#Jewish mysticism

[bubblefemmestims]

jewitch moodboard ✡︎

🧿🧿🧿/🧿🧿🧿/🧿🧿🧿

[samaelsslave616]

[teathattast]

[coming-home116]

Respectfully as possible, you have no business trying to learn Kabbalah as a non-Jew, regardless of your desire to convert. That is disrespectful and literally cultural and religious appropriation.

how so? without much more information, i cant understand why it would be an issue.

also the book i have on it currently is a mass-produced book, that anyone can find, buy and read? its not an indepth look at Kabbalah, and ive not yet been able to learn about it from a rabbi.

how is it disrespectful and appropiative just trying to understand something a little bit now that i will continue to learn about while i convert, and after? and i dont practice anything - i take what i learn and it stays in my head except to talk to my loved ones about, and they arent practicing it either

im not looking to argue and if anyone out there is looking for that, this is the wrong blog. id also prefer a DM next time, to talk 1-on-1 about what im doing incorrectly instead of just accusing me of something via anon

[challahbeloved]

“God's ubiquity evokes oceanic imagery for mystics of all traditions. As a drop of water dissolved into the sea, so we are waves in an ocean of God. And, like fishes unable to comprehend the ocean within which they live, we too must push our language and imagery to describe the divine All. The most common word Jewish mystics choose to describe God is ‘Nothing.’ However, as we shall see, the God they describe is much more than nothing…

[The word Ayin] connotes not the absence of being, but the absence of any boundaries — that is, no ‘thing,’ a nothing that encompasses all creation. Ayin is therefore the font of all being, the substrate of creation. The Kabbalists called God Ayn Sof, endless. Not only can’t you own it, you cannot alter it, change it, or affect it in any way whatsoever. You cannot point to it. You can't even accurately say as much about it as we've already said. It is as if we were waves and it were the ocean. You and I, this book in your hands, the trees, the people we love, even the love itself, all of creation-they are all the waves, yesh, made of that ocean of Ayin, manifestations of that great underlying nothingness and oneness of all being.”

— Rabbi Lawrence Kushner. The Way into Jewish Mystical Tradition, pages 17-18.

[bubblefemmes]

🧿 jewitch discord server 🧿

UPDATE: i made a tumblr for this new little community of mine! pls follow if ur intrested, server join link can be found there!

shalom! i just made a JEWISH ONLY discord server called shtetel shabbos! it's a server with a focus on jewish magic, mysticism, folklore, superstition. and witchery (though we welcome other topics too). we are bipoc, lgbtq+, disabled, system and ger friendly server welcoming to jews from all streams (+ we're protected by a manual verification system)! we have various roles and chats, including a resource channel. we've also got plans for study groups, polls and events when we get more members! i'd really love to interact w/ more jewitches and magically inclined jews so pls join if that interests you!

pls like/reblog for reach or invite ur jewish friends!!

link: ✡️✡️✡️

[askjumblr]

I’m a Jew who is interested in learning more about Jewish folklore and Jewish folk practices, as I am super interested in Jewish spirituality and mysticism but am not at a point in my life where it would be appropriate to do anything with Kabbalah. Does anyone have any good resources for that? I’ve been trying to avoid sources that are basically Jewish things repackaged as new-age/pagan.

(In case it’s relevant for FOR, I am Ashkenazi)

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[magnetoisright]

I have noticed a pattern, where I get new followers whenever I run across a mysticism question and give an answer. Given that all the mainstream Tumblr occultists have come out as Jew haters in the last year should I like, actively post mysticism stuff more?

[shtetlshabbos]

shalom, and welcome to the shtetl shabbos tumblr blog!

shtetl shabbos is a new community and jewish only discord server dedicated to jewish magic, mysticism, witchery, mythology, folklore and more! with many plans and much to offer, we hope to connect with the tumblr jewish community as well!

disboard link (pls leave us a review!): ✡︎ | discord server direct link: ✡︎

we offer:

♡ a verification system to ensure maximum safety of all members ♡ a server guide featuring a faq, a pdf exchange spreadsheet and a constantly growing library of jewish resources ♡ a safe-space chat to discuss mental health, antisemtism and the likes ♡ a weekly book club and parsha study group + monthly zine and research prompt ♡ chats specifically for bipoc jews, lgbtq+ jews, disabled/nurodivergent jews, alterhuman jews, jewish systems, and converts! ♡ a variety channels to start new and exciting conversations ♡ polls, qotd, chat revival, astrology ping, starboard, vcs, events, mutual aid channel and more!!

quick FAQ under the cut!

FAQ

Q: what is a jewitch/jewish witchcraft?

A: considering there is an expanse of ideas on both what being jewish and what practicing witchcraft/magic means, there is no one definition to describe jewitches or jewish witchcraft. for the sake of this server, we define “jewish witchcraft” as any practice that involves the magic, mystical, supernatural or spiritual within a jewish framework and a “jewitch” as anyone who considers themselves a practitioner of judaism and witchcraft/magic. Q: how can you be a jewitch or practice magic/witchcraft as a jew?

A: the answer to this question is complex and depends on who you ask. respectful conversation surrounding this topic is welcomed within the server. we recommend the following article by the creator jewitches as a primer for this question.

Q: who can join?

A: any jew, self-identified jewitch or not! our server is pluralistic and we welcome people from all movements, minhags, and backgrounds. we appreciate having diverse perspectives. we are explicitly a safe space for gers, disabled & neurodivergent jews, lgbtq+ jews, bipoc jews and jewish systems. bigotry, hatred and infighting will not be tolerated. messianic "jews" are not welcomed here.

Q: can i join if i'm curious about or new to jewish magic?

A: yes! infact, once you are verified, we have a resource forum channel where we are constantly working to update it with new and improved resources all the time! we also have a dozen channels and other things to explore different topics within both judaism and witchcraft.

Q: can i join if i'm a ger/convert/conversion student?

A: yes! converts are fully jewish and welcome to practice jewish practices. conversion students are welcomed to join, however we want to make it explicitly clear that gers-in-progress should not practice jewish magic/mystycism/witchcraft without supervision and approval from a rabbi. we are happy to educate and provide our perspective but we cannot preform the job of a rabbi.

[mightyostanes]

Against the Uwuification of Sheydim

"'I've upset you. I see that. But you know what it is to carve out your place in the world, to have to fight for your life at every turn. You can't imagine how much worse it was in my time. Women were sent to madhouses because they read too many books or because their husbands tired of them. There were so few paths open to us. And mine was stolen from me so I forged a new one.' Alex Jabbed a finger at Belbam. 'You don't get to turn this into some kind of feminist manifesto. You forged your new path from the lives of other girls. Immigrant girls. Brown Girls. Poor Girls.' Girls like me. 'Just so you could buy yourself another few years.'" -Galaxy Stern shutting up a soul eating revenant Source: Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

First off this is my first post on Tumblr so please forgive any issues with formatting. I'm still getting used to this site's layout let alone writing anything that isn't solely for my own addled and deranged mind. Still, I hope that this is at least somewhat insightful.

Over the last few years I've noticed that there has been a tendency among young Jews online to make our folklore and mysticism 'cuddlier'. To suggest that not only do we have a hell but that quite literally everything in our cosmos is friendly and misunderstood. Sheydim become relatable mascots of groups traditionally marginalized within the Jewish community. The leviathan is treated as G-d's pet who isn't dangerous whatsoever and is instead merely a big fish. Malachim generally like humans and are on good terms with the Jewish Community. And Lilith becomes an empowered girl boss with her malewife Ashmedai. A lovely story that makes great fanfiction and Jewish aus, the only problem is that it's completely ahistorical and utterly misses the point of these stories.

Sheydim while not exactly ontologically evil were usually depicted as predatory, amoral and capricious. A good portion of Bava Batra 74-75 is dedicated to describing how pants shittingly terrifying the Leviathan is and how it could theoretically destroy the world. Malachim are often depicted as threats and enemies of Israel especially in narratives regarding the revelation of the Torah at Sinai (Exodus Rabbah (41.7; 44:8), Tanhuma (Ki Tissa 20), PdRE 45, and Deut. Rabbah (3.11). And Lilith as well all know kills newborn children and was the terror of expectant Jewish Mothers for centuries. With the origin of her being 'Adam's first wife' coming from the Alphabet of Ben Sirach. A satiric work written in the late Middle Ages centuries after the first attested use of amulets and incantation bowls to ward of Lilith or lilin in Mesopotamia. Even Ashmedai for all his honor and piety was still treated as an enemy of mankind on average even if he was by no means an enemy of G-d. Of course, that is not to say that Jews haven't worked with spirits in fact the opposite is true. Merely that these spirit workings were often treated as incredibly dangerous works that were a mixture of lion taming and nuclear engineering. Descenders of the Merkavah had to battle through throngs of angels to reach the throne. Sar Torah mystics had to gird themselves with spiritual armor not to be annihilated by the angels for the crime of existing in a similar dimension to them. Even the act of Indulcio or sweetening the spirits often performed by wise women in many Sephardic communities was very much akin to paying off the mafia or in more historically accurate terms, paying Jizya.

My personal opinion on the reason for this trend is specifically because most Jewish content creators have been immersed in culturally Christian environments their whole lives. So, it would make sense for them to want to participate in the modern trend of telling things from the monster's side of the story. Something that is intrinsically tied to the fact that most of these monsters were metaphors for or linked to the powerless and the marginalized. In these scenarios, to show the story from the monster or demon's perspective would be an easy way of challenging societal narratives that do have real harmful impact even if very few people use the literal threat of werewolves and Medusa as bludgeons against marginalized communities.

Second of all there has been a major trend in making Judaism 'the leftist religion'. The religion without the fire and brimstone ideas of sin and hell that turned so many people to secularism. Progressive Judaism often advertises itself as the religion where evil is simply a misunderstanding and that's all cleared up there will be no more evil. We prided ourselves for years for fighting people who wanted to annihilate use with compassion and understanding. That surely rather than being bad they were merely tragically misguided souls who needed our help.

The problem with this in a Jewish context is that from the destruction of the Second Temple onwards our monsters were usually much more powerful than us in every sense of the word. In our stories, the were-panther who preyed on children was not the despised woodsman but the local bishop who no doubt incited very real pogroms against us. In our folklore, the heretical necromancer wasn't some liberated free thinker but someone who converted to the dominant religion and helped to persecute their former compatriots. Even Lilith who has become the mascot for a sort of 'persecuted heterodox' Judaism was by no means persecuted on the world stage in most Kabbalistic Treatise. In these works, Lilith was not the despised vagabond crushed by a patriarchal power system but the consort of Samael and the Princess of the realm of Edom. Symbols of the Christian and Islamic empires that have persecuted us for thousands of years. Or to put it in a snappy manner, the Lilith of the Zohar has much more in common with Margaret Thatcher than Rosa Luxemburg.

Now is there sexism and xenophobia in our own stories of monsters and demons? Unfortunately, yes. The amount of sexist and ethnically chauvinist tropes applied to Lilith in the Zoharic corpus alone are almost impossible to count and deeply troubling for modern readers. But that doesn't change the fact that Lilith was first and foremost a metaphor for SIDs and later on the non Vatican sanctioned medieval Marian Cults that replaced the drinking of sacramental wine with the spilling of Jewish blood as their main devotional acts.

Nor do I think that having progressive or universalist values in Judaism is at all a bad thing. I fully believe in the inclusion of those marginalized by the Rabbinic establishments in the past and do not wish to see us delight in cruelty. In fact, one of my biggest fears is that we might begin to ignore the suffering of gentiles because we rightly or wrongly assume they hold strong antisemitic biases. It's just that now, in an era of increasing antisemitic violence from all sides of the aisle it doesn't seem like a good idea to try and fight people who want to destroy us with beatific compassion and understanding.

[gay-jewish-bucky]

goyim will spell 'kabalah' wrong and think they know enough about this closed practice to educate others on how to steal from it

[seeingisbelief]

Hi! I I'm not new to Tumblr, but I haven't been active here since the 2012 Super/Who/Lock era lol.

I'm back in an attempt to join the spiritual Tumblr community. Looking for moots with the following interests:

Tarot & Oracle cards (as well as Kipper, Lenormand, etc.)

Books (extra points for book collecing/personal libraries)

Stationery

Hoodoo (Black people only on this one, no exceptions)

Mysticism (Christian or Jewish)

Catholicism in terms of the inherent occultism

Divination in general

The Golden Dawn

The Wheel of the Year

Witchcraft of all kinds, except no Wiccans (not sorry)

I think that's plenty to make a few new friends! Comment if you're into the same things, and we can be moots. Otherwise, I'd appreciate a reblog so I have a better chance of finding potential friends!

[magnetothemagnificent]

It's said that certain wonders of creation were created "Bein HaShmashot"- the twilight between the sixth day of creation and the beginning of the first Shabbat. During Bein HaShmashot, many unexplainable creations and important objects were created; including the first blacksmith's tongs, the rainbow, and the donkey that spoke. As a trans person, I am often in the twilight of the life, as if I myself am Bein HaShmashot- between two days. Twilight is the transitional time, a time of great mystery and uncertainty. I know what it feels like to be unexplainable. I am often at the crossroads between manhood and womanhood, religious and secular, confident and doubtful. When there is a Mechitza, I don't know where to stand, because I am constantly in this twilight state. We cannot fully explain why trans people exist, sometimes we're as strange and ineffable as the first fire and the Ten Commandments. It's not a curse or a blessing to be created Bein HaShmashot. Great things were created during this time, and terrible things too, and things that are neither good nor bad- just different. Twilight is the time between the two lights- the sun and the moon. In Jewish mysticism, the sun embodies the masculine, and the moon embodies the feminine. For trans people like myself, we are often cast in the twilight of these times- neither fully in the sunlight or fully in the moonlight. I am neither fully part of manhood's day or womanhood's night. There are things in life we cannot fully explain, but we're not meant to understand everything. Hashem chose to create certain phenomena Bein HaShmashot- to be in this liminal space between knowing and unknowing. Is it not then possible that in His infinite wisdom, She created our beautiful transgender souls Bein HaShmashot?

[nickysfacts]

All hail the Jewish Heartthrob of Darkness!

🖤🗡🖤

[pomegranate-jewitchery]

❁❁❁/✡✡✡/❁❁❁

[challahbeloved]

“Jewish mysticism (and Kabbalah, which is one of its best-known manifestations) is an attitude toward reality, a way of understanding, organizing, and enriching Jewish religious life. For this reason, Jewish mysticism is not something one can ‘do’ outside normative religious practice.”

— Rabbi Lawrence Kushner. The Way Into Jewish Mystical Tradition, page 3.