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What is the point of the relationship between Sephiroth?

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    What is the point of the relationship between Sephiroth?

    That is, in Qabalah (Western, not Jewish). Not the One-Winged Angel from Final Fantasy VII.

    I just finished reading The Chicken Qabalah of Rabbi Lamed Ben Clifford: Dilettante's Guide to What You Do and Do Not Need to Know to Become a Qabalist by Lon Milo DuQuette. It explains each Sephiroth briefly, and it shows the tree that connects them, but it never quite explains how they relate to each other.

    I understand the meanings of the emanations but I don't understand their practical use, either. I'm usually pretty good at this stuff but Qabalah confuses me.
    There once was a man who said though,
    It seems that I know that I know,
    What I'd like to see,
    Is the I that knows me,
    When I know that I know that I know.

    #2
    Re: What is the point of the relationship between Sephiroth?

    Wow. I thought I could help you out on this one. The more I tried to explain about how the Sephiroth connect the longer my reply got. It seems so simple, but apparently more complicated than I realized.

    Basically, the ten Sephiroth are stages in divine creation. The paths between them symbolize how the energy of creation flows from Sefira to Sefira. Each Sephiroth is necessary for the Divine Limitless Light of Kether to become manifest in the physical world (Malkuth). Without the other Sephiroth, the Limitless Light is too diffuse and spread out to focus into creation. Kind of like light being focused through lenses and mirrors in order to become a beam or laser. YHVH also had to separate Himself and that Limitless Light from where He wanted to begin creation, which is the Daath - the Void that separates the first three Sephiroth from the lower ones. Taken as such, the Sephiroth don't really need one another, but without each one, nothing could exist.

    There's also the three pillars thing. Mercy (or Love), Severity and Balance. The Sephiroth associated with the pillar of Mercy are attractive and expansive. If YHVH did nothing but send creative energy through those three Sephiroth, nothing would stop it. It would grow and grow until it consumed all available space. If He went with the Pillar of Severity, those Sephiroth would contain the energy too tightly, restricting it, focusing it until it became a pinhole of light so intense that it would destroy anything that crossed its beam. By placing all the creative energy into the middle pillar, there would be no impetus to continue. Everything would be perfectly poised and balanced, always at that point of potential, never manifesting into creation, but also not leaving any room for anything else. By placing that lightning bolt at the top and letting it travel across all three pillars, it has enough energy to expand, enough focus to be creative rather than destructive, and there's enough attraction and repulsion for it to balance itself into just enough form.

    As far as practical use of the Kabbalah, well... it's a Universal filing cabinet. Unless you're a Tarot reader, a ceremonial magic(k)ian or someone who uses correspondences for magical practice, a Jewish mystic or someone who's into the modern Kabbalah movement, it's no more or less practical than any other magical or mystical tradition. If you want to find a use for it, you can, but if you don't have a use for it, don't feel bad about not using it. I use it mostly in Tarot, and I'm a sucker for correspondence tables.
    The forum member formerly known as perzephone. Or Perze. I've shed a skin.

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      #3
      Re: What is the point of the relationship between Sephiroth?

      Originally posted by perzephone View Post
      As far as practical use of the Kabbalah, well... it's a Universal filing cabinet. Unless you're a Tarot reader, a ceremonial magic(k)ian or someone who uses correspondences for magical practice, a Jewish mystic or someone who's into the modern Kabbalah movement, it's no more or less practical than any other magical or mystical tradition. If you want to find a use for it, you can, but if you don't have a use for it, don't feel bad about not using it. I use it mostly in Tarot, and I'm a sucker for correspondence tables.
      Like I said, I'm usually pretty good with this stuff and I've been wanting a simple starter guide for Western Qabalah since it's essentially Jewish Gnosticism (or Hermeticism, really).

      I read it and looked at the tables and went... "What the hell am I supposed to do with all this mess? There are astrological signs attached to the connections, alchemical signs attached to the connections... Gevurah appears to issue from Binah and extends to Hod and Tiferet... how does this help me again?"

      Maybe I should just leave this to the Rabbis and ceremonial types... but I'm stubborn.
      There once was a man who said though,
      It seems that I know that I know,
      What I'd like to see,
      Is the I that knows me,
      When I know that I know that I know.

      Comment

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