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Book Description
From the Publisher
Without doubt, the first question people asked Rabbi Lamed Ben Clifford concerned his choice of the word "Chicken" to describe his brand of Qabalistic study and practice. Read the first page
Concordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars
A Terrible Waste of Potential,
By Moshe ben Mordecai (Boston, MA United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Chicken Qabalah of Rabbi Lamed Ben Clifford: Dilettante's Guide to What You Do and Do Not Know to Become a Qabalist (Paperback)
I was initially rather excited to read this book based on the glowing reviews from several of my friends and I found the first chapter or two to be highly amusing, but by the time I reached the end of the book, not only did I no longer find the book funny, but I was extremely disappointed at its ridiculously oversimplified and biased view of the Hermetic Qabalah. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to have a cheap laugh at the expense of the Western Mystery Tradition, but not to anyone who would actually like to learn something about the Qabalah. One disclaimer that the book should have had is that the views presented are actually the Thelemic view of Qabalah rather than the mainstream Hermetic, Jewish, or Christian variants of this tradition. Instead, the Thelemic view was simply presented as the Qabalah without any further explanation, and the Thelemic Qabalah wasn't even particularly well-conveyed at that. I'm more inclined to recommend books by Ze'ev ben Shimon HaLevi or Dion Fortune for those with a serious interest that goes beyond mocking the Qabalah. All this book does is present a very shallow view and then lead you to believe you "know" the Qabalah. I've seen a few people taken in by this and it is really quite a shame. I am very disappointed because I do think humor is one of the best methods of teaching difficult concepts, but this book attempts that and falls flat on its face.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good intro to beginners,
By Eric (Mechanicsburg PA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Chicken Qabalah of Rabbi Lamed Ben Clifford: Dilettante's Guide to What You Do and Do Not Know to Become a Qabalist (Paperback)
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.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Learning with Laughter,
By "razeup" (NY) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Chicken Qabalah of Rabbi Lamed Ben Clifford: Dilettante's Guide to What You Do and Do Not Know to Become a Qabalist (Paperback)
Like the rest of Mr Duquette's books, The Chicken Qabalah of Rabbi Lamed Ben Clifford takes a difficult subject and simplifys it so that it can be easily understandable. It isn't strictly for novices, however; even those who have studied the Qabala for years can pick some golden eggs of wisdom from this book. The only kind of person I wouldn't reccomend this book to would be to a strict Kabbalist with no sense of humor. All in all, this book is probably the best introduction to the Qabala out there and is genuinely hilarious.
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