Edward E. Wilson

Originally posted: Mon, Aug. 15th, 2005 22:18

Continuation of The Support Group/Schizotypal

Jerry pulled the large pile of books out of his cheap nylon backpack and carefully handed them around the circle to us.

My chair creaked as I reached for the first one. It was an oversized glossy white paperback with an egyptian motif on the front called 777 And Other Qabalistic Writings of Aleister Crowley. The next one was the same size, navy blue with an etching design done in black called Kabbalah by Gershom Scholem. The next one was a big green hardcover with a library style plastic dust cover called, The Essence Of The Cabalah: Tarot, Hebrew, English by William Eisen. The rest seemed to be binders of computer printouts and Jerry’s own notes.

“So what’s the deal with all the different spellings?” I asked.

Jerry looked at me for a moment his gaze wide and yet direct. “That depends on how much you want to know,” he said after a moment, “the long version would take about an hour.”

“The short version for now I guess,” I replied.

“Basically the k double b with the h on the end is traditional jewish religious kabbalah. A bit stuffy, disdains practical or effect seeking for spiritual communion. C single b no h is usually the early christian hermetic started in the renaissance. Still stuffy, a little fluffy and searching for a different version of god. Last one q no u usually single b, h about half the time, is more modern hermetic or magick qabala. Put together by people involved with the golden dawn in England around or after 1880 something.”