In this chapter, I present an overview of the major expressions of Jewish mystical activity on the European continent from the tenth to the fourteenth centuries: merkavah mysticism, Ḥasidei Ashkenaz, the prophetic and theosophic kabbalah. Underlying the survey are three main methodological assumptions. First, mystical experience ought to be deemed principally as a spiritual event that occurs in history rather than an historical occurrence that is imbued peripherally with spiritual meaning. I pre­sume therefore, that in spite of the significant differences from one epoch to another, there are basic themes, motifs, and religious practices that recur in continuous lines of tradition. Second, the positing of recurrent patterns does not come at the expense of disallowing diversity. The assumption that there are enduring patterns does not ignore specific details and historical changes that would account for plurality. Generic claims are rooted in and must be tested against particularities. Third, I challenge the dichotomization of the intellectual currents of mysticism and philosophy in the middle ages as too simplistic. It is impossible to disentangle the threads of philosophy and mysti­cism when examining medieval kabbalah. This entanglement is both historical and ideational.