The Chicken Qabalah of Rabbi Lamed Ben Clifford: Dilettante's Guide to What You Do and Do Not Need to Know to Become a Qabalist Kindle Edition

Don’t be put off by the title of this book—I have no idea why he chose the term “chicken”—but I can’t recommend it highly enough. I have been drawn to the subject of hermetic Qabalah for a very long time, ever since I first ran across Gareth Knight’s wonderful “A Practical Guide to Qabalistic Symbolism” in the early 1970s. But as marvelous as that two-volume set is, I had the same problem with it as I subsequently had with other highly regarded books on the subject I acquired, such as Dion Fortune’s “Mystical Qabalah” and Israel Regardie’s “A Garden of Pomegranates,” namely trying to wrap my mind around the many levels of abstraction within the Tree of Life. I’m not a stupid person, but as soon as they start describing the progression of manifestation from the highest to lowest Sepharoth, my brain seems to shut down and drift away. I understand that one goes from nothingness at Kether to the physical world in Malkuth, but the various descriptions they provide for the eight stages in between become just so many printed words on a page, with no recognizable relevance to my own experience.Enter Lon Milo Duquette and his fictitious Rabbi Lamed Ben Clifford, through whom Duquette accomplishes the seemingly impossible, namely to make the entire subject of Qabalah great fun without trivializing it. His methods are inspired, such as his brilliant depiction of the Four Worlds of the Tree as a four-story furniture store, or providing the Rabbi’s screenplay for a special-effects movie of a human autopsy to depict the levels of the soul. And his letter-by-letter analysis of the Hebrew alphabet is the best intro to that arcane subject I’ve ever seen. As odd as some of his methods may seem, they leave me feeling I’m actually starting to grasp some of this stuff, which is a pretty delightful experience.Duquette is capable of being profoundly moving, such as when he quotes the last written words of Rabbi Lamed Ben Clifford: “My Love for God and God’s Love for Me springs from the Great Secret we share. The Secret is—God and I will achieve Supreme Enlightenment at the same moment.” Yet amazingly, as insightful as the Rabbi Clifford is, he also manages to simultaneously be hysterically funny—I absolutely howled out loud when he quotes one of his fictitious student’s observation that Malkuth, the tenth Sephirah, “hangs from the three Triads like a cosmic dingleberry.” That’s an image that, like most of this book, I won’t soon forget. Is this in any way blasphemous? As Rabbi Clifford frequently says throughout the book, “Hell no! You’re a Chicken Qabalist! Don’t worry about it.” Amen.

In a Forward the author wrote for Anita Kraft's, 'The Qabalah Workbook for Magicians,' Duquette -- a 40+-year scholar of Hermetic Qabalah -- writes: "'The Chicken Qabalah of Rabbi Lamed Ben Clifford' is quite frankly the text I wish I could have read I first began my Qabalah adventure." I am grateful to have stumbled upon this book at the start of my Qabalah adventure.It now lives in my top 5 list of Qabalah books for beginners along with: Dion Fortune's "The Mystical Qabalah," Israel Regardie's "The Complete Golden Dawn System of Magic," Frater Barrabbasand's "Magical Qabalah for Beginners: A Comprehensive Guide to Occult Knowledge," and Anita Kraft's "The Qabalah Workbook for Magicians."For a concise introduction to Judaic/Hebraic Kabbalah which is quite different from Hermetic Qabalah, I enjoyed Dovid Krafchow's "Kabbalistic Tarot."

If you are looking for a short but meaty introduction to Qabalah in the Western Mystery Tradition, here's a great book for you. Be warned, there's very little fluff here despite it being quite amusing (instructively so) in spots. A reference work for those of us with poor memories, or something to memorize if you're exceptional, you're likely to be using this book and what it teaches for decades on a regular basis. Start your path-working early...

Lon Milo Duquett is one of the most entertaining and informative writing on the subject of Quabalah and Ceremonial Magick. Using humor and wit the author uses an amusing character of a rebellious rabbi to teach the difficult and heady concepts of Quabalah . Rabbi Lamed Ben Clufford is a play on the author's real name.A word about the spelling of Quabalah , Kabballah , and Caballah. Spelling counts here. Spelling with a K indicates Jewish mysticism , while C indicates the Christian version of things and the q is the super mystical which involves magic, tarot and numerology.The author starts the reader off with a fictional biography of his fictional character. Then informs us that Chicken Quabalah is for people who wish to take a less painful and less dogmatic route to the study of Quabalah . There is also his fiction school. Zerubabel's institute.Going into a rant which has his version of the ten utterances, we are informed that the universe was created from nothingness and that everything is one and interconnected . Heaven and Earth mirror each other and all of creation is reflected into everything .The world was created by the utterance of Hebrew letters. Each Hebrew letter has numerical value and symbolic meaning. The author delves into that making the info easy to assimilate and yet giving the reader a full picture. He also gives the tarot correspondences .Next the tee of life is examined and compared to the Hebrew letters and tarot cards. There is also discussion on gematria, notoricon and temura. Gematria is the numerical value of the words and sentences to squeeze out hidden meanings . Notoricon involves making acronyms out if works and sentences and teruma is letter replacement .This book is a great primer for the Quabalah newbie and a good read for the advanced practitioner. As you ascend the tower if the deities name and scour the four worlds if creation you will find this book invaluable .

This book has nothing to do with true Kabbalah. This is a vulgarized attempt at Kabbalah at best. Most of it is written as a big joke. The last chapter absolutely reeks of a lack of knowledge in Kabbalah.Don't waste your money!

Cannot stress this enough: this man has a gift for writing/teaching. Easily digestible, amazingly succinct. Got this to help me understand the Thoth tarot and I’m so glad I did.

This is by far the best book I have read in a very long time.Milo’s approach to such delicate subject is deliciously smart, he lies with honesty, instructs with grace, and fundamentally leaves you to do what only you can: decipher yourselfBut with an enlarged toolkit of wisdom, wit and grace.

I had some knowledge of the Qabalah before reading this marvellous book. In fact I was halfway through re-reading Dion Fortune's excellent work 'The Mystical Qabalah when, for some reason (boredom), I got distracted by window shopping on Amazon. My retail therapy 'hit' brought this book to my attention and based on the 'funny' reviews I purchased despite being skint. Now I see this book as Ye Ha Woo Haa! giving me a lighter and funnier way of learning Qabalah!I mean anyone who describe 'The All' as "(He) who is so all-encompassing and huge that It has nowhere to sit down because all the chairs are inside of itself;...... Is not only brilliant funny but very, very clever.

''What does a young girl from Forks want with a Rabbi?''I hear you cry, well on my journey to self enlightenment and mega movie franchise heaven, I stopped off at Amazon book store and found this book. I'm picked it up because of the amusing title.I wasn't disappointed. A witty and realistic account of Qabalah and a red flag to all those who immitate.So now I have a well informed, in bitesize peices view of Qabalah and I think I like it all thanks to the fabulously intelligent and engagingly funny Lon Milo DuQuette!!!Born again? No I'm not, I think I got it right the first time but please read for entertainment value alone is so worth it but take something from it as I did and you'll find yourself writing a review not unlike this one.'It is wonderful how much time good people spend fighting the devil. If they would only expend the same amount of energy loving their fellow man, the devil would die in his tracks of ennui.' Helen Keller

if you like a book with a different twist this is for you, it is full of kabbalistic secrets, I really learned alot from it

This is an OUTSTANDING introduction to Qabalah - concise, easy to understand and, best of all, written in Lon's typically humerous style.Refreshingly free of convoluted language, vague descriptions and overly-complicated detail, this is a useful addition to the library of anyone setting out on this esoteric journey.Highly recommended!