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'''Kabbalah''' is a form of [[Judaism|Jewish]] mysticism that either takes shape in 13th
The word means "The Tradition" in Hebrew, and it usually means "The Secret Traditional Explanation of Everything," so it has been fights and collaborations between rivals since the beginning. Who wouldn't want to fight over that? The version of the Kabbalah that got big in the 13th
And since then people have continued claiming that their newly discovered version of the ancient tradition is truer than all of the other newly discovered versions. In the Renaissance, Christians discover that the secrets were actually Christian secrets, and Masons later discover that those Christian secrets were also Egyptian or Babylonian secrets. People like [[Aleister Crowley]] discovered that these Masonic secrets had always been magical secrets, or that they explained everything from [[Taoism]] to [[Quantum Physics]]. From the Jewish side, the "Ari" (an akronym meaning "Lion") Isaac Luria discovers some details about how our universe is on top of a shattered previous one, in the sixteenth century. Hasidism makes it folksy, dancey, and dynastic in the eighteenth century. The popular new ones are strange, but it would be hard to show that they were stranger than the ones that were new before.
The Kabbalah is also known for the snazzy tree pattern known as ''the Tree Of Life'', whose leaves are the Ten Sephirot, connected by 22 paths (each associated with one letter of the Hebrew alphabet). These ten spheres are connected in a pattern that shows how God
{{Examples|References to Kabbalah in fiction include:}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
*
* In ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (manga)|Fullmetal Alchemist]]'', the Tree of Life is one of the mystical symbols appearing on the mysterious Gate.
* ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' loves its Kabbalistic symbolism. Now, [[Internet Backdraft|whether]] [[Broken Base|it]] [[Rule of Symbolism|means]] [[Faux Symbolism|anything]]...
** The entire tree is lovingly drawn on Gendo Ikari's office floor, and considering how hip deep he is in {{spoiler|reenacting key parts of the original story to bring back his wife and initiate Third Impact}}, it may have somewhat more meaning, insofar as he and {{spoiler|SEELE}} are concerned.
* In ''[[Psyren]]'', Amagai Miroku's Sephirot attack is based on the Tree of Life.
* ''[[Digimon Frontier]]'' references it a couple of times. First is Mercuremon's evolved form of Sephirotmon, which is actually composed of orbs in the same pattern as the Tree of Life (complete with the Crest of [[Light Is Not Good|Light]] from [[Digimon Adventure]] on the central orb). Ophanimon has an attack called Sephirot Crystals, in which she summons crystals in the same Tree of Life pattern as well.
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* Alan Moore's ''[[Promethea]]'' series is strongly oriented by the Occult Kabbalah of [[Aleister Crowley]] and the sex magick tradition that has been riffing on him (whether or not he liked it then, or his devout like it now) for the last century. A trip through the Tree of Sefirot fills up all of books 3 and 4.
* Ben Katchor's ''[[The Jew of New York]]'' includes Kabbalistic meditation on the word
==
* The ''[[RWBY]]/[[The Gamer]]'' crossover fic ''[[The Games We Play (RWBY fanfic)|The Games We Play]]'' uses the emanations of the Sephiroth as the basis for the [[Anatomy of the Soul]] in the setting, something that turns out to be critical to the long-term plot.
* [[Pi]] has explicit references to Gematria, the kabbalistic practice of analyzing Hebrew words as numbers.▼
==
▲* ''[[Pi]]'' has explicit references to Gematria, the kabbalistic practice of analyzing Hebrew words as numbers.
* Both ''[Hellgate:London\]'' and ''[[Clive Barker's Jericho]]'' have heroes who are ~techno kabbalists~.▼
== [[Literature]] ==▼
* ''[[Bee Season]]'', both the great book by Myla Goldberg, and the mediocre movie with Richard Gere, has Abraham Abulafia's prophetic techniques, Isaac Luria's idea of fixing the world, and Hasidic dancing. Of course, this is in a family with serious problems, so these get translated into obsessive compulsion and Hare Krishna.▼
* ''[[Illuminatus]]!''{{'}}s chapter names [[Idiosyncratic Episode Naming|are named for sephirot]]. So has [[Umberto Eco]]'s [[Foucault's Pendulum]].▼
* ''[[Gustav Meyrink]]''{{'}}s ''Golem'' is heavily influenced by Kabbalah (and by antisemitism). Not very surprisingly so, seeing as the Golem legend is itself heavily kabbalistic, and Meyrink was deeply involved with the esotericism of his time.▼
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* ''[[GURPS|GURPS Cabal]]'' is a game setting in which kabbalah is as ancient as the Jewish mystics claim. Kabbalism is one of the very few "real" (in that universe) paths to potent magic, and Qliphoth are extremely dangerous beings.
* ''Kabbalah: Mythic Judaism'' was a 1998 supplement for ''[[Ars Magica]]'' quantifying Jewish mysticism and magic for use in the game.
== [[Video Games]] ==
▲* Both ''[[Hellgate:London
* ''[[Trickster Online]]'' takes place on Kabbalah Island and includes all sorts of specific references to Sefirot.
* ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'''s Sephiroth takes the name from the Tree of Life. But that seems to be it.
* The back wall of the bathroom where you start the game in ''[[Silent Hill 2]]'' has kabbalistic drawings on it.
* The occult-obsessed school nurse in ''
* ''[[Tales of the Abyss]]'' derives much of its mythology from Kabbalah, instead of the series' habit of drawing on [[Norse Mythology]]. Sephiroth are Auldrant's ten major magical 'hotspots', the Qliphoth is a lifeless underground sea of hot mud and poisonous gas, and several towns in Malkuth take their names from the actual Sephirot. Malkuth itself is named for the lowest Sephirot, which means 'kingdom'.
▲== Literature ==
▲* [[Bee Season]], both the great book by Myla Goldberg, and the mediocre movie with Richard Gere, has Abraham Abulafia's prophetic techniques, Isaac Luria's idea of fixing the world, and Hasidic dancing. Of course, this is in a family with serious problems, so these get translated into obsessive compulsion and Hare Krishna.
▲* [[Illuminatus]]'s chapter names [[Idiosyncratic Episode Naming|are named for sephirot]]. So has [[Umberto Eco]]'s [[Foucault's Pendulum]].
▲* [[Gustav Meyrink]]'s ''Golem'' is heavily influenced by Kabbalah (and by antisemitism). Not very surprisingly so, seeing as the Golem legend is itself heavily kabbalistic, and Meyrink was deeply involved with the esotericism of his time.
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[[Category:Useful Notes/Religion]]
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[[Category:A Nice Jewish Index]]
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