(This is part 2 of a three-part post. For part 1, click here.) “I came this day to the spring of wisdom … and now I shall enlighten you with words of understanding.” This is the beginning of what may have been the most controversial Jewish book of the 18th-century. It was a book of … [Read more...]
Madonna’s Kabbalist – Philip Berg and the Kabbalah Centre (Part 2)
(Continuing my blog post from last week.) My first encounter with Philip Berg's Kabbalah Centre wasn't in Los Angeles, to which the organization's headquarters eventually migrated. It was in a subway station in New York City. It was hot there, and noisy; and a pretty young Israeli woman was … [Read more...]
Love Goddess Stories – Esther, Ishtar, and the “Doe of the Dawn” (Part 3)
This is the final installment of a three-part post. To see previous installments, click here and here. For a "P.S." to the series, click here. The snake's name was ... Sabbatai Zevi. He really did exist--in history. This "snake" is the one who, in the Zohar, bites the "Doe of the Dawn" on … [Read more...]
Gore Vidal and the UFOs
“Stars fell to earth in a blaze of light, and where they fell, monsters were born, hideous and blind.” —Gore Vidal, Messiah Did Gore Vidal believe in UFOs? That was the question I asked myself, with some excitement, as a teen-age “UFO investigator” reading Vidal’s 1954 novel Messiah. This … [Read more...]
