Kabbalah, Cabala, and Qabalah — the difference

The different terms Kabbalah, Cabala, Qabalah, Kabala, Cabbala, or Cabbalah are often viewed as one and the same belief system. However, it isn’t. This is a brief overview to distinguish three types of “Kabbalah”.

Kabbalah

The central tradition of Jewish mysticism, with roots extending back to 2000 years. The word “Kabbalah” is derived from Hebrew roots meaning “that which is received”, or “tradition”. It refers to revelation from God received by Jews and passed on from generation to generations through oral tradition. The Kabbalah claims to possess secret knowledge concerning the nature of God and the inner structure of God (doctrine of emanation, or ten sefiroth), and essentially secret knowledge of the unwritten Torah (divine revelation) that was communicated by God to Moses and Adam. This knowledge is kept secret within the holy Scriptures and can be obtained through esoteric or occultic practices.

Cabala

Originally the medieval Latin spelling of the word Kabbalah, it then acquired a somewhat different meaning. The Cabala arose in the late fifteen century and relates to the kabbalistic ideas Christian occultists adopted from the Jewish Kabbalah and modified it to suit their own spiritual perspective. It is more of a fusion of Jewish mysticism and Christianity. The idea of interpreting the Kabbalah in Christian terms was supposedly to entice Jews to become Christians: the claim was that the Kabbalah could be used to prove core Christian doctrines (the divinity of Christ, the trinity…). In essence, the Cabalists believed they had discovered a key to the special, secret, hidden wisdom of Christ Himself. This is therefore the “Christian Cabala”.

Qabalah

Usually refers to the contemporary magical system that grew out of the Jewish Kabbalah and the Christian Cabala, reaching a fully developed form in the later nineteenth century as interest in occultism boomed. As with the other two (above), the Qabalah believes in the existence of secret practices that can enable humans to acquire divine knowledge and potentially divine power, too. Occultists and magicians hungry for knowledge and power tapped into the mystical Jewish and Christian beliefs, and in their hands became what is the Qabalah, a ritual-magic tradition.