Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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."

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. :-)

The Chicken Qabalah
Of Rabbi Lamed Ben Clifford
By Lon Milo DuQuette
Samuel Weiser, 2001
Reviewed by Poke Runyon

After some thirty years of studying, practicing and even daring to
teach what is called "Hermetic Qabalah" (or Kabbalah or Cabala, or
what 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 Rabbi
I really knew nothing about it. Even though I had taken a class in
Jewish mysticism in college from a real Rabbi, that didn't seem to be
good enough. I was a "Chicken Qabalist" and I was made to feel as if I
should sit in the back of the metaphysical bus.

Before the mid-1970s we Hermetic qabalists lived in a happy dream
world where we thought we actually were studying and practicing a
deeply profound system of spiritual growth and magical attainment
based on long-forgotten medieval Jewish and renaissance Rosicrucian
roots. We had no idea the "real" Kab-ah-LAH had no Tarot cards, no
Pagan Gods (certainly no Pagan Goddesses!), very little astrology, and
absolutely no magick. But then came our sad awakening. Faced with too
many brilliant young people committing themselves to various forms of
Eastern mysticism, Jewish Biblical and Talmudic scholars, led by
Greshom Scholem and followed by Aryeh Kaplan, dusted off and
refurbished the old, nearly forgotten orthodox Jewish kabbalah.

We Hermetic qabalists (if we even dared to call ourselves qabalists
at this point ) were now second class metaphysical citizens.
What we desperately needed was our own Rabbi --- a roly-poly, white
bearded, good-natured esoteric sage who would tell us: "Hey, it's okay
to be a Chicken Qabalist. Have all the Tarot cards and magick you
want. 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 Clifford
is an iconoclastic, renegade scholar who teaches the students of his
school (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 already
established himself as one of the leading exponents of Hermetic
qabalah and magick. His "Chicken Qabalah" is rib tickling but it is
also profound---and I make bold to suggest that he can make a deep
concept-such as The Four Parts of the Soul (Chia, Neshamah, Ruach, and
Nepesh) more grokable than Greshom Scholem or Aryeh Kaplan ---

even to Jewish readers.

That brings up another key point: this book is not a "They have
theirs" and "We have ours" sort of presentation. The intent and the
humor is not irreverent and certainly not anti-Jewish. Actually this
review is more critical of the second-class status imposed on Hermetic
qabalah than either Lon, or his Ben Clifford, have been in the book
itself. The Chicken Qabalah should be a delightful read for interested
people of all religious backgrounds. It forms a light-hearted, but
deeply meaningful, bridge between two systems of qabalah that have
recently drifted apart.

Last but not least, it provides those of us who have been immersed in
Hermeitc qabalah for years with a delightfully humorous review of
basics (and profound principles) that we would otherwise not bother to
undertake, given the dry nature of the previously published material.
All considered, The Chicken Qabalah is a mini-masterpiece from a
Master with a twinkle in his eye.

Poke Runyon

Lon DuQuette, Deputy Grand Master of the American Caliphate Ordo Templi Orientis, has a unique take on the subjects that he writes about.

Unlike many authors (particularly many of those who write about Kaos or "pseudoreligions"--cf. Robert Anton "Bob" Wilson), DuQuette manages to be humerous without being a cynical relativist. His book "Magick of Thelema" is probably one of the best starting points for people who are interested in learning about "orthodox" OTO-style Thelema. Not being an "orthodox" Thelemite, but rather "heretical" (though I am an Assosciate of OTO), I don't entirely agree with all his points made in the book. What I like THAT one for is his genius for bringing together all the bigger rituals of Crowley's make and commenting on them in what I perceive to be more of a suggestive--rather than authoritative--manner. For the more "orthodox", however, the book is definately worth your while.

Essentially, DuQuette does the same thing with this book. My first introduction to Qabalah was Dion Fortune's classic, "The Mystical Qabalah". I still reference it when I need to figure something out. While a profoundly influential book, it certainly has its own flaws. One technical error of the book is the lack of any discussion of the paths on the Tree--thus an entire half of Qabalah is pretty much ignored by her, and arguably the more important half. A second flaw is style--comparing aspects of the Qabalah with current science, she sometimes sounds loony due to the fact that her comparisons are to discredited ideas (though they would have been useful for those who were current in the time, and her point still stands albeit it's not as forceful). The second major stylistic flaw with her book is--it's boring. Horribly, horribly boring. Her style is more academic there than friendly. She sounds like a professor describing some obscure aspect of Newtonian physics (of course, the book IS instructional material, so that fits).

Here is where DuQuette's book comes into play. His book is much easier to read through than Fortune's, and just as informative. It's also more current, which might be helpful in some ways.

To those who would say that only the Jewish Qabalah is accurate, I say "bull". Modern scholars have made a convincing case that the Qabalah originated with the Greeks, not the Jews. Anyone who actually uses Qabalah knows that either way it is a very flexible system. Anyone can create gematric systems if they know how, and the structure and meaning of the Qabalah is unique to each person. It is not some racially-secluded attavistic, nationalist philosophy. It works with the Bible, it works with Thousand and One Arabian Nights. Heck, it works with Alice in Wonderland. Learn it, use it, love it.

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.

As an experienced Tarot card reader, I looked for insights in this book to help me in that pursuit. After reading "The Chicken Qabalah," here is my a quick review of it:

READ THIS BOOK.

Okay. I'll expand on that a bit.

If you are already an expert on this subject, but you just want to roll on the floor laughing while reading about it, read this book.

If you have little or no knowledge of the Qabalah and you want an easy-to-read and easy-to-understand introduction to it, read this book. Be prepared to laugh too, though, because DuQuette knows that you learn more when you are entertained at the same time.

If you have no idea what the heck the Qabalah is, or if you just don't [care]about it, read this book anyway. You may not learn anything of use to your Tarot practice (although you may be surprised!), but this book is so clever and so very amusing that you won't regret it. Honest...

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 do not realize how real our imagination is."
Pg. 132

The portion that deals in the Chicken Tarot is amazing bringing in fresh exciting ideas into this field-it also lets you use the Tarot as a study tool for the Qabalah.

The last chapter deals in "Games that Qabalists Play" in which you learn to use Zen like contemplation & Logic to connect with the Divine via word & math games-& these words don't have to be Holy or Grand but as simple as "Have a Nice Day."

Well in the end I have to say this book blew my mind & helped me connect with the Divine with tears of laughter in my eyes. If you want to continue your Qabalistic education-another beginners' book-though less funny to look into is Simplified Qabala Magic By Ted Andrews & a more in depth study is in Garden Of Pomegranates by Israel Regardie.

Okay I hope this was helpful on your life journey-& check this book out!!! Until next time---Have a Nice Day!!!

DuQuette's cute masterpiece was the first book on Qabalah I read. I read the book attentively and even highlighted the phrases I thought to be useful for later work. Well... I have NO idea what Qabalah is and how to use it. Should I be upset about it? Hell, no! I am a Chicken Qabalist!!!

I will share with you the two Highly Profound Thoughts that stumble into my head while I was reading this book (I am sure they simply got lost on their way to Rabbi Lamed Ben Clifford's mind, but you know what... let's not worry about it, after all he and I are Chicken Qabalists!!):

1. Everything is Sacred, everything contains the ultimate sense, everything is the ONE.

2. Be what you are and do what pleases you: you are here exactly for that reason. Do not compare yourself, but live the life that pleases YOU and once you have the ingredients together something that is greater than the parts emerge and you will be surrounded with people who treasure the YOU that you are, and who will need exactly what you have to offer. Basically, "build it, and they will come."

"The Qabalah doesn't enable me to merely interpret what somebody else meant to say; it forces me to hear what I need to hear! Each time I make another connection on paper, I am creating a new connection in my head (or perhaps reattaching a connection that was disconnected from heads of our ancestors vast ages ago), and I am one step nearer to the realization that everything in Heaven and Earth is connected to everything in Heaven and Earth." (p.186)

"Gods, archangels, angels, spirits, intelligences, and demons are personifications of all our abilities and potential abilities - a wondrous hierarchy of consciousness that represents the subdivisions of our own soul." (p.130)

Since I did not know what I needed to learn about Qabalah and what exactly it was, I could not figure out if the writer was making too much fun, or if the descriptions were much too simplified or if it was even worth wasting time trying to finish this book (which reads more like a short O'Henry story than a "study" manual) but in the end it all, magically, came together. I did not have a clear and loud "A-HA!" moment (do I care about it? Hell, no! I am a Chicken Qabalist!!) but I did get more light onto the question of what Qabalah is, what is "inside" of it, and, most important HOW TO use a trick or to to enhance my own life and lives of people who turn to me for friendship, help, advice, support: you name it. AND I learned a new way to uncover messages from above, be it in the repeating numbers I meet through the day, in a phrase that is stuck in my mind or in the additional layer I can, with some practice, put out of any Tarot spread.

For me, the whole book was a prelude to the Chapter 9 The Chicken Tarot and Holy Guardian Angel, an astonishingly practical view on how to "place" all the cards in your head and how to use Qabalah, Astrology, timing, magic: you NAME IT! - in your Tarot readings. And once again, the last chapter, on the numbers-letters and other Qabalistic "games" is an awesome how-to guide on getting Divine messages every moment of your existence.

I five this book 4 Stars only because I feel that Lon Milo DuQuette could have put so, so, so much more into it. I feel like he has uncovered a tiny look-through hole in the fence between me and the rest of the World. I wish he showed me where the door is :) But then, as Rabbi Lamed Ben Clifford said, "I've worked hard to gain enlightenment just so you won't have to" (p.149) Oh, well...

Does DuQuette, the author, care that I gave the book 4 out of 5 stars? Hell, no! He is the Chicken Qabalist!!!

Victoria Evangelina Belyavskaya

PS I cannot leave without assuring you that if you ever wanted to learn Hebrew Alphabet: how to write letters and their meanings, the guide in the book is THE solution to your quest. It is so easy that after reading it once I may not remember the names of the letters yet, but I will never confuse Gimel and Nun, for example, for my eyes have been trained to see the subtle difference.

PPS you HAVE TO learn Hebrew Alphabet to apply Qabalah knowledge in Tarot and every-moment-everywhere-divine-message-readings!

The Chicken Qabalah
of
Rabbi Lamed Ben Clifford

by Lon Milo Duquette
Weiser Books
2001
ISBN #1-57863-215-3

Like many in the Tarot world, the Qabalah (in any of its numerous spellings) strikes terror into my heart! How in the heck am I supposed to make sense of anything this complex? I can barely follow a very basic discussion concerning the Qabalah - which in ways, may be a blessing, as no two people in these discussions ever seem to agree on anything, and tangents break off all the time!

OK I have to admit, I have had some bits of luck with getting a basic understanding of the Qabalah as it relates to the Tarot - specifically through the works of Ellen Cannon Reed ("The Witches Qabala: The Pagan Path and the Tree of Life, Samuel Weiser, Inc, 1997) and Alexandra Genetti ( "The Wheel Of Change Tarot", Destiny Books, 1997). These ladies have done a marvelous job of presenting their work - my hat is off to both of them. This is where my personal study of the Qabalah began.

To get past the very basics was not easy - the material is complex, dry and ... well, not easily palatible! And then the good Rabbi came along. The very first thing that he did was to expand my vocabulary and sense of literature - all in one fell swoop of chicken feathers! I quote,:

" Revered Hebrew scholar, Gershom G. Scholem wrote:

For a long time we have known that literary forgeries represent a flight into anonymity and pseudonymity just as often as they indicate trickery; and not for nothing have we retained the foreign word "pseudepigrapha" to designate in particular a legitimate category of religious literature ... the Zohar is the most important but by far not the only example of such love of masquerade in Jewish literature."

What does this mean in plain English? It means that Lon Milo Duequete presents this as the work of Rabbi Lamed Ben CLifford, of the "Zerubabbel Institute of Philosophical Youth" (ZIPY), with introductions to each chapter in Mr. Duquette's own words. Quite frankly, this was the only way that the good Rabbi could be kept in check!

While a sense of humor and the Qabalah at first glance do not seem destined to be in the same room, I found this presentation heartwarming, palatible, tremendously funny (picture me in my living room, with only my cat as company, laughing so hard that I have tears running down my cheeks) ... and very instructive. The reason that you cannot read this book straight through is not that the material is so difficult, it is that you have to take time outs to wipe your eyes and blow your nose.

The Rabbi himself takes over the FAQ chapter of this book. It is quite important that we understand who Chicken Qabalist's are, and where they fit into the scheme of things. There is also an authentic certificate in this book that the reader may fill out and present as Qabalistic credentials. The problem here is that the certificate is IN the book - i.e. part of it. I considered making a photocopy, but that seemed like a sham. I mean - I want to see the real thing when I am checking someone's credentials. I haven't quite decided how I am going to handle this one yet.

The "Ten Command Rants" is a nice introduction to the work in this book. Here we begin to glimpse the divine nature of the Qabalah - according to the Rabbi, of course!

Without even realizing it, in the ensuing chapters we are led through the formation of the Sepher Yetzirah, the Hebrew alphabet (not a small study in itself), the Four Qabalistic Worlds and the Four Parts of the Soul , the Tree of Life ... and much, much more.

The key here is the journey - the journey is important, not where it leads you. Enjoy the journey, learn from the journey - but do not <become> the journey. There is a great deal of material presented in this book - and it is intended only as a beginning. The reader is encouraged to work with the information, to allow it to become part of them.

There are many excellent graphs and charts presented here. The path is made very easy to create one's own workbook, and bring the Qabalah into reality. If you allow it to, the Qabalah readily takes a three dimentional form - it has a face, it has a sense of "being".

I recommend this book to all levels of students. Why all levels? Because if you think that you understand it, you might not, really. And, if you really do understand it, by reading this book you may see a whole new way to present it to your own students.

I have read so many book about magick that I've lost count. I've been lectured about this subject by Dion Fortune, Isreal Regardie and Donaldson until I thought I knew what I was reading about. 20 years later, I run into Duquette and it all falls into place. After laughing myself silly I actually understood connections I've assumed for years. Many times I thought that Duquette had written his book specifically for me.

His chapter on the Ineffable Name of God has so enlightened me as to the nature of scripture and pronunciation, that I'll never be the same.

However, I don't recommend it to the unitiated. Read first another book on the Qabalah; maybe two. only then will you appreciate the sharp edge and perspective Duquette brings to this subject. You won't get all of it until then.