"Happy are those who wash their robes so as to have free access to the Tree of Life and enter the city through the gates." Revelations 22:14
There are 10 Sephirah (plural: Sephiroth) on the Tree of Life; they are the gates of the Tree. Each Sephiroth has one or more divine names attributed to it.
Ain Soph or Negative Existance
According to Kabbalah beliefs, behind the concept of negative existence, beyond all the things humans can conceptualize about God, lies a transcendent Godhead that can not be known called Ain Soph. For God to become manifest, we must examine creation, which was made by him. These apsects contrast with Ain Soph and can give us profound undestanding of God's reality, but never to the deepest level which is beyond thought or concept.
Isaac Luria, a Jewish mystic, wrote that Ain Soph, the Infinite Being, contracted in order for the world to come into being. In the space that was created, Ain Soph sent out a beam of light, the "first spark" that struct the pinpoint of light known as Kether. This light descended down the Tree of Life, igniting all the attributes of God, or Sephiroth, in a single instant.
Supernal Triangle: Kether, Chokmah and Binah
Imagine Ain Soph being a well that can not be seen or known, but which is also a fountainhead from which all that is known emanates. Kether, the first Sephirah, means Crown. As it is the first emanation from Ain Soph, Kether is also beyond attributes.
Kether is nothingness, as it is closely aligned with Ain Soph. Thought, here, dies and consciousness expands or dissolves into infinity. It is the primorial point that the other Sephirah evolve out of. The divine name of Kether is Eheieh (AHIH) which means I Am Being or He who causes things to be.
The second Sephirah is Chokman, or Wisdom and his divine name is IHVH (Yahveh), the giver of wisdom in the Old Testament. There is also a connection to this sphere with the Auphanim, or the wheels surrounding the throne of God in Ezekiel's vision (Ez. 1:16). He is also called Ab, which simply means Father.
Binah, or the third Sephirah, is the Universal Mother (Ama) and is considered to complete the masculine aspect of God. Her divine name is IHVH Elohim, both of the names of God used in Genesis. The Father, Chokmah, is contained within her. She represents the creating aspects of God. She is also called Understanding and the Sanctifying Intelligence. She is coequal with Chokmah and her symbol is the dove, or the Holy Spirit.
Kether, Chokmah and Binah form the Supernal Triangle. With Binah, space can be enclosed, because now there are three aspect of God revealed. Encountering this space is the goal of the meditator.
Chesod: Merchy and Gevurah: Strength
The fourth Sephirah is named Chesod (Mercy), or Gedulah (Glory). His name is El (Al), used often in the Bible to signify God. With Chesod, associations become more accesible to the mind. He is pictured as a King sitting on a throne in all of his regalia, surrounded by the Chasmalim order of angels. His names are also Cohesive Intelligence and Scintalating Flames. He is known as the Merciful One. Jupiter is one of his archetypes, as Jupiter was known for great displays of generosity. A cross with equal arms is also attrilbuted to him, symbolizing the number four.
Another feminine Sephirah is the fifth, Gevurah, or Strength, also known as Power, Might or Severity. Her divine name is Elohim Gebor (God of Power). The angelic sphere associated with Gevurah is the Seraphim, which means fiery serpents. Mars is the planet associated with her, and a mighty warrior in a chariot is the image, representing the catabolic, or the release of force in activity that breaks down matter. Gevurah acts like the Celestial Surgeon and is called The Radical Intelligence.
The next article will conclude with the remaining five Sephiroths: Tiphareth, Netzach, Hod, Yesod and Malkuth, which can be translated as Earth or Kingdom.
Much of this information can be found in:
Part 2, Soror A.L. Archetypes on the Tree of Life: Teaching of the Paul Foster Case Tarot, The Raphael Group, Berkeley
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