The Tree of the Sephirothb

The ten Sephiroth composing the body of the prototypic Adam, the numbers related to them, and the parts of the universe to which they correspond are as follows: No.: 1 THE SEPHIROTH: Kether--the Crown THE UNIVERSE: Primum Mobile ALTERNATIVE: The Fiery Heavens No.: 2 THE SEPHIROTH: Chochmah--Wisdom THE UNIVERSE: The Zodiac ALTERNATIVE: The First Motion No.: 3 THE SEPHIROTH: Binah--Understanding THE UNIVERSE: Saturn ALTERNATIVE: The Zodiac No.: 4 THE SEPHIROTH: Chesed--Mercy THE UNIVERSE: Jupiter ALTERNATIVE: Saturn No.: 5 THE SEPHIROTH: Geburah--Severity THE UNIVERSE: Mars ALTERNATIVE: Jupiter No.: 6 THE SEPHIROTH: Tiphereth--Beauty THE UNIVERSE: Sun ALTERNATIVE: Mars No.: 7 THE SEPHIROTH: Netsah--Victory THE UNIVERSE: Venus ALTERNATIVE: Sun No.: 8 THE SEPHIROTH: Hod--Glory THE UNIVERSE: Mercury ALTERNATIVE: Venus No.: 9 THE SEPHIROTH: Jesod--the Foundation THE UNIVERSE: Moon ALTERNATIVE: Mercury No.: 10 THE SEPHIROTH: Malchuth--the Kingdom THE UNIVERSE: Elements ALTERNATIVE: Moon It must continually be emphasized that the Sephiroth and the properties assigned to them, like the tetractys of the Pythagoreans, are merely symbols of the cosmic system with its multitude of parts. The truer and fuller meaning of these emblems may not be revealed by writing or by word of mouth, but must be divined as the result of study and meditation. In the Sepher ha Zohar it is written that there is a garment --the written doctrine-which every man may see. Those with understanding do not look upon the garment but at the body beneath it--the intellectual and philosophical code. The wisest of all, however, the servants of the Heavenly King, look at nothing save the soul--the spiritual doctrine--which is the eternal and ever-springing root of the law. Of this great truth Éliphas Lévi also writes declaring that none can gain entrance to the secret House of Wisdom unless he wear the voluminous cape of Apollonius of Tyana and carry in his hand the lamp of Hermes. The cape signifies the qualities of self-possession and self-reliance which must envelope the seeker as a cloak of strength, while the ever-burning lamp of the sage represents the illumined mind and perfectly balanced intellect without which the mystery of the ages can never be solved. The Sephirothic Tree is sometimes depicted as a human body, thus more definitely establishing the true identity of the first, or Heavenly, Man-- Adam Kadmon --the Idea of the Universe. The ten divine globes (Sephiroth) are then considered as analogous to the ten sacred members and organs of the Protogonos , according to the following arrangement. Kether is the crown of the Prototypic Head and perhaps refers to the pineal gland; Chochmah and Binah are the right and left hemispheres respectively of the Great Brain; Chesed and Geburah (Pechad) are the right and left arms respectively, signifying the active creative members of the Grand Man; Tiphereth is the heart, or, according to some, the entire viscera; Netsah and Hod are the right and left legs respectively, or the supports of the world; Jesod is the generative system, or the foundation of form; and Malchuth represents the two feet, or the base of being.