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Tiphereth ("Glory"; תפארת) or Tifereth, Tipheret, Tiferet, or rahamin ("mercy" in Hebrew) in the Kabbalah of Judaism is the sixth Sephirah on the tree of life. It has the common association of "Beauty" and "Compassion".
Tiphereth usually sits below Keter and above Yesod. With four Sephirot surrounding it: Chesed at the north-east, Gevurah at the north-west, Netzach at the south-east, and Hod at the south-west. It has eight paths leading to Keter, Chockmah, Chesed, Netzach, Yesod, Hod, Gevurah, and Binah.
Non-Jewish associations
Tiphereth is the force that balances the sephirah of Chesed ( mercy ) and Gevurah ( severity ). These two forces are expansive and destructive respectively. Either of them without the other could not permit individual creation, they must be balanced in perfect proportion, and this is the role of Tiphereth, 'beauty', because in it the conflicting forces achieve harmony, and creation is permitted to flower forth.
In Christian kabbalah, Tiphereth is especially associated with Jesus Christ, 'God the Son' ( as opposed to Kether, which is God the father, and Yesod, the Holy Spirit ). This is because this is the Sephirah in which the divine force 'sacrifices' itself, transmutating into the forces of energy and matter, in order that creation might come to be. It is the sephirah in which 'God becomes a mortal man'. A Christian mystic, in relating to Jesus, repeats the process in the other direction, by transmutating that which is lower, in order to achieve the divine.
Tiphereth is associated with divine love, with healing, balance and harmony. In comparing with Eastern traditions, Tiphereth is usually associated with the central Anahata chakra in tantric tradition, which contains many of the same archetypal ideas.
777 attributes Tiphereth as the four sixes of the tarot as well as the Princes and Emperors cards, Ra, Rama, Buddha, Apollo, Adonis, God the Son (Jesus), Phoenix, Lion, Bay, Laurel, Topaz, Lamen of he Rosy Cross, Abracadabra, Coffee, and Alcohol.
References
Jewish
- Bahir, translated by Aryeh Kaplan (1995). Aronson. (ISBN 1-56821-383-2)
- Lessons in Tanya
Non-Jewish
- 777, Aleister Crowley (1955). Red Wheel/Weiser. (ISBN 0-87728-670-1)
- The Mystical Kabbalah, Dion Fortune (1935). Weiser Books. (ISBN 1578631505)
"Tiphereth (Kabbalah)"