Rabbi Lamed Ben Clifford's Chicken Qabalah: Uncovering Ancient Jewish Wisdom

chris: as above good and clear, unlike most on this subject.

United Kingdom on Oct 17, 2022

Primigenio43: No ha sido la primera vez que tropiezo con dificultades para tratar de comprender a la mística judía. Especialmente no desde una perspectiva filosófica o erudita, sino desde la practicidad dela magia. Borges o Scholem pueden dar ciertas pautas para comprender la primera; la segunda se me había vuelto opaca y volátil al leer lo de Crowley, Regardie o Lêvi. No reniego de sus trabajos, y ahora con este libro puede releerlos y analizarlos con más cuidado y comprensión, es sólo, como dije, que no me parece que se trata de libros para principiantes. Quizá sea culpa mía, lo sé; pero creo que de poco o nada sirve ya la poca claridad al hablar de magia. No es necesario proteger la información sagrada, finalmente el uso que se hace de ella es independiente de la misma. La misteriosa y ambigua prosa de los antiguos esoteristas para iniciar a los perdidos en el lenguaje sagrado queda atrás con este libro. Yo lo aplaudo: la sencillez, la erudición, el humor, y sobre todo, la practicidad de lo escrito lo hace una obra de incuestionable valor para el mago contemporáneo. Resulta claro, al mirar y remirar el libro, que un libro para principiantes puede adolecer de información más...

Mexico on Aug 17, 2018

Twilight: BELLA SWAN: ''What does a young girl from Forks want with a Rabbi?''
I hear you cry, well on my journey to self enlightenment and mega movie franchise heaven, I stopped off at Amazon book store and found this book. I'm picked it up because of the amusing title.
I wasn't disappointed. A witty and realistic account of Qabalah and a red flag to all those who immitate.
So now I have a well informed, in bitesize peices view of Qabalah and I think I like it all thanks to the fabulously intelligent and engagingly funny Lon Milo DuQuette!!!
Born again? No I'm not, I think I got it right the first time but please read for entertainment value alone is so worth it but take something from it as I did and you'll find yourself writing a review not unlike this one.

'It is wonderful how much time good people spend fighting the devil. If they would only expend the same amount of energy loving their fellow man, the devil would die in his tracks of ennui.' Helen Keller

United Kingdom on Nov 03, 2011

Victoria Evangelina: DuQuette's cute masterpiece was the first book on Qabalah I read. I read the book attentively and even highlighted the phrases I thought to be useful for later work. Well... I have NO idea what Qabalah is and how to use it. Should I be upset about it? Hell, no! I am a Chicken Qabalist!!!

I will share with you the two Highly Profound Thoughts that stumble into my head while I was reading this book (I am sure they simply got lost on their way to Rabbi Lamed Ben Clifford's mind, but you know what... let's not worry about it, after all he and I are Chicken Qabalists!!):

1. Everything is Sacred, everything contains the ultimate sense, everything is the ONE.

2. Be what you are and do what pleases you: you are here exactly for that reason. Do not compare yourself, but live the life that pleases YOU and once you have the ingredients together something that is greater than the parts emerge and you will be surrounded with people who treasure the YOU that you are, and who will need exactly what you have to offer. Basically, "build it, and they will come."

"The Qabalah doesn't enable me to merely interpret what somebody else meant to say; it forces me to hear what...

United States on Apr 12, 2011

Sarah KL: I was unsure about buying this book, because Qabalah can be dry and hard to get into your head. And there are plenty of books that add to that dry and brain aching feeling.. so I didn't want to spend more money on another book that would give me a headache.

This book does, but I'm laughing whilst my head hurts!

Duquette has made a stunning masterpiece of breaking down what this system is and how we can learn from it - but with so much fun and laughter inbetween. I love to explore my spirituality with a giggle and a belly laugh and this book does it, without detracting from the subject at all. In fact it makes it far more palatable and actually starts to resonate with you. Rabbi Ben is a fantastic character!

So, if you feel qabalah is dry and boring, hard to understanding, boring hebrew this and that - well it can be. But this book will make you laugh and love it for all of that and more. Lon is like a hermetic Terry Pratchett, dry witty and satirical love of the subject of qabalah and western traditions. FABULOUS

I have Dequette's other books i.e. Understanding the Thoth.. but this is my favourite by far! Well done Lon! and well done Rabbi Ben!
I...

United Kingdom on Feb 11, 2010

Richard Ellicott: Sometimes you have the rare pleasure, of finding a book, that slots everything into place.

You know the storey, you've been slaving away over the cryptic works of , trying to make sense of what the hell this qabalah thing is anyway.

And suddenly you find this, a rare treat, it's both hillarious and informative.

It will really help you further your understanding of the fundamental construction of the Tree of Life, the letters of the Hebrew alphabet and corrospondencies to Tarot, and Elements. (nb: be careful of the differences if studying Thoth tarot). It dosn't stop there of course.

It's origin also a mystery, who the hell was "Rabbi Lamed Ben Clifford" anyway?

The only tragedy of this work, it's much like Itzhak Bentov's the "Stalking the Wild Pendulum" for me, in that you're left seriously wanting.

You really deserve this book ;) it's a vacation from the usual.

United Kingdom on May 02, 2007

D. Hill: For starters I have to say this is the single best intro to the Qabalah I've ever read-& I've read a few. Unlike most basic intros this book utilizes humor so that you learn in spite of yourself. Which is great. Now why would you want to learn Qabalah? It is a little more complex then some of the Paths out there...but is that really a bad thing? Sometimes the more effort you put into a System the more you get out of it.

To understand the core basis of the Western Mystery Tradition which influences such paths as Tarot-Astrology-Ceremonial Magick-Rosicrucianism-Alchemy-& Mystic Freemasonry-an understanding of Qabalah is indispensable...& for such a daunting subject why not start here? Lon Milo Duquette shows that just because you are an Occultist you don't have to be an over serious anal retentive bore with an ego the size of your massive ancient crumbling library !!! & that is a gift to all of us...most of his work is like that-very approachable.

Oh & I guess if you don't know what the Qabalah is I'll give you the run down...yes Qabalah stems from the Jewish Mysticism of the same name though spelled Kabbalah & from there it stems from its...

United States on Aug 14, 2006