Climbing the Tree of Life: A Manual of Practical Magical Qabalah

By David Rankine

Book Overview

CLIMBING THE TREE OF LIFE

A Manual of Practical Magickal Qabalah

[Second Edition, Revised & Expanded, 2022]

By David Rankine

"Qabalah is a dynamic system of esoteric philosophy that explores the nature of divinity, the universe, the human soul, creation, the function of life and a whole range of other philosophical and metaphysical subjects.

Many people actually mean the Tree of Life glyph when they say Qabalah. The Tree of Life is the pictorial representation of Qabalistic thought, a concentrated image containing all the philosophical and magical concepts of Qabalah. However, strictly speaking, Qabalah is the whole tradition of thought, embodying a history of millennia of development and mystical experience, as well as the glyph.

Qabalah offers the student the opportunity to follow a well-defined and multi-layered map of consciousness expansion and self-integration, and balance. For this reason, it is no surprise that it is becoming increasingly popular today. Additionally, it is extremely compatible with many other schools of thought, often enabling existing beliefs and practices to be fitted harmoniously into Qabalistic ideas." - David Rankine

Subjects covered in this comprehensive volume include:

- The history and development of Qabalah

- The Tree of Life: The Four Worlds, Sephiroth, Three Pillars, Triads and Seven Palaces

- The Veils on the Tree of Life

- The Lightning Flash, Tzim-Tzum, Tetragrammaton, Adam Kadmon and Qliphoth

- The Shekinah and the Divine Feminine in Qabalah

- The Human Soul, Reincarnation and Guardian Angels

- Practical methods for working with the Tree of Life, the Gods, Archangels and the Planets

- Colour and Number Correspondences

- The Sephiroth, their symbols, temples and more.

- Ritual Techniques such as Pathworking, The Vibratory Formula, Divine Names, Fragrance, Magical Images, Assumption of Deity, The Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram, License to Remain, Middle Pillar, Lightning Flash Affirmation, and how to structure Qabalistic Ritual.

- Talismans, including Kameas, Sigilisation, AIQ Beker and Planetary Timing.

- Also included: additional ideas for Qabalistic practices, including The Tree of Life Tarot Spread, further invocations and meditations, Permutation meditation on the Divine Name and using the Qabalah in daily life.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1910191345
• ISBN13: 9781910191347
• Release Date: February 2022
• Publisher: Avalonia
• Length: 394 Pages
• Weight: 1.33 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.1" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Great read very helpful

This is an excellent book on the spiritual experiences of qabalah, I enjoyed the through and thought provocative style this was written in.

Western Hermetic Qabalah

This is a good little book. The author has definitely done his homework and put a good deal of effort into this book. If you are looking for a book on the Qabalah from a Western Hermetic approach (like the Golden Dawn) then you will enjoy this book. It does have a few typos in it. There are several on page 148, where the typesetter didn't put certain numbers in 'superscript,' above the line; this makes for some confusion until you realize what has happened. There are a few more of these typographical errors. One issue I have with the book is that it attributes Kether to Pluto. I realize that other occult authors have done the very same thing, but I take issue with them, too. Chokmah is Uranus, since Ouranos was the Starry sky, and Chokmah is the Sphere of the Zodiac, it doesn't take a lot of imagination to see this. Kether is Neptune; it is often called the 'first swirlings' which remind one of the galactic swirlings in space. But what if it is talking about the 'first swirlings' in the sea in the heavens, as G-d separated the waters from the waters. Neptune, then, would make a perfect candidate for Kether, as the mystical intelligence which is a part of Neptune's planetary energies. Pluto is better suited to Da'ath. A planet that is not a planet for a Sephirah that is not a Sephirah. Da'ath is transformational and so is Pluto. They seem like perfect partners to me. This book is a great reference, though. It has some interesting Gematria and some good observations on the Mystical Titles for each Sephirah. If you are thinking about buying this book, go ahead; you won't be disappointed. Peace Profound, Neshamah

Wisdom & Insight from a Master

This book can not be ignored. full stop. Beginner, Intermediate or Experienced - new or at it for the last five hundred years. Reincarnated Rabi of some dubvious order or new ager wanting to move beyond the obvious information told and retold in a hundred books on the subject. This book provides the reader with a solid basis in Western Mystery Qabalah. In many ways it could be called a "work book" in addition to a "manual" and although it is a primer, it contains far more than just the basics. Its a manual as it provides the information and the mechanics on how the qabalah fits together, its a workbook as it also provides the reader with many excellent exercises and meditations. Its a solid primer on the subject as it contains all the basics, but it is also much more as it contains some rarely seen qoutations from sources other than the obvious. Rankine is a master of the qabalah, yet it he makes no pretentious claims to being any thing of the kind. However,it is obvious that he understands his subject inside out, the words flow, without the need for superfluous words to make it sound over complicated. Qabalah is a difficult subject, but one well worth studying, I have myself been reading and practising for more than ten years, but still feel that there is more to learn. This book provides me with much new material to work with and some great insights on rituals such as the Middle Pillar makes it even more of a must read for students of the Golden Dawn and related systems. My only wish is that this, like the series of books the author is producing with Golden Hoard Press, could be produced in a hardback edition! But that is just being greedy!

David Rankine's Greatest Fan (In the nicest possible way!)

This is the latest great offering by David Rankine, who apart from being one of my favourite magickal pin-ups, seems to be producing some of the best work on western mystery tradition magick at the moment. Sensible, yet accessible. Intellectual, yet easy to read. Theoretical, yet practical. I am sure you get the picture! Climbing the Tree of life is a nicely produced paperback, the binding is good, the layout makes it easy to find what you are looking for and the writing, well it is more than just great, it is excellent. I would recommend it to anyone wishing to study the Qabalah from a magickal perspective. It is far easier to follow and understand than some of the other books on the market, but does so without loosing touch of the subject, without the need for filling space with words which are meaningless. What is even nicer about this book is that the author doesn't force his religious views upon the reader. Christianity is deemed as valid as Paganism or indeed any other spiritual path. Refreshing. This book is great. It is as simple as that. If you are interested in Qabalah, then you should be reading it. Reading this book will give you access to the ideas, research and practices of a man who understands the Qabalah throroughly, it will save you reinventing the wheel and you will benefit from his excellent explanations through and through.

Insights of an Excellent Genius Magickian!

Qabalah, or Kabballah or whichever way you choose to spell it continued to be a painful experience for me until I bought and read this book. Rankine's take on it shows that he has done his research, but not only through books and journals, through hard work in the system itself. The book gives all the theory you could ever hope for. It gives practical examples and exercises and it gives insights that I could only vaguely glimpse in other books on the subject. No doubt that there will be some who struggled through Mystical Qabalah by Dion Fortune and other books of that era on the subject of Western Mystery Qabalah who will pick up this book and scratch their heads in disbelief. This book is no-nonsense, no-fluff, ultra-practical, ultra-readable, ultra-excellent. The author has been a practising magickian for many years and through the material made available in this book, I have no doubt that he must also be an excellent teacher. If you have an interest in magickal qabalah you can do no wrong purchasing this book. It will in time, I believe, replace most books on the subject available today. No doubt it will ruffle some feathers with new informed and thought through takes on the Middle Pillar and other such rituals, but it makes perfect sense and gives perfect well thought through reasons for doing so. Part of me felt like I should keep the knowledge of this book to myself. It is a real insight into the mysteries, but this book should be shared. You will save yourself years of struggle and gain great insights if you work through the exercises and visualisations in this book. Enjoy.