The Sephirot

• Derives from the Zohar. It aims to transform the biblical narrative into a biography of God. The Sephirot describe the nature of God. The individual aspects of God that come together to form the whole— Infinite.
• The upper Sephirot require the lower Sephirot. The lower Sephirot require the upper. The Sephirot act in unison (oneness).

The Tree Of Life (Otz Chiim) §

• The Classical Arrangement in Qabalah for the Sephirot. It consists of the Sephirot laid out as ten spheres with 22 paths interconnecting them (each path has a corresponding Hebrew letters).

  • It lays out the structure by which the Sephirot emanated from one another.

• The Tree of Life is to be interpreted as an abstraction for cosmic principles found in myth, as well as the character of the soul of man. In this sense, The Tree of Life links the microcosm of Man with the macrocosm of the Divine.

• It shows the concept of the trinity - Being, Non-Being, and Coming into Being; Thesis, Antithesis, Synthesis.

• The tree consists of tree pillars

  • The Pillar of Severity - The Left Pillar. associated with black, and the analytic, repulsive, feminine, and disintegrating principles of the Universe.
    • Associated with the Hermetic Path or analytic path towards Enlightenment.
    • Said to be the origin of the Qliphoth and dark forces because of its principle for Separation. It reflects how Knowledge can be dangerous
  • The Pillar of Mercy - The Right Pillar. associated with white, and the connective, attractive, masculine, and associative principles of the Universe.
    • Associated with the Orphic Path or artistic path towards Enlightenment
  • The Pillar of Mildness - The Middle Pillar. associated with gold which balances the other two pillars.
    • Associated with the Royal Path or the path which balances between the extremes of the other pillars.

• Some postulate the Tree as being of the same root as the Tree of Knowledge.

• A general aspect of the Tree in terms of positives and negatives is as follows:

  • Those on the Pillar of Severity are negative. Those on the Pillar of Mercy are positive. Those on the Pillar of mildness are both.
  • Each Sephirah is negative in relation to those above it, and positive in relation to those below it (i.e., Chesed is negative in relation to Chokmah).

Atziluth §

• There is a polarity between Chokmah and Binah. Both are opposites yet both contribute to Being. In practical terms, they correspond to the balance between activity and passivity found in the Natural Order of things. Polarity drives equilibrium.
• Because Keter constantly manifests the unmanifested, the Supernal Triangle of Keter, Chokmah, and Binah is never in equilibrium. The Universe Cycles between being dominated by Chokmah and by Binah. This is the natural order of things.
• Chokmah and Binah are the essential Maleness and Femaleness in their creative aspects — \With no Form, the energy simply radiates into space. With no Force, there is no action.

Keter (Crown) §

• Associated Color: Pure White

Characterization §

• The first sephirah. It shares in the negative nature of Ein Sof.
• It is nothingness, but one degree from non-existence. God undifferentiated. unified, formless, and passive. It is the first being that has individual existence. the first step from infinite to finite.
  • It exists yet does not conform to a human’s criteria of existence — having form and activity.
  • To reach Keter is to reach Annihilation.
• It is the crown on the head of Adam Qadmon (Primordial Adam). Thus, Keter is the root of roots—the image of God that man is made from.
  • The root of man is nothingness. Ergo, reaching Keter implies the annihilation of thought. Ego death.
  • Because it is the crown and not the head, it symbolizes how the innermost spiritual essence is never in actual manifestation, but is always the underlying basis whence all springs. Manifestation emanates from essence, from Keter..
  • Spirit flows out into manifestation in matter, but matter by its own energy draws spirit into manifestation
• From Keter, the rest of emanation is drawn forth.

Values §

• Associated Virtue: Unity, especially with God. Completion of the Great Work

• To understand Life itself and how we relate with the Divine and Spiritual.

1. God is living not dead.
2. O God! Do what Thou wilt.
3. God is everywhere.
4. God is no “thing”.
5. Nothing is impossible with God.
6. God knows who exists.
7. Can anyone prove there is no God?
8. Not everyone knows God exists.
9. God is what anyone can place faith in.
10. Believe in God. Do not doubt Divinity.

Chokmah (Wisdom) §

• Associated Color: Blue / Gray

Characterization §

• The primordial line that extends from the primordial point. The Primordial Male aspect. It is the first positive existence that can define itself in relation to something else.
  • It is the Force that connotes activity.
• It is the beginning of revelation and existence. It is yesh me-ayin (Being from Nothingness ). It is the beginning of being, but not being itself. It connotes a channel of force that brings about existence.
• It corresponds to the positive aspect of dynamism , force, and activeness.

Values §

• Associated Virtue: Devotion — acquiring new knowledge, carrying out the Great work of Keter.

• Associated Vice: Evil — It carries the Force for Evil

• Wisdom suggests the idea of accumulated knowledge— an outgoing type of comprehension.

1. Where ignorance is folly, it is bliss being wise.
2. Accept wisdom. Why be stupid?
3. The fear of God begins wisdom.
4. Wisdom clarifies obscurity.
5. Why play the fool when it is pleasing to work with wisdom?
6. Among the wise, it is idiotic being stupid.
7. Find out how you might encourage wisdom in others.
8. Time is never wasted with wisdom.
9. What can we do without wisdom?
10. Wisdom cannot afford luxurious.

Binah (Understanding) §

• Associated Color: Black

Characterization §

• Represented by a circle. The Primordial Female aspect embodied as Divine Mother that represents the female potency of the Universe.
• With Chokmah, she conceives the other Sephirot. It is the form-giving structure that cultivates the force from Chokmah.
  • It is the primordial sea to Chokmah’s sky.
  • It is also associated with Time — both giver of life and death
  • Form corresponds to stability derived from interacting forces that come at a standstill Form is the discipline of Force.
• It corresponds to the negative aspect of shaping, form, and passiveness.
  • It brings both Life and Death.
  • It is the totality of all individuation because it restricts something to a form.
  • It is also the bringer of Death since form is material and finite. It is associated with suffering and sorrow.
• It has two aspects: Ama (The Dark Sterile Mother) and Aima (The Bright Fertile Mother).

Values §

• Associated Virtue: Silence — being receptive to what Nature and Others have to teach. To See nature as it is and nothing more.

• Associated Vice: Avarice — The stagnation of progress because of hoarding. Never letting go of what enters it.

• Understanding conveys the idea of penetrating into Wisdom to synthesize its essence and significance. We become sympathetic and our intuition develops.

  • Faith rests on Understanding—where superconscious experiences, not conveyed through conscious expression but felt nonetheless.

1. It is pathetic being anti-anything.
2. Understand, then you need not fear.
3. Try to understand things.
4. Be sympathetic to the stupid.
5. Understanding avoids hate.
6. Don’t reject anything, listen and learn.
7. Shun dangers by intuition.
8. Do not dislike what you do not understand.
9. Who understands enough to care?
10. Comprehension passes all.

Da’at (Knowledge) §

• Associated Virtue: Detachment — impartiality to good and evil. No transformation and no consciousness. Letting go.

• Associated Vice:

  • Pride — reluctance to let go for the sake of transcendence.
  • Apathy — detachment without vitality. All things are equally important and unimportant.

• Sometimes regarded as the union of all the Sephirot. It is where all the Sephirot exist in union.

• Also regarded as the image of God. It is the reflection of Keter. Alternatively, it may be viewed as the union between Binah and Chokmah (Primordial Mother and Father).

• After the mythical Fall, an Abyss cracks open and the divine level of Atziluth is isolated from the rest of the realms. Da’at acts as the bridge across the Abyss.

  • Some refer to this abyss as Masak Mavidil — a site for banished failures such as the Mesukiel who “conceal god”, and the site for hell.

• It is the practical synthesis between Chokmah and Binah. Prior to the fall, it was united to the other Sephirot, and gives light to the Upper Sephirot.

Briah §

• There is a balance between Chesed and Geburah.
  • Chesed includes Geburah within itself to execute judgment tinged with love. Without Geburah, it would make all things undifferentiated without identity.
  • Geburah balances with Chesed as without mercy, all things would be disintegrated. There is a point when mercy is simply weakness or even danger.
  • Chesed is Civilization and Idealism to Geburah’s Nature and Realism. As with Atziluth, they exist in a rhythmic cycle with one another. Sometimes the correct response is Mercy. Sometimes, Severity.
• The trio of Chesed, Geburah, and Tiphereth represent man’s Higher Soul — his Superego or God’s voice speaking to him. Experiences here are not sensed but felt emotionally. Naturally, these experiences require a greater form of concentration to attain.

Chesed (Mercy) §

• Associated Color: Purple / Blue.
• Embodied by: Abraham

Characterization §

• Pertains to free-flowing love, mercy, and grace.
  • Emanating from Chokmah, it becomes the upbuilding aspect of evolution. It sees, in terms of first principles, what things must arise from given causes.
  • It is the Protector and Preserver. It provides guidance towards the bigger picture.
  • It links things together, going from an individual ego to oneness with the Will of the World.
  • It is able to discern even subtle causes of things, formulating archetypal / mythological ideas originating from the Logos.
  • It denotes firmness. All things must organize and interact with the whole.

Values §

• Associated Virtue: Obedience — it is through obedience, sacrificing egoism, that we can share in the amenities of social life.

• Associated Vices:

  • Bigotry — refusal to move with the times or seeing another viewpoint
  • Hypocrisy — refusal to give ourselves whole-heartedly.
  • Gluttony — taking more than our fair share of the common store.
  • Tyranny - the wrong use of authority arising from vanity or cruelty.

• To be magnanimous, kindly, generous, merciful, and compassionate in nature.

1. Nothing is too much trouble for anything.
2. Don’t let anything bother you.
3. Care for others that have none to care.
4. Be merciful. Waste no time.
5. Where there is generosity, there is no necessity.
6. Have compassion on the weak.
7. Life should be too happy for weariness.
8. Live, love, and laugh.
9. Answer anyone in need.
10. Make efforts to help anyone worth while.

Geburah (Severity) §

• Associated Color: Red
• Embodied by: Isaac.

Characterization §

• Pertaining to God’s strict judgment and limitation. It corresponds to Justice and Power—the lash through which humanity is disciplined.

  • Wealth emanates from here through Binah. It is the way in which God answers prayers. It is also from Binah that it actualizes Death through Destruction --- destroying forms through force.
  • It also inspires awe and fear of the Lord — the beginning of Wisdom and respect. This inspires us to act morally as we know justice will be served.
  • It also emphasizes sacrifice — the deliberate choice of a greater good in preference to a lesser good.

• It correspond to the principle of law, separation, discipline, and severity. It disintegrates and creates distance to enable individual existence.

Values §

• Associated Virtue: Courage and Energy — Geburah in the microcosm is the courage and resolution that frees us from self-pity

• Associated Vice: Cruelty and Destruction — an imbalance of harshness with respect to the offense committed.

• Discipline, Economy, Strict Justice, and all qualities of correct training at Life. In this way we fulfill our duty..

1. Be strictly just.
2. Hate to hurt.
3. Conquer the will to kill.
4. Feel for ill-treatment of others.
5. Revenge is wrong.
6. Be severe only in necessity.
7. Respect whoso will not punish you.
8. Be fearful of ever being brutal.
9. Force ferocity to be subdued.
10. Discipline yourself to make others accept you.

Tiphereth (Beauty) / Rahamin (Compassion) §

• Associated Color: Yellow / Pink
• Embodied by: Jacob

Characterization §

• It represents the heart. The center of the Tree of Life, and the mediator between above and below, between Chesed and Geburah. It also gives nourishment to the lower Sephirot.

  • It is also associated with the Sun, and the light — as a source of uncorruptible illumination that brings forth vitality. It also manifests and distributes energy reflected from Keter.
  • It is a reminder of the need for Spiritual Nourishment which can be obtained by being One with Nature—by treating Nature with Dignity.

• It serves as the equilibrium point between the physical and the transcendental. Those below it represent the personality of the self. Those above it represent the Individuality or Higher Self.

  • The concepts embodied in the Higher Sephirot begin to concretize through Tiphereth. As above, So below.
  • It serves as a threshold for Illumination of the mind to higher modes of consciousness. It is God made manifest in the Spirit of the Mind.

• It may be seen as a symbol of the savior figure (i.e. Jesus). It is in Tiphereth where God manifests in form as the Messiah and the Redeemer.

  • It represents sacrifice — the translation of Force from one Form to Another. That which is sacrificed takes up a new Form.

Values §

• Associated Virtue: Devotion — the love of something higher than ourselves, evoking our ideals and the way we become like these ideals. It is to the point where we Adore the Great Work.

• Associated Vice: Pride — to extend the boundaries of the soul to possess all things, rather than to give and take. To delude ourselves into thinking we are superhuman by virtue of being enlightened.

• Tiphereth’s Beauty lies in due and just proportion—in Harmony.

1. Control chaos, then create what you will.
2. In a universe of Eternal Beauty, all ugliness must fade away.
3. Whoso rules out Beauty blasts the world.
4. Discover what prevents people from knowing the difference between Beauty and Ugliness.
5. Truth strikes up in Harmony.
6. Never persuade people to accept Ugliness.
7. Keep in control of yourself.
8. Control confusion in yourself and others.
9. Make opportunities for others to regain lost balance.
10. The secret of perfection lies in preventing deliberate disorganization.

Paraketh §

• A lesser Abyss that separates the Briah from the lower Sephirot. This marks a chasm of the consciousness.

Yetzirah §

• The Triad of Netzach, Hod, and Yesod constitute the experience of incarnation — of symbolic presentations of spiritual things in terms of astral consciousness. Netzach and Hod work in balance — emotion and intelligence.

• In this, and Asiyah, spirit inspires mind, mind directs emotions, emotions mold the physical vessel. And this causal chain goes back up as physical contributes to emotional to intellectual to spiritual.

Netzach (Victory / Endurance) §

• Associated Color: Emerald, Green
• Embodied By: Moses

Characterization §

• It is the reflection of Chokmah through Geburah.

• It embodies fortitude and patience to follow through on passions and desires. It is associated with instinct and sensation.

  • Here, the abstract sensations in Tiphereth slowly become concrete in the mind through imagery through the human mind. The beings of Netzach are the embodiment of ideas.
  • We also see here that all things men worship, especially those that cannot be explained, are grounded on real natural forces, resolved in the mind through symbolic imagery.
    • Here, the fundamental Forces are perceived through contemplations of faith, and artistic expression

• Netzach stimulates desire within the human soul, which derives from its needs — in particular its needs for intimacy and relationships with others.

  • Here we form an image of ourselves as part of a greater whole.

Values §

• Associated Virtue: Unselfishness — to go beyond immediate gratification of one desires out of regard for others. To see that there is no such thing as Good and Evil, only the balance between extremes.

• Associated Vice: Lust - to see desires as merely sensations and pleasures. Unstable passion that is not rooted in spiritual principle.

• To achieve true, permanent victory by realizing the Good Will of the Lord.

1. Overcome Evil with Good.
2. Achieve what is right.
3. Be master of your Self.
4. Desire to be satisfied.
5. Make your forces obey your will.
6. Be it against your will to use compulsion on others.
7. Let no cost be unaccounted for.
8. Break nothing you cannot make.
9. Conquer hate.
10. Oppose all intending to destroy you.

Hod (Glory / Splendor) §

• Associated color: Orange, Rose Red.
• Embodied by: Aaron

Characterization §

• It is the reflection of Binah through Chesed, and represents the coagulating principle.

• It embodies intellectuality and reasoning.

  • It is in Hod that things become individualized. Here are the beginnings of the human mind.
  • Through the human mind and concentrated will, the creative and imaginative forces of Netzach are actualized and given concrete form — from unrestricted spiritual force to directed astral form.
  • As the human mind organizes forms, these forms realize the glory of the divine. We begin to understand that behind the appearance of created things, there is an underlying spiritual force and a divine Creator.

• It is also associated with ceremonial magic and occult knowledge as the magician works with astral forms.

Values §

• Associated Virtue: Truthfulness — to not deny the truth of our experiences, both physical and spiritual

• Associated Vice: Dishonesty — to lie to ourselves, especially to save our ego. To use the mind to actualize sensations not in line with our authentic feelings.

• Life gives us incentives to develop ourselves in fair and legitimate ways which will bring credit to us, but harms no one.

1. You cannot cheat Life without paying.
2. Know the import of being a Self.
3. Take every advantage to benefit others for your own good.
4. Be not deceived.
5. Don’t steal it — earn it.
6. It is foolish to enjoy flattery.
7. Grasp what being means.
8. Be clever, make others think.
9. Admire the possibilities of learning.
10. Laugh with others at what happens.

Yesod (Foundation) §

• Associated Color: Violet / Purple
• Embodied By: Joseph

Characterization §

• The phallus. The procreative life force of the Universe that serves as the foundation of the world. At the same time, it is fluid— it is where the Ether resides.

  • Ether is the intermediary between the spiritual and the material. It is where the spirit operates to manifest something in the material world. It is what binds the material together
  • Yesod is symbolized by the Moon — the Etheric double of the Earth — the material.

• The power of the preceding Sephirot are purified in Yesod and channeled to Malkuth.

  • It is the first sphere by which man rises from a materialistic viewpoint of the world. We see beyond the material to the idealistic.
  • Yesod also acts to harmonize Hod and Netzach.

• Human righteous action stimulates Yesod and brings about divine marriage.

  • Human marriage mimics divine marriage. Its purpose is union—to give birth—to learn—to grasp the divine—to maintain the endurance of he one who apprehends with the joy of apprehending.

Values §

• Associated Virtue: Independence — we escape from deterministic materialism. We create a world in which we may enforce any rule we wish— immaterial thought becomes material thought.

• Associated Vice: Idleness — being too detached from the physical world that we fail to take action.

• Life should give us Stability. We should be fertile of body, mind, and soul. No temple will make us ascend; Enlightenment is something we earn of our own accord.

1. What matters on Life is that all should have a chance.
2. Live in stability.
3. Be responsible in living.
4. Place faith in no “thing”.
5. The meaning of Life is found in Infinite Nil.
6. Growth under control.
7. Be discriminate in breeding.
8. The significance of society.
9. Sex is of some importance to all.
10. Life is certainly All.

Asiyah §

Malkuth (Kingdom) §

• Associated Color: Black with Citrine
• Embodied by: David

Characterization §

• Malkuth provides the Sephirot a channel to emanate to the lower world.

  • Malkuth is the end result of all operations, where all things have been manifested into a permanent material form. Physical interacts with physical in this sphere.
  • Whatever has been built in Yesod is embodied in Malkuth through the medium of living substances — organized form (i.e., including minerals and inorganic objects).

• It corresponds to the world of man, where he is before he begins a spiritual journey. The Spiritual Journey starts with mastering Matter.

  • Unless the feet of Divine Man is not planted on the Earth, no stability is possible.
  • We need to cast out the illusory from the real through an empirical means.

• To rise above Malkuth, we must learn to sacrifice the lesser to the greater. To do this requires the ability to discern the differences between things.

Values §

• Associated Virtue: Discrimination — to cast out what is undesirable, and to preserve the good to maintain stability.

• Associated Vice:

  • Avarice - to accept what is undesirable and discard what is good. To be unwilling to sacrifice.
  • Inertia - being impatient in reaching spiritual enlightenment without being stable leads to going nowhere. Equally, too much stability leads nowhere but materialism.

• Man is an evolving entity progressing through and past material living towards a spiritual status independent of Earth existence.

1. I am here to experience Life.
2. Everything Matters.
3. I evolve through animal life.
4. I will become myself only in the One Life of Spirt.
5. I can get all I ought.
6. It is impossible to exist without Spirit.
7. I will relate all Life by its common denominator of the Living Cosmic Spirit controlled by that in me I shall become what I will in it.
8. I cannot live on Earth without a body.
9. I can believe anything not excepting this physical world.
10. Eat and drink so that if we die tomorrow, we shall be merry.

Shekhinah (Presence) §

• Another alternative to Malkuth
• The secret of the possible that receives emanation from above and the varieties of life below.
• The Feminine half of God. Described as God’s bride.
• The Union of Tif’eret and Shekhinah gives birth to the human soul, and thus derives the spiritual quest of Man.
  • By knowing and withstanding the dark underside of wisdom, the spiritual seeker is refined.

Links §

• The Essential Kabbalah by Matt

• Qabalah, Qliphoth and Goetic Magic by Karlsson

• The Mystical Qabalah by Fortune - goes over the association between Qabalah, Astrology, and the Tarot cards.

• The Tree of Evil by Gray - for the precepts of the Sephirot.

• Altmagick - for more on the virtues and vices of the Sephirot

• Creation (Kabbalah) - more on the Four Spheres (Atziluth … Assiyah) and what they correspond to.

• The Qliphoth