Lux Saturni

Kabbalah

Qabala Tree of Life Diagram

What Is It?

Kabbalah (also known as Qabala, especially in Western occult tradition) is a system that maps the
evolution of Consciousness and the manifestion of experiential reality.

Frequently described as The Tree of Life, the Kabbalah models how the perception of physical form
emerged from more subtle aspects of reality that through the interactions of the whole gave rise to the
present, phenomenal world.

Although long-established within the purview of Jewish mysticism, Hermetic Kabbalah is the theoretical
foundation which we shall be examining on this website and in most contemporary occult domains. The
history of Kabbalah is widely documented and available elsewhere, we shall focus here on more of the
theory behind the Kabbalah as a map to chart out reality and the domains of conscious experience, as
well as the usages of that map for personal exploration and for practical magic.

Sephiroth

The first step toward understanding what the Kabbalah represents is to look at the ten spheres that
make it up. These ten spheres, in their ordered arrangement from the top down, are the crux of the
Kabbalah! The spheres are called Sephiroth (Sephirah in the singular) and each one roughly corresponds
to an emanation of consciousness: a state of experience that contributes holistically toward moment-to-
moment reality. Now when we structure the Kabbalah by stacking the Sephiroth as we see in the nearby
diagram we get a series of emanations of Consciousness that can be divided up in three main ways.
These ways in which we divide the Sephiroth are critical to understanding what the Kabbalah is
representing and knowing how to work with it.

Kabbalistic Divisions

Three Pillars
By far the most important manner in which the Sephiroth are arranged on the Kabbalah is in Three
Pillars, three columns of Sephiroth.

The Pillar of Mercy

The right column contains three Sephiroth (Chokmah, Chesed, and Netzach). Each of the Sephiroth in
this column is associated with a quality known as Force. In fact, this column is also called the Pillar of
Force. This is the active, expansive, volitional, masculine component to experience. In some Eastern
systems this is Yang. It corresponds to the Phallus in coital union. When we are discussing the Sephiroth
on the Pillar of Mercy, we always find these aspects of experience at some level within them. It is
described as "Mercy" because the expansiveness of the underlying currents of the Sephiroth in this
column are consciously experienced as more blissful and liberating than those in the next column.

The Pillar of Severity

The left column contains three Sephiroth as well (Binah, Geburah, and Hod). Each of the Sephiroth in
this column is associated with a quality known as Form. In fact, this column is also called the Pillar of
Form. This is the passive, receptive, containing, feminine component to experience. In some Eastern
systems this is Yin. It corresponds to the Vagina in coital union. When we are discussing the Sephiroth on
the Pillar of Severity, we always find these aspects of experience at some level within them. It is
described as "Severity" because the constrained nature of the underlying currents of the Sephiroth in
this column are consciously experienced as more restrictive and grating than those in the Pillar of Mercy.

The Middle Pillar

The middle column contains four Sephiroth (plus a hidden Sephirah – Da'ath – which we shall discuss
later): Kether, Tiphereth, Yesod, and Malkuth. Unlike the Sephiroth in the other two columns, the
Sephiroth here are a bit different and depend on their position relative to the Sephiroth in the other two
columns. The Sephiroth in the Middle Pillar tend to reflect balanced stages of conscious experience:
stages that emerge from a balance, a Fulcrum, between the Sephiroth of Force (in the Pillar of Mercy)
and the Sephiroth of Form (in the Pillar of Severity) at higher levels of the Kabbalah (i.e. closer to
Kether). First and foremost though, let's discuss Kether briefly. Kether is shining alone above all of the
other Sephiroth and this indicates that it is a stable stage of experience of Consciousness beyond any
idea of Force or Form. This refers to Non-Dual awareness and is also called Source (or Point)
Consciousness on this site. However, next is a large gap which leads down to Tiphereth. Above
Tiphereth, on either side, are four Sephiroth: two on the Pillar of Force (Chokmah and Chesed) and two
on the Pillar of Form (Binah and Geburah). This equilibrium between Force and Form – between
Chokmah-Binah and Chesed-Geburah – acts to create the Sephirah that is represented by Tiphereth.
Thus Tiphereth, the stage of Solar Consciousness, emerges from the Force-Form dynamics of the
Sephiroth above it. The next Sephirah on the Middle Pillar is Yesod, which corresponds to Lunar
Consciousness, which is also the usual state of self-awareness for humanity. Yesod emerges as a result
of the Force-Form dynamics between three pairs of Sephiroth: Chokmah-Binah, Chesed-Geburah, and
Netzach-Hod. Thus each Sephirah on the Middle Pillar, aside from Kether, is an emergent Sephirah from
the sum totals of the interactions of the dualistic Sephiroth above it on the Pillars of Force (Mercy) and
Form (Severity). Malkuth, the final Sephirah depicted on the Middle Pillar, is, like Kether, unique. It is
Kether reflected on a different level actually, a bottom Point, and as we shall see, it represents the gross
total accumulation of the Force-Form dynamics that gave rise to the other Sephiroth along the Middle
Pillar and which leads to the present moment-by-moment perception of a physical reality. This, though,
is more of an illusion due to the obfuscation of a stacking of subtler archetypes over several layers, of
stages, of conscious experience. While Kether represents primordial conscious perception free from
duality, Malkuth is the complete obfuscation of this fact. It is awareness shackled beneath the influences
of the Sephiroth above it to the point that perceptions of physicality are the only Point believed real.

The Lightning Flash

Before we examine the final two ways in which to classify the Kabbalah in terms of Sephiroth, let's look
at an abstraction of how Consciousness descends through the Sephiroth in order to create the
perception of physicality. It all starts in Kether, which represents Source Consciousness: the state of
God. Then, as illustrated below, there is a zigzag of descent as Kether moves to carve a space out of
Itself so that It can then be fecundated by Itself and recursively subset from there. This initial volitional
impulse is Primordial Force (Chokmah) and its coital partner in Union is Primordial Form (Binah). This
Union births all of the dualistic archetypes expressed by the remaining lower Sephiroth: each of which
seek to express their own identities downstream as they have a sense of self-awareness derived from
Kether, ultimately, and now a sense of separation – from the initial birth of dualistic awareness. Birthed
from Non-Duality, the seeds of dualistic awareness, is the expansive nature of Archetypal Force (Chesed)
that is furthered tempered and refined through Archetypal Form (Geburah) and which finds a Fulcrum of
Self-stability in Solar Consciousness (Tiphereth). From this stage emerge threads of Individualized Forces
(Netzach) which seek to express further subsetted movements of passion, of desire, and which do so
through certain habitual structures and patterns that are representative of Individualized Forms (Hod).
From the sum total of these threads of Individualized Forces and Forms a fulcrum emerges – a node of
stabilized self-complexity – that is the personality that is deemed Lunar Consciousness (Yesod) in the
Kabbalistic milieu. The entirety and sum total of the perception through all of these layers take on an
idea that we know as physicality: representative of the Sephirah of Malkuth.

Four Worlds

Qabala Tree of Life Diagram

The Lightning Flash describes the process through which Consciousness becomes individuated: that is
the manner in which all of our world and universe with its vast diversity of forms and experiences
emerges from One Primordial Awareness. Each of the Four Worlds represents a distinct stage of stable
experiential reality as depicted, primarily, by the Sephiroth of the Middle Pillar. Each "World" is a
division of the Kabbalah into a row of Sephiroth on a similar level.

See the article on the Four Worlds for a far more thorough look at these levels of reality.

The First World: Atzilut – The Causal Plane

Atzilut corresponds to the top three Sephiroth of the Kabbalah (Kether, Chokmah, and Binah). Kether is
the Singularity that is Non-Dual awareness (or Source Consciousness). Itself and Its immediate
movement (Chokmah) and reception (Binah) of Itself that allows for a subsetting of Itself to occur is
what is called the Causal Plane. The fundamental aspect of Causal experience is being beyond dualistic
notions of what it means to experience. It is experience without any sense of separation between self
and other. There is only One and the experience of becoming and being birthed from One.

The Second World: Briah – The Mental Plane

Briah corresponds to the next three Sephiroth of Chesed, Geburah, and Tiphereth. This level of reality is
called the Mental Plane and reflects the primordial beginnings of dualistic reality where there are
divergent archetypes that emanate the roots of the entirety of experiences that underlie all reasons for
denser (lower on the Kabbalah) manifestations: all drives toward pleasure, pain, happiness, sadness,
hope, fear, etc. at a transcendental level from our ordinary human mindset. This is the abode of the
Higher Self, of the Solar Personality.

The Third World: Yetzirah – The Astral Plane

Yetzirah corresponds to the three Sephiroth of Netzach, Hod, and Yesod. This level is the Astral Plane
and reflects the psychological mind, with which we are familiar, that emerges from the interactions of
the Sephiroth above this World. This is the mind of individual impulse and emotion, of habit and
structure, of the capacity to visualize and express oneself through a human lens. This is the abode of the
subconscious, of the Lunar Personality.

The Fourth World: Assiah – The Physical Plane

Assiah corresponds to the Sephirah of Malkuth. This is the Physical Plane. Malkuth, as we learned, is a
sphere that represents the accumulation of the influences of the Sephiroth above it but which seems so
unique. The Physical Plane is an emergent superposition of the influences of the Sephiroth superior to it
on the Kabbalah and hence the Fourth World is representative of the Head of Source Consciousness
poking Itself out through the recursively nested layers of Itself that has stabilized in each of the Three
Worlds. It feels Alone, the sole Me, but is Many and All.

Three Triads

Related to the notion of the Four Worlds comes the concept of Three Triads that group the Sephiroth
into three sets of three: one Sephirah on the Middle Pillar being related to both a Sephirah on the Pillar
of Mercy and a Sephirah on the Pillar of Severity.

The Supernal Triad

Kether, Chokmah, and Binah are the Sephiroth of the Logoic Triangle (Supernal Triad): the only triangle
of the three with its point up. Kether, as the Head of Consciousness, gives rise to the primordial dualistic
emanations of Force and Form that are Chokmah and Binah respectively and this represents the Triad,
the Trinity, that corresponds to the power of the Word becoming Law and of One becoming Many and
All.

The Ethical Triad

Chesed, Geburah, and Tiphereth correspond to the Ethical Triangle and form a downward pointing
triangle indicating that the state of Solar Consciousness is under the dominion of the Force-Form
dynamics of the four Sephiroth above it on the Pillars of Mercy and Severity. These three Sephiroth
resonate with the Mental Plane archetypes of Briah that drive and constrain the expressions of the
Universe and transcendental identity.

The Magical Triad

Netzach, Hod, and Yesod correspond to the Magical Triangle (I didn't pick the names) and also form a
downward pointing triangle indicating that the state of Lunar Consciousness (i.e. the habitual
personality, the Freudian id) is under the dominion of the Force-Form dynamics of the six Sephiroth
above it on the Pillars of Mercy and Severity (remember that the Middle Pillar Sephiroth correspond to a
balance of those superior Force-Form Sephiroth dynamics). These three Sephiroth resonate with the
Astral Plane archetypes of Yetzirah that determine the impulses and habitual structures that define
individual personalities and identities and which further obscure the drives and constraints of Higher
Self.

Further Reading

That summarizes the theoretical foundations of Hermetic Kabbalah, but it is really merely an
introduction to the topic. Kabbalah is a means of understanding Consciousness and the range of
experiences possible to the Mind. Hence there is a lot to learn if one goes digging. Most of this site is
dedicated to discussing the Kabbalah in its various permutations and I recommend checking out the
articles on Planetary Magic to go further into the qualities of each of the Sephiroth (planets) as the
planets are a great paradigm to pathwork within the context of the Kabbalah. The Kabbalah section of
this site goes into further elucidation of key details and symbolism not expounded upon in the section
on planetary magic, but the latter contains most of the important details relative to each corresponding
Sephirah. I'd recommend starting with either Jupiter (Chesed) or Saturn (Binah) and working your way
down and then picking up anything you missed or skipped initially. If an extreme amount of detail
regarding mapping consciousness' movements and meldings is desired, then please start reading the
section on Elemental Magic. It will hopefully provide the desired density for the inquisitive mind. The
first articles for each element are especially insightful if you are looking for a rather extreme amount of
detail when attempting to describe the Four Worlds. The details in there might be even more useful
than in the Four Worlds page for understanding how we approach the question of consciousness and
the buildup of reality at each stable stage of experiential awareness.

The following site map is presented more in order of conscious emanation than as a practical attempt to
pathwork:

Section Map:

In The Beginning: The Veils of Negative Existence

Kether: The Primordial Point

Chokmah: The Big Bang

Binah: The Womb of Form

Da'ath and the Abyss: The Singularities of Experience

Chesed: The Fecundating Force

Geburah: The Tempering of Form

Tiphereth: The Fulcrum of Force and Form

Netzach: The Threads of Force

Hod: The Structures of Form

Yesod: The Ephemeral Fulcrum of Personality

Malkuth: The Illusion Thrice Removed

Glossary

Privacy Policy

Terms of Use