The Kabbalah, Part 3

[In this Part of my series of Kabbalah articles, I will begin to consider the 10 (or 11 with the inclusion of Da’at) Sephirot, their genesis within the Four World schema, and their functions as Divine vessels and archetypal energies. In Part 4, I will continue this consideration.]

According to conventional Kabbalah, the 10 Sephirot shine in each of the four emanated Worlds – Atziluth, Beri’ah, Yetzirah, and Assiah. While this may be true, I contend that the Four Worlds pertain to the universe, whereas the Sephirot apply only to our solar system. Moreover, I maintain that the traditional keyword descriptions of each Sephirah (Keter/Divine Crown), Da’at/Knowledge, Hokhmah/Wisdom, Binah/Understanding, Chesed/Mercy, Gevurah/Strength, Tif’eret/Beauty Hod/Glory, Netzah/Victory, Yesod/ Foundation, Malkhut/Kingship) are anthropomorphic and therefore delimit these emanations to humans. Furthermore, I consider these traditional keyword descriptions grossly reductive, not at all representative of what each Sephirah is truly about.

“Sefer Yetzirah,” the “Book of Formation,” the canonical and earliest extant text of Jewish esotericism, emphasizes that there are 10 (and not 9 or 11) Sephirot. I say that there 11, which become 10 when when Da’at (as I shall explain in Part 4) is properly understood as comprising a nondual dyad with Kether. “Sefer Yetzirah” identifies just seven planets (because Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto had yet to be discovered), hence prior to the discovery of these planets (Uranus in 1781, Neptune in 1846, Pluto in 1930), no clear match between the Sephirot and our solar system’s planets was possible. Nevertheless, astute Jewish mystics “anticipated” the discovery of these planets by identifying (in Keter, Da’at and Hokhmah) their archetypal energies -- and later Kabbalists/Qabalists associated these planets with these Sephirah (though usually incorrectly, in my estimation).

The 10 Sephirot doubtless existed in God’s “Mind” prior to the creation of the solar system. Real, or hypercosmic, God is unmanifest Consciousness-Energy, and each Sephirah represents a particular dimension/expression of stepped-down Consciousness-Energy. God deemed these dimensions/expressions the archetypal “forms” of existence, and created a “mini-God,” a planet, to "rule" over each of these dimensions/expressions of consciousness-energy. When God-given life on earth evolved to the degree of manifesting conscious spiritual humans, some of these beings discovered the Sephirot, and eventually their correlation with the planets in our solar system.

Because each Sephirah correlates with a planet, with the discovery of the outer, transpersonal planets (Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto), conscious spiritual beings could begin to properly apply the art/science of astrology to Kabbalah.

In Part 4, I will continue my consideration of the Sephirot from an astrological perspective. In addition, I will also consider the Sephirot in relation to the Major Arcana of the Tarot.