THE
ARCANE
ARCHIVE
a cache of usenet and other text files pertaining
to occult, mystical, and spiritual subjects.


TOP | RELIGION | JUDAISM | KABBALAH

Kelippot in Jewish Qabala

To: alt.magick
From: catherine yronwode 
Subject: Re: Kelippot in Jewish Qabala (was Re: Beg. Enoch)
Date: Wed, 17 Apr 2002 01:21:28 GMT

BhP wrote:
> 
> Moshe Idel, "Kabbalah:  New Perspectives"  Yale University Press,
> 1988.
> ISBN 0-300-04699-5
> 
> *****
> p 156
> In his essay on Kabbalistic ritual, Gershom Scholem emphatically
> asserts that "the Kabbalists strove from the very first to *anchor 
> the ritual of rabbinical Judaism in myth by means of a mystical
> practice.*"  Two implicit assumptions underlie this far-reaching
> statement:  (1) that "the ritual of rabbinical Judaism" was free of
> myth and mysticism, which were infused into it by the Kabbalists; 
> and (2) that the Kabbalah emerged from a non-rabbinical, presumably
> mythico-mystical Judaism that needed to come to terms with 
> rabbinical Judaism. 

Neither of these claimed "implicit assumptions" arises from or is
indicicative of a logical necessaity in the quoted Scholem passage, thus
neither assumptions can truly be said to be "implied." 

Rather, both have been INFERRED by the author, and thus they do not
reflect upon Scholem at all, but upon the one making the inferrence. 

To demonstrate, one could just as easily infer (1) that "the ritual of
rabbinical Judaism" was already deeply bound up in myth and mysticiam so
the Kabbalists sought to bring Kbbalah in line with that ongoing
tradition and (2) that the Kabbalah emerged from a rabbinical,
presumeably mythico-mystical Judaism known as rabbinical Judaism.

You see? Just labelling somthing "implied" does not make it so. It is
bad writing, and it is the result of falwed thinking. 

In short, Scholem was describing what he thinks was done, not WHY. 

The rest of the so-called "critique" foillows from these mislabeled
"implicit" (inferred) assumptions and can be discarded. 

cat yronwode

The Arcane Archive is copyright by the authors cited.
Send comments to the Arcane Archivist: tyaginator@arcane-archive.org.

Did you like what you read here? Find it useful?
Then please click on the Paypal Secure Server logo and make a small
donation to the site maintainer for the creation and upkeep of this site.

The ARCANE ARCHIVE is a large domain,
organized into a number of sub-directories,
each dealing with a different branch of
religion, mysticism, occultism, or esoteric knowledge.
Here are the major ARCANE ARCHIVE directories you can visit:
interdisciplinary: geometry, natural proportion, ratio, archaeoastronomy
mysticism: enlightenment, self-realization, trance, meditation, consciousness
occultism: divination, hermeticism, amulets, sigils, magick, witchcraft, spells
religion: buddhism, christianity, hinduism, islam, judaism, taoism, wicca, voodoo
societies and fraternal orders: freemasonry, golden dawn, rosicrucians, etc.

SEARCH THE ARCANE ARCHIVE

There are thousands of web pages at the ARCANE ARCHIVE. You can use ATOMZ.COM
to search for a single word (like witchcraft, hoodoo, pagan, or magic) or an
exact phrase (like Kwan Yin, golden ratio, or book of shadows):

Search For:
Match:  Any word All words Exact phrase

OTHER ESOTERIC AND OCCULT SITES OF INTEREST

Southern Spirits: 19th and 20th century accounts of hoodoo, including slave narratives & interviews
Hoodoo in Theory and Practice by cat yronwode: an introduction to African-American rootwork
Lucky W Amulet Archive by cat yronwode: an online museum of worldwide talismans and charms
Sacred Sex: essays and articles on tantra yoga, neo-tantra, karezza, sex magic, and sex worship
Sacred Landscape: essays and articles on archaeoastronomy, sacred architecture, and sacred geometry
Lucky Mojo Forum: practitioners answer queries on conjure; sponsored by the Lucky Mojo Curio Co.
Herb Magic: illustrated descriptions of magic herbs with free spells, recipes, and an ordering option
Association of Independent Readers and Rootworkers: ethical diviners and hoodoo spell-casters
Freemasonry for Women by cat yronwode: a history of mixed-gender Freemasonic lodges
Missionary Independent Spiritual Church: spirit-led, inter-faith, the Smallest Church in the World
Satan Service Org: an archive presenting the theory, practice, and history of Satanism and Satanists
Gospel of Satan: the story of Jesus and the angels, from the perspective of the God of this World
Lucky Mojo Usenet FAQ Archive: FAQs and REFs for occult and magical usenet newsgroups
Candles and Curios: essays and articles on traditional African American conjure and folk magic
Aleister Crowley Text Archive: a multitude of texts by an early 20th century ceremonial occultist
Spiritual Spells: lessons in folk magic and spell casting from an eclectic Wiccan perspective
The Mystic Tea Room: divination by reading tea-leaves, with a museum of antique fortune telling cups
Yronwode Institution for the Preservation and Popularization of Indigenous Ethnomagicology
Yronwode Home: personal pages of catherine yronwode and nagasiva yronwode, magical archivists
Lucky Mojo Magic Spells Archives: love spells, money spells, luck spells, protection spells, etc.
      Free Love Spell Archive: love spells, attraction spells, sex magick, romance spells, and lust spells
      Free Money Spell Archive: money spells, prosperity spells, and wealth spells for job and business
      Free Protection Spell Archive: protection spells against witchcraft, jinxes, hexes, and the evil eye
      Free Gambling Luck Spell Archive: lucky gambling spells for the lottery, casinos, and races