How does Freemasonry relate to Kabbalah and Hermeticism?

Operative manuscript traditions connect early Craft lore to Hermetic origins through Hermes Trismegistus, who the Old Constitutions—such as the Cooke Manuscript—credit with preserving ancient knowledge and bringing the use of signs to Egypt 2. Alchemical and Hermetic principles entered formal degree structures through rites such as Pernetty's Hermetic Rite at Avignon and Boileau's Philosophic Scottish Rite 2. In the Scottish Rite, degrees above the Eighteenth abandon Temple-based symbolism for pure theosophy and are designated Philosophic Degrees 2. Mackey considers the alchemical philosopher's stone and the Masonic spiritual temple to be identical symbols 2.

Regarding Kabbalah, Waite argues that symbolism surrounding the pillars J. and B. in the Craft derives from Kabbalistic texts such as the Garden of Pomegranates and Gates of Light rather than biblical accounts alone 1. He further compares the Masonic concept of the substituted word to the Kabbalistic loss of the true vocalisation of the Sacred Name during the Greater Exile 1. While the Third Degree legend leaves the Master-Builder unraised, Waite observes that certain philosophical High Grades completed this narrative through Christian Kabbalism 1. Westcott similarly contends that the Craft's structure of strict obligations, monotheistic prayer, and guarded recognitions points to a deeper esoteric system illuminated by Kabbalistic principles 3.