This simultaneously funny and serious book provides the easiest, fastest way for readers to painlessly attune themselves to the mysteries of the Hebrew alphabet and immerse themselves in the fundamentals of practical Qabalah. It is a road map from the Godhead to your head--a clear and lucid guide to an extremely complex, mystical topic. By performing the exercises and rituals in the book, the reader can complete the self-initiatory process comprising the three main degrees of Rabbi Lamed Ben Clifford's Practical Qabalah course. Lon Milo DuQuette is a best-selling author who lectures worldwide on such topics as magick, tarot, and the Western mystery traditions. He is currently the US Deputy Grand Master of Ordo Templi Orientis and is on the faculty of the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, New York, and the Maybe Logic Academy. His books include The Magick of Aleister Crowley, Understanding Aleister Crowley’s Thoth Tarot, and The Tarot Architect . Visit him at londuquette.com . Son of Chicken Qabalah By Lon Milo DuQuette Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC Copyright © 2018 Lon Milo DuQuette All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-57863-615-0 Contents Acknowledgments, Author's Notes, Prologue, Introduction, Qabalah Initiation: The Method to the Madness, The Degree Ceremonies: Introductory Words, FIRST-DEGREE, Preliminary Notes, Ceremony of Initiation Officer's Script, Portfolio, SECOND-DEGREE, Preliminary Notes, Ceremony of Initiation Officer's Script, Portfolio, THIRD-DEGREE, Preliminary Notes, Ceremony of Initiation Officer's Script, Portfolio, Valediction, Epilogue, Appendices, Endnotes, INTRODUCTION By Lon Milo DuQuette It has been seventeen years since the release of The Chicken Qabalah of Rabbi Lamed Ben Clifford,1 and twenty-one years since the unexplained disappearance of the controversial "rabbi" whose unorthodox teachings formed the substance of the text. I was initially flattered when asked by my publisher and colleagues to collect and curate the material for what would become that landmark publication. I never dreamed, however, the assignment would become so challenging or so exasperating. Rabbi Lamed Ben Clifford (his real name is still unknown) was a highly eccentric character. His followers, although few in number, enthusiastically embraced his nonsectarian doctrines and methods. Unfortunately for his biographers (and future students), he rarely committed any of his discourses to writing. He was hopelessly undisciplined and relied almost exclusively upon person-to-person tutoring and informal interactions within a small circle of disciples, a few of whom took excellent notes; most of whom did not. After his (still-unsolved) disappearance in July of 1997, his colleagues were burdened with the ponderous task of sifting through the stacks of scrapbooks and manuscripts that towered floor to ceiling in every room of his otherwise charming Long Island beach house. Directing the labor of collating and cataloging was Ben Clifford's administrator (and "magical son") Dr. Gizmo Ben Lamed. I prevailed upon this saintly and good-humored gentleman to be project editor on The Chicken Qabalah. I'm embarrassed to admit that the popularity of The Chicken Qabalah came as a complete shock to all of us. From the first week of its release, critics of esoteric literature reacted with extraordinary kindness. Sales figures for CQ (while modest compared to those of sadistic erotic novels or gluten-free cookbooks) continue to tolerably satisfy the publisher, who for the last ten years, has urged me to write a sequel. Year after year I declined, arguing one cannot get blood from a turnip. There were simply no more Rabbi Lamed Ben Clifford texts to publish. I was secure in my belief that the material available to us when we researched The Chicken Qabalah represented nearly all of the writings, notes, and interviews known at the time to exist. Happily, that is no longer the case. RABBI LAMED BEN CLIFFORD — DEAD AT LAST The story of how all this "new" material came to light is as curious as everything else surrounding the bizarre life of this enigmatic holy man. Because his disappearance was unexplained and a body was never recovered, Ben Clifford's estate languished in limbo for many years. Legal disposition of his affairs was postponed a dozen times, triggered by "rabbi sightings" reported from around the world. Many of these were obvious hoaxes perpetrated by grief-maddened Chicken Qabalists. Others were disturbingly bizarre and seemed eerily genuine. To this day, many remain unexplained. Perhaps the most dramatic sighting was bolstered by the testimony of Sister Gina Martini and eleven Carmelite nuns in Albany, New York, who, in 1999, reported being startled after vespers by a partially clad intruder matching the rabbi's description, friskily darting in and out of rows of drying laundry in the convent courtyard. Two years later, police in Orlando, Florida, responded to a dist