I almost gave up studying the Kabbalah in depth given the difficulty and general "user-unfriendliness" of most deeper books. Have you ever tried starting with the 3-volume "Wisdom of the Zohar"?? This book is astonishing in that while there is always more scope for study of this subject of course, Prophet's work is not only by far the best introduction to Kabbalism, but gave me the best idea of the subject's history and origins, the purpose and use of this esoteric system, and even topics barely mentioned elsewhere. For example, what did the original Kabbalistic mystics actually DO? How does the Kabbalah connect with the subject of twin souls? And how to use "the science of the spoken word" in conjunction with the Kabbalah? Finally, with this great guide, exhaustively researched, I feel able to read other works with true understanding and application.