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Author Jennifer Rothschild has a story for you. It's about an unlikely couple, an unusual courtship, a beautiful wedding, and an illicit affair. Despite this situation, the marriage did not fail. It flourished. Here is the story of Hosea's love for Gomer - a woman who might have disappeared into her transgressions if not for the love of her husband. It's a beautiful illustration of the story of God and Israel.

Among the first seven scrolls discovered in the caves of Qumran at the Dead Sea is a scroll given the name "The Book of Giants". It is thought to have been based on the Book of Enoch, a pseudepigraphical Jewish work from the third century BCE. The Book of Giants, like the Book of Enoch, concerns itself with the Nephilim, which are the offspring of fallen angels, who are called the Watchers. Two main versions of the text exist. The Dead Sea version is written in Aramaic.

Both The Wisdom of Solomon and Ecclesiasticus are excerpt books from the Apocrypha. Here’s a quick introduction to each.

Imagine walking into your place of worship - your local church, synagogue, mosque, or meditation center - to find that all of the usual adornments have been replaced with statues and pictures of sexually intertwined cherubs. Chances are, you'd be quickly taken aback. But according to Mark Gafni, bestselling author of "Your Unique Self" and "Soul Prints", these were the precise images found atop the ark of the ancient Temple of Jerusalem.

Prayer itself has taken on countless forms, from offerings to song, words to whispers, tearful supplication to sublime silence. At times, prayer is as primitive and raw as a cry for help; at times, prayer is a formulaic equation intended to effect change - but always, flowing from a place deep within, and forever with a hope for a better future.

Renowned Masonic scholar and author W. W. Westcott discusses the formula of masonic rituals and why secrets are an important part of that. He discusses the inclusion of the concept of legends in our rituals and why it is important to separate those legends from historical events. He discusses where some of our symbols came from and what part the Jewish Kabbalah played in the formation of freemasonry. He discussed the Tree of Life and the Hebrew letters as they relate to masonry.

Brennan W. Breed claims that biblical interpretation should focus on the shifting capacities of the text, viewing it as a dynamic process rather than a static product. Rather than seeking to determine the original text and its meaning, Breed proposes that scholars approach the production, transmission, and interpretation of the biblical text as interwoven elements of its overarching reception history.

Many magickal texts have been written around the Watchers, and I am hoping to add my two cents to the discussion. Several decades ago, I worked with the Watchers. Aside from the rituals of course, we will be covering the basics of the Watchers' story as it is understood in Genesis since it is there that the first inkling of the story emerges in the scriptural tradition. Also, some texts exist that predate Genesis that contain a proto-Watchers narrative. Some of these early stories have some connection to Ancient Mesopotamia.

Between 1947 and 1956, approximately 15 copies of the "Book of Jubilees" were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls. This is second only to a number of Psalms, Deuteronomy, Isaiah, Exodus, and Genesis, and far greater than any other extra-biblical text found there, including "The Book of Enoch."

Also called the "The Little Genesis," "Book of Divisions," and the "Apocalypse of Moses," the "Book of Jubilees" is an apocryphal work (not accepted as Scripture)

In this book, you will learn, for the first time, the six hidden names of God within the first few verses in the book of Genesis. The names are in Hebrew, but do not worry. I will transliterate as necessary. These names are known by very few people. Today, you will learn them for yourself. Although the Old Testament books are filled with secret names of the divine, the ones in the book of Genesis are of utmost importance.

Taking his lead from his subject, Gershom Scholem - the 20th-century thinker who cracked open Jewish theology and history with a radical reading of Kabbalah - Prochnik combines biography and memoir to counter our contemporary political crisis with an original and urgent reimagining of the future of Israel.

When one thinks of the Kabbalah, they often think of the 10 emanations of the tree of life. It is by far the most popular of the Kabbalistic symbols and rightfully so. It is also the one most, how shall I say, comprehensible of the Kabbalistic principles. Of course, it contains deep mysteries but if one were to attempt to describe its function, it can be done so with ease. This is the aspect of Kabbalah most people are exposed to.

In this series, Ouija Board Magick, we will discuss the various ways of communicating with the spiritual world. Each volume will contain one class of spiritual beings. We will learn what they are and brief history of both the spiritual entities and the Ouija board, as well as ways to harness their powers for our magickal purposes. But I must warn you, this is certainly not for the faint of heart. In this book, we will discuss how to communicate and work magically with the Archangels of the western tradition, mainly Angels Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, Raphael, and Metatron.

There are no mistakes in Torah. That said, week after week when reading the weekly Torah portion, scholars and laymen alike encounter broken, enlarged - and even missing - letters without stopping to realize that the bodies of these oddball letters themselves hold some of the Torah's most cogent life lessons.

The Message of the Prophets: Audio Lectures features 27 lessons, offering a scholarly yet student-friendly survey of the Old Testament prophetic literature that presents the message of each prophet in its historical and biblical context and then tracks that message through the New Testament to challenge listeners with what it means for them today.

A. E. Waite presents a short but informative essay on Pico della Mirandola and how his collection of Kabbalistic conclusions came into existence. The 49 conclusions, which are also presented here, have been often connected to the 50 Gates of Wisdom (Binah) in Kabbalistic studies.

Throughout my many years in the occult, I recall many wonderful things. I was enamored by so many different systems that I just had to try them all. For the most part, I did. Some with great success and some not so much. One aspect of the magickal practices that really interested me was the use of talismanic or seal magick. I used all kinds of talismans, and each had its own energy and feel.

This is unlike any other book I have written to-date. For some, this will be incredibly controversial, especially within certain Jewish groups that are more traditional in their practices. I will get a ton of hate mail for this book, in fact I may even get death threats because the use of Tefillin that I will recommend will be a sacrilege to many people, but also a liberation to some as well. This is okay, because it is my job in this world to provide my listeners with magick that works.

The following is a translation of the fourth gate of one of the earliest of the classic mussar works, Chovos Halevavos by Rabeinu Bachya. The book has inspired many great men to walk in its ways and review it throughout their lives. The fourth gate deals with what Rabeinu Bachya regards as "the most necessary of all things for the service of God." Namely, trust in God. This English translation is used with permission of Rabbi Yosef Sebag, the copyright holder.

For most people, life is a mystery. It's as if we live a life confined to a few pages within the middle of a novel. In not understanding the why of our creation, we respond and react to the repetitive trials and tribulations that confront us, armed only with the tools that were given to us by our parents. Parents who themselves have lived a life of the in-between. As the blind leading the blind, we continue forward on the road that perpetually merges within itself, always going in a circle.