Hermetic Qabalah draws on a great many influences, most notably: Jewish Kabbalah, Western astrology, Alchemy, pagan religions (especially Egyptian and Greco-Roman from which the term "Hermetic" is derived), neoplatonism, gnosticism, the Enochian system of angelic magic of John Dee and Edward Kelley, hermeticism, rosicrucianism, Freemasonry, tantra and the symbolism of the tarot where the school was influential in the development of the occult interpretation of these cards. Hermetic Qabalah differs from the Jewish form in being a more admittedly syncretic system, however it shares many concepts with Jewish Kabbalah.A primary concern of Hermetic Qabalah is the nature of divinity, its conception of which is quite markedly different from that presented in monotheistic religions; in particular there is not the strict separation between divinity and man which is seen in monotheisms. Hermetic Qabalah holds to the neoplatonic conception that the manifest universe, of which material creation is a part, arose as a series of emanations from the godhead.
These emanations arise out of three preliminary states that are considered to precede creation. The first is a state of complete nullity, known as Ain (אין "nothing"); the second state, considered a "concentration" of Ain, is Ain Suph (אין סוף "without limit, infinite"); the third state, caused by a "movement" of Ain Suph, is Ain Suph Aur (אין סוף אור "limitless light"), and it is from this initial brilliance that the first emanation of creation originates. (Wikipedia)
