Kabbalah - by Richard Smoley (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

This groundbreaking work by Richard Smoley, author of fourteen books including Forbidden Faith: The Secret History of Gnosticism and Inner Christianity: A Guide to the Esoteric Tradition, presents the Jewish mystical teaching in a fresh new light.

Kabbalah: Treasure House of Secret Wisdom offers a guide to the esoteric tradition that will serve as a concise introduction for beginners. But it also presents never-before-published insights on the Sefer Yetzirah ("Book of Formation"), the oldest, most admired, but one of the most cryptic Kabbalistic texts that will bring a fresh perspective on this work even for advanced students.

Richard Smoley has incorporated the fruits of fifty years of Kabbalistic study and practice and discusses how the tradition has spread from its Jewish roots to widespread use in present-day Western mysticism.

This book offers:

• A brief history of the Kabbalistic tradition
• An introduction to the Tree of Life, the central image of the Kabbalah
• An explanation of the ten sefirot or principles of the Tree of Life
• Easy to follow directions for creating a Tree of your own
• A clear, succinct, and persuasive analysis of the Sefer Yetzirah ("Book of Formation")
• An analysis of the meaning of the different Hebrew names for God
• What may be the true pronunciation of the unutterable Divine Name, the Tetragrammaton YHWH
• Ways of practicing Kabbalistic meditation
• Core teachings of Kabbalistic number symbolism
• A clear description of the Four Worlds of Kabbalistic teaching and how they interpenetrate
• A discussion of how Kabbalah relates to human psychology
• A Kabbalistic analysis of the creation account in Genesis
• An explanation of how the Kabbalah underlies the symbolism of both Judaism and Christianity
• An account of how to use the Kabbalah to awaken higher consciousness
• A section, "For Your Consideration," at the end of each chapter, providing exercises and material for thought and enabling readers to experience the ideas more deeply

Although there are many books on the Kabbalah available today, Kabbalah: Treasure House of Secret Wisdom is essential reading for students of this tradition at all levels.

Review Quotes

This is a truly amazing book. Kabbalah is not for the faint of heart. In high school, my Orthodox rabbi secretly taught me to use a Kabbalistic text to query angels in various heavenly realms. Richard Smoley is like my rabbi, with one major difference: he explains Kabbalah with diagrams and insights that clarify the esoteric; my rabbi only taught me to speak with angels. Read Kabbalah: Treasure House of Secret Wisdom. Experiment with its practices. Try not to faint. - Rabbi Rami Shapiro, author of Love in the Bible

At last--here is the urgently needed public-facing work on Kabbalah by an esoteric scholar of the highest standing. Richard Smoley--a thinker's thinker--explains the tradition in its outer and inner facets, encompassing history, practice, cosmology, symbolism, comparative religion, and spiritual-psychological insight. I cannot name a more singularly reliable guide and digest--or an abler author, whose insights arise from decades of Kabbalistic study. At once practical and erudite, Richard's richly illustrated exploration belongs in the hands and hearts of every seeker. - Mitch Horowitz, PEN Award-winning historian

This book is an inspiring guide to the principles of Kabbalah. It makes abstract concepts alive and real, with exercises for practical application of Kabbalistic knowledge to personal development. Its refreshing approach is saying: "Look again, there is more to consider."
- Rebekah Kenton, author of Memoirs, Selected Poems.

Richard Smoley brings both scholarship and personal experience to this warm and wise account of the Kabbalistic tradition. Newcomers will find it easy to engage with, and those already familiar with Kabbalah will appreciate its fresh insights.- Cherry Gilchrist, author of The Tree of Life Oracle and Alchemy: The Great Work

Richard Smoley understands the power of kabbalistic diagrams. They do not illustrate ideas so much as enact them, serving as instruments of thought and practice. Drawing on fifty years of study and teaching, he offers a lucid account of the Tree of Life as it has been received in the modern Western esoteric tradition. Readers are invited to learn its structures, draw its forms, and work with them. Smoley writes with the assurance of a seasoned practitioner and the clarity of an accomplished teacher.- J.H. Chajes, Chajes, Wolfson Professor of Jewish Thought, University of Haifa; author of The Kabbalistic Tree

Richard Smoley's Kabbalah: Treasure House of Secret Wisdom weaves Kabbalah's often disparate threads into a unified tapestry that is at once modern yet grounded in tradition. With meditations and other exercises at the end of each chapter, this book beckons practitioners to explore and experience the enduring mysteries of Kabbalah.- Richard Kaczynski, author of Mind over Magick: The Psychology of Ritual Magick and Perdurabo: The Life of Aleister Crowley

I too studied with Z'ev ben Shimon Halevi and, as co-publisher of his books, would say I was pretty familiar with all of his teachings. However I am still learning, and there is much in Richard's book that even after thirty years of being a Kabbalist, I did not previously know or understand. I'll add too that I have discovered more about Kabbalah from this book than from reading all twelve volumes of the Pritzker Zohar. And it is far more enjoyable! - Maggy Whitehouse, author of Kabbalah & Healing and A Woman's Worth