Kabbalah: An Introduction and Illumination for the World Today

by Charles Poncé

This detailed and readable introduction to the Kabbalah - the ancient system of Jewish mysticism - illuminates its fascinating history and points out its striking parallels with astrology, yoga, numerology, and tarot. Over 100 illustrations, many reproductions of historic book plates, diagrams, and charts bring the theories of Kabbalah vividly to life. Students of Kabbalism and anyone interested in esoteric thought will find Kabbalah an essential handbook on the background, doctrines, and applications of this rich and important mystical system.

Genres: Nonfiction, Judaism, Philosophy

297 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1973

Reviews

[Rjyan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book on Kabbalah I've read. It starts out as a pretty standard introduction to all the basic ideas of Kabbalism, but around page 120 or so it begins unfolding a running commentary on these that relates them to modern concepts in psychology, bringing a vivid dimension of coherence & practicality to his exploration. And in no way does Poncé reduce Kabbalah, or make it "merely" the result of an ancient ignorance of our science-- he clearly demonstrates the utmost respect for the ancient wisdom and shows how universal contact with mythological reality expresses itself in the language and culture of its times.
Poncé also gives the only explanation of Gematria & Notarikon, the Kabbalistic numerological techniques, which made me understand exactly why anybody would immerse themselves in these practices.
Also there's over 100 reproductions of amazing old illustrations from Kabbalistic and alchemical texts. If you ever make flyers at Kinko's you could totally get this book just for them and be repaid a thousand times over.

[Zahida Zahoor · Rating 2 out of 5]

Charles Poncé presents Kabbalah as not only a Jewish mystical system, but as part of a universal search for spiritual truth that shares deep similarities with other mystical traditions like Yoga, Buddhism, and Christian mysticism.

He explains that like Yoga and Buddhism, Kabbalah teaches that the material world is not the ultimate reality. Instead, behind the visible world lies a divine unity, and the spiritual path involves a journey back toward this source (meaning from letters, numbers, energies).

Throughout the book, Poncé compares these traditions carefully, suggesting that while Kabbalah uses Jewish symbolism, the core mystical ideas are universal.

He uses rich illustrations and diagrams to show these relationships, but the writing is academic and difficult to follow.