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flexibeastIn recent times i've been doing a lot more reading about Jewish Kabbalah1.
My initial interest was in Qabalah, via Ellen Cannon-Reed's "Witches Tarot" (a lovely tarot deck, which i sadly rarely see referenced). But apart from Dion Fortune's fascinating Mystical Qabalah, i've not found many readable texts on hermetic Qabalah (although i'm pretty sure that they're probably less scarce than i think).
This had frustrated me, because i'm what one might call a foundationist2. By this, i mean that i tend to try to understand a particular topic by heading right back down to the foundations of that topic. So, for example, in trying to learn Haskell, i've ended up going right back to the basics of functional programming, and learning about the lambda calculus. Similarly, in wanting to learn more about Qabalah, i've ended up doing a lot of reading about Kabbalah - going back to the Sefer Yetzirah, Lurianic Kabbalah (e.g. via Rabbi Chaim Vital's Etz Hayyim), and bits of the Zohar (via Gershom Scholem's selected excerpts). And after having three separate dreams in which i was about to read or purchase Maimonides' Guide for the Perplexed, i found a copy of it through Sacred-Texts.com, and have been working my way through it.
i've never felt comfortable with Christianity. For a long time, Christianity has to me been a religion which spits on reason, treated women and queers like dirt, and generally felt that it has the right to interfere in the lives of non-Christians. At the same time, i have made an effort to seek out interpretations of Christianity which are less literalist / fundamentalist and more broad-minded, to ensure that i have a more balanced view of the diversity of Christian thought. Nonetheless, Christianity is not a religion i feel at all comfortable with.
Yet in doing all this reading of Jewish religious texts, i've come to realise just how 'at home' i feel with Judaism. It's not like i'm unaware of the fact that Judaism, too, has its literalists / fundamentalists, has its share of patriarchal / queerphobic / generally intolerant perspectives. But i'm also aware of the existence of several more progressive strands of Judaism, such as Reform Judaism and Reconstructionist Judaism and the Jewish Renewal movement, (particularly as represented by Michael Lerner and Tikkun magazine). And here's the weird bit: despite being a goy3, i feel so 'at home' in Judaism that i'd be happy to describe myself as a 'skeptical Judeo-pagan', to indicate how much of an influence Jewish spirituality and philosophy is having on my beliefs, if it weren't for the fact that i worry about being disrespectful, and for the fact that 'Judeo-paganism' apparently already means something else anyway. (Although related Web sites, such as lilitu.com discussion boards and Jewitchery seem right up my alley.)
In any event, i'm really excited about all the Kabbalah-and-related reading i'm currently doing. :-)
1. In this, and other, posts, i follow the convention of transliterating the Hebrew word 'קבלה' as 'Kabbalah' when referring to its use in a Jewish context, and 'Qabalah' when referring to its use in a Hermetic context, even though the latter is probably the more accurate transliteration overall.
2. Unless one has read too much Isaac Asimov, or watched too much Babylon 5, in which case 'foundationist' has a rather different meaning. :-)
3. Apart from the actual Yiddish meaning of this word, there's also the fact that i'm not just a girl, i'm not just a boy, i'm a goy! ;-)
My initial interest was in Qabalah, via Ellen Cannon-Reed's "Witches Tarot" (a lovely tarot deck, which i sadly rarely see referenced). But apart from Dion Fortune's fascinating Mystical Qabalah, i've not found many readable texts on hermetic Qabalah (although i'm pretty sure that they're probably less scarce than i think).
This had frustrated me, because i'm what one might call a foundationist2. By this, i mean that i tend to try to understand a particular topic by heading right back down to the foundations of that topic. So, for example, in trying to learn Haskell, i've ended up going right back to the basics of functional programming, and learning about the lambda calculus. Similarly, in wanting to learn more about Qabalah, i've ended up doing a lot of reading about Kabbalah - going back to the Sefer Yetzirah, Lurianic Kabbalah (e.g. via Rabbi Chaim Vital's Etz Hayyim), and bits of the Zohar (via Gershom Scholem's selected excerpts). And after having three separate dreams in which i was about to read or purchase Maimonides' Guide for the Perplexed, i found a copy of it through Sacred-Texts.com, and have been working my way through it.
i've never felt comfortable with Christianity. For a long time, Christianity has to me been a religion which spits on reason, treated women and queers like dirt, and generally felt that it has the right to interfere in the lives of non-Christians. At the same time, i have made an effort to seek out interpretations of Christianity which are less literalist / fundamentalist and more broad-minded, to ensure that i have a more balanced view of the diversity of Christian thought. Nonetheless, Christianity is not a religion i feel at all comfortable with.
Yet in doing all this reading of Jewish religious texts, i've come to realise just how 'at home' i feel with Judaism. It's not like i'm unaware of the fact that Judaism, too, has its literalists / fundamentalists, has its share of patriarchal / queerphobic / generally intolerant perspectives. But i'm also aware of the existence of several more progressive strands of Judaism, such as Reform Judaism and Reconstructionist Judaism and the Jewish Renewal movement, (particularly as represented by Michael Lerner and Tikkun magazine). And here's the weird bit: despite being a goy3, i feel so 'at home' in Judaism that i'd be happy to describe myself as a 'skeptical Judeo-pagan', to indicate how much of an influence Jewish spirituality and philosophy is having on my beliefs, if it weren't for the fact that i worry about being disrespectful, and for the fact that 'Judeo-paganism' apparently already means something else anyway. (Although related Web sites, such as lilitu.com discussion boards and Jewitchery seem right up my alley.)
In any event, i'm really excited about all the Kabbalah-and-related reading i'm currently doing. :-)
1. In this, and other, posts, i follow the convention of transliterating the Hebrew word 'קבלה' as 'Kabbalah' when referring to its use in a Jewish context, and 'Qabalah' when referring to its use in a Hermetic context, even though the latter is probably the more accurate transliteration overall.
2. Unless one has read too much Isaac Asimov, or watched too much Babylon 5, in which case 'foundationist' has a rather different meaning. :-)
3. Apart from the actual Yiddish meaning of this word, there's also the fact that i'm not just a girl, i'm not just a boy, i'm a goy! ;-)
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Date: 2007-04-24 05:51 (UTC)"i've never felt comfortable with Christianity. For a long time, Christianity has to me been a religion which spits on reason, treated women and queers like dirt, and generally felt that it has the right to interfere in the lives of non-Christians. At the same time, i have made an effort to seek out interpretations of Christianity which are less literalist / fundamentalist and more broad-minded, to ensure that i have a more balanced view of the diversity of Christian thought. Nonetheless, Christianity is not a religion i feel at all comfortable with."
"i've come to realise just how 'at home' i feel with Judaism."
Great post Sweetie, full of references that I will take pleasure in looking at, thanks :-). I have to say how much I agree with and resonate with your feelings and observations on Judaism, as you know this has been a long standing relationship for me too! It is wonderful to have someone to share thoughts and feelings with who just gets it!
Lotsa lurve, passionate hugs and kisses*
Sacred Harlot XxX.