Growing up in Australia I had a strong sense of being isolated from the rest of the world. One of the really exciting things about living in the United States is that I can meet the authors of many of the books I have enjoyed over the years.

I envy those people who are happy with the spirituality of their parents and those others who seem to chance upon their spiritual path as soon as they start seeking. In my case, it took many years of searching before I finally arrived where I am now.

To paraphrase the sixth century BCE Chinese Taoist philosopher, Lao-tzu,

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” This indicates just how important the first step actually is.

When I think back over my own path, every time there was a change of direction, there was always that all important first step. A crucial part of my journey involved studying the Qabala. The first book I ever read on the Qabala was Simplified Magic: A Beginner’s Guide to the New Age Qabala by Ted Andrews, an internationally recognized author and mystic. My well used copy dates back to 1989. For someone coming from a Christian background, the Qabala with its biblical names for God and the angels had a sense of comfortable familiarity.

There are numerous ways of spelling Qabala, which means “that which is received,” and these ways usually are indicative of its type. Thus Kabbalah is normally the traditional Jewish type, Cabbala or Cabala is normally the Christianized type, and Qabalah is normally a blend of traditional Jewish Kabbalah and Medieval Hermeticism. The reason why there are so many different spellings is that attempts are being made to transliterate from Hebrew, and there is no one accepted standard method. The word, Qabala, comes from three Hebrew letters: Q of, Bet and Lamed, and can be represented as QBL. I opt for the simplest transliteration, which coincidently just happens to be Ted Andrew’s choice as well.

Jo-Ann and I attended PantheaCon in 2007 where we had the privilege of meeting Ted. He was in the vendor’s room standing behind a table that held many of the more than 40 books which he had written over the years. The thing which impressed us about Ted immediately was his aura of warmth and friendliness. He was a person whom we warmed to straight away. It was obvious that he genuinely enjoyed meeting people and sharing his wealth of knowledge with them. I remember chatting to him about elemental beings and nature spirits, a topic which I was researching at the time. Ted had covered the subject in a number of his books including Enchantment of the Faerie Realm: Communicate with Nature Spirits & Elementals and How to Meet and Work with Spirit Guides.

Later in the day, Jo-Ann and I went off to Ted’s workshop. All available chairs were full, and we found ourselves joining numerous other attendees on the floor. Ted was more than willing to field questions, and Jo-Ann and I were thrilled and surprised to hear that Ted remembered our names from our short chat earlier on.

During the workshop, Ted talked about his work in rehabilitating birds of prey, otherwise known as raptors – hawks, owls, falcons, vultures, and eagles. He explained that when a raptor is chasing its prey, it is 100% focused and will occasionally swoop in front of oncoming road traffic resulting in death or injury. Ted would also involve himself in visiting local schools to educate children about raptors.

At the risk of stating the obvious, rehabilitating any bird is challenging, but working with raptors is especially difficult. It takes a special sort of person who displays sufficient love and devotion, as well as common sense, to succeed at rehabilitating raptors.

Ted died on 24 October 2009, succumbing to cancer. The shock of the announcement is reverberating amongst the many people whose lives he touched. He will be greatly missed. Since that meeting in 2007, I had been hoping to see Ted again to resume our conversation. Alas, this is no longer possible.

Posted by Tony Mierzwicki
Filed under: Events, Pagan Issues
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