Mention the Jewish mystical tradition called kabbalah can and the image that comes to mind--if any comes at all--is old men in long beards chanting divine names and studying esoteric texts. But today this complex mystical mode of interpreting Jewish theology and history, which emerged in the 11th century, is surging in popularity among Jews and non-Jews alike. New books apply its wisdom to trendy topics such as making money and finding inner light. Kabbalistic teachings and meditation techniques are now a fixture of the New Age workshop circuit and at universities and yeshivas around the world. And its teachings have attracted celebrities such as Roseanne Barr, Sandra Bernhard, Laura Dern, and Isaac Mizrahi.

What's the appeal of this strange tradition, which has influenced European thinkers and artists from Emmanuel Swedenborg to Franz Kafka? First of all, it offers a deeper, more spiritual experience of God than traditional worship--something many people are hungry for these days, as the rapid growth of evangelical churches attests. The path toward this goal, symbolized in the rich imagery of the Tree of Life, first attracted Rabbi Shoni Labowitz to the discipline. In her book Miraculous Living: A Guided Journey Through the Ten Gates of the Tree of Life (Simon & Schuster, 1996), a useful primer that mixes kabbalistic concepts with those of Eastern traditions, Labowitz describes her journey: 'I learned that the Tree was an ancient template for living a powerful, joyous, sacred life. When I journeyed the path of the Tree, my life changed. What had been chaotic became simpler, what had been confusing became clear, and what had been sadly ordinary became sacred and extraordinary.'

Other aspects of these 'new-ancient words,' as the Zohar, the main kabbalistic text, describes them, are surprisingly compatible with modern values. Centuries before Jung, its teachings presented a framework based on the feminine and masculine aspects of God and encouraged practitioners to discover both aspects in themselves. And Kabbalistic teachings don't require students to give up their material possessions. 'Jewish mysticism insists on finding God within the world rather than escaping from the world,' says Daniel C. Matt, author of The Essential Kabbalah: The Heart of Jewish Mysticism (HarperSanFrancisco, 1995). 'One of the images they use for this is `raising the sparks.' The notion is that there are sparks of God hidden within all material existence. The spiritual path is to discover these sparks, to raise them and restore them to God--to become aware of the divine potential within other people, within life situations.'