"Cabala is an esoteric system of interpretation of the Hebrew scriptures based on the dubious idea that every word, letter, number and accent mark has a hidden, occult meaning (with which, presumably, you can make the Tanach mean anything you want it to). Invented by Jewish mystics with way too much time on their hands, it surfaced somewhere between the seventh and eleventh centuries, promising religious enlightenment to the elite cognoscenti, the initiates into its mysteries. It enjoyed an enthusiastic following among pagan-leaning Jews, and later among so-called “Christian” ecstatics until the “age of enlightenment” in the eighteenth century—which is hilariously ironic, since Lucifer’s—the wannabe “light-bearer’s"—fingerprints are all over it. Cabala was an important ingredient in the writings of Adam Weishaupt, the founder of the Illuminati. Not surprisingly, it is making a comeback in these Last Days: a Google search will turn up hundreds of thousands of references on the Web. Since it’s authored by the Father of Confusion, it not only defies precise description, it apparently can’t even be spelled: it is alternately rendered Cabbala, Caballah, Kabala, Kabbalah, Kaballah, Qabala, Qabalah, and Qaballah."