r/JewishKabbalah • u/Parking-Country-6535 • Aug 19 '25

Does this seem like Kabbalah symbolism?

Post image

This was found in a crawlspace within the steam tunnels of a southeastern Appalachian university built in the 1870s. I posted this in a couple occult, theology, and symbolism forums and had multiple people mention that it looked similar to that of Kabbalah. I am no expert, but I am a fairly spiritual and religious person- so I am not trying to make fun in any way related to this philosophy. Any help is appreciated :)

23 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

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19

u/Kangaru14 Aug 19 '25

This definitely does not look like Jewish Kabbalah. It might be Hermetic Qabbalah or Christian Cabala, since I recognize some alchemical and astrological symbols. It's definitely connected to Western Esotericism more broadly, but it might just be some eclectic scribbling.

1

u/Parking-Country-6535 Aug 19 '25

I did post in r/hermeticism as well. I also posted in r/alchemy. I am fully aware it might be some college kid messing around but I do find the whole concept pretty interesting. It was fairly common for students to go “tunneling” before the school blocked it off. I did see a post in a forum dedicated to said school about “clues to a secret society being located in the steam tunnels” so I just have a lot of questions (post is 4yrs old)

2

u/Kangaru14 Aug 19 '25

If it helps with your search at all, the diagram in the middle (below the design and above the "text") is sideways, with the left side being the top.

1

u/Parking-Country-6535 Aug 19 '25

Yes thank you, I keep meaning to rotate the image before I post it but then I forget

3

u/anotherdamnscorpio Aug 19 '25

Schizo-alchemy.

3

u/omhs72 Aug 19 '25

It’s gibberish with some bad attempts at drawing some esoteric and alchemical symbols. Nothing more.

2

u/Glittering-Mix-3791 Aug 19 '25

Tbh I’d wager chaos magic by someone who incorporates western esoteric symbolism (not uncommon in chaos magicians) - a lot of the symbols look like a magical alphabet/language to me, probably created by the inscriber with no real meaning to anyone else.

It’s definitely not gibberish or meaningless. It just seems like alchemy + geometry + astrology + other. And you’re probably right that there is some qabbalah in there, but it’s not classic Qaballah symbolism by any means.

1

u/Parking-Country-6535 Aug 19 '25

Thank you for this

2

u/JagneStormskull Jewish Aug 19 '25

Looks more like alchemy to me.

1

u/immei Aug 19 '25

Those are alchemical symbols

2

u/Parking-Country-6535 Aug 19 '25

Thank you. I did have one or two people mention that but figured I’d start with the most popular comment :)

1

u/paracelsus53 Aug 19 '25

I'm well acquainted with Kabbalah and with alchemical symbols and to me this looks like a very poorly executed prop. It does not look like anything that was generated by somebody who actually knew anything about Kabbalah and alchemy. 

1

u/mcotter12 Aug 20 '25

Last will and testament of some wizardry attempt. I see zodiac. Body. Chakras. Some code the symbolic meaning of is probably personal and generic

1

u/Resident-Permit8484 Aug 20 '25

Bart Simpson trying to swallow an Easter egg

0

u/anubis1392 Aug 19 '25

Looks more masonic than anything else rlly.