Judaism a Shamanistic Tradition

"Magic Of the Ordinary"
Gershon Winkler, North Atlantic Book
2003

Gershon Winkler was a devout Jew living in New York with his several children and his wife. Then one day a change occurred. He is still a Jew and his spirituality is still Judaism, however , he has chosen to get closer to nature and live in New Mexico. He has since studied Native American Shamanism and I believe that it has strongly influenced this current book being examined.

Do not fool yourself into thinking that he has gone ahead and done a cheap combination and made up his own Native_American form of Judaism. Everything written in this book can be supported by such traditional texts as the Talmud, Tanach, Zohar and other books. This stuff is legitimate.

Many would never think of Judaism as being a Shamanistic religion. It used to be. Shamanistic religions are connected to the land. Judaism as practiced by the ancient Israelites was connected to the seasons and land of their kingdom. Being exiled away from their land has caused the Jewish people to lose their Shamanistic connection to the land and spirituality.

To find holiness or kedusha one need not astral travel to the heavenly realms in order to experience divinity. Divinity can be found in our every day lives right here in the earthly realm. In fact it is in the earthly realm that we are meant to find find God. Of course this has been long forgotten.

During their exile in Europe the Christian leaders oppressed those who followed shamanistic path. In fact if you were not Christian you would get killed or worse. As Shaman and witches and Jews were being persecuted the Jews silently shelved their mystical practices. Yet if one scours the Kabbalistic works and the Talmud carefully enough those mystical practices can be found.

In the succeeding chapters the author tells one how to make an altar with appropriate accouterments. Healing rituals are discussed and one is instructed on how too make their own circle. The author discusses the invocation of the four arch angels and it is different somewhat from the angel invocation of the Lesser Pentagram banishing ritual in Ceremonial magic.

Contained with in Judaism were totems and various symbology for different animals and their correspondences to the different tribes of Israel. Everything had a life force and everything could be used for healing including stones, herbs plants and animals. Judaism is replete with respect for animals and stressed numerous times the importance of treating animals in a humane fashion. Animals are holy.

According to the Kabballah there are four different world and we exist on those world simultaneously. The Worlds are as follows:
1. Atziluth (אֲצִילוּת), or World of Emanation. On this level the light of the Ein Sof (Infinite Divine or literally translated "without end") radiates and is still united with its source. This supernal revelation therefore precludes the souls and Divine emanations in Atzilus from sensing their own existence.
2. Beri'ah (בְּרִיאָה or alternatively[3] בְּרִיָּה) or World of Creation. On this level is the first concept of creatio ex nihilo however without any shape or form. This is also where the Highest Ranking Angels are to be found.[citation needed]
3. Yetzirah (יְצִירָה) or World of Formation. On this level the created being assumes shape and form.
4. Assiah (עֲשִׂיָּה) or World of Action. On this level the creation is complete; however, it is still on a spiritual level. At a later stage there is the 'physical Assiah' comprising our physical Universe with all its creatures.

Back in Medieval times Jews were known to be sorcerers par excellence with expertise in occult matters. The most obvious manifestation of Jewish Occult power is the creation of the Golem. Even back in Talmudical times these human like figure were created from clay but since they were not full humans they were unable to speak. They were created with incantations and the writing off the word emett on on their forehead which meant truth.Erase the aleph an the word became meant dead. The Golem would disintegrate after that. The most famous Golem was the Golem of Prague created by Rabbi Loewe to protect the Jewish people from persecutions.

Jewish occultism recognized that the spirits of the dead could be ccontacted and that there were obviously angels but what about demons? Most people think that shedim are demons. In reality they are half human and half spiritual. Some are good and some are bad. King Solomon harness them and used them for his own purposes. When working with shedim one had to be careful.

Chanting a mantra or even a different name of god or an animal using a vibrational tone was essential in unlocking the spiritual power of that name. Vibrations in geeneral unlock powers. This underscore the power of speach and words. Abracadabra means as I speak I create.

Read this book and enjoy creating your own spiritual harmony with God. The book is a good starter but certainly not the end of your journey. There were a couple of flaws with the book. One was the author's alternative translations of certain human words. I realize that he is trying to get us to think differently but he would have done well to include translations and meaning that most reader are familiar with. Some times it seems that he is trying to make a native American version of his faith. I would give it a good recommendation and a 7.5 out of 10.