Kabalah for practical purposes?

[David19]

I've been interested in learning the Kabalah for some time, and I'm reading parts of 'The Mystical Qabalah' by Dion Fortune, and there's quite a few other books I want to get too, but I have a question, what can you actually use it magically/practically for?. In a lot of mystical systems, aside from spirtiual development and evolution, you also develop several mystical/magical powers (for example, in Kundalini Yoga, siddhis(powers) start to awaken), but is there something similar in the Kabalah, do powers start to develop or can it be used for practical purposes, or is it more a meditation tool and more for philosophy than practical purposes?.

Thanks for any help.

David.

[Garm]

do powers start to develop or can it be used for practical purposes, or is it more a meditation tool and more for philosophy than practical purposes?.
David.

From what I recall the practical was generally frowned upon.

Considering the monotheistic bent of the whole system you would expect alignment with the will of God to be the over riding priority and the practical work was only resorted to in extenuating circumstances.

If you master it as a meditative/philosophical paradigm then you may be able to use it as a way of making correspondences for the purposes establishing magical links. In spite of all the grimoires being filled with cabalistically derived hocus pocus I'm sure this process would work best using an intuition that had been honed by years of practice.

[LeftToWonder]

The beauty of the Qabbalah to me was always its unfolding beauty. The more you begin to study, the more it begins to open up to you. The Qabbalah is a map to the human soul. More than granting one "powers", it opens your mind to the world as a whole, a much more powerful thing in and of it self. The real key is, that the qabbalah can be used for whatever you want it for. Just look at the Golden Dawn, a large portion of their influence came from the Qabbalah, fused with other systems. Qabbalah is the key to the lock of the universe.:D I have worn my copy of Dion Fortunes "Mystical Qabbalah" out, its a valuable resource. When you finish it the first time, read through the back section that talks about pathworkings, its really helpful.

[Xander67]

Qaballa is more than just "magic" and Pathworking,

if you are interested in learning TRUE qaballa then have a look at this intro video

http://perceivingreality.com/

and then have a look at some of the free ebooks available from here
http://www.kabbalahlearningcenter.info/index.php

[Enlightenment1]

If you're looking at the practical and pathworking side of the Kabbalah you can't go wrong with Ted Andrews book More Simplified Magic. His first book on the Kabbalah, Simplified Magic, is great too, but it's very basic stuff and doesn't involve pathworking, where as his second book, More Simplified Magic does. It's an excellent book, and it's great that it isn't too "simplified" or too complex, it's just right :) So many books on the Kabbalah are mind boggling, Ted Andrews makes it understandable while not watering it down.

Highly recommended!!!

[plumedsnake]

Qaballa is more than just "magic" and Pathworking,

if you are interested in learning TRUE qaballa then have a look at this intro video

http://perceivingreality.com/

and then have a look at some of the free ebooks available from here
http://www.kabbalahlearningcenter.info/index.php

The intro video is great. I loved it and understood and agreed with everything said. That is pretty amazing considering that I usually find myself quite contrary to others.

Many people are interested in kaballah and yoga and other disciplines because it can give them 'practical' powers. But actually the real point is getting out of 'the box' and the powers etc are just incidental to that main goal. iT is the same with Yoga. Many get distracted by the wonderful siddhis that they acquire. Others practice to the sole purpose of attaining these siddhis etc. They miss so much.

Although I believe that what happens in the box is important and shouldn't be dismissed I think that the perspective has to be shifted outside of the box.

[sidhe]

While recommending books, The Chicken Qabalah of Rabbi Lamed Ben Clifford is a huge help, and actually goes into the "practical" side of qabalah...such as it exists, which is as a giant reality map. Plus, Lon Milo Duquette is just flat-out funny, and his assumed psuedoepigraphic persona of the Rabbi will have you choking with laughter as you learn.

Remember, "Tau" looks like "Resh" holding a dead dolphin by the tail. And "Lamed" looks like a snake that just swallowed a brick and is having some second thoughts. This is how I learned the alephbeth.

The Mystical Qabalah is a classic and a necessary addition to any QBL library. And the Regardie book (Garden of Pomegranates? I get all his titles confused) is handy.

And pick up a decent tarot deck with the Hebrew letters marked on the cards. It makes a good meditative tool, and you can use it as a set of flash cards.