Kabbalah Practices / Practical Kabbalah: The Magic of Kabbalistic Trees
Kabbalistic treesilanot, in Hebreware not merely arboreal diagrams illustrating the sefirot and other symbols associated with them. By the fifteenth century, the term ilan (singular) referred to a genre of kabbalistic creativity that fused this schema with a specific medium: an ilan was a diagram...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Brill
[2019]
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| In: |
Aries
Year: 2019, Volume: 19, Issue: 1, Pages: 112-145 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Cabala
/ Ritual
/ Sacred tree
/ Magische Figur
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| RelBib Classification: | AG Religious life; material religion AZ New religious movements BH Judaism |
| Further subjects: | B
rotuli
B Magic B Amulets B ilanot B Kabbalah B diagrams B Tree of life B material text |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) Volltext (Verlag) |
| Summary: | Kabbalistic treesilanot, in Hebreware not merely arboreal diagrams illustrating the sefirot and other symbols associated with them. By the fifteenth century, the term ilan (singular) referred to a genre of kabbalistic creativity that fused this schema with a specific medium: an ilan was a diagram of the sefirot inscribed on a parchment sheet or rotulus. Ilanot had a variety of functions, from meditative to mnemonic. The present essay isolates a common element in the various uses of ilanot: they are performative, ritually-used artefacts. The ilan is thus a tool of kabbalistic practice, but is it to be considered part of so-called "Practical Kabbalah"? By the nineteenth century, ilanot were being produced specifically to serve as amulets; these apotropaic rotuli are certainly classifiable as artefacts of Practical Kabbalah. Ilanot not produced as amulets are best regarded as magicalbut in the sense that they facilitate opportunities for ritual identification with the divine image that they map, and therefore participation in and manipulation of the divine. |
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| ISSN: | 1570-0593 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Aries
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/15700593-01901005 |