Hermetic views of Qabalah origins 's 1652 depiction of the
Tree of Life, based on a 1625 version by
Philippe d'Aquin. This is the most common arrangement of Sephiroth and Paths on the Tree in Hermetic Qabalah. The practice of using alphabetic letters to represent numbers developed in the Greek city of
Miletus, and is thus known as the Milesian system. Early examples include vase graffiti dating to the 6th century BCE. Aristotle wrote that the
Pythgoraean tradition, founded in the 6th century BCE by
Pythagoras of Samos, practiced
isopsephy, the Greek predecessor of Jewish
gematria. Pythagoras was a contemporary of the philosophers
Anaximander,
Anaximenes, and the historian
Hecataeus, all of whom lived in Miletus, across the sea from
Samos. The Milesian system was in common use by the reign of
Alexander the Great (336–323 BCE) and was adopted by other cultures during the subsequent
Hellenistic period. It was officially adopted in Egypt during the reign of
Ptolemy II Philadelphus (284–246 BCE). In
Isis Unveiled and
The Secret Doctrine, 19th-century Theosophist
Helena Blavatsky wrote that Hermeticism and Kabbalah ultimately both taught the same secret teachings as
Neoplatonism and
Hindu philosophy. In the mid-twentieth century,
Gershom Scholem hypothesized that Medieval Kabbalah had its roots in an earlier Jewish version of
Gnosticism; however, contemporary scholarship of
Jewish mysticism has largely rejected this idea.
Moshe Idel instead has posited a historical continuity of development from early Jewish mysticism. Modern Hermetics, however, see Qabalah as originating in classical Greece based on Indo-European cultural roots, and only later adopted by Jewish mystics.
Renaissance occultism Jewish Kabbalah was absorbed into the Hermetic tradition at least as early as the 15th century when
Giovanni Pico della Mirandola promoted a
syncretic worldview combining
Platonism, Neoplatonism,
Aristotelianism, Hermeticism and Kabbalah.
Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa (1486–1535), a German magician, occult writer, theologian, astrologer, and alchemist, wrote the influential
Three Books of Occult Philosophy, incorporating Kabbalah in its theory and practice of Western magic. It contributed strongly to the
Renaissance view of ritual magic's relationship with Christianity. Pico's Hermetic syncretism was further developed by
Athanasius Kircher, a Jesuit priest, hermeticist and polymath, who wrote extensively on the subject in 1652, bringing further elements such as
Orphism and
Egyptian mythology to the mix.
Nineteenth-century magical revival Post-Enlightenment
Romanticism encouraged societal interest in occultism, of which Hermetic Qabalistic writing was a feature.
Francis Barrett's
The Magus (1801) handbook of
ceremonial magic gained little notice until it influenced the French magical enthusiast
Eliphas Levi (1810–1875). Levi presented Qabalism as synonymous with both
white and
black magic. Levi's innovations included attributing the Hebrew letters to the Tarot cards, thus formulating a link between Western magic and Jewish esotericism which has remained fundamental ever since in Western magic. Levi had a deep impact on the magic of the
Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.
Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn Hermetic Qabalah was developed extensively by the
Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Within the Golden Dawn, the fusing of Qabalistic principles such as the ten Sephiroth with Greek and Egyptian deities was made more cohesive and was extended to encompass other systems such as the Enochian system of angelic magic of
John Dee and certain Eastern (particularly Hindu and Buddhist) concepts, all within the structure of a
Masonic or
Rosicrucian style esoteric order.
Aleister Crowley passed through the Golden Dawn before going on to form his own magical orders. Crowley's book
Liber 777 is a good illustration of the wider Hermetic approach. It is a set of tables of correspondences relating various parts of ceremonial magic and Eastern and Western religion to the thirty-two numbers representing the ten spheres (Sephiroth) plus the twenty-two paths of the Qabalistic Tree of Life. The
panentheistic nature of Hermetic Qabalists is plainly evident here, as one may simply check the table to see that
Chesed (חסד "Mercy") corresponds to
Jupiter,
Isis, the colour blue (on the Queen Scale),
Poseidon,
Brahma, and
amethyst.
Aftermath of the Golden Dawn Many of the Golden Dawn's rituals were published by Crowley, some altered in various ways to align them with his own New Aeon magickal approach.
Israel Regardie eventually compiled the more traditional forms of these rituals and published them in book form.
Dion Fortune, an initiate of
Alpha et Omega (an offshoot of the
Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn), who went on to found the
Fraternity of the Inner Light wrote
The Mystical Qabalah, considered by her biographers to be one of the best general introductions to modern Hermetic Qabalah.
A∴A∴ and Ordo Templi Orientis After the dissolution of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Crowley integrated Hermetic Qabalah into his new religious philosophy,
Thelema. Crowley's works, such as
Magick,
777, and
The Book of Thoth emphasize the Tree of Life and Sephiroth, utilizing Qabalistic principles to explore human consciousness and spiritual growth. Thelema's development continued through organizations like the
Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.) and the
A∴A∴, which further embedded Hermetic Qabalah into their rituals and teachings, perpetuating its influence within modern esoteric practices. ==English Qabalah==