Kabbalah Practices / Practical Kabbalah: The Magic of Kabbalistic Trees

Kabbalistic trees—ilanot, in Hebrew—are 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...

Description complète

Enregistré dans:  
Détails bibliographiques
Auteur principal: Chajes, J. H. 1965- (Auteur)
Type de support: Électronique Article
Langue:Anglais
Vérifier la disponibilité: HBZ Gateway
Journals Online & Print:
En cours de chargement...
Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Publié: Brill [2019]
Dans: Aries
Année: 2019, Volume: 19, Numéro: 1, Pages: 112-145
Sujets / Chaînes de mots-clés standardisés:B Kabbale / Rite / Arbre sacré / Magische Figur
RelBib Classification:AG Vie religieuse
AZ Nouveau mouvement religieux
BH Judaïsme
Sujets non-standardisés:B rotuli
B Magic
B Amulets
B ilanot
B Kabbalah
B diagrams
B Tree of life
B material text
Accès en ligne: Volltext (Resolving-System)
Volltext (Verlag)
Description
Résumé:Kabbalistic trees—ilanot, in Hebrew—are 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 magical—but 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.
ISSN:1570-0593
Contient:Enthalten in: Aries
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1163/15700593-01901005