Looking for some advice and input

[Immrama]

I was looking around the library and saw this book.. The Witches Qabala and picked it up for kicks and giggles. So far I've found it rather interresting.. granted I'm only a few chapters into it. Does anyone else know anything about qabala and what do you think of it? Does anyone incorporate it into their own beliefs? thanks!

[semi]

I've studied it a little but I don't find much use for it. Too time intensive for me, I like to just do things, not contemplate the possible esoteric connections between various concepts. Too academic. I like things raw and primal. But it is very interesting.

[grnpuffer]

It's Ellen Cannon Reed's interpretation and should be taken as that. I didn't find it helpful (in fact it departs significantly from traditional interpretations).
The Qabalah is a powerhouse of information- from everything about subtle energies, the logic of ritual craft, esoteric knowledge, initiations, etc...... and most importantly it is a road map that describes human spiritual evolution. It's the closest thing that we have to a system of mysticism here in the west (e.g., it is the foundation of the western mysteries tradition:example: www.bota.org) .

the true qabalah isn't something you get out of a book- (tho some folks think it's nothing but an intellectual exercise and a way to be a mental snob). The true praxis is the direct participation and experience of your own evolution.

[Theres]

i'm very into the Hermetic Qabala (as opposed to the Rabbinical Kabbalah), but i don't particularly like this book.
if you're interested in this, i would suggest reading Robert Wang's The Qabalistic Tarot, or Dion Fortune's The Mystical Qabalah.
Lon DuQutte's book on the Thoth Tarot is good too, as is Crowley's The Book of Thoth itself.

also check out the related books by Regardie, Papus and Case.

[semi]

Yeah, what grnpuffer said is what I meant. I think. Direct participation and experience are what I find useful to facilitating growth. When I studied cabala I was in my head too much, just thought about things. And that's okay. But its in the doing of things, applying knowledge like that gained from cabala, that's more important. To me anyway. So, uh, I'm going back to Just Silly now.

[Seren_]

I had a quick look at the Witches Qabalah a while ago...what grnpuffer said. You can get Dion Fortune's Mystical Qabalah off the net if you search, but reading her novels would help as well; it forms the basis of her novels, which explain the practical applications of the Qabalah in magic, basically.

I was interested in the subject for a while, but it all seemed so complicated...as a beginner I'd recommend C J Hopking's The Practical Kabbalah Guidebook as a starting point, or Israel Regardie, the Cicero's and Dion Fortune. Crowley, Mathers and all the other sources like Cornelius Agrippa are freely available on the net...