The Art and Practice of Magick

[Unbound]

There are different groups and temples and some have different focuses than others, they all use Hermetic Qabalah, some go deeper in to Lurianic Kabalah. The way he put it to me is that these different systems are just different types of tools which have different functions. You use the tool for the function you need it for.

I like the way he put it is that the difference is one of sophistication. The analogy he made is that Hermetic Kabalah is like a bicycle, but Lurianic Kabalah is like the Space Station. Bicycles are still cool, but they cannot do as much as a space station. Yet, the space station also will never be as simple as the bicycle.

The difference between Lurianic and Hermetic Kabalah isn't the glyph per se, although there can be differences in the placement of the Hebrew letters to the paths. The only "different" glyph I have really encountered is the Hasidic Tree of Life which places Malkuth in Da'ath (and I think that is supposed to represent a tree that has realized 'salvation'). I believe the Hasidic jews do use Lurianic Kabalah.

He also told me that they use a Sabbatean version of Lurianic Kabbalah.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lurianic_Kabbalah
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabbateans