Sefirot
 | The factual accuracy of part of this article is disputed. The dispute is about The Jewish View V. The Occultist View. |
Sephirot, Sephiroth, or Sefiroth (סְפִירוֹת), singular: Sephirah, also Sefirah (סְפִירָה "enumeration" in Hebrew).
Sephiroth (or "enumerations"), in the Kabbalah of Judaism, are the ten attributes that God (who is referred to as the Ain Soph Aur, "limitless light") created through which he can project himself to the universe and man. These emanations manifest not only in the physical part of the universe, but also in the metaphysical one. Kabbalah distinguishes between four different "worlds" or "planes":
- Atziluth (אֲצִילוּת), or "World of Emanations", on this level the light of the Ain Sof radiates and is still united with its source.
- Beri'ah (בְּרִיאָה) or "World of Creation", on this level the first concept of creation ex nihilo however without any shape or form. This is also where the Highest Ranking Angels are to be found.
- Yetzirah (יְצִירָה) or "World of Formation" on this level the created being assumes shape and form.
- Asiyah' (עֲשִׂיָּה) or "World of Actions", on this level the creation is complete, however it is still in a spiritual level. At a later stage there is the 'phyisical Asiyah' comprising our phyisical world with all its creatures.
Each of these worlds are progressively grosser and further removed from any revealed Godliness, however the ten Sephiroth manifest in all of them.
Paths and Sephiroth
The Sephirot are also represented by a "tree" that is described as having ten Sephirah and twenty two "paths", which co-relate with the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Each one of these sephirot and paths is given special attributes which reflect its particular quality. Commonly a constellation, planet, name of God and/or an element; Although other attributes such as psychological states, various verbs, and even foods are also attributed (especialy among more modern kabbalists).
Names
The names of the Sephirot are:
- Keter/Machashavah ("Crown"; כתר)
- Chokhmah ("Wisdom"; חכמה)
- Binah ("Understanding"; בינה)
- Chesed/Gedulah ("Mercy"; חסד)
- Gevurah ("Severity/Strength"; גבורה)
- Tiphereth ("Glory/Beauty"; תפארת)
- Netzach ("Perpetualty/Victory"; נצח)
- Hod ("Majesty"; הוד)
- Yesod ("Foundation"; יסוד)
- Malkuth ("Kingdom"; מלכות)
Occasionally another is enumerated:
- Daath ("Knowledge," "Order," or "Law"; דעת)
Traditionally, Daath (Da'at) is not a Sephirah itself. It is the absence of a sephirah. It is alternately called “the Abyss”, and is metaphorically interpreted as the dead child of Chokhma and Binah in the system explained by mideival kabbalist (mekubal in hebrew) Issac Luria, also known as the “Ari”.
Due to different romanizations and the lack of literature describing all the names of each Sephirah, there are a variety of different spellings for each Sephirah. For example Chockmah as Hokhmah or a completely different name such as Tiphereth as Rahamim.
Beyond Kether there is the Horizon of Eternity and through this veil mortal minds are ill-equipped to pierce. Due to the complex and nearly incomprehensible nature of the universe after this point, very little can be understood. What can de divined, however, is the existence of a sort of Qabbalistic Trinity, a triune of "negative existence" that ethereally manifests itself as the Ain (the vacuum of pure spirit), the Ain Soph (The Limitless and Boundless) and the Ain Soph Aur (the Limitless Light). The Ain Soph is the result of the Qabbalists search for the Supreme Deity, a being of such incomprehensiblity that the only way to identify the barriers of its existence is to systematically remove all its cognizable attributes. When everything that is knowable about God has been removed, the Ain Soph remains.
The Pillars
The Sephiroth are organised into 3 different columns or gimel kavim (three lines hebr.);
- Central column:
Kether heads the central column of the tree, which is known metaphorically speaking as "Pillar of Mildness", associated with Hebrew letter Aleph, "the breath", and the air element; It is a neutral one, a balance between the two opposing forces of male and female tendencies. The Sephirot within are represented differently gender-wise. Some teachings explain them as gender neutral, while others say that the Sephirot are sexually split. In the latter case, Keter and Tiferet are male, while Yesod and Malkhut are female.
- Right column, kav yamin (hebr.):
Chokhmah heads the right column of the tree, metaphorically speaking the "Pillar of Mercy", associated with the Hebrew letter Shin, the fire element, and the male aspect;
- Left column, kav smol (hebr.):
The left column is headed by Binah, it is metaphorically speaking called the "Pillar of Severity", and is associated with Hebrew letter Mem (literally meaning "water"), the water element and the female aspect.
Non-traditional interpretations
The tree as detailed by Athanasius Kircher (sometimes referred to as the "Kircher Tree") is by far the most well-known one today. Others arrange the Sephiroth in different ways, such as in the form of concentric circles.
Scholars differ on the presence of other elements in the cosmology. The position of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet is relatively disputed as well, as is the presence of three "pillars" or "columns" of Sephiroth described as connected to each other, and the three "Veils of negative existence", and the Abyss that separates the three supernal Sephiroth from the others, the "false" eleventh Sephira Daath, the Veil of Paroketh and the demonic counterpart of the tree of life: the Tree of death composed of the Qliphoth, husks, instead of the Sephiroth.
The oldest versions of the Tree of Life of the Kabbalah have been theorized to extend from Assyrian theology and mysticism. Dr. Simo Parpola, a researcher at the University of Helsinki, has made some suggestive findings on the matter, particularly concerning an analysis of the Sepiroth. Noting the general similarity between the Sepiroth of the Kabbalah and the Tree of Life of Assyria, he reconstructed what an Assyrian antecendent to the Sepiroth would look like.[1] He matched the characteristics of En Sof on the nodes of the Sepiroth to the gods of Assyria, and was able to even find textual parallels between these Assyrian gods and the characteristics of god. The Assyrians assigned specific numbers to their gods, similar to how the Sepiroth assigns numbers to its nodes. However, the Assyrians use a sexagesimal number system, whereas the Sepiroth is decimal. With the Assyrian numbers, additional layers of meaning and mystical relevance appear in the Sepiroth. Normally, floating above the Assyrian Tree of Life was the god Assur, this corresponds to En Sof, which is also, via a series of transformations, derived from the Assyrian word Assur. Furthermore, Dr. Paropla was able to now re-interpret various Assyrian tablets in the terms of this primitive Sepiroth, such as the Epic Of Gilgamesh, and in doing so was able to reveal that the scribes themselves had been writing philosophical-mystical tracts, rather than mere adventure stories. Traces of this Assyrian mode of thought and philosophy eventually makes reappearances in Greek Philosophy and the Kabbalah.
In the occult
According to occult the shape of the Tree of Life has correlation to 22 Tarot parts too. It has cinnarot from Hod and Netzah to Malkuth. While its cinnarot order differs from Jewish Kabbalah.
The Sephirothic Tree is sometimes depicted as being a human body and, as such, is thought to symbolize the first "Heavenly" Man: Adam Kadmon who is identified by Manly Hall as the Idea of the Universe. Each of the Sephirah, as seen within the formation of the Sephiroth, correspond with a body part or organ of this prototypical man.
Numerology
In a numerological sense, the Tree of Sephiroth also has significance. Between the 10 Sephiroth run 22 channels or paths which connect them, a number which can be associated with the 22 letters of the hebrew alphabet. In addition to each of this channels being assigned a letter of this alphabet, each path is also identified with one of the major trumps of the Tarot deck of symbolic cards. When combined with the 10 Sephiroth, these 22 paths make the number 32 which makes reference to the 32 Qabbalistic Paths of Wisdom and also the 32 degrees of Freemasonry.
To envision the tree, consider each of these ten spheres as being concentric circles with Malkuth being the innermost and all others encompassed by the latter. None of these are separate from the other, and all simply help to form a more complete view of the perfected whole. To speak simply, Malcuth is the Kingdom which is the physical world upon which we live and exist, while Kether, also call Kaether and Kaether Elyson is the Crown of this universe, representing the highest attainable understanding of God that men can understand.
Hypothetically there also exists an Eleventh Sephirah called Daath. According to Karen Chapdelaine, its meaning is the Abyss and its universal element is Neptune which makes it an important element of the Tree of Sephiroth. It should be noted, however, that the first Qabbalists did not include any such sphere, making Daath a contested point of philosophical discussion. The Jewish Kabbalists that do accept this entity state that it is not a Sephirah, but rather that absence of one. In the Jewish tradition, the idea of an eleventh Sephirah is tantamount to blasphemy, as stated in the Sefer Yetzirah: "Ten Sephirot of Nothingness, ten and not nine, ten and not eleven.”
Rabbinic Significance
As to the actual significance of the numbers 10 and 22 in context of Judaism goes into Kabbalistic interpretation of Genesis. God is said to have created the world through Ten Utterances, marked by the number of times Genesis states, “And God said.” Upon scrutiny, there are only nine, but the Kabbalists count the first verse: “In the Beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth.” (Genesis 1:1) This is because something was created, which parallels what happens every time “And God said” is stated. As for the 22 letter-paths, there must first be an explanation of the three different types of letters in Hebrew. See “Bahir Tree” of “Kircher Tree” image for reference.
- There are three “Mothers” (Aleph, Mem, and Shin) that represent the horizontal lines.
- Their difference from the other letters is a matter for another article.
- There are seven “Doubles” (Bet, Gimel, Dalet, Kaf, Peh, Resh, and Tav), which have two pronunciations and represent the vertical lines.
- Gimel, Dalet, Resh, and Tav’s second pronunciations are lost or disputed, with different dialects using different sounds.
- The twelve “Elementals” (Heh, Vav, Zayin, Chet, Tet, Yud, Lamed, Nun, Samech, Ayin, Tzaddi, and Qof) have one pronunciation, and represent the diagonal lines.
Each letter grouping has significance in Genesis 1:
- The Mothers represent the three times Genesis states “God made."
- The Doubles represent the seven times Genesis states “God saw."
- The elementals represent the rest of the times “God” (Elohim in every instance of Genesis Chapter 1) is mentioned.
Pop culture
- A diagram of the Tree of Life appears in the introduction to each episode of Neon Genesis Evangelion. Pools of the fluid LCL, arranged in the shape of the tree, are shown late in the series. It should also be noted that in the office of Gendo Ikari, a Tree of Life is carved/drawn on the ceiling, and Gendo is seated at Keter. The movie The End of Evangelion has visuals of both the traditional form and an original representation, and both are important to the plot.
- In the manga series Fullmetal Alchemist, the mystical gate which Edward Elric sees includes the image of the Tree of Life carved on it.
- The anime feature film Ghost in the Shell features an action sequence inside a room of a floating museum, involving a particularly large mural sculpture, within which the Tree of Life is a dominant feature.
- Madonna used the Tree of Life extensively as both a symbol and prop on her 2001 Drowned World tour and her 2004 Re-Invention tour.
- Alan Moore traces the Tree of Life in the third and fourth volumes of his comic book series "Promethea".
- Bernard Werber uses the tree of life as the underlying structure of some of his narrations.
- Squaresoft´s video game Final Fantasy VII has several references to the Tree of Life in the name of the characters: The main antagonist´s name is Sephiroth.
- Also from the Squaresoft game Xenogears, a non-standard diagram of the Tree of Life is used as the emblem of the Holy Empire of Solaris. Additionally, the name of the path the Wave Existence used to descend to our dimension is referred to as the Path of Sephirot.
- The movie The Nine Lives of Tomas Katz by Ben Hopkins shows the Tree of Life (placed horizontally) in the London Underground control room, apparently used as a map of the underground system. The building where the control room is located is also shown from outside and there is a David star on it. (Needless to say, all this is not real.)
- Rentrer en Soi, a Visual Kei band from Japan, has a song called 'Sephirot'.
- On one of Mudvayne's T-Shirts promoting their album "L.D. 50", there appears the diagram of the Tree of Life on the back. The Tree of Life is also depicted on the backpage of the booklet for the album "L.D. 50".
- On the Slip cover to Tool's "Salival" boxset the Tree of Life can be seen only when the box is inserted. It is also lined up with a humanoid figure.
- The Illuminatus! Trilogy has ten chapters, titled after the Sephirot.
- The book Foucault's Pendulum is divided into ten sections, each named for one of the Sephirot.
- David Bowie's song Station to Station includes the line "Here are we, one magical movement from Kether to Malkuth".
- In Super Robot Wars Alpha 3, an original mecha called the Dis Astranagant has several attacks with names inspired by the Kabbalah.
- In Digimon, there is a digimon known as Sephirothmon (Sakkakumon in the English dub), the Beast Spirit of Metal for Mercurymon from Digimon Frontier. True to its name, the digimon is modelled after the Kabbalah.
Notes
- ^ Parpola S. 1993. The Assyrian Tree of Life: Tracing the Origins of Jewish Monotheism and Greek Philosophy. Journal of Near Eastern Studies. 52(3) pp161-208
References
- The Sefer Yetzirah the book of creation: In theory and practice, translated and explained by Aryeh Kaplan (1997). Samuel Weiser, inc. (ISBN 0-87728-855-0)
- The Bahir, translated by Aryeh Kaplan (1995). Aronson. (ISBN 1-56821-383-2)
- Qabalistic Concepts: Living the Tree, William G Gray (1997). Samuel Weister inc.. (ISBN 1-57863-000-2)
- On The Kabbalah and its Symbolism, Gershom Scholem (1996). Schocken. (ISBN 0-8052-1051-2)
- The Secret Teaching of All Ages by Manly P. Hall (October 27, 2003). Tarcher. ISBN 1585422509
- Lessons in Tanya
- Sephiroth are mentioned also a great deal in Foucault's Pendulum, a book by Umberto Eco
See also
External links
- Basics in Kabbalah - The Ten Sefirot: Divine Emanations (inner.org)
- Two Systems of Ten Sefirot (chabad.org)
- Short explanation of the purpose of the Sefirot (askmoses.com)
- The Ten Sefirot of the Kabbalah, Prof. Eliezer Segal, ucalgary.ca
- What's wrong with the Sephiroth?
- Crystal Links
Possible origins
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