Sefirot

"These are the 22 Letters with which God engraved and made Three Sefarim, and with them He created His Universe.  And with them He formed all that was ever formed, and all that will ever be formed.  Three on Seven; Seven on Twelve; and all are bound together." (Sefer Yetzirah)

In this picture can be seen all 22 Hebrew letters.  The 3 Mother Letters are in the triangle/pyramid in the top part; the 7 Double Letters are in the circle/sphere in the middle; and the 12 Simple Letters are in the hexagon/cube in the lower part.  The 3 Mothers and the 7… more

When the Sefirot are presented in the Tanya (the classic text from the first Lubavitcher Rebbe) they are called 3 Mothers and 7 Doubles.  The 3 Mothers refer to the three higher Sefirot.  The Seven Doubles refer to the seven lower Sefirot.

However, the original source of the terms Three Mothers and Seven Doubles is the Sefer Yetzirah, where the 22 Hebrew Letters are presented as three groups - 3 Mothers, 7 Doubles and 12 Simples.

In this picture I joined both together and placed א in Keter (Crown), מ in Chochmah (Wisdom) and ש in Binah (Understanding) - these… more

"With 32 Mystical Paths of Wisdom God (Yah...) engraved and created His Universe with 3 ספרים Sefarim:  With Sefer ספר (letters), with Sefar ספר (numbers) and with סיפר Sippur (a story).

(These 32 Paths are:) 10 Sefirot of Nothingness and 22 Foundation Letters -
3 Mother Letters, 7 Double Letters and 12 Simple Letters."

The 32 Paths of Mystical Wisdom derive from the first chapter of Genesis, the story of Creation in which the Name of God אלהים (Elohim) is mentioned 32 times.  Elohim, a plural Name of God, is used in the Story of Creation because… more

I made this Tree of Life Diagram diagonal to hint at the shape of the first Letter א Aleph.  The 11th Sefirah, Daat, has a black dot to make it stand out, because it is the interface between the 3 higher Sefirot associated with the mind, and the 7 lower ones associated with the body.

The Sefirot are spoken of as emanations of God's Light.  א Aleph is the first letter of the Hebrew word for 'light'.  Modern Science tells us that physical light is non-dual - it paradoxically acts as both waves (which spread out in all directions from any Light source at the mind-boggling speed of 300… more

In Sefer Yetzirah, the Universe is said to exist in 5 dimensions.  There are 3 spacial dimensions (right and left; up and down; front and back).  These 3 dimensions of Space are defined by the Axis תלי (pronounced teli) - the imaginary line that the Universe resolves upon; or the line that represents the x y and z axises of spatial coordinates.  The Axis … more

This picture shows the 10 Sefirot of Nothingness in a circular array associated with Nature.  The Hebrew names of the Sefirot are written again and again in circular rings. Starting from the top of the largest ring the name of the highest Sefrirah כתר (Crown) is repeated many times.  It is yellow, as are the rings that contain the names of the 2 other Sefirot of the middle column תפארת and יסוד (Beauty and Foundation).

The name of the next highest Sefirah חכמה (Wisdom) is repeated many times in the second largest ring. It is blue, as are the rings that contain the names of… more

I used flowers to represent the Sefirot in this Tree of Life Diagram.  Although an Aleph cannot be seen in this picture, its presence can be felt in this ‘Slanted Sefirot’ motif where the red higher Sefirot hint at the Heavens; the blue lower Sefirot hint at Earth; and the yellow diagonal hints at the Air that is between them.

This image containing various Geometric shapes and stars is basically divided into 9 sections - hinting at the 9 higher Sefirot (3 x 3).  The fractal repetitions within each section hints at the 10th Sefirah Malchut.

Although Jewish people often claim the 6-pointed star as our own and call it a Jewish Star or the Magen David, and it does appear on the Israeli flag, this star is in fact used by  many cultures around the world - and playing with Geometry is a universal pleasure. 

The five-pointed star is a wonderful Geometric shape full of Golden Ratio relationships (… more

This drawing shows a woman sitting in meditation, visualizing her body as the Tree of Life Diagram - the 10 Sefirot - and the 4 Letters YHVH, the Holy Name of God.  Often called the One Name, it points to the Eternal Existence.  YHVH means Was, Is, and Will Be.  This Eternal Name was revealed to Moses by the burning bush in Exodus 3:15.  In Exodus 20:21 God said, "Any place in which my Name is called (or meditated upon), I will come to you and and bless you."  I made a woman here because Malchut is Feminine, and is associated with שכינה (Shechinah) a word that means dwelling within.  In… more

In Sefer Yetzirah the 10 Sefirot are always referred to as Sefirot of Nothingness בלימה (blimah).  Unlike the 22 Letters which can be expressed in speech, the10 Sefirot are conceptual, perceived in the mind.  And so are numbers. This image depicts the 10 Sefirot  as a Tree of Life Diagram with 3 vertical columns.  It representsthe human form as a reflection of the Divine.

                                              כתר (Keter) Crown

 בינה (Binah) Understanding                                חכמה (Chochmah) Wisdom