The Hermetic Kabbalah

Before there was modern science there was another way to comprehend reality. When someone wanted to discover deep and hidden secrets about nature, they would study ancient books and traditions looking for divine revelations, seek out scholars and teachers, and perhaps summon and talk to spirits or angels ... This ancient wisdom (and it was the best knowledge of its day) has come to be known as the Hermetic Tradition. It is an intellectual and practical tradition dating from the late Roman Empire, and it viewed the Cosmos as a living being composed of living beings, a whole composed of parts, like the human body. The tradition was founded on an intuitive view of processes at work in living things, a dynamic of relationships, connections and interactions, a world of qualia and imagination, all set forth in startling visionary metaphors of giant androgynous beings and sexual dynamics. The Hermetic Kabbalah shows how the tradition has developed through two millennia to the present day, its ideas intertwining with Jewish mysticism and Kabbalah like the serpents in the Caduceus of Hermes. It includes a detailed exposition on the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, the ten sefirot, and many other traditional themes including the Partzufim, the Primordial Adam, theurgy, and ascent mysticism. It also describes the Rectification of the Soul, in which the soul is awakened to an understanding of its place in the Cosmos. Profusely illustrated, with over 60 diagrams and illustrations, this book is a distillation of a lifetime of study and practice.