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

Very easy to read. LMD is pretty funny. Crammed full of information.

For starters I have to say this is the single best intro to the Qabalah I've ever read- & I've read a few. Unlike most basic intros this book utilizes humor so that you learn in spite of yourself. Which is great. Now why would you want to learn Qabalah? It is a little more complex then some of the Paths out there...but is that really a bad thing? Sometimes the more effort you put into a System the more you get out of it. To understand the core basis of the Western Mystery Tradition which influences such paths as Tarot-Astrology-Ceremonial Magick-Rosicrucianism-Alchemy- & Mystic Freemasonry-an understanding of Qabalah is indispensable... & for such a daunting subject why not start here? Lon Milo Duquette shows that just because you are an Occultist you don't have to be an over serious anal retentive bore with an ego the size of your massive ancient crumbling library !!! & that is a gift to all of us...most of his work is like that-very approachable. Oh & I guess if you don't know what the Qabalah is I'll give you the run down...yes Qabalah stems from the Jewish Mysticism of the same name though spelled Kabbalah & from there it stems from its Christian offshoot Cabala...Qabalah is the Occult branch & as Lon Milo Duquette in the "FAQs About Chicken Qabalah" : "You don't need to be born anything, or belong to any religion, cult, order, or political party. You don't need to believe in the Hebrew God, or Moses, or the Great Goddess, or Jesus, or L. Ron Hubbard, or Mohammed, or any other savior, prophet, or salesperson. You don't even need a faithful heart or an open mind. The brain-warping power of Qabalistic thought will soon make all those things irrelevant." Pg. 9 What will you get in this wacky exploration? You will get that fusion of Logic & Myth that Qabalah pulls off so well...you can grab the Keys to the Universe & run off with Madonna to study the Wisdom of the Ages. On your way you will learn the programming language of Qabalah which is Hebrew-you won't have to learn to speak it just to become familiar with the 22 letters-be able to write them- & know the meaning & numerical value of the letters & I'll admit this is the first time I really have become interested in doing so...because this book relates why this is important & even exciting. This also gives you a good reason to invest in Godwin's Cabalistic Encyclopedia to go more in depth in you studies. Next you will learn some surprising things about the pronunciation of the Ineffable Name of God that will make you giggle!!! You will never read Donald Tyson's The Power of the Word with a straight face again that's for sure!!! You will also get a preview of the glyph known as the Tree of Life. Also you will get a witty discussion on Magick & the Tree of Life where you will get brilliant & blunt bits of wisdom such as this [which is one of my favorites]: "Are the spirits real or just imaginary? The spirits are both real and imaginary, but most of us

Well, I am a physician and spent years learnig about authentic Jewish Kabbalah. Learned biblical hebrew from a rabbi, own most of the major texts and have been studying for 12+ years. While I was vaguely familiar with Qabalah I had been avoiding it since I had so many bad experiences with the Occult version of this mystical system. Well, a few months ago the universe kept trying to get me to read this book. I laughted and said you have got to be kidding me and blew it off repeatedly for about 3 months. Finally I broke down one day in boredom and bought it thinking "You have to be kidding me. No one can make fun of a spiritual system and effectively teach it. This should at least be good for a laugh" Boy was I wrong. It was a fast entertaining read that taught me many things. First it is traditionally accurate to the best of my knowledge. The Tarot section alone was worth it. For years I had read the Tarot was Kabbalistic but no one touched the subject any further. In 20 pages Lon had me hooked and trained. I literally finished it in an airport and was so deep in thought for 3 hours I almost missed my flight. I have since authored my own course with all the connections I have learned prior to this. The text alone is well over 200 pages of correspondence material. And I had such a great time laughing. I do feel that sometimes his explainations were too simplistic but for people with no background the ideas still communicate the essence. As you go along they will flesh out later into more depthy understanding. Read this book for he Tarot section and Ark of the Covenant section alone if for no other reason and prepare to have a fantastic ride of pure spiritual entertainment and learning. :-)

Finally, a book that explains The Qabalah in a user-friendly, comprehensible format! I highly recommend The Chicken Qabalah to anyone interested in the subjects of; Qabalah, Magick, Masonry, Astrology, Tarot, etc. This wonderful Treatise on the subject explains The Qabalah in a fun, entertaining manner that sort-of tricks you into learning the subject.Most books about The Qabalah (Cabalah, Kabalah...spell it however you want, and don't worry about it) will put you to sleep-thus are not conducive to teaching the subject. However, The Good Rabbi has figured-out a way to trick us into staying-awake long-enough not-only to get through a chapter, but THE ENTIRE BOOK !My wife and I both finished this book very quickly-in fact, we could not put it down. After reading the book, my wife made some wonderful Qabalah Flash Cards, based-upon The Good Rabbi's work, "777" (Crowley --ISBN: 0877286701) and "Paths of Wisdom," by John Michael Greer (ASIN: 1567183158 ). We have found this is the easiest way to learn Qabalistic Correspondences, The Hebrew Alphabet, etc. My wife's idea was brilliant and we now have requests for the Flash Cards, from other would-be Chicken Qabalists."The Chicken Qabalah" is, without question, the most fascinating book I have ever read, on the subject! Anyone who can make The Qabalah interesting as The Good Rabbi has should get a Gold Medal, or...perhaps, a Gold Chicken award.I will treasure my copy of "The Chicken Qabalah" and give it a clear-contact-paper cover to protect it on it's journey about the house-it doesn't take a Psychic to see that this book will be a constant resource / reference in my studies and will rarely find it's way back to the bookshelf.For anyone who has ever been interested in The Qabalah, but doesn't want to grow old and grey trying to figure it out-or, for anyone who has tried and fell-asleep or become frustrated-this is the best book to acquire, for an introductory course and an exciting, humorous read! Besides, The Rabbi has figured it all out for us, and explained it with diagrams / illustrations, so don't worry about it.You'll laugh, you'll cry....you'll mutter to yourself, "well, I'll be damned !" Often, you may find yourself slapping your forehead, and proclaiming, "Duh." (Illumination is like that, sometimes). Also, you will find yourself learning the Hebrew letters despite yourself....I do not want to give it away (so to speak), but the methods The Rabbi uses to teach the Hebrew Letters are unforgettable.If I were to give this book a short description, it would be "Common Sense Qabalah."Disclaimer: For anyone, who feels the need to inform me that only one version of The Qabalah is correct...or believes only one organization is correct...or that "Western Qabalah isn't `real' Kabbalah"...or doesn't approve of the Rabbi's style...I only have one thing to say, "I'm a Chicken Qabalist, and I don't worry about it."

The Chicken QabalahOf Rabbi Lamed Ben CliffordBy Lon Milo DuQuetteSamuel Weiser, 2001Reviewed by Poke RunyonAfter some thirty years of studying, practicing and even daring toteach what is called "Hermetic Qabalah" (or Kabbalah or Cabala, orwhat ever ) I was recently confronted by a person (not even Jewish)who condescendingly informed me that the word was pronounced"Kab-ah-LAH" and that if I had not studied it under a bone fide RabbiI really knew nothing about it. Even though I had taken a class inJewish mysticism in college from a real Rabbi, that didn't seem to begood enough. I was a "Chicken Qabalist" and I was made to feel as if Ishould sit in the back of the metaphysical bus.Before the mid-1970s we Hermetic qabalists lived in a happy dreamworld where we thought we actually were studying and practicing adeeply profound system of spiritual growth and magical attainmentbased on long-forgotten medieval Jewish and renaissance Rosicrucianroots. We had no idea the "real" Kab-ah-LAH had no Tarot cards, noPagan Gods (certainly no Pagan Goddesses!), very little astrology, andabsolutely no magick. But then came our sad awakening. Faced with toomany brilliant young people committing themselves to various forms ofEastern mysticism, Jewish Biblical and Talmudic scholars, led byGreshom Scholem and followed by Aryeh Kaplan, dusted off andrefurbished the old, nearly forgotten orthodox Jewish kabbalah.We Hermetic qabalists (if we even dared to call ourselves qabalistsat this point ) were now second class metaphysical citizens.What we desperately needed was our own Rabbi --- a roly-poly, whitebearded, good-natured esoteric sage who would tell us: "Hey, it's okayto be a Chicken Qabalist. Have all the Tarot cards and magick youwant. The qabalah is for everybody! Enjoy!"And that is exactly what Maestro Lon Milo DuQuette has given us in the"pseudepigraphic" personage of Rabbi Lamed Ben Clifford. Ben Cliffordis an iconoclastic, renegade scholar who teaches the students of hisschool (the Zerubbabel Institute of Philosophical Youth; 'Z.I.P.Y')all the basics of the qabalah we know and love --- with delightful humor and wonderfully cogent analogies. For example: the theory of the Four Worlds of descending creative emanations is explained as a four story building where chairs are conceived, designed, manufactured, and finally put in the show room on the bottom floor. But don't make the mistake of thinking that Ben Clifford (or DuQuette)is dumbing down the qabalah; far from it! Lon DuQuette has alreadyestablished himself as one of the leading exponents of Hermeticqabalah and magick. His "Chicken Qabalah" is rib tickling but it isalso profound---and I make bold to suggest that he can make a deepconcept-such as The Four Parts of the Soul (Chia, Neshamah, Ruach, andNepesh) more grokable than Greshom Scholem or Aryeh Kaplan ---even to Jewish readers. That brings up another key point: this book is not a "They havetheirs" and "We have ours" sort of presentation. The in

Under the guise of the very unorthodox Rabbi LaMeD, Lon Milo DuQuette skillfully breathes humor and life into the basics of Qabalah. This is no mean feat, since those basics are traditionally presented in tables which are crammed into one's cranium by sheer force of rote memorization. LaMeD provides happy medicine to those who have been discouraged or daunted by the formidible complexity and scope of Qabalah as presented in most other works. One cannot escape the need to learn some things by memorization, but humor makes that material much easier to digest. Followed carefully, this orderly presentation will provide a very strong grounding in Qabalah essentials. I should perhaps also mention that this book is not only for beginners; it is a great refresher, and can round out areas of study you may have neglected. And, the humor level increases if you are already familiar with the Western Mystery Tradition. Again, this book is guaranteed to amuse and please; it is hands-down one of the funniest, most thorough and finest single-volume introductions you are likely to see.