The Oracle of Kabbalah

The Oracle of Kabbalah explores the ancient teachings regarding the letters of the Hebrew alphabet and how these teachings can be made practical in our contemporary lives.The Hebrew alphabet, the Aleph Beit, is said by the Kabbalists to embody wonderful and miraculous powers. The Hebrew word for letter, ot, also means "sign" or "wonder" or "miracle." According to the earliest known book on Jewish mysticism, The Sefer Yetzirah (The Book of Creation), written more than fifteen centuries...
More Description

The Oracle of Kabbalah explores the ancient teachings regarding the letters of the Hebrew alphabet and how these teachings can be made practical in our contemporary lives.The Hebrew alphabet, the Aleph Beit, is said by the Kabbalists to embody wonderful and miraculous powers. The Hebrew word for letter, ot, also means "sign" or "wonder" or "miracle." According to the earliest known book on Jewish mysticism, The Sefer Yetzirah (The Book of Creation), written more than fifteen centuries ago, God formed the entire universe through speaking aloud the twenty-two letters. Out of the nothingness of silence, with the vibration of God''s cosmic utterances, all things spring to life. "God said, ''Let there be light.'' And there was light."The letters of the Hebrew Alphabet, as the manifestations of God''s speech, are therefore the energetic and vibrational building blocks of creation. They are analogous to physical elements. Just as, for example, an atom of oxygen gas unites with two atoms of hydrogen gas to form a molecule of water, so does one letter combine with another to create new entities.The Hebrew Alphabet is like the periodic table of elements. Rabbi Marcia Prager writes, "This perception of Hebrew words and letters as the constituent spiritual elements of existence undergirds most Jewish mystical teaching."The Hebrew Alphabet and Divination: Using The Oracle of KabbalahTo use this book as a means of divination, become quiet for a few minutes and enter into a receptive, meditative attitude. Take three slow, deep breaths from the belly. Formulate a question for which you seek the guidance of the Hebrew alphabet. Avoid "yes" or "no" questions. A good generic question is, "What perspective on this matter would help me proceed in the best way?" Pray for inspiration and receptivity.Select a card, and discover what sign is revealed to you. Look up the description of that letter in the text and see how the ideas there correspond with or illumine your situation or question. Meditate upon the letter''s associations and also the emotional tone it evokes within you. Be receptive to any glimmers of intuition that may arise.The thirteenth century mystic, Abraham Abulafia, advised students to concentrate on the letters of the Hebrew alphabet "in all their aspects, like a person who is told a parable, or a riddle, or a dream, or as one who ponders a book of wisdom in a subject so profound.." Ponder the answer to your question as you would a riddle or a dream.In your imagination, become the letter. You are not just someone who "chose, for example, the letter Dalet, which means "door," you are the door itself, opening up. You are not just a human who happened to pick Gimmel, the symbol of the camel, you are the camel, making your way steadily through a desert. You are not just a person who is reading about Nun, the energy of "fish," you are the fish itself, swimming through the ever-changing waters of life.Experience the Hebrew alphabet in this way and the letters will speak to you more intimately. As Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel has written, "The ultimate way is not to have a symbol but to be a symbol, to stand for the divine."Another way to use the cards is to select one and then meditate upon it, carefully tracing its shape in your mind''s eye and seeing what thoughts, images, feelings, or inspirations come. Jewish mystics describe the black letters on the white page of the Torah as "black fire on white fire." Visualize the letters of the Hebrew alphabet in this fiery way and they come to life with vibrant energy.After doing this, you may choose to refer to the text to see how the ideas there correspond with your own discoveries, or you may simply be content with the fruits of your own meditation.Early Kabbalist practitioners reported that after periods of meditating upon the Hebrew alphabet, the letters came to life and began talking. Others said they saw the letters grow wings and fly from the surface of the page. Even if your experience is less dramatic, perhaps the letters will speak quietly to you, gently showing you the power of Hebrew alphabet.