Hermetic Qabalah Foundation—Complete Course: ""

A concise, diligent, thoughtful, and academically sound gathering of Hermetic Qabalah principles through a synthetic, yet distinct lens accounting for everything from the original Hebrew/Jewish mystical attributions, Tarot, the Zodiac, elements of Kenneth Grant, and I am sure a lot more that I am forgetting. My run-on sentence aside, I really appreciate the order in which the author orients the reader to the information, as it's non-linear in a sense. The content is largely tables, diagrams, and distinct outlines for practice - with some philosophy of its teachings - it strikes a good balance. Its a somewhat short, large print book - but it's serious, and clearly the result of rigorous study and practice. As an absolute novice to occult studies, with limited reading on Hermetic Qabalah under my belt - I can't say much for how it compares to others on the subject. That aside, everything in this book feels inherently valuable, like this is something with a timeless quality, and therefore, has a very relevant place on my shelf somewhere between Clive Barker, Carlos Castaneda, and Gilles Deleuze or Nietzsche. Oliver St. John is clearly not interested in palpating reality here - and is offering his gathered knowledge as a way of moving through and transcending it by way of important and ancient traditions. That said, Oliver St. John should be commended for noting the fact that these are not methods to take lightly, but to held to a rigorous standard. Just as a drum set is not a toy for children to bang on - but a serious instrument that is mastered through time and technique, so to is the way of Hermetic Qabalah, as made evident in the text.

great for those interested in learning the Qabalah it has a great one year study course laid out for you to follow that gives you a course guide for each week an month in easy to understand terms