The Sephiroth

I think of the spheres as stages. An idea starts at the top as a point of light with no shape, and by the time it reaches the bottom it is a thing you can hold.
Everything on the Tree happens between those two ends.
The Tree of Life page shows how they fit together, with the three pillars and the lightning flash that runs down through them in order.

The eleven spheres

1. Kether, the Crown. Middle pillar. The tradition gives it no planet, only the first swirlings before anything has a shape. The point it all starts from, and the place of the four Aces.

2. Chokmah, Wisdom. Top of the right hand pillar, the pillar of Mercy. The zodiac as a whole. The first flash of force, the idea arriving before anyone has asked for it.

3. Binah, Understanding. Top of the left hand pillar, the pillar of Severity. Saturn. The vessel that catches the flash and gives it a shape and a limit.

4. Chesed, Mercy. Right hand pillar, below Chokmah. Jupiter. Generosity, growth and the open hand. Some books call it Kindness.

5. Geburah, Severity. Left hand pillar, below Binah. Mars. The cut, the limit, the discipline that keeps Chesed from giving everything away. Some books call it Strength.

6. Tiphareth, Beauty. Middle pillar, at the centre of the Tree. The Sun. The heart of the matter, where everything above and below comes into balance.

7. Netzach, Victory. Right hand pillar, at the bottom. Venus. Feeling, desire and the drive to go after what you want.

8. Hod, Splendour. Left hand pillar, at the bottom. Mercury. The mind, words, plans and the stories you tell yourself. Some books call it Glory.

9. Yesod, Foundation. Middle pillar, below Tiphareth. The Moon. Dreams, habits and the patterns that run underneath the surface.

10. Malkuth, the Kingdom. Middle pillar, at the foot of the Tree. The Earth. The everyday world, where it all lands: home, body, work and money.

11. Daath, the Hidden Sphere. Middle pillar, in the gap below the top three. Knowledge. The sphere that appears when Wisdom and Understanding meet, and the one the Tree of Life Spread leaves out.

Finding yours

Your name sits on one of the first nine.
The Kabbalah Numerology page gives you the letter values and the method, with two names worked right through, and the answer is a single digit from 1 to 9.
That digit is your sphere. A 1 is Kether, a 2 is Chokmah, and so on down to a 9 on Yesod.

Nobody arrives at 10 or 11 by that sum.
Malkuth and Daath are written for the whole Tree instead, because every reading lands in Malkuth in the end, and Daath is where the knowing happens on the way down.

How to use the pages

Each page opens with the number, the English name, the pillar and the planet the tradition gives it.
Then it describes the sphere, who you are when your name sits there, your strengths, your challenges, and how the sphere shows up in love and work.
Towards the end, each page places the sphere on the Tree, with the paths that touch it, the Major Arcana on those paths, the Minor Arcana that sit on the sphere, and its position in the Tree of Life Spread.
Then it sets the sphere beside The Number page of the same digit and the planet page in Western Astrology, because the two numerology systems will often give you a different number for the same name, and that is worth knowing.

Read your own sphere first.
Then read the one across from it on the other pillar, because the Tree is built in pairs and your sphere makes more sense next to its partner.
Chokmah and Binah, Chesed and Geburah, Netzach and Hod. Force and the form that holds it, three times over.

You will learn more from your own name than from anything I could write about anyone else's.

If you would like your own chart read, my readings are here.

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