Sephirot

Sephiroth, Sephiroth, or Sefirot sephiroth ( heb. sg. סְפִירָה səfīrā Sefira, pl. סְפִירוֹת səfīrōt ) is the Hebrew name of the ten divine emanations in the Kabbalistic Tree of Life. They form in the Lurianic Kabbalah in its entirety symbolically the heavenly man, the Adam qadmon. The back ( Sitra Achra ) Tree of Life is the Tree of Death with the Qlīpōt.

The term Sefirot can be positive as a feature for the determination of a work cite as the cabalistic: works that use this term are to be regarded as cabalistic. The only exception is the Sefer Yetzirah that although this term is used for the first time, but this is not a Kabbalistic work. Conversely, however, use many Kabbalistic works from different reasons, not the terminus. The Sefer ha - Bahir, for example, preferred the terms Midot ( features, characteristics ) and ma'amarot ( utterances). In the Zohar, the term is also used very rarely. Abraham Abulafia, although Kabbalist, the idea of the Sefirot categorically refused. Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, however, avoids him to hide his kabbalistic worldview.

Systematics of the Sephiroth

Sephiroth is the plural of the Hebrew word Sephira what digit means. Kabbalah sees this term also the mystical origin of the Greek word sphere. The relationship of the terms is probably due to the common origin of the Hebrew and the Greek alphabet in the Phoenician script. Even the German term digit is to be noted the same etymological origin of the Arabian yet.

The anthropomorphic conception of the Sefirot as body parts is mainly due to the font Shi'ur Qomah. Herein is described according to the description of the beloved in the Song of the divine body of the Creator with secret names and dimensions. The three upper Sefirot are the divine head, the next two for the arms, the sixth for the body, heart and manhood, the next two for the legs and the ninth for the phallus. The tenth Sefira called an independent, female body: the Shekinah. This view is also based on the Lurianic concept of Adam qadmon.

Another view sees the Sefirot as phases of divine emanation (see Neoplatonism ), while again other Kabbalists understand the Sefirot as the personification of ethical values ​​. Still others perceive them as worlds of the divinity down to the material, physical sphere.

A third model integrates the biblical names of God in the system of the Sefirot. Thus the Tetragrammaton YHWH represents the Sefirah Kether, the J is for Chokmah, the first H for Binah, the W for the next six Sefirot and the second H for Shekinah.

A fourth model assigns the spheres to the biblical hero.

More models identify all possible pairs occurring concepts and things ( male / female, sun / moon, sky / earth / day / night, etc.) with Sefirot. In the medieval Kabbalah also the Sefira so that twenty to one hundred Sefirot can be doubled, duplicated and repeated, will be discussed. In the Lurianic Kabbalah, finally, the number of the Sefirot is infinite, since each entity consists of different combinations of the Sefirot system.

It is depending on the Kabbalistic author different models and combinations of these views, showing its most detailed conception of Isaac Luria.

The Tree of Life or Ez Hayyim is in the Lurianic Kabbalah, the representation of the ten Sephiroth and 22 paths connecting them. The Sephiroth are with names and numbers that it refers to connecting paths with the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The Sephiroth of the system is fundamentally in the book Sefer Yetzirah: shown (Hebrew "Book of shaping " ), one of the most important precursors works of Kabbalah, the AD was created before the 6th century.

The names of the ten Sephiroth are taken from the Tanakh. In verse 1 Chr 29:11 EU to find most of the relevant words:

Sense of the Sephiroth

The model tree of life also reflects the divine creation in the microcosm and macrocosm. Its structural principle is the sequence of numbers from 1 to 10 ( 10 = Malchut, 1 = Kether ). The Sephiroth result in its result, a dynamic model of the encounter of opposites, the experience on the central axis compensation. Speculative Kabbalists (theoretical Kabbalah ) meditate thus, magicians (practical Kabbalah ) use it as a model for magical operations. The ten Sephiroth are assigned to all of the content of the earthly and the divine world systematically. This includes in-depth interpretations of the Hebrew Bible, colors, shapes, Hebrew letters, angels, worlds limbs. The Kabbalist combines all possible experiences, elements and events in the model tree of life with the aim of deepening of the spirit and soul ( spirituality ).

Sephiroth in the non- Jewish context

Tree of Life, has gained considerable influence in the non-Jewish context in esoteric traditions. Thus, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn brings the cards of the Tarot in connection therewith.

The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Anton Wilson is structured according to the Sephiroth, as Umberto Eco's novel Foucault's Pendulum.