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Kabbalah: Medieval Kabbalah
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Students of the Kabbalah hold that the core of the tradition is taken from the hidden inner meaning of the Torah (the first 5 books of the Bible), which is held to be the Word of God. Two Medieval books the 'Sepher Yetzirah', the Book of Zohar and the Book of Bahir have been the most influencial, detailing fundementals of Kabbalist beliefs, such as the Sephiroth or Spheres. These are detailed below.
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The dualistic system of good and of evil powers, which goes back to Zoroastrianism, can be traced through Gnosticism; having influenced the cosmology of the ancient Kabbalah before it reached the medieval one. So is the conception underlying the cabalistic tree, of the right side being the source of light and purity, and the left the source of darkness and impurity, found among the Gnostics. The fact ... that the Kelippot (קליפות the primeval "husks" of impurity), which are so prominent in the medieval Kabbalah, are found in the old Babylonian incantations, is evidence in favor of the antiquity of most of the cabalistic material.
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The angel Samael is ... important in Kabbalah. Scholem shows (in "The Origins of the Kabbalah") that in early medieval Kabbalah, Samael retained some of the characteristics of the Gnostic demiurge Ialdebaoth (the blind god), and derives the name from "sami", meaning "blind". He is attributed consistently to the planet Mars and the sephira Gevurah, and is the source of all the nastiness in the world. He appears in various guises as the Dark Angel and the Angel of Death. The suffix -el betrays his divine origin, and Kabbalists have been divided between placing him at the head of a demonic hierarchy (alongside his wife Lilith), and viewing him as an unpleasant but necessary component of creation. Samael is identified with the serpent in the Garden of Eden, a tempter and a poisoner of life.
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Medieval Kabbalah