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Qabalah:

 (Heb)   Tradition. Sometimes translated as "collected teachings". The word is spelled "cabala" in the Merriam-Webster dictionary. Waite and Mathers used "kabbalah". Crowley used "qabalah," the correct transliteration of the Hebrew (QBL : Qoph Beth Lamed). Alternate spellings abound.
While rooted in Jewish mysticism, the qabalah has absorbed elements of Gnosticism, Neo-Platonism, and variou oriental philosophies. It has many interpretations and has been put to philosophical, theurgical, and thaumaturgical uses. The Zohar (probably the central book of the qabalah) was written by Moses de Leon in the 13th century.
Qabalah is usually divided into four sections:

1.	Practical qabalah	Techniques of talismanic and ceremonial magic
2.	Literal qabalah	Techniques of the altering of words, consisting of gematria, notariqon, and temurah
3.	The unwritten qabalah	Knowledge which is transmitted orally and never committed to writing
4.	Dogmatic qabalah	The published doctrines and treatises of the qabalah

Four important texts constitute the bulk of the dogmatic qabalah. These are the Sepher ha-Zohar (Book of splendor), the Sepher Sephiroth (Book of emanations), the Sepher Yetzirah (Book of formation), and the Esh Mezareph (Purifying fire).
Qabalah stems from the Hebrew root qab, meaning "to measure." (See also Sephiroth)

Quinance:

 A five-degree division of the Zodiac, each Zodiacal sign ruling six quinances. A quinance is half a decanate. (See also Decanate).

Updated August 27th, 1998