Book Review: The Art and Practice of Caballa Magic

The Art and Practice of Caballa Magic by Ophiel is an informal introduction to some of the concepts you'll need if you've chosen the hermetic path. The author tends to ramble, but there is useful information here mixed in with complaints about blinds and the general impracticality of most of the published works in the field.

One thing in the book that I noticed and haven't seen anywhere else is an explanation of the Mason's square and compasses symbol. If you connect the points of the compass and the upper corners of the square with two straight lines, you get two intersecting triangles, one pointing up and one pointing down. The upward-pointing triangle represents the element of fire; the downward-pointing triangle, water.

There are two groundbreaking concepts further on in the book. The first is a new interpretation of the holy name of God: YHVH. The name, according to the book, is actually a formula for manifestation similar to that given in The Secret. The details are similar to the Four Worlds I mentioned in my last post. The other concept is a unique interpretation of the three pillars of the Tree of Life. The Pillar of Mercy is called the Pillar of the Past; the middle pillar is the Pillar of the Present and the Pillar of Severity is the Pillar of the Future. I haven't seen these interpretations anywhere else.

If you happen to see this book in a bookstore, you should pick up a copy.