42 SOUL&SPIRIT

Aninsight into

Known for its celebrity devotees and spiritualmysticism, praised by some and critiqued by

others, HANNAH SMITHSON finds out more

12Stratford Place, London. I’d finallyfound the Kabbalah Centre in thebig smoke, after darting around

on tubes having discovered that BondStreet Station (my desired stop) wasclosed, and that I’d have to walk a couple ofblocks to reach my destination. ‘Was this agood or bad omen?’ I wondered as Iopened the door, and stepped inside theLondon Kabbalah Centre.

MY KARMIC PATHRuth, a striking woman with long, blackhair, deep eyes and clothed in a black shiftdress, greeted me and invited me in. Herspiritual bureau had a mixed feel about it;in one sense it was her professional placeof work, but I also got the feeling that thiswas the spiritual sanctuary of a verypowerful women, who sat behind her altar (decorated with crystals) and took her place as intuitive astrologer.

I was intrigued to hear how Ruth haddiscovered Kabbalah. “I had a good friend

KABBALAH

“I was interested to find out how this ‘westernmystery tradition’ had grown up alongside itsmore traditional and religious Jewish partner,attracting superstars to its centre.”Despite having done some research, I hadvery little idea of what to expect on myvisit. All I could think about was what I’d read in magazines; I knew that GwynethPaltrow was rumoured to be a fan of Kabbalah and that Madonna was anadvocate. Admittedly, I was more au faitwith showbiz news about Kabbalah thanthe reality of it all.

Welcomed by a hospitable lady, I was asked if I’d like any refreshment while I waited to be introduced to RuthNachmias, a Kabbalistic Astrologer and the person I was here to see. I’d beeninvited along to have a reading with Ruthand she’d been given details of my birthday, time and location to enable her to work up my astro charts.

Surrounded by books on numerology,astrology and the Zohar, I reminded myselfthat Kabbalah began thousands of yearsago and claimed to combine cosmicmysticism and universal wisdom, whichstemmed from the traditional routes ofJudaism. I was interested to find out howthis ‘western mystery tradition’ (as it wasdescribed in The Encyclopedia of MindBody Spirit), had grown up alongside itsmore traditional and religious Jewishpartner, attracting superstars to its centre.

n The London Kabbalah Centre receivesapproximately 1,000 students a weekthrough its doors

n Celebrity names such as Madonna andGwyneth Paltrow have recently beenassociated with it

n A copy of Isaac Newton’s Zohar is housed in Cambridge University

n Ancient Kabbalah teachings incorporateeastern ideas like auras and chakras aswell as astrology and numerology

n The word itself derives from the ancientAramaic work I’kabel, which means ‘toreceive’

n Kabbalah is a spiritual wisdom, not areligious one. Modern day Kabbalists sayit can sit alongside any religious faith ornone at all

DID YOU KNOW?

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they were good answers, they were not full answers. So I was still searching.Once I discovered a higher path, I wantedto go deeper into helping others,” shesaid, as I sat down face-to-face with her.She went on to explain a little more abouthow she had produced my astrologicalcharts and revealed that conventionalastrology suggests our characters aredetermined by the position of the planetsand stars, whereas Kabbalah teaches that we have choices which can influencewhere we end up.

I have to say, I liked the idea of nothaving a pre-determined future and beingarmed with a good dose of freewill, soopened my mind to my ‘tikkun’, (orpersonal ‘correction’ as it translated in the ancient language of Aramaic). Byunderstanding this concept I was set toidentify excess baggage in my life andavoid future roadblocks, so that my trip tomy desired destination would be a lessbumpy ride. It sounded like a journey I curiously wanted to take, so Ruth hit theaccelerator, picked up the speed andbegan to map out my karmic route.

A SPIRITUAL SOULFirstly I was presented with my natalchart which illustrated the picture of theuniverse when I was born, then I wasshown my progression chart, whichrelated to my current state of affairs in thecosmos and provided a glimpse of myfuture. On first sight they reminded me ofmy orienteering days at school andlooked like an upside down map written ina foreign language, but I was still intriguedas to what all the astrological symbolsmeant. Immediately, I wanted to find outmore about what my stars said and had instore for me.

As she deciphered the significance ofthe moon and the sun in orbit on my birthday, Ruth began to unravel my life’s storyin front of me, picking out significantmoments from my past and revealing

who’d met one of the Kabbalah teacherswho opened the centre in France, so I firsttalked to him, and started to understandthat maybe this would be a path that Iwould get answers on – and that was 23years ago.”

Although she’d been involved with thewisdom for a great deal of time, it wasonly a few years ago, when sheexperienced a turning point of her own,and began sharing her gift for astrology: “I always had intuition, so I always lookedfor a spiritual insight. I got answers but if

JARGON BUSTERKabbalah is said to be an ancient wisdom that explains how life works.Kabbalists believe it describes theunderlying, spiritual rules of our universe, so helps us to better understand ourselvesand our circumstances

Kabbalist astrology teaches that we’reborn at the precise moment that gives us the best chance at being the best we can be. The sages of Kabbalah teach that ourpast choices (which can be read throughastrology) have determined where we startout, and our present choices will determinewhere we end up

The Zohar presents spiritual principles tohelp with everyday life. It is thought todecode the secrets of the Old Testament,

and is put together in the form ofconversations among a group of spiritualmasters. It includes thoughts on the originsof the universe, interpersonal relationshipsand more

Tikkun translates as ‘correction’ inAramaic, and Kabbalists believe it to be one of the most powerful tools forpulling down personal barriers. Byunderstanding it, they say we canidentify past weaknesses and become ‘all that we can be’

Aramaic is a family of languages ordialects, belonging to the Semitic family. It is the ancient language in which theZohar is written and encompasses 3,000years of written recorded history

some of my greatest challenges. Sheexplained how life lessons were designedto bring out the best in us and proceededto tell me, as a Capricorn with Scorpiorising in my astral chart when I was born,that I was a very sensitive soul – thiscertainly was true!

She pointed out some other accurateinformation about me and added anumber of other revelations to myreading. She even delved into the subjectof past lives and detailed struggles that Ihad brought over with me to this lifetime.Interestingly, she said that I had beenforced into religion in a past life and sowas wary of it in this lifetime, but that Iwas still very much a spiritual person. Allrang true with me so far!

Finally, she highlighted specific pointsin relationships coming my way andmilestone moments to look out for.

Post-reading, I was happilyencouraged but wanted to know moreabout Kabbalah and the origins of it; wasit a religion, a mystical organisation orspiritual belief system? I wasn’t completelysure, so couldn’t wait to speak with ateacher at the centre.

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EXPLORINGKABBALAHAfter my impressive hour-long astrologyreading came to anend, Marcus Westonjumped in to answersome of my moreprobing questions.

A former successful financier, Marcus soldhis business in 2001 and decided to devotehimself to teaching Kabbalah at the LondonCentre. Known for his ‘straight-talk’, Marcus’worldly application has seen him invited asthe guest-speaker at various internationalpeace meetings and business conferences,discussing solutions for business socialenterprise and world peace initiatives. I couldn’t wait to find out more from him...

HOW IS KABBALAH RELEVANTTO SPIRITUALISTS?“Many of us dream of a congruent societywhere mysticism and mechanics actuallycome together. Imagine a world wherescience and religion would join. Thespiritual wisdom of Kabbalah de-mystifiesreligion to be actually something verymisunderstood. The wisdom comesthrough 4,000 years of the most criticalsources via credible masters, so thewisdom has gravitas to it.

“If you look at the old testamentthrough the lenses of Kabbalah and theZohar, it explains to you all the secrets ofcreation. If you just read the old testamentfor what it is, it purposely contradicts itselfon many occasions to demand that youlook deeper. So when you look at the Zohar,all of a sudden you do find very scientificsecrets of cosmology, astronomy andastrology. Pythagoras, Plato, Freud, Einstein,Leibniz, Aristotle and Newton were greatindividuals who shaped and formed whatwe consider to be science today and are allthought to have studied Kabbalah.

“Newton’s second law of thermodynamics,for example, talks about cause and effect –the idea that what you put out there comesback to you, which is the ultimate spiritualconcept. So these great minds theorisedthat whole kind of spiritual fabric of life.”

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DOES IT MIRROR OTHERSPIRITUAL SYSTEMS?“First of all, if it’s going to be a wisdom of truth, it must be universal. Anythingspiritual is of value to everyone. Withregard to the Jewish link, the first book on Kabbalah existed 4,000 years ago,and that spiritual wisdom got passeddown 3,500 years ago through Judaism.

“That said, spiritual wisdom also gotpassed down 2,000 years ago throughChristianity, Islam and so on. And,clearly, you look at not just monotheisticreligions, but at Taoism, Hinduism,Buddhism, too – it’s the same concept;how you treat your neighbour is howthe universe will treat you. So there’sclearly a congruent spiritual message.

What is theZohar?

The equivalent of the Bible forKabbalists, the book of the

Zohar was revealed twothousand years ago by

mystic Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochaiand is the central tenet of

Kabbalist teachings

“The spiritual wisdom of Kabbalahde-mystifies religion to be actuallysomething very misunderstood. “

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I was impressed to say the least, mostly withmy astrology reading from Ruth and later withMarcus’ no-nonsense explanation of a conceptsometimes so complex it’s unfathomable tocomprehend. But, as I left the centre behind,the most important nugget of wisdom I’dlearned, aside from my personal astrologyreading, was that it’s important to view andpractice spirituality with balance and apositive outlook.

Kabbalah might have depth anddownsides, like many other religious andspiritual belief systems, but it deserves to beexplored by those who choose to explore it.Newton may have been a heretic interested intheology and Kabbalah, but his ideas seemedto have some gravity to them after all (pun intended)!

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My experience

“Where Kabbalah is different is itgoes back to the origin of creation,sets up the game of life and what we call ‘tikkun’ – that kind of karmicend game where the universe comesback together. What’s so uniqueabout it is that it takes ‘big picture’information and puts it in a very bite-size context.”

ARE THERE ANY RULES TO KABBALAH?“There are set principles on how to treatanother person. We believe that nothingthat happens in creation is random, nothinghappens by accident; everything happensaccording to certain spiritual principles ofcause and effect. As well as being aboutunderstanding how things work aroundyou, the second spiritual principle is centredaround how things work inside of you.

“We all have an ego – a part of us whichdebilitates, which diminishes and which letsus down. When we get angry or frustratedfor the wrong reasons, when we get jealousand controlling and those fears andjudgements come out, we’re planting thewrong seeds and creating the wrongoutcomes. So that’s the second rule, tounderstand yourself. Then it goes into theteachings of the Zohar and so forth, sothere is a spiritual growth, progression andevolution to the study.”

WHY DO YOU BELIEVE MOREPEOPLE ARE SHOWING ANINTEREST IN KABBALAH?“Kabbalah is not a fad. It always will be a very grounded and practical wisdom for people to embrace for the reason that, in today’s society, there are very few answers and people are asking morequestions. Traditionally, I think thosequestions are not being answered.Certainly, when I was growing up,I never could find a person who couldanswer all my annoying questions aboutscience and religion.

“People are much more mindful now,even in consumer choice, in the politicalvote, people are much more aware. Theinformation age makes one very much more

educated as to what is going on out there. I think really with that kind of growth ofintelligence and consciousness people areflocking towards where there is depth andanswers, which is the centre and, I’m sure,many other places as well.

“I think if you look statistically at what ishappening to religion, there are flocks ofpeople moving away from congregationsand from traditional services – I think that ispartly why we see many religious leaderscoming here to study as well. We’ll teachmany Rabis, Priests and other spiritualleaders but even they think what they haveis quite flat. And it’s not to put one thingabove the other, but there is so muchdepth to religion spiritual in origin whichhas been lost.”

DOES THE CELEB FOLLOWINGHELP OR HINDER?“There has been a fashion brandassociation because of celebrity, and I’m always in two minds as to whetherthat is a good or a bad thing. On the onehand, people do come because they’vefollowed a movie star who has mentionedKabbalah, but on the other people havean association like ‘oh, it’s justfashionable’.

“One student went through a reallyfantastic journey and his life changed afterhe woke up spiritually. When asked how hediscovered the centre he said: “I was actually at a Madonna concert and she threw a t-shirt into the audience that said‘Kabbalists do it better’”.

“At first he didn’t understand what thatwas, so he googled it and found theKabbalah centre, so he applied to do acourse and his life turned around. So thereare good stories and there are bad stories.”

Ruth and Hannah onthe day of the reading

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