INTRODUCTION - CONFESSION

KABBALAH-CABALA-QABALAH

For hundreds of years a small but zealous number of orthodox Jewish men have preserved a complex and highly structured tradition of study and meditation, based partly upon an intense analysis of the Hebrew scriptures and Talmudic texts, and partly upon the writings of several influential thinkers of the medieval and renaissance periods. These pious and dedicated Kabbalists absorbed themselves passionately in a perpetual quest for the revealed word of God.

Parallel to this, non-Jewish mystics for hundreds of years have seized many of the tools of Qabalistic study and applied them to Christian (Christian students prefer to spell it Cabala), heretical, magical (Ceremonial magicians prefer to spell it Qabalah.) and, most recently, New Age paradigms. This latter group, while not discarding completely the fascination with the Hebrew and Christian scriptures, focuses primarily on the consciousness expanding benefits derived from the practice of Qabalistic meditative exercises rather than the parochial revelations resulting from scriptural exegesis.

Understandably, orthodox Kabbalists do not have much respect for Cabalists and Qabalists, and, from their point of view, this snobbery is well justified. Nevertheless, it cannot be denied that great spiritual benefit can be derived from Qabalistic thought and exercise even if the student chooses not to embrace the Hebrew religion or make a spiritual commitment to traditions or articles of faith which may be incongruent or irrelevant to his or her spiritual world view.

At the present time disciples of the non-traditional Qabalah represent a much wider spectrum of seekers than that of the orthodox community. Included in this broad band of Qabalistic dabblers are mathematicians, physicists, psychologists, entertainers, as well as students and practitioners of the Western Hermetic traditions of esoteric Freemasonry, Tarot, Ceremonial Magick, Rosicrucianism, Astrology, and Alchemy. With all due homage and respect to the adepts and traditions of the orthodox Hebrew Kabbalah, it is to this larger group of unorthodox (or non-orthodox) Qabalists that this book is addressed.

QABALAH --- FUNNY?

For the last 20 years I have attempted to introduce the Qabalah to students of Tarot and Ceremonial Magick, in particular those who are interested in the work of the Golden Dawn and/or Aleister Crowley’s Ordo Templi Orientis. The scope of this work is relatively narrow, and deals primarily with the meanings and numerical equivalents of the letters of the Hebrew Alphabet, the mysteries of the schematic diagrams known as the Tree of Life, and the Cube of Space, and the various exercises with which the diligent student “connects everything in the universe with everything else until there is no ‘anything’ left.”

Early on, I discovered that I could quickly convey the fundamentals by using simple anecdotes and metaphors. As the years progressed these homespun tales have become increasingly colorful, outrageous and, in my humble opinion, quite amusing. Moreover, students and critics repeatedly tell me that they seem to absorb and retain the information more efficiently (and have a better chance of staying awake) when the material is presented to them in this manner.

When I began to organize the material for this book I realized that the vast majority of readers would not be familiar with my personality and the subtle nuances of my comedic timing. I knew that if I were to plunge the unsuspecting reader directly into the waters of my Qabalistic fairyland the poor soul would immediately imagine himself or herself drowned in pure silliness. So I turned to a literary device that has a long and distinguished history in the world of Qabalistic literature – pseudepigraphy, or the ascription of false names of authors to certain works. Revered Hebrew scholar, Gershom G. Scholem wrote:

“For a long time we have known that literary forgeries represent a flight into anonymity and pseudonymity just as often as they indicate trickery; and not for nothing have we retained the foreign word, “pseudepigrapha” to designate in particular a legitimate category of religious literature …the Zohar is the most important but by far not the only example of such love of masquerade in Jewish literature.”

I decided to do just what Rabbi Moshe de Leon did when he wrote the Zohar, in the 13th century. He credited authorship to a fictitious holy man, Rabbi Shimon Ben Yohai, a 2nd century victim of the Roman persecution who, while hiding for 13 years in a cave, was inspired by God to write the Zohar. Scholars may debate whether de Leon or a contemporary was actually the author of the Zohar, but none considers the text to be fraudulent in the ordinary sense of the word. It is obviously based on much older material and the practice of ascribing ancient authorship to documents was a common and accepted practice in those days. So why not today?

For my purposes I invented Rabbi Lamed Ben Clifford, legendary l’enfant terrible of the modern Qabalisitic movement. Ben Clifford has afforded me the opportunity to soar to outrageous (and hopefully) memorable heights and, when necessary, stand apart from the silliness to highlight the golden eggs of Qabalistic wisdom nested therein. This may smack a bit of schizophrenia, and I must admit I have enjoyed being the Rabbi’s biographer and critic. I hope the reader will also be able to suspend his or her disbelief long enough to join in the fun and learn the fundamentals of the Qabalah.

While it is certainly not my intention to offend anyone with Rabbi Ben Clifford’s escapades, it is perhaps inevitable that the format of this book will chafe the sensibilities of those who have forgotten that spiritual discovery can be a joyous experience and that great truths can be transmitted through the medium of laughter. To each and every one of you who finish this little book and still feel offended by its content or style I offer you in advance my sincere and profound apology.

I also caution and rebuke all hate-mongers and bigots whose dangerous pathologies and diseased minds would interpret my playful treatment of Jewish themes as being anything other than lovingly good-natured.

Now that’s been said, I think it is time to sit back, suspend your disbelief and pretend for a few hours that Rabbi Lamed Ben Clifford is real. Listen carefully to what he has to say. I did – and now I’m proud to say “Hell yes! I’m a Chicken Qabalist!”