The Kabbalah of Writing: Mystical Practices for Inspiration and Creativity

Description

A mystical system for harnessing divine inspiration in your writing * Explains how the 10 sefirot--the channels of divine creative life force--can be used to develop writing and give you the power to grow as a person and a writer * Explores each sefira in detail and how it can be used to manifest creative visions through words * Provides writing exercises and imaginative techniques to help you receive the mystical wisdom of the Kabbalah, develop your creative powers, and open yourself to inspiration from the divine Revealing how the ancient spiritual tradition known as the Kabbalah can be applied to the art of writing, award-winning author Sherri Mandell presents a mystical system for developing creativity and harnessing divine inspiration in your storytelling and other written works. Sharing insight from her own spiritual journey and her years of teaching writing, Mandell explains how the characteristics of the 10 sefirot--the channels of divine creative life force that make up the elemental spiritual structure of the world--can be used to think about and develop writing in a profound way and give you the power to grow as a person and a writer. She explores each sefira in detail and how it can be used to manifest creative visions through words. Showing how writing can be healing and redemptive, she provides writing exercises and imaginative techniques to help you create a writing practice that allows you to appreciate the richness of life, retrieve its divine beauty, and share your unique wisdom. By unveiling how writing can become a spiritual path, a pilgrimage to discover the sacred stories within, Mandell shows that sharing your inner truth and expressing your personal gifts of imagination through writing is part of your individual spiritual mission as well as an essential part of the spiritual evolution of the world.

Sherri Mandell is an award-winning writer who has contributed to numerous magazines and journals, including USA Today, The Times of Israel, Hadassah Magazine, and the Jerusalem Post. She is the author of several books, including a spiritual memoir The Blessing of a Broken Heart, which won a National Jewish Book Award in 2004. She holds a master's degree in creative writing and studied Kabbalah with teachers in Jerusalem. For the past 20 years, she and her husband have directed the Koby Mandell Foundation in Israel whose flagship program is Camp Koby, a therapeutic sleepaway camp for bereaved children. She lives in Israel.

"Mandell offers an inventive exploration of the Kabbalah as a resource to help readers improve their memoir and essay writing practices, and to discover the 'divine beauty' of their lives. This thoughtful guide balances practical advice with emotional insight, without being overtaken by mystic overtones. Aspiring writers with a spiritual bent will appreciate Mandell's unique approach." * Publishers Weekly * "Whether you are new on your spiritual path or think you have seen and read it all, The Kabbalah of Writing will guide you down fascinating new avenues of spiritual awakening using simple, easy-to-accomplish tools and writing prompts to help you create the life of your dreams. A treasure trove of a book just waiting to be discovered by those ready to take their spiritual understanding and practices to brilliant new heights!" * Royce Christyn, author of Scripting the Life You Want * "Sherri Mandell is brilliant, captivating, and relentlessly honest. Her book is a must for anyone who loves to write and wants to learn to write better." * Brian Kiley, comedian, Emmy Award-winning writer, and head monologue writer for Conan O'Brien * "Sherri Mandell takes us on a breathtaking journey through the spiritual energy of the ten sefirot and shows how each one opens a new doorway into the practice of writing. This is a world where kindness honors our inner voices, boundaries help us edit and focus, and harmony creates moments of insight. Mandell collects guidance from poets, essayists, psychologists, philosophers, and sages alike in a conversation that engages literary wisdom with sacred texts. Bursting with wisdom and practical advice, inspiration and writing prompts, Mandell shows us how to reveal and give voice to our own unique stories." * Jane Medved, author of Deep Calls to Deep and Olam, Shana, Nefesh * "The Kabbalah of Writing is rich with the most practical suggestions for writers, simple to follow, and abundant with possibility. Mandell shows us by example how to live a reading and writing life every day. Her book is a welcome guide for anyone seeking to link spiritual growth with literary experiment." * Ilana M. Blumberg, Ph.D., author and associate professor of English at Bar-Ilan University * "The Tree of Life is a map of the Divine's creative process, and a core Kabbalistic teaching is that we are partners with the Divine in completing and perfecting our part in that process. Sherri Mandell has given writers a great gift as she teaches us how to use the Tree of Life in our creative process, revealing our work to be the holy partnership that it is and enabling us to reach new creative depths and heights." * Mark Horn, author of Tarot and the Gates of Light * "I have never read a book that accomplishes so many goals without overwhelming the reader or oversimplifying the material. The Kabbalah of Writing incorporates a serious treatment of the sefirot interspersed with an illuminating survey of 'writers writing about writing,' peppered with personal anecdotes that warm the heart, and topped with an adventurous array of writing exercises." * Sarah Yehudit Schneider, author of Kabbalistic Writings on the Nature of Masculine and Feminine * "Highly original, beautifully conceived, The Kabbalah of Writing is a gift not only to aspiring writers but to anyone seeking to enhance their creative and spiritual potential." * Yossi Klein Halevi, senior fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute * "Such poetic, light, penetrating wisdom riffles through these pages like an evening breeze in Jerusalem. This book contains just about everything I need to know to write better and live more richly." * Ruchama King Feuerman, author of In the Courtyard of the Kabbalist * "This book is a psycho-spiritual manual that applies the wisdom of the sefirot to the sacred art of creative writing. Freewheeling anecdotes, from personal experience, from Torah, and a multitude of celebrated writers, are sure to help us live more deeply, with greater courage and humor." * Jean-Pierre Weill, author of The Well of Being *