Chokhmah – The Second Sephirah of the Tree of Life and the divine name Yah

Sepher Yetzirah

Chokhmah is often referred to as the illuminating intelligence in Sepher Yetzirah. We are beyond the limited reality in this point of existence or consciousness so this is blinding beyond the bright of any sun looked at from a mere metre away. This is infinite brightness. No matter yet. Rankine informs us that this is so because it shines light into every being. This represents pure will revealing the template of creation. (Not template is not a physical thing, this layer of consciousness / reality does not have physical space for stuff to be created in, only the potential for plans / templates.

Astrology Associations

Astrologically it was originally associated with the fixed stars which we most commonly think of as the Zodiac. Later it was associated with Neptune. After the discovery of Pluto around 1930, Crowley felt the need to advance magic. He saw it as a science and sciences evolve with new information (unlike rigid dogma). He attempted to make sure that newly discovered planets were incorporated into Astrology and Qabalah. Don’t forget that there nearly every western alchemical text is a part of Hermetics so this magic is definitely a science. Traditionally Chokhmah would be associated with the fixed stars and the planets Neptune, Uranus and Pluto would not feature in typical Aristotelean world-views. This makes understanding old rituals difficult.

In Thelema, it is said every man and every woman is a star. This could be held that this as the fixed stars resembles all people, but obviously Crowley has no concern to move to calling it Neptune. I think the most significant thing is that Tephereth is related to the astrological sun and therefore the star of one’s own birth chart and galaxy. That’s more significant to Thelemites.

Pillar of Mercy

Chokhmah is at the very top of the pillar of mercy so represents the generosity of the deity. Where the other side of the tree is the deity’s relationship to us as a disciplinarian. This is a rewarding parent. This is the Carrot side of the carrot/stick approach.

This is top of the masculine side. Obviously, most gender barriers are broken down these days. Well I hope they are. When they aren’t there always seems to be tonnes of misogyny. Culturally the world has substantially changed since the time some of these ideas were originally committed to book. In the modern day masculine could deliver a meaning very different from what was intended and a woman can be anything a man can be so that means the difference between the two is less clear in the modern day. At the time these ideas were positted the Masculine was seen as the creative force (ancient people didn’t know about the ovum and assumed the creative act was entirely the responsibility of the male seed – yeah they were dumb but instead of GCSE Biology they were learning how to make bread). The Masculine is the active side; a doing action. They would have perceived the female as passive – like I said they were dumb. Now my girls out there aren’t necessarily going to lie there like a wet fish, so it must be said that in the modern day female does not necessarily mean passive in any sense, but passive was the intended impression they wanted to put in their reader’s mind. Chokhmah: Active and Creative force. If the pillars was related to Yin and Yang then this would be entirely Yang, emanating directly from Kether which would be wuji (or no extreme / no yin-yang / everything so mixed you can’t tell the difference between anything).

The Divine Name – Yah

This is the first two letters of the Tetragrammaton YHVH which represents the tree in its fullness and is also the divine name associated with the very central Sephirah on the tree Tiphereth. YHVH has very strong etymological connection with YHYH which is an equivalent of “that he be” in Hebrew. So YHVH is to do with being and Yah is the first part of that. In the same way Chokhmah is active force just coming into being. It is the power to create without anything to be created.

Angel – Raziel

Well-known is the Angel Raziel after whom one of the earliest Qabalistic texts was named (The Book of Raziel). Raziel is the Archangel associated with this sephirah. David Rankine in his Climbing the Tree of Life informs us that Raziel’s name means the Herald of El or the Herald of God or a God. Legends suggest that Raziel taught the Kabbalah to Adam.

The Choir of Angels: Auphanim

This choir of angels means the wheels. It is said they turn every which way and they have eyes all over them.

Qlippah Ghagiel

Rankine refers to the Qlippoth of this Sephirah as Ghagiel which means a hinderance.

Colours on HOGD Scales

• King Scale – Pure Soft Blue
• Queen Scale – Grey (halfway between Kether and Binah however I prefer to have kether as grey and then separated into Chockmah white and Binah black.
• Prince Scale – Irridescent Pearl Grey
• Princess Scale – White flecked with Red, blue, yellow