In Judaism, the Qliphoth or Klippot (singular: Qliphah) are the representation of evil forces. The term Klippot literally means peels in ancient Hebrew. They are the empty husks of holiness (nitzotzot) that were cast down after Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden. Qliphoth can manifest themselves in any form, ranging from hurricanes to car wrecks to demons and other fantastic creatures.

The Qliphoth in Kabbalah are thought of as the opposites to the Sephiroth (singular Sephirah). The ten Sephiroth are thought to be the ten emanations of God into the universe. It is thought that the Qliphoth are the ten (or eleven) manifestations of the darkness, into which God's divine light cannot reach. The Qliphoth are the personifications of an anti-God.

The idea behind the Qliphoth came from the question "If God is omnipotent, why does He allow evil?" God is thought to shine with his pure, divine light into a darkness, and to have ten rays of light emanating from him: The Sephiroth. The sephiroth are ten different aspects of God, and they appear to occult kabbalah scholars as ten different entities. Where God's rays of light enlighten the darkness around him, different worlds are created. The closer one comes to God, more and more of his divine light enlighten the enviroment and less and less evil is present. The Qliphoth represent the darkness and chaos that was before God created light. They also represent evil, because they are thought to be the antithesis of God.

Some of the Left-hand occultists have another view of the Qliphoth; They believe that the answer to why God allows evil is because he is evil, often referring to the Qur'an and the Old Testament which, as they believe show instances of God performings acts of evil. The conclusion is that if God is evil, the opposite of God should be good. The Qliphoths are seen as misscredited rebels rather than the primary forces of evil.

• Thaumiel
• Chagidiel
• Sathariel
• Gamichicoth
• Golab
• Togarini
• Hareb-Serap
• Samael
• Gamaliel
• Nahemoth

See also

• Demon
• Demonology
• Sephirah
• Sephira
• Kabbalah
• Dragon Rouge
• Tree of Life
• Tree of Death (Kabbalah)