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

[HillbillyMystic · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an absolute banger. The very best book I have read outside of Occidental Lodges in the public domain. Waite stole my heart immediately because he is a smarmy dick about most other authors who have not read the complete Zohar and loves to call them out by name. This fellah has the most recognizable extant Sacred Tarot deck, so I expected him to be rather dry like many of his contemporaries, but he’s fabulous and often funny while being an asshole. For the uninitiated, the Sacred Tarot are 78 encyclopedias written in the language of symbol, 78 enigma, 78 spiritual exercises cleverly disguised in vice like divination and gambling to protect the wisdom for those still willing to learn the Jedi Way. The Holy Cabbalah, as Christians spell it or Qabbalah for Muslims, has to do with the nine-chambered soul of God and Man, Angels, Demons, Magic, Heaven, Hell and whole bunch of other Jedi Business civilians no longer believe in and definitely do not want to spend their time in profound study, prayer and meditation to learn. God’s currency is time, attention and Care. God, His Angels and the Fallen Ones* can barely compete in the modern world with Facebook, X, World Cups, Fantasy Football, NFL, Netflix, Amazon and all the other base consciousness distractions fed to the dumbed-down, Pfizer compliant masses—or as my son calls it, “Goyslop.” To be fair though, when he’s mad at me he calls me “Benjamin” after the genocidal psychopath, Netanyahu. Respect for that level of humor. Speaking of dicks, this reminds me of a country song I just wrote for my new album titled ‘Democrats in Subarus’: “Nukes by November.” If the whole world was not in a constant alpha state of highly suggestible hypnosis, more folks would be getting right with God and His angels, stat. I have to think that despite my vigorous life of sin, Mercurius Trismegistus, Sweet Sophia and Jesus Christ all took a shine to me anyway, just for trying in an era when this nefarious, invidious, digital layer has been added to Plato’s Cave.
*The Epstein Class, Mossad, Mi6, CIA, Hollywood and most “stars” that civilians worship are a few notable exceptions who do give vast amounts of God Currency to the Fallen Ones.

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

Good for Christian Kabbalah.