Sepher Yetzirah book recommendations?

treedog

More than likely I'm getting ahead of myself but some things I'm reading are pointing toward The Sepher Yetzirah. I see that several authors have written about that original work. I'm not sure whether to ease into it with a book for remedial learners, jump into the heavy stuff, or chill out for a while. I wonder about the importance of The Sepher Yetzirah in studying the Thoth Tarot or other GD oriented deck.

Would anyone like to share their experiences with this important work?

treedog.
 

Ross G Caldwell

You should be familiar with it, but it is not necessary to know everything about it (textual history, various versions, etc.). The one edition you need for the occult Tarot is Westcott's version (1888)
http://www.hermetics.org/pdf/SepherYetzirah.pdf

I would suggest you look at it, just to know what it is, and then refer to it when you read a reference to it.
 

Aeon418

This version by Bill Heidrick is pretty good too. An added bonus is that Bill's version conforms to the Golden Dawn correspondences. Notes are quite informative, but you might want to skip them at first.

http://billheidrick.com/works/sy.htm
 

Richard

Westcott is a good read, but the Golden Dawn didn't use his attributions for the double letters. For this reason, Heidrick might be less confusing.

If you ever get interested in Sepher Yetzirah for more than merely its use in Tarot, Aryeh Kaplan's translation and commentary goes into its magical ramifications and even has instructions (mostly in Hebrew) for making a Golem, but I wouldn't try that at home. :eek:
 

treedog

closrapexa said:
Especially not at home, they're terrible at doing windows, and can't dust worth a damn!
Click to expand...

You folks really make this a lot of fun. I haven't blown up my kitchen or set giant effigies lose in the neighorhood for a long time, but it these cards lead to majik I'm gonna really need some help :)
 
Forgotten Templars by Richard Kaczynski The Book of The Law Study Group 3.62