Hermetic Qabalah

Hermetic Qabalah names Western esoteric systems that adapt Kabbalistic concepts for philosophical study and magical practice. The spelling Qabalah is often used to signal these occult adaptations, although spelling alone does not reliably identify a tradition. Jewish Kabbalah, Christian Cabala, and modern Hermetic Qabalah have different histories and religious settings.

A framework of correspondences#

The Tree of Life, the ten sefirot, and paths associated with Hebrew letters provide a central framework. In modern occult teaching, these are often related to colors, planets, elements, divine names, and Tarot cards. Such relationships organize meditation and ritual as well as interpretation of texts.

Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa's Three Books of Occult Philosophy presents earlier Renaissance uses of Hebrew names, sacred numbers, and Kabbalistic material within a Christian account of magic. Its third book shows how these ideas were joined to religious ceremony.^[1]

Modern schools and different aims#

The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn helped establish a widely used modern arrangement of correspondences. Builders of the Adytum teaches Qabalah and Tarot as a sustained course of spiritual study. Dragon Rouge instead gives Qliphothic symbolism a prominent place in its initiatory system.^[2][3]

These uses should not be treated as one uniform doctrine. A table can assign the same planet or letter to a symbol while the surrounding theology differs substantially. Nor should a modern occult interpretation be presented as the belief of all Jewish Kabbalists. The name of the school, author, and text identifies the actual tradition being discussed.

See also#

• Hermeticism
• Tarot
• Dragon Rouge

This encyclopedia covers traditions beyond the High Satanic Church. Church doctrine is identified as such when it appears.