"If there is common ground among the world's religions," Elizabeth Clare Prophet begins her book, "it is to be found in mysticism. Adventurers of the spirit, the mystics have dared to push beyond the boundaries of orthodox tradition ..." "Dared" was the operative word in the Middle Ages when the response of orthodoxy was all too often the torture chamber, the stake, the fire, but even so, and despite the awful risks, the period was full of "adventurers of the spirit", mystics who believed that there was more to life than what we see with our eyes and can hold in our hands, that the body is not the man but something the soul wears in this life, a suit of clothes, no more.
This wonderful book explains clearly what Kabbalah is, how it originated, and its links and similarities to various other forms of mysticism. It is particularly good on the history of Kabbalah. Having discussed ancient times and the relationship between Kabbalah and the Torah, the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Mystery Religions and the Gnostics, she tells us that "The movement known as Kabbalah first emerged around 1200 in Provence, in France," and was codified by Rabbi Moses de León (1240-1305) of León, in Spain, "the mystic genius who wrote the Zohar, the first book to clearly delineate Kabbalistic thought."
She tells us what the sefiroth (the emanations of God) are, dealing with each sefirah separately, and also in triads. She explains the significance of their arrangement as a tree in the Tree of Life, as something like chakras in the body of the Divine Man, Adam Kadmon, and as a zigzag leading straight from one to the other (my favourite) in the Lightning Flash. She contrasts the Soul, which is individual, with the Spirit of God within, which is not, and she compares this with the teachings of Hinduism on the Atman, and of Buddhism. Clearly no spiritual coward herself, she takes on the problem of Evil, telling us about the Divine Gevurah/Din and the Counterfeit Din, and showing how such medieval tales as Snow White portray archetypes that represent the Soul on its journey (Snow White) and the Counterfeit Din (the wicked queen). She then moves on to the spiritual quest itself, the Mystic Ascent.
