Mel Alexenberg is working on a new book titled “Photograph God: Kabbalah Through a Creative Lens.” and he is documenting the process and the book at the Photograph God blog. Here is how the top of his blog looks like that reveals the links to be followed there:

Edward Hoffman’s intentions with his box containing “The Kabbalah Deck: Pathway to the Soul” were evinced on page 4 of 160 page booklet:

“I’ve increasingly felt the need for an entirely new resource – one that would make the Kabbalah more dynamically personal and interactive. This format would certainly not replace the classic study of the Kabbalah, but significantly complement it by providing a more experiential pathway into the proverbial “garden” of Jewish mystical guidance. To this end, I’ve created the Kabbalah Deck. It’s been designed for two specific and unrelated purposes. The first is for contemplation and sacred study, and the second is for divination.”

As you can conclude from the above the Deck consists of cards, 35 by number and a booklet in a nice blue box. The back of the cards al gold colored, with black print on them using Middle eastern motifs, a Magen David (six pointed star) with an eye at its center and two fish at the shorter end of the cards. The fronts of the cards fall into one of three categories, but all of them are mostly white with minimal golden prints on them. The cards corresponding to the 22 letters of the Hebrew Alephbet have the letter’s English version on top in all lower case, the Hebrew version as you’d see them in the Torah scroll with their crowns in the center of the card. At the bottom of these and the three “Jolly joker” cards there is a line of barely visible six pointed stars as watermarks. The function of the three cards that simply have hamsa on them is to be used as any letter the user wants them to be, when spelling out something. This might be necessary if a word has a specific letter more than once in it. There are also ten cards, for each of the sephirot in the Tree of life. Each of these cards have the whole traditional chart of the Tree with one highlighted. Below the tree you will find the Hebrew and English name of the specific sephira.

The accompanying booklet has three major and several minor sections. After the acknowledgements and the introduction you find a seven page mini-essay on the wisdom of the Hebrew alephbet. About half of this is devoted to explaining how Abraham Abulafia’s repurposed it, but it also covers such roots of the topic as Ezra the Scribe, the Sefer Yetzirah and the Zohar. Then each of the letters get a two page treatment with 4-5 paragraphs each. These paragraphs explain the significance of the letter in Kabbalah. It is a great overview of the topic, although it never sites its sources fully. Often it talks about Kabbalah in general and sometimes he mentions that this particular explanation or that comes from the Zohar or from a Hassidic master. This kind of writing is in alignment with the intention I quoted above, but is not with my scientific or religious interest as both of these would want me to follow the sources and find out the original writings Hoffman incorporated. Nevertheless the content is truly remarkable. The last paragraph of each of these mini-chapters is about the purpose and method on how to meditate on that particular letter.

The second major section is about the Ten Sephirot. It follows the same patter of an opening 5-page mini-essay on their history and then two page of each of them. The last major section is titled “exercises for meditation and divination.” None of the twenty five exercises is longer than 14 lines. Some of them fall along the lines of team, family or trust building, but most of them are for introspection. As Hoffman is a clinical psychologist I am sure he harvested his knowledge of that field to combine it with Jewish mysticism to create something new. The exercises often include shuffling the cards and picking one. Then the deeper meaning of that card is the answer for the question you were supposed to focus on. It presumes of course that you are fully familiar with the meanings of the cards, the letters and the sephirot. The booklet will give you a good start to acquire the knowledge but it will not fulfill all the needs.

Hoffman’s book is full tiny nuggets of knowledge that are valuable I themselves for people interested in the connection of Kabbalah, psychology and (I am afraid I have to add) divination. He exposed the connection between the first two in one of his dozen books titled, “The Way of Splendor: Jewish mysticism and modern psychology.” The Kabbalah Deck is a splendid package for those who want to follow the divination path. Meanwhile I will go back and read his book instead.

The book at the publisher’s site (Chronicle Books)

The book @ Amazon.com

In celebration of Yehuda Berg’s new book “THE POWER TO CHANGE EVERYTHING”, Kabbalah Publishing is partnering with Eco-Libris and inviting you to take action and balance out this and future book purchases by planting trees with Eco-Libris.

For every tree planted, you will receive an Eco-Libris sticker to display on your book sleeves. For every five trees planted on your behalf, one more tree will be planted on behalf of Kabbalah Publishing as an appreciation of their commitment to the environment.

Source and place to balance out: http://www.ecolibris.net/yehudaberg.asp

As traditional Judaism is against divination I was hesitant to read the 133 page book(let) accompanying the deck of cars in the box labeled “Ask the Kabala Oracle Cards.” The cards themselves are nicely designed. The front has one of the 22 Hebrew letters, along with English transliteration on how to pronounce them. Each has an image, often nonfigurative or with simple symbols, never more than with 8-9 colors, which give the whole seta simplistic feeling. The back of all the cards has the same drawing: a tree with a bird at its center surround by a reddish, wavy edge.

The last page of the booklet gives information about the three authors, but doesn’t indicate who drew the cards. I think that’s a shame because it made it look like that half of the package’s content was disregarded, while some people might spend much more time with the visually pleasing cards than with the text. My guess is that the design was created either Charles McStravick, who is listed as responsible for “design” on the inside page of the book, or maybe Tracy Walker, who made the “interior illustrations”.

The headliner of the three authors is Deepak Chopra. He is much better known than the other two authors, so I suspect that’s why we have his name on top and bigger letters. I wonder thought how much of the book he has written and to what extent he just gave his name to the project. The only piece identified as written by him was the 11 page long introduction, mind you this is a small format book, so 11 pages aren’t that long. The second author mentioned on the cover is Michael “Zappy” Zapolin, the person behind the kabala.com website and a “lecturer to celebrities.” I never heard of him, but maybe his association of celebrities was a good enough selling point to include him. Finally, listed as “with,” we have Alys R. Yablon, an editor and ghostwriter according to her website. She might have done the majority of the writing.

Chopra’s introduction starts of with a comparison of his own, Vedic tradition and Kabbalah. After finding similarities he briefly characterizes the domains of the physical/mental/spiritual world, then he goes off to dive into the third that he calls the Theosphere’s domains: personal/collective/universal. That’s were he connects to the Kabablistic concepts of Atzilut/Beriya/Teyzira/Assiya and the sephirot again. He attempts to tie it a together with suggesting that you can ask Kabala a question and get an answer with the help of the cards, but you need to do the interpretation itself. He makes references to lots of people, concepts and theories in the attempt to show that they are all connected and how knowledgeable he is. He might, be but for me this section felt like a mixing good pieces of content with each other in lieu of putting attention and original thought to it.

Next there are two pages on how to use the booklet: shuffle the cards, focus on question/problem, pick one, meditate on the letter, read the story, listen to your intuition and find the answer. Then the impossible task of introducing the history of Kabala on 6 pages with a heavy focus on the Zohar is accomplished. Before we get into the stories themselves we get a surprisingly good and comprehensive ten page treatise on the mysteries of the aleph-bet.

The majority of the booklet is made up by the text corresponding to the 22 letters and the 22 cards. Each has 4-5 pages to itself, including a smaller, black and white replica of the appropriate card, a quote from the Torah (with citation) and an explanation of the quote and the story behind it along with a focus on a human issue, question, problem or moral dilemma. These chapters have nothing objectionable in them, they often follow traditional rabbinic discourse no a topic, always ending with a lesson we can all relate to and learn. But then each chapter ends with a clearly separated paragraph or two, that connects the letter to the lesson or feature, which doesn’t always connect to traditional interpretation. E.g.

Aleph – begin again
Bet – conflict
Gimmel –judgment
Dalet – paradox in relationship
Heh – transition
Vav – accept responsibility
Zayin – stillness
Chet – let go
Tet – appreciation
Yud – forgiveness
and so on

Depending on your stance, persuasion and interest, you may want to look at or not, use or not the pretty cards. Similarly you can read the whole booklet if you wish or just focus on the 22 Torah stories as that could be kosher for almost anybody.

Talk about the theme of light and how that plays into it for you.

Well, in a nutshell there’s Kabbalah. The Kabbalah talks, Jewish mysticism talks about the creation of the world, and the basic idea is that God when he wanted to create the world withdrew His light from the center of His being. His light is like all being. Everything is consumed within God. So in order for Him to create like the other, He had to sort of pull out His core being, pull like out His light from the center, and then He created this sort of void or this sort of empty space within, and then the world basically exists inside of that empty space.

Source.

Sanford Lewis Drob has a blog devoted to the study of Jung’s “The Red Book“; that was published in October 2009. Drob is the author of four books on Kabbalah, including “Kabbalah and Postmodernism“, “Symbols of the Kabbalah: Philosophical and Psychological Perspectives“, Kabbalistic Metaphors: Jewish Mystical Themes in Ancient and Modern Thought” and his his latest, “Kabbalistic Visions: C. G. Jung and Jewish Mysticism“. (you can read about these on his site at NewKabbalah.com.

His latest entry on the Jung blog is about shadows. Here is an example how Drob connects Jung’s words to the teachings of Judaism:

While in the Red Book Jung does not make explicit reference to the shadow archetype, his struggle with his own shadow as well as the ideas behind the shadow archetype are evident throughout this work:

“I have to recognize that I must submit to what I fear; yes, even more, that I must even love what horrifies me” (233).

“You are entirely unable to live without evil” (287).

Jung’s thinking here is partly covered by the rabbinic dictum that “were it not for the yetzer hara (the “evil impulse”) people would not build houses, take wives, have children, or engage in business.” The idea here is that while one may reject and at times be horrified by one’s baser or animal instincts and desires (and indeed if such desires go completely unchecked they can be destructive and evil) without them one would not have the drive for life at all.

Menachem Wecker’s article in Forward on “Did William Blake Know Hebrew?” covers almost a dozen sources and the answer is divided but the most recent scholar suggests no.

So the answer for the question in the subtitle of the article (“Did the poet and artist know the Kabbalah from his mystical studies?“) is a yes, but his sources seemed to have been Christian.

From the publisher’s, ACMI Press’ blurb on Gerald Epstein’s Kabbalah for Inner Peace: Imagery and Insights to Guide You through Your Day

Kabbalah for Inner Peace offers a contemporary approach to the 4,000–year–old spiritual tradition called the Kabbalah of Light or Visionary Kabbalah. This practice weaves the wisdom of Kabbalah with mental imagery exercises. Through this path, we discover new perspectives, create change, and open ourselves to Spirit. With over 60 mental imagery exercises, the book takes us through a typical day and addresses the challenges that we frequently face – from centering ourselves in the morning to alleviating insomnia at night. In between, Dr. Gerald Epstein teaches us to conquer the inner terrorists of anxiety and self–doubt; to master our financial worries; to cope with physical pain; and to deal with past trauma. The book concludes with imagery to awaken to Spirit and find true freedom.

And here is Vision magazine’s review:

Perpetual stress, anxiety and self-doubt are just some of the side effects of what Gerald Epstein, MD, calls “our inner terrorists.” These mental-health minions block our communication with the spiritual realm, leaving us enslaved by the material world—frustrated, aggravated, and longing for peace.

As a physician and pioneer in the use of mental imagery to heal mental and physical ailments, Epstein’s latest book, Kabbalah for Inner Peace: Imagery and Insights to Guide You through Your Day, delves into the imbalances that lie at the root of our daily stress. This inspirational book fuses the ancient mystical wisdom of the Kabbalah with 60 visual exercises that help us conquer negativity, reopen our spiritual passageways, and find strength amid life’s challenges.

From financial fears to insomnia, physical pain and past traumas, Epstein illustrates how to recognize and confront the source of suffering through short mental imagery exercises. With closed eyes, deep breaths and a clear mind, we can learn how to connect with the energy of the universe, visualize its flowing power, and rediscover our innate self-healer.

According to Epstein, the disconnection between people and the divine force comes from constant external stimuli from work, finances, television and myriad distractions. Yet through these daily exercises, we can tune out the racket and transcend into a mystical union that brings healing, balance and harmony to our lives.

The book @ Amazon

Here is the outline of a lecture, given at Treadwells in London on November 30, 2009:

Structure of the talk:

1. Introduction [5 mins]
2. Context of Abulafia’s life, contemporaries, writings [10 mins]
3. Abulafia’s techniques [20 mins]
4. Experience of ecstasy and prophecy [15 mins]
5. Influences – other Kabbalists, Christian Cabbala, books (Bee Season, Foucault’s Pendulum), film, poetry) [5 mins]

Abraham Abulafia, 13th century mystic, a prolific author of many texts on Kabbalah. Setting off at a young age to seek the lost tribes, he instead toured Europe and even attempted to convert the Pope whilst visiting Rome. Studying and teaching Sefer Yetzirah (Book of Creation), he focused on permutations of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet to gain divine prophetic experiences. Abulafia espoused a different strain of Kabbalah to the theosophists and theurgical Kabbalists of his time, advocating an ecstatic path, with influences from Yoga, Sufism, and hesychasm. He influenced Christian Kabbalists, notably Giovanni Pico della Mirandola and Giogio Veneto. Recently Abulafia’s ideas have been brought back in to the limelight by Gershom Scholem Moshe Idel. Abulafia’s meditations also featured in Myla Goldberg’s novel, ‘Bee Season’, made into a feature film in 2005 featuring Richard Gere and Juliette Binoche. Tonight’s speaker is an avid student of kabalistic texts both academic and practical who has been building his library collection in odd corners of his house for over five years. He has been a fan of Abraham Abulafia since he first came across his name and is slowly working on translating one of his works in to English. This talk has been inspired by a desire to share insight in to ecstatic Kabbalah and its practices.

Prof. Jonathan Garb’s The Chosen Will Become Herds: Studies in Twentieth-Century Kabbalah (translated to English by Yaffah Berkovits-Murciano) is finally a comprehensive study of modern Kabbalah in its social context. Here is the publisher’s, Yale University Press’, blurb:

The popularity of Kabbalah, a Jewish mystical movement at least 900 years old, has grown astonishingly within the context of the vast and ever-expanding social movement commonly referred to as the New Age. This book is the first to provide a broad overview of the major trends in contemporary Kabbalah together with in-depth discussions of major figures and schools.

A noted expert on Kabbalah, Jonathan Garb places the “kabbalistic Renaissance” within the global context of the rise of other forms of spirituality, including Sufism and Tibetan Buddhism. He shows how Kabbalah has been transformed by the events of the Holocaust and, following the establishment of Israel, by aliyah. The Chosen Will Become Herds is an original piece of scholarship and, in its own right, a new chapter in the history of Kabbalah.

The book @ Amazon

The book at the publisher’s site

The Jerusalem Post review