Kabballah
Numbers
By DragonHawk
A member here asked about
numbers and numerology so I thought I would write a
post about my interpretation of numbers. When I sat
down to write this, I realized that some of the concepts
of the numbers were not going to make sense without
an understanding of the some of the basic underlying/surrounding
concepts. So the following is based on my knowledge
of Kabbalah and the Kabbalist Tree of Life. I say based
on that Knowledge as I use the Tree to track energy,
and the following is my interpretation of an outline
of the sefiroth based on my experience: it is based
on pretty standard Kabbalist Knowledge, but as with
any system of knowledge there are many interpretations.
I make no representations about it in terms of definitive
statements: it is simply how I have experienced the
workings of the Tree in an outline form.
The Tree is a system of Knowledge
and also a pictorial representation of ten sephiroth
(nodes) which terms ultimately means “numbers”
(with an implication that all of the Creation is based
on or can be tracked back to numerical allegory) where
each sefiroth (singular) represent an attribute of Creator.
There are various concepts encapsulated within each
node, and I have stayed mainly with the principal energies
as I perceive them.
What the Tree attempts to
do is to create a story of Creation that illustrates
how energy is brought down from the most important general
principals in the highest realms to the tiniest detail
in the lowest realms. It does this by a series of links:
what is called the “Chaining Down of the Worlds”,
whereby one Tree is linked to the next by various means.
Most simply it is linked via the first and tenth sephiroth:
the tenth of one Tree being the first of another, lower,
Tree. But the Chaining Down is also accomplished by
the inter-inclusion of the sefiroth within each other
and by a further means of jumping that I will speak
of in a moment. The inter-inclusions get very, very
complicated, but it is this aspect that allows the most
intricate, differentiated of details to be brought forth
and explained. What I have tried to do here is explain
the story in the form of one Tree in the tenth to first
Chaining series in relatively simply terms: so naturally,
some of the byways of the story have not been included,
nor any explanation of the inter-inclusions, though
multiple numbers usually refers to inter-inclusions
and I am happy to discuss inter-clusions in a separate
posts in this thread.
I mention that there can
be jumps for good reason though: because we come face
to face with it at Seven. The jumps occur usually within
a particular sefiroth: so the energy of two in the second
world of Creation might jump to the energy of two in
the third world of Formation and then to the fourth
world of Asiyah (the four worlds will be explained in
a moment). All this is of course only in our perception:
from Creator’s perception there is only one world:
hence why there is only one Tree of ten numbers: Creator’s
direct route so to speak!
It is we who experience the
four worlds. The average person knows only the fourth
world.
Someone starting walking
a spiritual path might experience aspects (usually the
lower-emotional realms) of the third world. A more season
walker might reach higher into the third realm. Elder
Shaman, Yogis and the like are believed to reach into
the emotional (Earth realms) of the second world and
occasionally the intellectual realms of the second world.
This is because the worlds are like overlays: the Russian
Doll concept. From our lowly perception as humans, no-one
can reach into the
first world. We can move through the worlds because
seven is the number of the Messiah or Christ Consciousness:
It is the number of Man. More about that at number seven,
but it provides a route to other worlds: not necessarily
to seven itself but to the Lower Emotional Realms seven
is part of in other Worlds as the numbers work in triads
of three and seven is part of the seven, eight, nine
triad Kabbalists call the Lower Emotional Realm.
So under normal circumstances
how is one Tree chained down into you may ask? Well,
in Kabbalah there are four worlds:
| Atzilut
– Emanation |
Atzilut
is a world beyond any world we might imagine and
one that even the most experienced spiritual gurus
cannot comprehend from our lowly position of human
perception and would be akin to a world of zero
as noted below: but it leans slightly towards one
in that all is Created in Creator’s Mind’s
Eye in this world as it is in the Point of one.
|
| Briah –
Creation |
Briah is
the world of Creation as it is Created in the point
as noted below: Creator has extended outside itself
so has Created “something”: but this “something”
is still essentially “nothing” as we would
perceive Creation. This is very much an intellectual
World: a World of thought: the triad of the first
three sepiroth on the Tree: Numbers one to three. |
| Yetzirah
= Formation |
Yetzirah
is the World of the emotional attributes that will
form the physical Creation and along with Asiyah
is known as the Days of the Week. It is the numbers
four to nine and represents the six days of Creation
when Creator formed the Creation. |
| Asiyah –
Action |
Asiyah is
the world of Action. It is the number ten on the
Tree or the tenth Sephiroth. Action occurs when
the energy of Creator’s Desire has moved through
the attributes of sephiroth/numbers one to nine.
This is a physical Creation. |
This is the day Creator rested
and Man, made in the image of Creator (see below), takes
forth the torch of Creation. Each world contains the
ten sefiroth: so even though different worlds have a
focus of particular sefiroth/ number groups or triads
(known as statures or realms) the energy passes through
each in the same manner of progression. In theory, in
its most simplistic form, for a thought to come from
Creator to the Creation it passes through 40 sefiroth.
So, in very simplistic terms,
the tenth sephirot of Atzilut chains down to the first
sephirot of Briyah etc etc. For the purposes of looking
at the numbers themselves and their meanings, that is
a very simplified, and hopefully, easily understood
concept that is enough for our purposes: if you were
to get deeper into the study of Kabbalah, you would
find that often the jumps between worlds as the jump
I spoke of at seven is how things actually happen: but
that is beyond our discussion here, so the statement
regards the ten to one chaining between each of the
four worlds in turn
will suffice for our purposes with the exception of
the dicsusion re: seven.
The Tree is heavily related
to Sacred Geometry. As such, for the first four numbers
I have used the first four shapes of Sacred Geometry
to explain the numbers as I think they aid understanding
up to four: I’m not sure they do after that, so
I have ceased making reference to the shapes after that:
the first four shapes are the Point, the Line, the Triangle
and the Square.
So looking at the numbers
themselves: I have split them into three sections: Nothingness
(0), Heaven (1-3 ) and Earth (4-10). Earth is further
subdivided as noted in that section
NOTHINGNESS
Zero
(Zero does not appear on the Tree in the most common
forms of Kabbalah, though it is implied in some lesser
used Trees, where the first sephirot is missed out and
the Tree starts at my number two as number one. The
inference being in those systems is that the first sefirot
(Creator’s Desire and Will) being so entirely beyond
our comtemplation, is known of only as a seminal concept,
but not referred to as we cannot even contemplate Creator’s
Desire/Will directly, let alone use it as a tool.) In
most systems however, that Desire/Will is used as the
first sefirot, as I have here, as it serves as a reminder
that all Creation comes from Creator’s Will informed
by the Desire for Creation. Despite using the more common
system where the Desire/Will is marked, I have added
zero here as an addition to give a sense of how Creator
remains unchanged beyond the Tree, despite also Being
within the Creation in the Tree.)
Zero is nothingness:
the state of Creator before the story of Creation started.
This is not something we can even imagine let alone
begin to comprehend, because imagining implies somethingness
and Zero is nothingness – the absence of somthingness.
It is the nothing of nothingness or the no-thing of
nothingness
HEAVEN
One
One is the Desire or Will for the Creation. It is the
“point” of all Creation, but there is not
yet any time or space in Creation for Creation to move
into, as a point is infinitely small, though it is the
first extension of Creator’s Desire outside itself,
zero/nothingness, to form Creation. The point is infinitely
small, but holds all the attributes that will form the
Creation/Earth. At zero there is no talk of Unity as
there is literally nothing but at One there is “something”
(even though Creator has not changed) therein at One
there is a Unity where the potential for Creation exists
fully formed just as it did at Zero. Therefore, even
though one is “something” it still has aspects
of nothingness.
One is the something of nothingness.
From our perspective one
represents the intellect we cannot even begin to comprehend:
akin to our unconscious thoughts, we might say it is
our spirit guiding us. It is the Universe at play, bringing
forward the things we need or desire. How they come
forward depends on our previous actions, our actions
in the now and how we react to circumstances that come
forward. We also need to remember that sometimes it
may not always be about us: that there might be a Higher
Purpose serving the whole of Mankind that has brought
forward a particular set of circumstances. One reminds
us of this aspect too.
Two
Time only comes
forward when Creator’s Desire extends itself beyond
the original point to create another point which creates
a line: ie the instant Creator extends beyond the first
point, time is created. Whilst even at One, Creator
is “something” Creation itself is still only
a potential. At Two that potential becomes the Inspiration
that will inform the Creation.
Two is called the nothingness
of something
From our perspective two
represents the thoughts and concepts of our intellect
that we can comprehend (ie we know are there) but cannot
yet understand, akin to our subconscious thoughts. This
intellect is like a word we cannot remember. In frustration
we might say the word is “on the tip of our tongue”
when we cannot think of a particular word but we know
the word exists and what it means. Two intellect has
a similar feeling, but the main difference with two
intellect is that we don’t know what it means:
we know “something” is there, we can feel
that a completely new thought or concept is there, but
we cannot yet understand what. In a more physical sense
we might be aware that something is about to happen,
but not what.
As the extension from one
to two is an extension from the nothingness to somethingness,
its destination, two, is considered an active number:
it reaches out from nothingness to find something: but
it needs a vessel to become to end the striving and
become something: it cannot be something on its own
so it strives outside itself to find that somethingness
and is therefore considered a masculine principal. It
is from that striving that something is born, but the
striving alone cannot bring forth life – just as
man alone cannot bring forth human life: a vessel for
that striving is needed, just as man needs a woman to
bring forth new life.
From our perspective in a
more physical sense we might be aware that something
is about to happen, but not what. Of itself two has
no feeling: it is beyond the realm of emotions, but
it can be a frustrating number as often our conscious
mind needs to know. It is called Wisdom and our search
for it can indeed be frustrating until we understand
that Wisdom is always there and comes to us when we
relax, recognize it when it comes and allow it in. It
is the originator of all our original thoughts that
we generally call inspiration.
Three
A line does not contain anything, so whilst time can
be measured along a line, as time elapses the moment
we start to draw a line till when we finish, nothing
else can be measured but the length of the line –
and if there is nothing to compare the line to, then
only the time taken to draw the line
can be measured: so the second point of extension creates
time. If Creator extends again from either of the points
at the end of a line in a different direction (given
that if the extension was in a similar direction it
would still be part of the original line) a two-dimensional
space begins to be created: the eye naturally fills
in the third side of a triangle if three points are
created: so at this point space is created as a triangle
effectively encloses space. The triangle creates the
space into which the Creation can form: it is therefore
the first vessel of Creation.
Three is the somethingness
of something
From our perspective three
represents the intellect we can comprehend that has
now come to Understanding: we can now fully comprehend
that original thought that our spirit brought forth
at one and that our subconscious intellect knew was
there at two. Three is the vessel through which Inspiration
comes into conscious knowing. However, there is a problem
with three: as soon as we become aware of a concept,
we compare that concept with others: so there is an
element of Judgement to three.
As three is the vessel of
Understanding for the Inspiration of Two, it is considered
a feminine principal: the first feminine principal.
As a side issue: Three is
the Shekinah, the first feminine principal. Three is
Eve, the first woman. Three, has elements of Judgement.
Put all that together and eventually you get the concept
of original sin being instigated by and promulgated
through Eve. It’s a miscomprehension of the true
meaning of Genesis in my opinion, but a natural progression
from those with a desire to eliminate the Shekinah!
EARTH
From here we leave the realms of the Godhead/Heaven/Intellect
and enter the Realms of Man/Earth/Emotions and Action
or, collectively, the Days of Week. The numbers four
to nine are considered attributes of the Emotions and
ten the attribute of Action. Hence in Genesis, the Seventh
Day is considered a day of Creator’s rest as all
the attributes of Intellect and Emotions have been created
and are vested in Nine ready to be brought into the
World at ten: but ten is one of the next World. Eventually,
we take over Creator’s work at ten (10) as zero
is nothingness leaving only one – so our own unconscious
intellect takes on the mantle in the fourth World of
Asiyah. Our own one made in the image (containing the
potential) of Creator’s one as passed down at nine
from the third world of Yetzirah.
Earth consists of three sub-headings
The Heartfelt Emotions –
numbers 4-6
The Lower Emotions –
numbers 7-9
Action – number 10
HEART-FELT EMOTIONS
Four
Four is the Earth:
it is the first tangible shape - a square or cube -
that is fixed in time and space. It is not yet a wholesome
Earth but merely the Inspiration for such a wholesome
physical Earth. It is said to be fixed because, having
four points, it inclines towards a square (if you ask
most people to draw a four sided figure, they would
most naturally draw a square) the vertices are fixed
so it cannot rotate like the previous shape, a triangle,
can: ie if you move any of the points of a square it
is no longer a square, whereas if you move any of the
three points of a triangle, it is still a triangle:
similarly with the two points of a line or one point
of a dot.
Four is the first number
after, and that is separate from, the Divine Triad of
Heaven or the triad of Intellect. So in this respect
it is called the number of Earth: in the days when Kabbalist
learning was founded, people still believed that Earth
was the center of the Universe (and so Creation itself)
and that all other celestial objects moved around the
Earth: they were also not aware that the earth was a
globe: so the square represented Earth.
Four is called Kindness and
it is a masculine principal of the realm of thought
clothed in emotions on the right hand column of the
Kabbalist tree beneath the Inspiration of two.
So with four, a path is
more fixed than with a one, two or three: yet four is
directly below, receives influence from and is the mirror
of (made in the image of), two on the Kabbalist Tree:
and two is pure Inspiration in the heavenly triad. So
Kindness refers to God’s/Creator’s Desire
for us to receive Inspiration. Another name for Inspiration
is Wisdom – so Creator’s desire for us to
receive is Wisdom is called Kindness.
Five
Five again is Earth:
Earth a stage beyond that of four but still not an enlivened
Earth. Five is the vessel that harnesses the Inspiration
to Kindness of four. It stands below the number three
on the active/masculine right hand column of the Kabbalist
Tree and receives and contains the energies of the number
four just as three is a vessel for two. The purpose
of vessels is to contain and the purpose of containment
is to allow Creator’s Infinite Light to be brought
forth in a manner that will not overawe. Five therefore
recognizes Creator’s Strength which is five’s
name and speaks of Intent not yet ready to be realized.
However, from our limited perception it appears that
the containment is a withholding: a judgement or punishment
so five is also called Severity. The notion of untamed
Strength leading to Severity should be understandable
and five give clues as to why the Infinite Light must
be contained: even if we might experience five energies
as difficulties or as painful experiences.
From our perception five
is a number that feels like a judgement: the intellectual
notion of Judgement first spoken of at three reflected
from above but now felt in an emotional form at five.
In reality what we may feel as Judgement is something
more akin to Intent that cannot yet be realized. Five
marks the half-way point between one and ten, so the
energy of one, now understood, cannot yet be realized
in the World, so the notion of withholding feels like
a judgement. Five speaks of looking beyond obvious explanations
for what feels like difficulty for less obvious and
more profound explanations: even when events in our
lives are not just perceived as difficult, but we actually
experience real difficulty as, ultimately, Creator’s
Desire for the Creation
is based on Kindness and every energy that flows through
Creation comes from that Loving Kindness.
Six
Six lies on the
central column of the Kabbalist Tree. The central column
balances the energies of the left and right columns.
Six is called Beauty or Mercy. Creator seeks to bring
Balance between Kindness and Severity, such that at
six, the Severity is tempered by the Kindness or Kindness
is tempered by Severity. Rather in the way the Chinese
yin-yang (Taijitu) glyph contains a small dot of both
yin and yang within the other, so six speaks of Kindness
and Severity being contained within Mercy.
From our perception, Mercy
brings a close to either the Kindness of four or the
Severity of five as both are joined in balance in Six.
It speaks of how the Kindness of four may be used to
bring a Severe lesson just as easily as it can to bring
an ultimate Kindness, or how the Severity of five may
be used to bring ultimate Kindness just as easily as
it can to bring Severity itself. In either case, Mercy
has been brought forth as a result as a reflection of
the Beauty of One above it on the central column. We
might see Mercy as a resting point from the effects
of the energies that immediately preceded it: a chance
to look deeper into the energies and consider our actions
and reactions that brought those energies forth and
whether we might wish to reconsider the appropriateness
of those actions and reactions in bringing forth what
we wish to bring forth: or whether we might wish to
go back and do things differently.
LOWER EMOTIONS
There is a change in emphasis
at seven. Whilst four, five and six are of the Earth,
they are reflections (in the form of a downwards pointing
triangle) of the energies of one two and three (which
form an upward pointing triangle) in Heaven. In this
respect four five and six are made in the image of Creator
(an image in a mirror is always reversed). And despite
being of the Emotional Realm, contain a heavy influence
of the Godhead.
(But the term Made in the
Image of Creator also refers to the fact that a constriction
must occur to allow the Infinite to come into the Point
(of one) and that only an image of Creator, not the
Infinite itself, is brought into that Point. From Creator’s
perception nothing has changed: Creator is still Infinite
after the constriction: it is only our perception of
Creator that is changed. The meanings of man being Created
in the Image of Creator displays how there may be multiple
meanings for any concept in Kabbalah: how we are to
interpret any particular portend, attribute or action
will always be guided by other details.)
So, from one to six, everything
is still of Creator’s Will and Desire, despite
the fact four, five and six are of the Earth as the
latter are reflections of Creator’s Will and Desire.
At Seven all that changes.
From Seven onwards we are speaking of how Man brings
forward the Creation. Seven is the number of the Messiah:
Man imbued and aware of all the attributes of the numbers
one to three as reflected to him at four, five and six
that are then passed to seven. It may, at first sight,
appear strange that Creator would allow Man to bring
forward the Creation: particularly
as, according to science, Man has only been on this
Earth but a short time.
What we must understand is
that the term Man does not simply refer to physical
man, but to a concept that refers to what we might call
an “agent” in the “Chaining-Down of the
Worlds” wherein different statures (groups of attributes/sefirot/numbers)
are contained one within the other (rather like a Russian
Doll) such that the attributes can be brought from a
higher level to a lower level of consciousness: from
the more ethereal to the more dense. Essentially Man
therefore refers to an intermediary stage of consciousness
between Creator and the actual Creation. To explain
how that works is way beyond our discussion, but you
might say that Man refers to a concept such as the Universal
Soul, which contains the Galaxy Soul, the Planetary
Soul, the Animal Soul and the Human Soul and our own
soul: with each subdivision given a different human
name: the highest level being Adam.
Having said that, as I’ve
already stated, there is often more than one explanation
of terminology, partly because Kabbalah is looking at
things both from our perception of Creator’s Will
and Desire for the Creation coming down the Tree and
from the perspective of the Creation looking up the
Tree. At a more personal level, Man does refer to you
and I because we become the agents of Creator’s
Will and Desire in the physical. Partly this is because
Kabbalah teaches that the Creation is constantly being
destroyed and recreated in every moment: rather like
the way we perceive each frame in a movie, which is
really a still, as a continuum, so we perceive Creation
as a continuum. In such a situation, our actions really
do bring forward the Creation as we perceive it.
The triad of Seven, eight
and nine therefore speaks not of intrinsic attributes,
but of the means to the end required to bring forward
Divine Will and Desire. Creator is not in this World
so must use Man (in both senses of the term) as an agent.
Man has been furnished with the reflection of that Will
and Desire at four, five and six, so is equipped to
bring forward the Creation from seven.
The seven eight and nine
triad on the Tree speaks of our endurance, patience
and fortitude to bring the Creation forward.
Seven
Seven speaks of the ability to lead others and attract
them to our cause. It speaks of bringing forward the
Creation through right action which pleases Creator.
It sits on the right hand column of the Tree below Kindness
and its name is Majesty as we accept Creator as our
ruler and follow Creator’s Law and Will. From our
perspective seven is the notion of following Creator’s
laws that eventually brings about situations in our
life that we find pleasant. We will find helpful associates
as the Universe is working for us and we receive influence
directly from Creator’s Mercy and Kindness. The
Jesus stories are stories of seven energy.
Eight
Eight sits on the left
hand column of the Tree and speaks of the ability take
the leadership influence and become the foot-soldier
who brings forward the plans that come from seven. Like
all the attributes on the left column of the Tree, eight
is the vessel of seven: the means by which the attributes
of seven are brought forward. Eight is the follower
rather than the leader.
From our perspective eight
brings forward the notion of choosing to follow our
own will or that of others that may be in opposition
to Creator’s Will, whether by ignorant error or
deliberately. We have received the influence of seven
and have the influence of Severity at five directly
above on the Tree and Mercy at six on the central column
of the Tree and we must choose how to bring forward
the Creation.
Like all the attributes on
the left hand column of the Tree, once an influence
has been received from the right-hand column, that influence
is constricted on the left hand column, otherwise we
would be overwhelmed: the closer the energy of one gets
to nine, the more constricted it is. Therefore, as the
energy cascades down the Tree from one, its influence
(i.e. the influence of Creator’s Will and Desire)
feels to us like it is being lessened at each constriction.
As five felt like a withholding of that influence, eight
feels like a complete withdrawal of Creator’s influence
in our lives. We feel we must make up our own minds
as to how Creator would wish us to act or we try and
justify other options. In reality the opposite is the
case and relatively speaking, Creator’s influence
is growing stronger the closer it approaches completion
at nine. At eight therefore our actions are being closely
controlled by Creator and we have very little control
over how the energy is brought forward, so eight’s
name is Splendor: reflecting Creator’s Might in
being able to control the final outcome so close to
completion.
Eight can be a turbulent
number as we may feel that Creator has forsaken us and
cease action or we may seek to controvert Creator’s
Will as we do not feel the influence heavily in our
lives. We may feel we know Creators Will and use that
to justify actions that we know actually go against
Creator’s Will. For these reasons and others, we
will butt-up against that Will as it directs the action
and we may experience this as difficulty.
Alternatively, if we have
followed the energies from One or have learnt through
experience of eight, we will walk with sincerity in
bringing forward Creator’s Will knowing the Creator
walks with us and is directing us even though we may
not feel that presence directly.
Nine
Nine is a number of completion: it is the Foundation
of the New Jerusalem, Gods Kingdom on Earth, the joining
of Heaven and Earth: peace and prosperity. It is the
culmination of the numbers from one through to nine.
In Kabbalah, God’s Desire to Be in the World brought
forward the World, so nine is the gathering together
of all the attributes (the other numbers) that have
come down the Tree from one that will bring forward
physical Creation at ten: but ten is actually one of
a new phase, or a new World as such a phase is called,
so nine marks the point of completion of the energies
we have created or tracked from one.
Nine is the combined masculine
and feminine principals of the realm of Action. It is
on the central column of the Kabbalist Tree that represents
the balanced forces through which Creator’s Desire
and Will informs the Creation that emanates from nine
to be fully formed in the new phase at ten/one.
It is called Foundation because
it is from nine that Action actually takes place: when
nothing becomes something in actuality at ten, Nine
is the foundation from which energy moves from one realm
to another.
From our perspective in
a nine year everything that has gone before is brought
together and reviewed ready to be passed forward to
the next phase of our life or a lesson or project. It
is called “Foundation” in Kabbalah as what
is learnt in the previous eight years is brought to
Wisdom in a nine year and is used in the next phase
starting at 10/1. All the lessons of the previous 1-8
years may come forward in a nine year to be reviewed
to ensure we have understood the Wisdoms before we start
the next set of lessons, though as this is only a review
year we should, having been through the lessons before,
pass the tests that come forward without the dramas
they may have previously brought forth the first time
around.
Ten
There are ten nodes
on the Tree, and the tenth node is called Kingdom. Creator’s
Will and Desire has brought forward the Creation and
Creator now rules over that Creation: all that was imagined
in Creator’s mind’s eye, born of that original
Desire is now out there in the World.
But in reality, ten is intrinsically
linked to one: they are opposites in that they are at
opposite ends of the tree, but a central tenet of Kabbalah
is that the end is always linked to the beginning, and
ten is simply one in a different world.
I am happy to answer any
questions as I realize that it is not the easiest of
systems to try and explain/understand in one post! I
will also write a little about the inter-inclusions
in a separate post.
Wynsong:
WOW...thanks Dragonhawk.
I am incapable of reading and absorbing any of that
at the moment.
Maybe when I've caught my breath, I'll give the first
part a go.
Thanks for posting it though. I'm going to enjoy it
at my leisure.
Munay
CinnamonMoon:
Thank
you so much! What a great site contribution. Wolfie,
I want you to know I appreciate you doing this.
