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Kabbalah for the Modern World
A classic by the author of Keys to the Kingdom , this book was the first to present traditional Kabbalah from a scientific orientation―showing how it clearly relates to Quantum Theory, Relativity and the Big Bang. This guide to Kabbalah also explores Kabbalist principles, in addition to important rites, ritual, and magic. Also included are tables of the Hebrew alphabet, Divine names, planetary hours, correspondences related to the Tree of Life, and more!
288 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1974
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About the author
Migene González-Wippler
26 books65 followersMigene González-Wippler es una autora puertorriqueña de temas como la Wicca y una líder experta en la religión afro-caribeña de la santería. González-Wippler nació en Puerto Rico y tiene grados de psicología y antropología de la Universidad de Puerto Rico y de la Universidad de Columbia.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 15, 2014
Kabbalah for the Modern World provides a bird's eye view of the history and practice of Kabbalah, maps the Tree of Life that is central to the understanding of Kabbalah, and attempts to weave connections between Kabbalah and modern science, Jungian psychology, sex, and the structure of the mind. There is also a table of correspondences between the ten sephirot of the Tree of Life and the names of gods and goddesses from other systems, such as the Greek, Egyptian, or Roman systems. There is much here that is certainly worthy of your time to read, provided that you have an interest in Kabbalah.
This book was probably not intended to give anyone a specific road map for the mystic's journey through the sephirot or to outline how to perform Kabbalistic magick, so you should be forewarned that you will not get said specifics here. What you will get is tip of the iceberg knowledge for every topic described above, as well, Gonzalez-Wippler provides an introduction to the Hebrew alphabet, which is an incredible, multifaceted system in of itself.
As another reviewer astutely mentioned, this is “not the Hollywood soda-pop” Kabbalah. Gonzalez-Wippler stresses the importance more than once in the book about how very important it is for the practitioner to actually partake in the genuine study of the Torah (the first five books of the Bible) and be committed for life to follow all 613 mitzvot (as many as you can these days), in order to be pure of heart and mind... if you don't follow Kabbalah at this basic level- the tenets of Judaism- Gonzalez-Wippler states that you cannot reasonably expect to make any lasting impact in your life with Kabbalah.
Following is a list of my concerns with this book:
- I think Gonzalez-Wippler was a bit ambitious in trying to link Kabbalah to all of the topics listed in the first paragraph. Though the information she provided on these tangential topics was some of the most interesting (in my opinion) information in the book, the connections she made with each topic was tenuous at best.
- I'm puzzled that this book has gone through at least three editions now and is still so very disorganized in places. I had to re-read many passages multiple times- not because the material was foreign to me (which it was)- but because Gonzalez-Wippler played leap frog all over the place with what she was trying to say.
- Some passages were highly theoretical- to the point of making no sense- while other passages were so vague that they didn't make sense, either. Additionally, there was a bit of repetition in the book that began to irritate me, because it made me think that she didn't trust me to recall something from 40 or 140 pages ago.
- The thing that bothered me the most was that she was adamant that one should only use Kabbalistic magick for pure uses (“white magick”) and yet, she admits to having once used Kabbalistic magick to bend the will of someone else. She talks of receiving a postcard from a remote place “from the person I wanted to influence and who still doesn't know what made him leave his native Norway to go by boat to the Indian Ocean.”
Notwithstanding the above, I intend to keep my copy of this book until I'm able to digest the wealth of information within it.
This book was probably not intended to give anyone a specific road map for the mystic's journey through the sephirot or to outline how to perform Kabbalistic magick, so you should be forewarned that you will not get said specifics here. What you will get is tip of the iceberg knowledge for every topic described above, as well, Gonzalez-Wippler provides an introduction to the Hebrew alphabet, which is an incredible, multifaceted system in of itself.
As another reviewer astutely mentioned, this is “not the Hollywood soda-pop” Kabbalah. Gonzalez-Wippler stresses the importance more than once in the book about how very important it is for the practitioner to actually partake in the genuine study of the Torah (the first five books of the Bible) and be committed for life to follow all 613 mitzvot (as many as you can these days), in order to be pure of heart and mind... if you don't follow Kabbalah at this basic level- the tenets of Judaism- Gonzalez-Wippler states that you cannot reasonably expect to make any lasting impact in your life with Kabbalah.
Following is a list of my concerns with this book:
- I think Gonzalez-Wippler was a bit ambitious in trying to link Kabbalah to all of the topics listed in the first paragraph. Though the information she provided on these tangential topics was some of the most interesting (in my opinion) information in the book, the connections she made with each topic was tenuous at best.
- I'm puzzled that this book has gone through at least three editions now and is still so very disorganized in places. I had to re-read many passages multiple times- not because the material was foreign to me (which it was)- but because Gonzalez-Wippler played leap frog all over the place with what she was trying to say.
- Some passages were highly theoretical- to the point of making no sense- while other passages were so vague that they didn't make sense, either. Additionally, there was a bit of repetition in the book that began to irritate me, because it made me think that she didn't trust me to recall something from 40 or 140 pages ago.
- The thing that bothered me the most was that she was adamant that one should only use Kabbalistic magick for pure uses (“white magick”) and yet, she admits to having once used Kabbalistic magick to bend the will of someone else. She talks of receiving a postcard from a remote place “from the person I wanted to influence and who still doesn't know what made him leave his native Norway to go by boat to the Indian Ocean.”
Notwithstanding the above, I intend to keep my copy of this book until I'm able to digest the wealth of information within it.
February 27, 2008
This is the real stuff...not the Hollywood soda-pop Kaballah.
July 23, 2019
It s got around 200 pages. Up to 133th page, it was boring or maybe not interesting enough. However after the 133th, she was explaining Kabbalistic aspects of the New testament, that got me into focused on more. I liked the latter part. So 3 out of 5 would be enough. Also bear in mind some parts are just made up by her. For ex. There s no such a Hebrew letter Yav. Must be Vav anyway. A lot misspellings are also there
July 10, 2022
So many Glaring inaccuracies. Jewish Kabbalah and Western Qabalah/Cabala/Qabala Are Definitely not the Same thing . This books reads as though The Author Has no Understanding of this Topic and it seems to be a Hodgepodge of different schools of thought . Not a Good Place to Start . If you want to study Kabbalah find a Rabbi or Rebbe who will teach you !
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews