Qliphah (Qlippoth)

In classical Kabbalistic literature the qliphoth are presented as the representation of evil or impure spiritual forces that stand in opposition to the sefirot, forming part of the realm called Sitra Achra. This framing appears in sources describing the Zohar and Lurianic Kabbalah as locating a domain of impurity or obstruction that structurally mirrors the Tree of Life. Later Western esoteric systems (Hermetic Qabalah, Golden Dawn, Aleister Crowley) adapt and reify this schema, naming individual qliphothic nodes (qliphoth/qliphah) and mapping them as opposites to particular sefirot.

The sources characterize the qliphoth primarily as noncorporeal spiritual forces or a metaphysical realm rather than uniform physical beings. Classical Kabbalistic accounts treat them as impure 'shells' or oppositional emanations within the unseen cosmological structure. Later Hermetic and occult summaries sometimes personify or name individual qliphoth (for example Sathariel or Gamaliel) in occult mappings, but the provided materials do not give consistent or canonical visual descriptions of their morphology.

Within the cited materials the qliphoth function cosmologically as oppositional, impure, or concealing forces that mirror and invert the sefirot; they form obstacles or obstructions relative to the divine emanations. Occult adaptations give individual qliphothic nodes associative identities (for example, Hermetic sources describe Sathariel as 'concealers' and Crowley is reported to associate Sathariel with figures such as Satan and Moloch), but the supplied excerpts do not enumerate concrete, consistent powers (such as possession or physical harm) or detailed behavioral mechanisms toward humans.