Introduction to the Study of the Kabalah

Rating:
Summary: Too Short... Too Dull... Too erroneous...
Review: "An Introduction to the Study of the Kabalah" written by the famous William Wynn Westcott is too short. It contains a total of 66 pages including the index. Kessinger Publishing also hewed away at the bottom of my book & some of the pages ended up longer then the other. Paradoxically this book does contain a few interesting diagrams that does not come in new books on the Kabalah e.g. Allotment of Jehovah, The Triads of the Tree, etc. I also wonder how much the author really knew about the Kabalah because on Plate III the Sephiroth Netzach & Hod are on the wrong side of the body. Whether this was a printing error or an author blunder I do not know. Westcott does give us meticulously written historical background on the Kabalah in the first chapter entitled "The Kabalah." The second chapter dubbed "The Practical Kabalah" presents us with a great diagram of the Hebrew letters & their correspondence. However again this chapter is mostly historical in context. The third & final chapter called "The Dogmatic Kabalah" gives us a wonderful understanding of the Kabalah's correspondence with archangels, diagrams, & again more history. I do not believe the title "An Introduction to the Study of the Kabalah" fits what the title presents. It's more like "The History of the Kabalah." This book was helpful to me however if you're new to the Kabalah this book might stick a lemon in your mouth. There is too much history about the roots of the Kabalah & the Zohar to actually be interesting. In conclusion this book is too short, too dull, & too erroneous. Westcott's book might be of some use to the adept but to the uninitiated it will most likely confuse & abuse the brain. I suggest if you're looking for a beginner's guide you purchase Israel Regardie's "A Garden of Pomegranates," or Dion Fortune's "The Mystical Qabalah."

Rating:
Summary: Too Short... Too Dull... Too erroneous...
Review: "An Introduction to the Study of the Kabalah" written by the famous William Wynn Westcott is too short. It contains a total of 66 pages including the index. Kessinger Publishing also hewed away at the bottom of my book & some of the pages ended up longer then the other. Paradoxically this book does contain a few interesting diagrams that does not come in new books on the Kabalah e.g. Allotment of Jehovah, The Triads of the Tree, etc. I also wonder how much the author really knew about the Kabalah because on Plate III the Sephiroth Netzach & Hod are on the wrong side of the body. Whether this was a printing error or an author blunder I do not know. Westcott does give us meticulously written historical background on the Kabalah in the first chapter entitled "The Kabalah." The second chapter dubbed "The Practical Kabalah" presents us with a great diagram of the Hebrew letters & their correspondence. However again this chapter is mostly historical in context. The third & final chapter called "The Dogmatic Kabalah" gives us a wonderful understanding of the Kabalah's correspondence with archangels, diagrams, & again more history. I do not believe the title "An Introduction to the Study of the Kabalah" fits what the title presents. It's more like "The History of the Kabalah." This book was helpful to me however if you're new to the Kabalah this book might stick a lemon in your mouth. There is too much history about the roots of the Kabalah & the Zohar to actually be interesting. In conclusion this book is too short, too dull, & too erroneous. Westcott's book might be of some use to the adept but to the uninitiated it will most likely confuse & abuse the brain. I suggest if you're looking for a beginner's guide you purchase Israel Regardie's "A Garden of Pomegranates," or Dion Fortune's "The Mystical Qabalah."