Kabbalah: Secrecy, Scandal and the Soul (Hardcover, 304 pages) by Harry Freedman - £5 OFF

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This book unfolds the long and intriguing story of Kabbalah — the Jewish mystical tradition — tracing its path from ancient beginnings to its varied modern forms.

Our exploration opens with the early mystics of the second century, seekers who claimed to journey through celestial realms and return with accounts of heavenly architecture and divine radiance. Centuries later, in medieval Spain, a mysterious manuscript appeared as though out of nowhere — a text said to have rested in obscurity for over a thousand years. The trail then leads to the hilltop city of Safed, where mystics spoke of reading the human soul and treated the hidden history of creation as if it were laid bare before them.

In the Renaissance, Kabbalah inspired a Christian offshoot — Cabala — which soon mingled with alchemy, ceremonial magic and other esoteric pursuits. The seventeenth century saw a Kabbalistic upheaval that fractured Jewish communities, and in the twentieth century Aleister Crowley adapted its ideas to support his own radical philosophy.

Kabbalah resurfaced once more in the cultural shifts of the 1960s, adopted by spiritual seekers, counter-cultural thinkers and new age movements alike. With this renewed attention came fascination, notoriety and debate as the new millennium approached.

Told with clarity, insight and a sense of story, this concise history presents Kabbalah in a way accessible to any interested reader. No prior knowledge is required — only a willingness to explore how, and why, this mystical tradition has endured across the centuries.