Product Description

Qabalah is a dynamic system of esoteric philosophy that underlies most of the modern magickal traditions. It explores the nature of divinity, the universe, the human soul, creation, the function of life and a whole range of other philosophical and metaphysical subjects.

The Qabalah offers the opportunity to follow a well-defined and multi- layered map of magickal ritual, consciousness expansion, self-integration and balance.

Subjects covered in this book include:
- The Development of the Qabalah through History
- The Sephiroth, their symbols and temples
- The Divisions of the Tree of Life, including the Pillars, Worlds and Triads
- The Tetragrammaton or Unpronounceable Name of God
- The Shekinah and the Divine Feminine in Qabalah
- The Parts of the Human Soul and Qabalistic Doctrines on Reincarnation
- Qabalistic Ritual and Ritual Techniques
- Meditations on many aspects of the Tree of Life
- Applying Qabalah in Daily Life

David Rankine has been studying & working within the Western Mystery Tradition since the 1970s and is a initiate of a number of traditions. He is the author of many esoteric books - including Becoming Magick, The Guises of The Morrigan and Circle of Fire. He is also the co-author of Practical Angel Magic of Dr John Dee's Enochian Tables and Keys to the Gateway of Magic, which are the first books in the "Sourceworks of Ceremonial Magic" series, which he is co-producing with occult author Stephen Skinner

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #267014 in Books
• Published on: 2005-10-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

From the Publisher
This is a unique book which looks at the Qabalah from a Western Mystery magickal perspective, but which also gives relevant and interesting information and practical advice drawn from source materials. It is recommended to all students working within the Western Mystery tradition, ceremonial and ritual magick, Thelema and Wicca.

About the Author
David Rankine is a writer and researcher living in London, UK. He has been practising magick since the 1970s, and has always had a passion for Qabalah and Renaissance magick. He is the author of a number of books, including "Becoming Magick", Guises of the Morrigan" and "Circle of Fire" (co-authored with Sorita D’Este) and co-wrote "The Practical Angel Magic of Dr John Dee’s Enochian Tables" and "Keys to the Gateway of Magic" with well-known occult author Stephen Skinner. He has also written hundreds of articles for a wide variety of pagan, magickal and MBS magazines and journals.

David regularly lectures and runs workshops on a range of subjects in the UK and Europe, including Renaissance Magic, Qabalah, Heka (Egyptian magic) and Ceremonial Magic.

When he is not writing or researching, he can usually be found reading, listening to music or catching up with correspondence.

If you would like to find out more about his work, or have comments on this book that you would like to share, please visit his website at ritualmagick.co.uk

Customer Reviews

Illuminating
Having read a number of books and articles on the Qabalah, many of them have significant failings or omissions. Some of the older works focus on a particular book or on the theology, rather than practical work with the Tree of Life. If you like scholarly styles of writing, then Mathers and Levi may appeal, but I prefer a more readable and pathworking-focussed style, to accompany direct tables of correlations such as 777.
Fortune's Mystical Qabalah is probably the most complete and workable book that I had read to date on the Qabalah and the Tree of Life, and for rituals based on Qabalistic principles, then the Golden Dawn books and texts are also interesting.
If you've read something (or quite a bit) about the Qabalah, and want to learn more, then Climbing the Tree of Life will be of great value to you - it illustrates various concepts which I had not seen mention of in Mystical Qabalah, Golden Dawn teachings, etc, such as straightforward discussion of Daath, the 7 Palaces, the 5 Adams, etc.
There is little reason not to start with this book if you want a broad-reaching, lucid understanding of the Tree of Life, as it covers many concepts while remaining clear and practical.

Insights of an Excellent Genius Magickian!
Qabalah, or Kabballah or whichever way you choose to spell it continued to be a painful experience for me until I bought and read this book. Rankine's take on it shows that he has done his research, but not only through books and journals, through hard work in the system itself.

The book gives all the theory you could ever hope for. It gives practical examples and exercises and it gives insights that I could only vaguely glimpse in other books on the subject.

No doubt that there will be some who struggled through Mystical Qabalah by Dion Fortune and other books of that era on the subject of Western Mystery Qabalah who will pick up this book and scratch their heads in disbelief. This book is no-nonsense, no-fluff, ultra-practical, ultra-readable, ultra-excellent.

The author has been a practising magickian for many years and through the material made available in this book, I have no doubt that he must also be an excellent teacher.

If you have an interest in magickal qabalah you can do no wrong purchasing this book. It will in time, I believe, replace most books on the subject available today. No doubt it will ruffle some feathers with new informed and thought through takes on the Middle Pillar and other such rituals, but it makes perfect sense and gives perfect well thought through reasons for doing so.

Part of me felt like I should keep the knowledge of this book to myself. It is a real insight into the mysteries, but this book should be shared. You will save yourself years of struggle and gain great insights if you work through the exercises and visualisations in this book.

Enjoy.

Western Mystery Tradition? : The One To Buy
For years we have been forced to read outdated books on the Qabalah. These books, often written by writers of particular traditions and particular religious convictions 30, 50 and a 100 years ago, contained the information we needed to learn to grow and evolve in our knowledge of the Qabalah and the great symbolism it holds which has infused the Western Mystery Tradition on every level.

The GD, the OTO, SOL and too many more to mention - all teach and study the Qabalah. It has and continues to be a very important part of the work we do and the way we perceive symbolism in our ceremonies and meditations.

Rankine has offered us many exciting books to date, but none to the standard of this volume. Excellent work.