Should I keep writing, or just trash it?

Abra, I only got through the first three for now, but I think you should keep going. Good stuff you got there.

I'll be going back later to read more.

Well just so you know, what you are reading is basically a very first draft that could almost be thought of as 'brainstorming'.

What I was thinking was to just go through the whole thing first, and then come back and start the 're-write' to clean it up.

I wish I had help with this. The only problem with having other writers contribute is that they will most likely want to put in their own interpretations which might not be in harmony with the path as I'm trying to present it.

It's not that I'm trying to dictate what the path has to be. It's just that I'd like to keep it in harmony with a continous story for the sake of continuity.

Maybe what I should do is write up a bullet list of what concepts I'm trying to convey for each point along the path and then see if I can get contributers who are willing to write about those concepts.

I would even be willing to give this up to a 'community' effor. It would be more likely to get finished that way.

But at the same time I would like to try to keep it coherent and as abstract as possible without it becoming too dogmatic or focused toward any particular agenda.

And I guess, I personally have some agenda for it already, as you'll notice when you read the Magician page. I'm introducing the "Quill" to replace the sword, and breaking fire up onto a Wand and a Cauldron.

So those concepts are unique to my point of view I guess, but I feel they are important to at least get them out there as food for thought.

My bullet list would look something like the following:

Sun - Spirit creates from pure potentiality
Fool - We are created in the imagine of Spirit
Capricorn - Our purpose is to create heaven on earth
Magician - The tools of the human condition
Aquarius - Relationships are all-important
Priestess - Introspection and/or Spirituality is central to a good life
Mercury - All about forms of communication
Empress - Motherly nurturing aspects of humanity
Pisces - Making clear our goals in life (the power of Intent)
Emperor - How to structure plans to achieve goals
Aries - Learning spontaneity and Inhibition
Hierophant - Learning the difference between Inhibition and irresponsiblity
Venus - Understanding love
Lovers - Finding and partaking in a loving relationship
Tarus - Learning about loyalty and dedication
Chariot - How to take the reigns in life
Earth - Using resources wisely and respecting the environment
Gemini - Using creativity and communication wisely
Strength - Learning patience and perserverence
Moon Goddess - Getting in touch with intuition
Hermit - Self reflection
Cancer - Nurturing
Mars - Purity and forgiveness
Leo - A whole new persepctive on the ego
Wheel of Fortune - Opportunity is always knocking!
Jupiter - Always act for the good of the whole
Virgo - Compassion for others
Justice - Seeing things from all points of view
Libra - Living in harmony as an integral part of humanity
The Hanged Fae - Total surrender
Death - The Death of the ego
Scorpio - Spiritual alchemy and transformation
Temperance - Filling the void of the ego with compassion
The Horned One - Recognizing temptations
The Tower - What happens if fail to recognize temptations
Uranus - Awakened Consciousness
Star - Hope
Moon - Bewilderment
Sagittarius - Spiritual Awakening
Sun - Enlightenment
Neptune - Bodhisattva attitude
Judgment - Rebirth of the soul
World - Fulfillment/Achievement
Pluto - Spiritual Transformation

Pretty long path huh?

This needs to be a community project.

Any volunteer writers?

I'm horrible about finishing things on my own.

I'm great at starting them though.

It doesn't need to be in order. Just pick a sign and write a description and I'll put it up on the site in the proper slot.

All I ask is to keep it positive, and as generic as possible. Read through at least to the High Priestess first to see the spirit that I'm attempting to convey.

And if you have any suggestions for what I've already written I'm open to changing things up a bit.

But I'd really like to keep the Quill and the Cauldron, and try to put the sword into retirement as much as possible.

I'm not trying to preserve old-fashioned ways. Instead I'm trying to promote the most positive aspects that I can possibly promote.

It's just intended as food for thought to give people and idea of what a 'path' of introspection can be like. It's not intended to be dogma carved in stone.

Thank you for reading. And all feedback is welcome.

Well, it is a monumental task you have set out for yourself. The problem with it being a group project is that it's too personal. Of course, as soon as I wrote that last sentence I also thought "no, it's completely universal". Can something be compeletely personal and universal at the same time? Everyone experiencing the same thing in a completely different way? Now, I'm thinking too hard.

I think you're right on all three counts.

It's personal because it's all about the human saga and we we are human. So it's very personal.

Yet it is universal for all humans because all humans are persons.

And it's definitely an ambitious project. That's why I'm already trying to give it away.

A wonderful and fascinating work you have created James. May you complete this project for many to enjoy in the future.