Nothing can replace the experience of the Kabbalah in its practical applications. To appreciate this fully, all aspects of the student's being needs ot be involved, not just the intellect. The Kabbalah is relevant to the modern world, both for the growth and the development of the individual, and for the for the growth and the development of group & planetary consciousness.
The Hebrew word 'kabbalah' means both to receive and to reveal. This gives an insight into the Kabbalah --- it is a way of 'revelation' and at the same time the means of reception of its own wisdom.
The Kabbalah can be classified into five parts:-
1. The Oral Kabbalah (aspects received orally from a teacher of some kind; from another traveller of the magickal path;
2. The Written Kabbalah (describes the nature and essential structure of the universe and its destiny);
3. The Literal Kabbalah (concerned with the information contained in the Kabbalah, including the Gematria);
4. The Symbolic Kabbalah (concerned with understanding, connecting to one's own experience of, and using symbols);
5. The Practical Kabbalah (the utilisation of all aspects of the Kabbalah to cause change to occur).
The Kabbalah can be viewed in different ways; for its uses as as diverse and wide as the limits of the human imagination. The Kabbalah can be summarised as:-
a. A map of physical, etheric, astral & other levels of awareness;
b. A means of correlating inner & outer experiences, and to express them through oneself and others;
c. A means to relate and communicate;
d. A means to connect inner awareness to outer awareness, to thus create an active and creative bridge between the two, which results in expanding consciousness;
e. A means of formulating ideas with more clarity, and finding simple expression for complex thoughts;
f. A means to relate to symbols whose meanings have become too obscure, forgotten or misunderstood, by establishing a connection between the essence of forms, sounds, colours, simple ideas and their intellectual, emotional & physical equivalents;
g. A means of 'testing the truth' of correspondences and ideas through comparing them with what it already known or understood.
h. A means of communication with extra-dimensional entities, trans human & ex-human energies or intelligencies.
j. Effectively the Kabbalah is a complex code based on a structure of known human experiences, expressions and corresponding symbolism.