Formation of the Tree of Life
June 5, 2011
Ten Sefiroth of Nothingness: One is the Breath of the Living God. Blessed and benedicted is the name of the Life of Worlds; The voice of breath and speech; And this is the Holy Breath. 19
The Spirit (or Breath) of God can be interpreted in these texts as kabbalistic code for the Hebrew letter Shin (s) because like Shin, the phrase RVCh ALHYM (Myhla xwr) is valued 300.20 In the Sefer Yetzirah the letter Shin is associated with the Fire element so the phrase ―Breath of God‖ can also be understood to be associated with the movement (or action) of divine elemental Fire.
You will discover as you read through the pages of this book that the Tree of Life mandala is fundamentally based on the interaction of three primary elements: Fire, Water, and Air. In this regard the Sefer Yetzirah will be our main guide and much information from that sacred text will be employed during the Tree building process.
Divine elemental Fire (s, Shin) and Water (m, Maym) exist within Ain Sof in a dormant unmixed state, but when Elohim chooses to actively combine Fire with Water divine elemental Air (a, Alef) is produced. Thus metaphorically speaking, divine elemental Air is like steam that is produced when physical fire and water are brought together, or the hot vaporous breath that issues from the mouth on a cold winter‘s day.
19
Sefer Yetzirah, 1:9.
The Hebrew letters each have a numerical value attached to them. For example, Shin, s = 300. When the Hebrew letters composing the term RVCh ALHYM are added together they also total 300. This traditional kabbalistic hermeneutic technique is called gematria and was sometimes employed by ancient kabbalists to veil the sacred mysteries. 20
pg. 22