E. The Four Qabalistic Worlds
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The Qabalah describes four "worlds." These four worlds are respectively
called Atziluth (World of Emanation), B'riyah (World of Creation), Yetzirah
(World of Formation), and Asiyah (World of Activity, Making or Physical
Manifestation). The World of Atziluth is also called the "Supernal
World." It is rooted in the Sefirah Crown/Above and correlates with
the letter Yod in the Name YHVH. In Atziluth, the twenty-two Hebrew letters
are yet unmanifest, and are said to "stand alone ablaze the crown of
the King Most High."
"The Ancient One is hidden and concealed.
Small Face is manifested and NOT manifested.
The manifested is written in the letters;
The NOT on Its level is hidden in the letters.
Twenty-two letters that are concealed,
Twenty-two letters that are manifest.
A concealed Yod, a manifest Yod .
The concealed and manifest are balanced in weight." (Sifra Detzniyutha
4)
The World of B'riyah is rooted in the supernal Sefirah Wisdom/East, and
correlates with the Upper Heh in the Name YHVH. In the World of B'riyah,
the Word of God (known in the Qabalah as the "Alef of Unity")
becomues manifest, whereby the letters vibrationally differentiate and combine
to form Divine Names. In B'riyah, beings are formless and exist as vibrational
signatures.
"Two stones (letters) build two houses, three stones build six houses,
four stones build twenty-four houses, five stones build one hundred and
twenty-five houses, six stones build seven hundred and twenty houses, seven
stones build five thousand and forty houses. From here go out (i.e. extrapolate)
and think what the mouth is unable to speak and the ear is unable to hear."
(Sefer Yetzirah 2.4, see "The
Wall")
The World of Yetzirah is commonly known as the Astral World. It is rooted
in the supernal Sefirah Understanding/North and correlates with the letter
Vav in the Name YHVH. In Yetzirah, the Names of B'riyah interact and manifest
the forms of the divine archetypes, which are latent and undifferentiated
in Sefirah Understanding/North. Beings in the World of Yetzirah have both
Name and Form.
Finally, in the World of Asiyah, there is the apparent solidification of
the Yezirathic forms in physical matter. The World of Asiyah is rooted in
the Sefirah Knowledge/First in the Upper Worlds and is represented on the
Tree by the Sefirah Kingdom. The Sefirah Kingdom is associated with the
Shekhinah and the Lower Heh in the Name YHVH. The four worlds are
represented as a continuum by the Tree of Life. They are successively connected
to one another by the letter-gates, which allow consciousness to move to
and from them.
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Many people find it difficult to grasp the idea of the four worlds contained
in the Tree. The difficulty often stems from the fact that the four worlds
can be assigned to groupings of the Sefiroth on the Tree in its flat, vertical
form (see Diagram). At the
same time, each Sefirah contains a complete Tree that extends through the
four worlds (see Diagram).
The first of the two figures shows the qabalistic worlds associated with
successive sets of Sefiroth along the Tree. The second figure shows the
four worlds as concentric circles of successively smaller diameter within
each Sefirah. The outermost circle of each Sefirah, starting from Crown/Above,
corresponds to the Tree of the World of Atziluth. The second circle within
each Sefirah, starting from Wisdom/East, corresponds to the Tree of the
World of B'riyah. The third and next smaller circle within each Sefirah,
starting from Sefirah Understanding/North, corresponds to the Tree of the
World of Yetzirah. The final and smallest set of concentric circles, representing
the seven Sefiroth of the World of Asiyah, completes the Tree in the four
worlds.
Each of these figures contains two different forms of the Tree. The diagrams
in which the throat Sefirah Knowledge/First is visible, and there is no
anal Sefirah Kingdom, are Trees of Perfection. The Trees in which the Sefirah
Kingdom is visible and the throat Sefirah invisible are Working or Fallen
Trees. The difference between Perfect and Working Trees is discussed in
detail in the page "The Tree of
Life and the 'Fall of Adam."
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