Daily Kabbalah: Wisdom from the Tree of Life

Description

From sorcery to animal totems, buzzard feathers to hawk spirits, talking trees to magical stones, sacred circles to healing rituals, the Kabbalah brings readers a rich body of ancient wisdom that has been long neglected and even longer misunderstood. The Kabbalah celebrates a quality of consciousness that enables one to experience magic in the ordinary, miracles in the natural course of events, and spirituality in the physical. Its roots are as old and rich as most aboriginal shamanic traditions, sharing in common with many of them the belief that all of creation is alive, from animals and plants to the sun and the moon.The uniqueness of this book lies in its selections from this rare tradition of Jewish mystery wisdom. Culled from ancient and medieval Hebraic and Aramaic sources, much of this material has been hidden in dusty archives or obscure translations. These short selected readings are intended as contemplative, inspirational, and even entertaining extracts. As short as a few lines or as long as a page, they are translated and paraphrased here to render them accessible to readers of all backgrounds and spiritual paths.

Gershon Winkler is a widely recognized scholar in the fields of Jewish mysticism, theology, law, and lore, and has published fourteen books since 1980. Gershon was born in Sjaeland, Denmark, and educated in Orthodox Jewish communities in the United States and Israel. He has lectured as Scholar-in-Residence at colleges and universities, and for ecumenical and Jewish retreats in North and Central America, Europe, and Israel. Rabbi Winkler considers himself non-denominational and was ordained at Yeshivat Beit Yosef-Novoredok in Jerusalem in 1978 when he was initiated by its dean, the late Kabbalist Rabbi Eli'ezer Benseon. His non-mainstream exploits have won him media recognition, including a front page feature in the Wall Street Journal, a segment on the PBS series Religion and Ethics Newsweekly, and detailed coverage in Israel's Ha'aretz, Chayyim Acherim magazine, and The Jerusalem Post. Gershon has served in rural Jewish communities across West Virginia, as Hillel director for West Virginia State University and itinerant chaplain for Federal Prison Camps in Morgantown and Alderson, and periodically as Visiting Chaplain throughout the Colorado state prison system. In 1997, he founded the Walking Stick Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the recovery and preservation of aboriginal Jewish spirituality.

"There's an old Native American saying: 'If it doesn't grow corn, what good is it?' Gershon Winkler grows corn. He celebrates the wind. He is the friend of Spider, Magpie, and Lizard. He lives with storms. With the crash of lightning. With rainbows. In this masterful compendium you will have found an ally that can help you remember, realize, and see. This book has helped me to forge a deeper connection with my own indigenous ways in very much the same way Gershon has done with his." -David Carson, Choctaw Elder and Pipe-Carrier, author of Crossing into Medicine Country, and coauthor of Medicine Cards and 2013 Oracle "Winkler's knowledge is a universe away from the glib superficiality of pop mysticism and mass market 'spirituality.'" -The Jewish Community Update, Sedona, Arizona "Rabbi Gershon Winkler with wit and wisdom leads us to rediscover the more pagan and pantheistic mysteries underlying the ancient Hebrew tradition. He renders user-friendly the more cryptic teachings of lesser-known kabbalistic source texts and oral traditions in order to inspire and inform our lives. I highly recommend this book!" -Andrew Weil, MD, author of Spontaneous Healing and Natural Health, Natural Medicine