Changes

==Misunderstanding and misrepresentations==

==Misunderstanding and misrepresentations==

Misunderstandings of kabbalism stem largely from the fact that the teachings of Kabbalah have been so badly distorted by mystics and occultists. Kabbalah was popular together with "spiritual" [[alchemy]] among Christian intellectuals during the Renaissance and Enlightenment periods, who reinterpreted its doctrines to fit into their Christian dogma. The same ideas of the macrocosm and microcosm in Jewish mysticism and [[Christian humanism]] were found in earlier Greek philosophy, that the whole of the great [[cosmos]] of the universe of spirit and matter as the whole body of God (''as above'') is found reflected in the minor universe of the human being, body, soul and spirit (''so below''), as the image of God and the image of the whole cosmos. The ten sefirot of the kabbalistic tree of life are frequently represented in graphic diagrams showing them as colored spheres superimposed over the image of the human body to demonstrate this correspondence of human and cosmos.

Misunderstandings of kabbalism stem largely from the fact that the teachings of Kabbalah have been so badly distorted by mystics and occultists. Kabbalah was popular together with "spiritual" [[alchemy]] among Christian intellectuals during the Renaissance and Enlightenment periods, who reinterpreted its doctrines to fit into their Christian dogma. The same ideas of the macrocosm and microcosm in Jewish mysticism and [[Christian Humanism]] were found in earlier Greek philosophy, that the whole of the great [[cosmos]] of the universe of spirit and matter as the whole body of God (''as above'') is found reflected in the minor universe of the human being, body, soul and spirit (''so below''), as the image of God and the image of the whole cosmos. The ten sefirot of the kabbalistic tree of life are frequently represented in graphic diagrams showing them as colored spheres superimposed over the image of the human body to demonstrate this correspondence of human and cosmos.

In more recent times, many have wrenched kabbalistic symbolism out of context for use in tarot card readings and other forms of divination and magic that were never a part of the original Jewish teachings. This fact does not stop many New Age practitioners from falsely (and often, with full awareness, deceitfully) claiming that they are.  

In more recent times, many have wrenched kabbalistic symbolism out of context for use in tarot card readings and other forms of divination and magic that were never a part of the original Jewish teachings. This fact does not stop many New Age practitioners from falsely (and often, with full awareness, deceitfully) claiming that they are.