Ive been reading and researching Qabalah (Hermetic Kabbalah) over the last few days. Not the silly red string fad, the real stuff, the esoteric pathworking. It is not a subject I’ve previously given a lot of attention too but I’ve been prompted to learn more given its significance for many esoteric traditions and the people who ascribe to them.
I’d be interested to hear for any of you if you have experiences you’d like to share.
Also, I just keep coming across people who’ve had ghost, angel or other less definable form of Spirit encounter. One again the other night. Again, I really interest in hearing your stories if you have any.
Curious Christian 
I dont think all of Kabbalah is a load of rubbish. It is such a vast body of literature that it is not possible to say definitively that it is all wrong. Some of the doctrines do not fit with Christianity such as reincarnation and of course they miss out Jesus. However, there were Christian Cabalists in the Mediaval times. Also the middle sefirot(Tiferet) represents beauty, king, messiah and son, while the lowest one represents kingdom and bride. Also, Tiferet forms a bridge between the side of mercy and severity. If you draw a picture of Jesus on the cross with His heart over Tiferet you will see that His hands rest on the sefirahs of Mercy and Severity. The cross creates a new pathway all the way from Malkuth (Kingdom/bride i.e. us) up to Kether (the throne of God)
Also the Kabbalists were skilled in gematria which is the secret behind the number of the beast and they have some good meditational techniques.
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Bekah, my knowledge of Kabbalah has expanded considerably since I wrote this two and a half years ago. As it draws much of its inspiration from the Old Testament I agree that it can provide us with some interesting perspectives to look back at the Christian tradition.
I find the sefirot are the most interesting aspect by far. I am sure Peggy, one of the regulars here at Journeys In Between, could wax lyrical for hours about hesed. And I too find Tiferet has potential as an ‘alter to the unknown God’ to quote the apostle Paul.
Where I find Kabbalah has critical shortcomings though is in its overall cosmology. It’s ideas about divine emanation are seriously difficult to reconcile with the God of the Bible, which the Kabbalah was supposedly derived from in the first place.
I find the Christian cabalists to be particularly problematic, as well, Order of the Golden Dawn, need I say more?
The approach I would take with Kabbalah is to acknowledge the value of the virtues embodied in the sefirot, of mercy, justice, beauty, glory, etc, but then to ask, where to we find these things embodied in their most concrete form. Where do we find the ‘tree of life’? Jesus. He makes the unknown God known.
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So, Matt…how did you know that I would wander over here today? Hmmm…and this original post was on my birthday, to boot!
I have looked some at Kabbalah as I have wandered the path looking for discernment concerning the appropriate boundaries for healing…and did appreciate the sefirot and hesed…but I will spare you all hours of lyrically waxed hesed (you’ll have to come over to my place for that!)
It is always about finding the truth and removing that which is inconsistent with Jesus as God Incarnate. A bit like my Purple Flame post gets after.
Timely to be pondering Emmanual….
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HI Matt, yes I agree with you-I think Kabbalah is a mix of truth and error. If we avoid the whole thing however, we may miss some insights. i think that it may be a collection of spiritual insights-some of which may have come from biblical times. Others have been added in later years and really dont fit with the bible at all. I am interested in the practical side though-the meditational techniques where you focus on the name of God etc.
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I think it would be worthwhile exploring how the names of God could be used as a focus. The thought has occurred to me but I haven’t really pursued it given my interests in other approaches. Questions I would have from an incarnational Christian perspective are (1) where does the name above all names fit into this (2) to what extent might names distract us from the reality they point to, (3) how does this link back into everyday life?
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well from what I understand, a verse or a name of God is used reverently as a mantra. I like the idea as given that the name of God is a powerful weapon against demons, it will mitigate their influence on your mind when entereing the higher states of consciousness. And it means that you are focusing on God and there is a spiritual law I have heard mentioned in pentecostal circles that you make room for what you focus on. So by focusing on Gods name you are opening yourself up to Him.
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Potentially. One would need to guard against slipping into mechanical invocation though. I remember talk of some experiments where using the nonsense mantras such as “coca-cola” were said to have had the same effect as more religiously inspired ones. Achieving higher states does not always directly correlate with spiritual growth. That being said, you could say the same for using Christian music as an aid to worship. The song, “Heart of Worship” comes to mind as one highlighting that risk. How would you square the “vibrational” theology of some mantra groups with Christian practice? Or would you?
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