Cabal  

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"The Romans Cabalistiques form the last species of this division of fiction, which it will be necessary to mention. For many ages the mysteries of the Cabalistic philosophy were subjects of belief and investigation in France. The ends at which its votaries aimed, were the transmutation of metals, and the composition of the Elixir of life, supposed to be the quintessence of the four elements, which, according to this fantastic creed, were inhabited or governed by Sylphs, Undinas, Gnomes, and Salamanders. The vain researches of the cabalists, however, produced some discoveries in experimental physics, and the more ornamental part of their system has suggested the machinery of the most elegant poem in our language."--History of Fiction (1814) by John Colin Dunlop

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A cabal is a group of people who are united in some close design, usually to promote their private views or interests in an ideology, a state, or another community, often by intrigue and usually unbeknownst to those who are outside their group. The use of this term usually carries negative connotations of political purpose, conspiracy and secrecy. It can also refer to a secret plot or a clique, or it may be used as a verb (to form a cabal or secretly conspire).

The term is frequently employed as an antisemitic dog whistle, as evidenced both by its Hebrew origin and by its evocation of centuries-old antisemitic tropes.

Etymology

The term cabal is derived from Kabbalah (a word that has numerous spelling variations), the Jewish mystical and spiritual interpretation of the Hebrew scripture (קַבָּלָה). In Hebrew, it means "reception" or "acceptance", denoting the sod (secret) level of Jewish exegesis.

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Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Cabal" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.

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