The Kabbalah Unveiled

by S.L. MacGregor Mathers (Translator)

The Kabbalah, a mystic Hebrew doctrine, had its origins in antiquity. It is hinted that it was "taught by God Himself to a select company of angels, who formed a theosophic school in Paradise." It is true that the Kabbalah has grown in importance without interruption, embracing the Christian world also. It is defined as being the esoteric Jewish doctrine. It is called in Hebrew QBLH (Qabalah), derived from the root QBL (Qibel), meaning to receive. This appellation refers to the custom of handing down the esoteric knowledge by oral transmission. In the present work of many Hebrew or Chaldee words are used in the text. A table has been appended showing at a glance the ordinary Hebrew and Chaldee alphabet (which is common to both languages) and the Roman characters. The principal doctrines of the Kabbalah are designed to solve these 1. The nature and attributes of the Supreme Being; 2. The Cosmogony; 3. The creation of man and angels; 4. The nature of the soul; 5. The nature of angels, demons, and elementals; 6. The import of the revealed law; 7. The transcendental symbolism of numerals; 8. The peculiar mysteries contained in the Hebrew letters; 9. The equilibrium of contraries.

Genres: Occult, Religion, Philosophy, Judaism, Nonfiction, Magic, Mysticism

360 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1684

About the author

Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers, born Samuel Liddell Mathers and having allegedly added MacGregor as a claim to a Highland heritage for which there is little other evidence, was an English occultist best remembered as a founder of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.

His translations of medieval grimoires and other obscure occult texts, while often criticized for their accuracy or incompleteness, served to make this otherwise inaccessible material more widely available to English-speaking audiences, and remain among the most popular of his works.

Reviews

[Elegwen Ó Maoileóin · Rating 3 out of 5]

While highly mired in the theosophy and freemasonry that Mathers was steeped in by his mentors (Westcott and Woodmen and others), as one of the first English translations of source literature, Mathers' translation was once a must read.

Today, if you want to understand Kabbalah, read Gershom Scholem, and his successor, Moshe Idel. Mathers' interpretations will always linger in his Victorian era and his puritanical mindset; not to mention his far inferior learning to that of Scholem, Idel and others.

As a means to understand 20th century esotericism, the influential writings of the many members of Mathers' Hermetic Order (Yeats and Crowley being foremost), Mathers' interpretation is vital. For this was the Kabbalah as writers like W.B. Yeats and Aleister Crowley knew it. You can see this in Yeats poems, and Crowley even stole and published many of Mathers' works as his own.

However, a much healthier understanding of esotericism, mysticism and other fringe elements of religion and philosophy through the writings of Antoine Faivre (Access to Western Esotericism) and his brood of serious, Sorbonne educated scholars.

[Owlseyes · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the long Introduction of the book you may find a challenge for the Christian believer:

“How can I think to understand the Old Testament if I be ignorant of the construction put upon it by that nation whose sacred book it formed; and if I know not the meaning of the Old Testament, how can I expect to understand the New?”

The book surely sheds some light over the many mysteries [creation of world, man and woman, and the soul, Moses’ powers…] a careful reader of the Old Testament encounters.

That book is, however, a collection of 3 books of Zohar. Namely: (1) The Book of Concealed Mysteries (2) The Greater Holy Assembly (3) The Lesser Holy Assembly. Especially on the two last ones, you get the impression there’s almost a repetitive focus on the head [hair, beard, nose, eyes…] of the Macroposopus. But that’s Kabbalah.

Graphs and charts are awesome; they make your mind wonder.

[Katryn Lume · Rating 5 out of 5]

For a while, eastern philosophy stood in contrast to western philosophy. Indeed if you were to find the exoteric of the west they differ much from the east, but the esoteric, the alchemical, the magical, and the body of the entire Jewish Kabbalah reveals the parallels between the two worlds, bridging a gap that shows Christianity and Islam to be but corruptions of this sacred unity which was given to the whole world through the magnificent Light that is TETRAGRAMMATON.

[Mitchell Stern · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a thoroughly guide to the Kabbalah as a tradition from its original sources. That said it is of course a complex and deep tradition that even Mathers’ ample footnotes doesn’t really make clear.

[HillbillyMystic · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am writing a Lodge Edition for my book. My chapter on Cabbala is, “I just don’t have time to explain right now.” This book is going into my private Lodge Library for reference, study and meditation.

[Avid Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating but hard work. There are lots of easier books to read on the subject.

[Lysergius · Rating 3 out of 5]

Supposed to be the key to all magic, the Kabbalah is mysterious, complex and revealing.

[Paul · Rating 2 out of 5]

An interesting book....translation of the books of the Zohar. Most interesting is 'The Greater Holy Assembly', containing the archetype of our universe from the Kabbalistic perspective.