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Inner Traditions 2004 ISBN #089281189-7
At 8/1/2" by 11", and 528 pages, this is no small effort. It does not, however, fall into the area of "coffee table" books, although the presentation carries such taste that it certainly qualifies on that merit alone. It is a major effort to combine numerology, sacred geometry and the teachings of the Kabbalah into a new paradigm. As is my way, I started with the front cover, flipped the book over to read the back cover, and then opened the book to read the back inside flap (I go through books from back to front before reading them). I came to an absolute, shocked standstill - there was a very professionally done photo of Leet, followed by her date of birth ... and date of death. Dr. Leet died unexpectedly before her book came out. I was stunned, and tears came to my eyes. Her picture radiated health, dignity and a sense of peace. How could she be gone! In his foreword, Julian Ungar-Sargon, M.D., Ph.D., talks a bit about Dr. Leet, and about the fact that she was able to see the final stages of publication of her book before her death. (Dr. Ungar-Sargon was involved with Dr. Leet's work in translating and reviewing Hebrew citations from original material, and researching obscure resources.) Included in the foreword are synopsis of Dr. Leet's previous books on the Kabbalah. I felt that this was a very "nice" thing for him to do ... apropos of laying the groundwork for understanding her current book. When I got to Dr. Leet's introduction, I realized that his contribution was much, much more than kindness and respect. This truly monumental work was first offered to Inner Traditions "in toto" (three volumes totaling 2,600 pages) in 1994. The sheer volume of material would have been overwhelming for one book, or even for a two volume book. As a result, the material was broken down into more narrowly defined topics, and smaller books published. Material contained in the first three books that helped build the foundation for the final work has been included in this final book. Dr. Leet received her Doctorate in the field of Literature from Yale University, and, until the time of her death, was a professor of English at St. John's University, specializing in Renaissance English literature. Her previous publications in the field of Kabbalah include Renewing The Covenant (1999), The Secret Doctrine of the Kabbalah (1999), and The Kabbalah of the Soul (2003). Dr. Leet studied the Kabbalah under noted kabbalist Aryeh Kaplan and Zalman Schachter-Salomi, and Pythagorean geometry under Robert Lawler at the Lindisfarne Institute. In the preface to The Universal Kabbalah, Dr. Leet talks about "stumbling" upon the discovery of the geometric pattern that would become what she named the "Sabbath Star Diagram" in 1978. For the next twenty years, Dr. Leet's work would be based around the sacred geometry of the "Sabbath Star Diagram" (a configuration of seven Star of David hexagrams) and the sacred geometry of the Jewish Kabbalistic "Tree of Life". The "Sabbath Start Diagram" itself holds a very important place in Kabbalistic work, as it is based on both the emanationist cosmology of the earlier Zoharic Kabbalah and the more future oriented leanings of the later Kabbalah of Isaac Luria. Her work would involve the four worlds of classical Kabbalah, extended to include three higher levels of evolving consciousness. The book is broken down into four sections:
Part One focuses on Hebraic and Pythagorean Sacred Science and the Hexagram as an esoteric key to Genesis and the Zohar. Dr. Leet states that on one level, the Sefir Yetzirah (the Tree of Life) describes the process of constructing the cube of infinite space. She also goes into the structure of the Pythagorean Tetractys (an equilateral triangle made up of ten points), and that practicing Kabbalists of medieval Provence and Spain were aware of this symbol. Throughout the book are wonderful presentations of old graphics, such as the Hexagram of Creation on page 17. Filled with readily understood esoteric symbols, this graphic alone is worth a great deal of study. We also see first hand in this section the construction of the "Star of Sabbath" diagram, based on the hexagram. A geometric concept that may be hard to grasp is easily understood when viewed in progression. An interesting comparison is done with the Cordovero Tree of Emanation and the Luria Tree of Return. To see how the Tree of Return fits into the "Star of Sabbath" diagram is incredibly fascinating. Once you see it, the thought is "Why did I not see that before!" Okay - without knowledge of the "Star of Sabbath" diagram, there would have been no cause for even wondering about this - what I am saying here is that when you read this material it is very, very exciting, and you wonder why you haven't thought of things like this yourself! (This being said by a person who has a very hard time understanding mathematics, and has to actually "work" with something to grasp the concept - namely me!) There's more - there is also a schematic of the Menorah within the "Star of Sabbath" diagram. In Part Two Dr. Leet covers the fourth through the sixth world diagrams, the Sabbatical Model of Redemption, and the Trivalent Logic of the "Star of Sabbath" diagram. Watching the hexagrams build, one upon another, and seeing how they resemble the expanding lotus format just sucks the reader into this gigantic time warp of knowledge. You do not want to put the book down! In Part Three Dr. Leet covers the fourth world model of the Nefesh Soul, the fifth world model of the Ruach Soul, the sixth world model of the Neshamah Soul, and the world beyond the matrix of these borders. In Part Four Dr. Leet covers the seventh, eighth and ninth worlds, extrapolating the matrix to infinity, the periodic decimal sequence, the converging decimal sequence, and convergence and the law of complex magnitudes. There are four extensive appendices at the end of the book:
I found The Universal Kabbalah to be a stunning work done with great integrity, and presented by Inner Traditions in a manner befitting the material, including a wonderful note from the publisher preceding the preface. I have reviewed material for Inner Traditions for over two years now, and have never really had the chance to tell them, or the publicist that I work with, Jody Winters, how much I admire the work that they do. I am going to take this time to do that. I am incredibly impressed with this book, and with Dr. Ungar-Sargon's closing thought: "I looked forward to Leonora Leet's scholarship to come: her bringing to bear on the works of classical English literature her experience with and understanding of the Western esoteric tradition. But it was not to be. She has left that kind of connection for us, her students, to continue." 1 I came to this work through a back door - the study of Tarot, with related studies of numerology, Kabbalah and sacred geometry. I highly recommend this book as a tool of learning, as well as an invaluable resource, to students in all of these areas, as well as students of literature. This is a work that will definitely lead to future studies - it is the culmination of one person's life work, and sets the foundation for the life work of others.
1. Ibid page XI.
Bonnie Cehovet
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