The Holy Kabbalah: A Mystical Interpretation of the Scriptures

by Arthur Edward Waite, Kenneth Rexroth (Introduction)

Kabbalah is the "occult" and "secret" tradition in Judaism. One of the most ancient wisdoms, its origins go far back into the distant past.The Holy Kabbalah is a fascinating introduction to this world of mystery. Arthur Edward Waite was one of the few persons in the modern era to write a sensible and penetrating study of Kabbalah. Contemporary of such occultists as Eliphas Levi, Mme. Blavatsky, and Annie Besant, Waite unraveled the history and traditions of what generations have whispered about as Hebrew witchcraft. The very term Kabbalah was enough to strike fear into the heart of an orthodox believer.

In his introduction Kenneth Rexroth writes: "Kabbalism is the great poem of Judaism, a tree of symbolic jewels showing forth the doctrine of the universe as the vesture of Deity, of the community as the embodiment of Deity, and of love as the acting of God in man. Nobody knew this better than A. E. Waite."

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

Paperback

First published January 1, 1929

About the author

Arthur Edward Waite was a scholarly mystic who wrote extensively on occult and esoteric matters, and was the co-creator of the Rider-Waite Tarot deck. As his biographer, R.A. Gilbert described him, "Waite's name has survived because he was the first to attempt a systematic study of the history of western occultism viewed as a spiritual tradition rather than as aspects of proto-science or as the pathology of religion."

Reviews

[JA · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another brilliant title by AE Waite. What we have here is an expose on Kabbalah, mainly the Zohar, stripped of all the metaphysical hocus-pocus and political posturing present in most Qabalah, both Hermetic and Hebrew. Interestingly, he applies almost an alchemical approach to the Kabbalah, removing the unnecessary and allowing the reader to gently extract the gold.

[Meredith · Rating 3 out of 5]

I use this more as a reference book. A.E. Waite uses turgid prose, so it's as much as I can do to get through the research.

[Hamze · Rating 1 out of 5]

Horrible book, it is mess, it was really exhausting and boring. I wanted to learn more a out the subject but the way this book is put together and scripted is not that good at all

[Jean-claude Klein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good for Christian Kabbalah.