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A review of Lon Milo Duquette's "The Chicken Qabala of Rabbi Lamen Ben Clifford" By Soror L. M. | |
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.  Simply put, this is a book about the Qabala. Anyone who has done even the slightest bit of dabbling into the topic though knows then that the study of the Qabala is actually far from simple. This is exactly what makes this delightful book such a success- that it takes a very complex and difficult to grasp subject matter, and with wit and humor, presents it in a simple way which anybody who is willing and wanting to can understand.The book covers the usual basic topics to be found in the Western Hermetic approach to the study of the Qabala: The Sephiroth, The Hebrew alphabet, the Tree of Life, the Four Worlds, the parts of the soul, The Sepher Yetzirah, magick and evocation, gematria, the tarot, the Holy Guardian Angel and more. The material is presented rather cleverly as the teachings of the non-existent Rabbi Lamen Ben Clifford, the mystical leader of the imaginary school called The Zerubbabel Institute of Philosophical Youth or Z.I.P.Y. The Rabbi comes off somewhat like a cross between Mel Brooks, Jackie Mason and Jerry Seinfeld. Much of what has made it's way into the book is lifted from the Rabbi's imaginary lectures given to his imaginary students. To quote the author, "For my purpose I invented the Rabbi Lamen Ben Clifford, legendary l'enfant terrible of the modern Qabalist movement. Clifford has afforded me the opportunity to soar to outrageous (and hopefully) memorable heights and, when necessary, stand apart from the silliness to highlight the golden eggs of Qabalistic wisdom nested therein." The first question the book answers, which sets the stage for the rest of the book, is "What is Chicken Qabalah?" We learn that "Chicken Qabalah is the deceptively self-effacing term given to those aspects of the Holy Hebrew Qabalah that are of practical value to practitioners of the Western Hermetic spiritual tradition." In other words, you can forget 90% of what you know about the Qabalah. The book begs us to stop counting the nose hairs of god and get to the meat and potatoes of the useful Qabalah- to bring it down to a practical level where it can be of real use to us. At this point in the book is also a great explanation of all the different historic precedents for the modern Qabalah we know today, including the Orthodox Jewish Talmudic scholars of the Kabbalah, heretical Christian Cabbalists and through to the more recent trends of Hermetic Qabalism and on to that of New-Age dabblers. Chicken Qabalah is none and all of these things... one does not need to be Jewish to use it and also need not spend their entire lives trying to memorize hundreds of different attributes. This books attempts to make the point that great results can be achieved with just a minimum amount of study and that the Qabalah can be used by everyone. What this book will be remembered for is it's use of humor to illustrate otherwise dull information. For example, in the chapter called "Meet the Hebrew Alphabet", each letter is discussed in detail. The letter Lamed is described as "a snake that has swallowed a brick and is now having second thoughts." Tau we learn "looks like Resh holding a dead dolphin by the tail." These descriptions are corny but it is just this combination of silliness which is enough to get the idea to stick in your head and make perfect sense. It's not all just silly jokes though, some of what is presented is rather beautiful and poetic. For instance, Yod is described as "a flame... blow on it and you create all the other letters of the Universe." The part of the book which had the greatest impact on me was the brilliant section on "The Ineffable Name of God and The Arc of the Covenant"- or as our friend the Rabbi prefers to call it, "Old Sparky". Here he sets forth the concept of the Arc of the Convenant being in reality an ancient battery. This is explained as follows: "It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that a wooden box with a double lining of gold and closed with a slab of gold, containing pots of liquid, was in all likelihood a gigantic and highly unstable battery. The two cherubim on the lid served as the anode and cathode, and a spark or "arc" (the flaming presence of God) jumped madly between the tips to the two highly conductive golden wings." When the priest would lay his hands on the arc, his body would divert the current that normally passed between the cherubs and then "for one spectacular moment the power of Y.H.V.H literally dwelt in his contorting body." This we are told is the secret of the arc. Wow! Far fetched yes, but also quite an idea to chew on. The entire book is written in this fashion, using simple (and sometimes crude) ideas to elaborate otherwise lofty and near incomprehensible concepts. I enjoyed this book and learned from it as well and would recommend it to anyone who seeks a clearer understanding of the Qabalah, one that is more down to earth than many of the dry tomes we are used to reading. It's good opportunity for serious magicians to have a hearty chuckle at themselves as well! For more info or to purchase "The Chicken Qabalah", click here. Love is the law, love under will.
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