Esoteric teaching is the musings of people with vivid imaginations and very little self-criticism.
You can start with Harry Potter. It helps you acquire the basic tools and the mental slackness required for the next stages.

Yosef,
maybe it would be better to study books built on kabbalistic foundations rather than study kabbalistic literature directly. Kabbalistic literature is written in a language that’s hard for a beginner to understand (partzufim, reshimu, kav, father, mother, etc.), so maybe it’s better to study books like those of Ramchal, The Way of God and Knowing Understanding, which are written in philosophical language but are built on kabbalistic thought.

It could be that instead of preparing by reading books, it would be better to do physical preparation. Every morning at sunrise you should hop 50 times on your right leg and shout cock-a-doodle-doo, and when welcoming the Sabbath you should do a headstand with your eyes closed.

That way you can become a gullible believer in every respect, and as a result the wisdom of Kabbalah will be understandable to you even more than relatively.

In an introduction to Kabbalah, you learn not to ask questions but to accept the lie from whoever says it. This is done by techniques of tone of voice and distraction, as though the things being said are truths beyond doubt.

That way you can advance through the ranks of the wisdom of charlatans and the gullible believers who continued in their path. Who knows—maybe in the end you too will become a charlatan kabbalist.

I think it’s very, very advisable to take the first steps with the guidance of a teacher, or at least by listening to a recorded lesson, and not by reading from a book.

Good point, Aharon.

The Last Decisor, actually I’d recommend starting with God’s reproductive organs and from there moving on to descriptions of intercourse, etc. …

Shai, I really don’t agree. All those books will take him captive to very specific interpretations. That isn’t learning Kabbalah proper. If he wants to get a handle on Kabbalah, he should start with foundational books that present the concepts and the connections between them without interpretations. And Leshem already wrote this about Ramchal (without mentioning him by name): that his books are not Kabbalah, because Kabbalah deals with worlds above, whereas he deals with our world.

Rabbi Michi, that’s also a consideration. I didn’t give him a recommendation, only another point of view.
The thought of studying Ramchal is based on practical rather than essential considerations. Today he is studied in yeshivot as a “Shulchan Arukh of worldview,” in the words of one of the great contemporary spiritual supervisors, and it’s worthwhile to know his kabbalistic outlook.
Rabbi Uri Sherki argues that his books The Way of God and Knowing Understanding are his kabbalistic works, which he concealed in philosophical language because he had been forbidden to write on kabbalistic subjects.

Personally, I tried studying Kabbalah without interpretation and had no idea what on earth was wanted from me.

Shai Zilberstein, insofar as Ramchal is studied as a “Shulchan Arukh of worldview,” it would be fitting for students to follow in his footsteps, turn to university studies, and invest some of their time in staging plays and writing love poetry, etc. …

I’ll add to that, Binyamin: study philosophy and the sciences. According to what is told about him, he had studied all the books of philosophy and science known in his day before he celebrated his bar mitzvah.

The book Yedid Nefesh by Rabbi Yechiel Bar-Lev is highly recommended for understanding basic concepts.

Shai Zilberstein, I don’t know anything “according to what is told about him,” and as far as I’m concerned these are Arabian Nights stories, but according to the findings of the Padua archives, when Ramchal was only 16 he began studying medicine at the prestigious University of Padua. In the university records for the years 5483, 5485, and 5486 (1723, 1725, 1726), Ramchal’s name appears as a medical student.

Once (I was 20) I asked Rabbi Israel Avichai, head of the Beit El yeshiva of kabbalists, what to start with. He told me that in order to study the Kabbalah of the Ari, you should study his books (Rabbi Avivi recommends starting with the writings of the Ari himself, and not those of Rabbi Chaim Vital).