Gevurah

Gevurah ("Severity"; גבורה) or Geburah, and Din ("Judgment") in the Kabbalah of Judaism is the fifth of the Sephirot of the tree of life, and it is the second of the emotive attributes of the Sephirot. It sits below Binah, across from Chesed, and above Hod. It commonly has four paths leading to Binah, Chesed, Tiphereth, and Hod. (Although some Kabbalists draw a path from Gevurah to Chockmah.

Gevurah is known as "strength, "judgment", "power", and "concealment". It's usually "strength" or "power" and "judgment" when using the name din (which means "judgment" in Hebrew).

In the Bahir it is written "And who are the Officers? We learned that there are three. Strength (Gevurah) Is the Officer of all the Holy Forms to the left of the Blessed Holy One. He is Gabriel."

In the non-Jewish faith

Gevurah is seen as God's terrible aspect, the aspect that allows death and suffering in the world, the aspect of God the Bible entreats us to 'fear'. It is a limiting, restrictive aspect, and is responsible for taking away that which is not necessary, and destroying that which is not wanted. However, this does not mean it is evil, except when it is out of balance. It is opposed in the tree of life by Chesed, Mercy, which is God's aspect of pouring his energy into the world. Gevurah is compared with the second day of creation, in which God separates the heaven and the earth. In imposing limits, creation can exist in all its myriad forms, and therefore Gevurah is an essentially creative power. This is seen when it is balanced in Tiphereth, Beauty, in which the two forces of Chesed and Gevurah are balanced in perfect proportion, and creation can flourish.

The name of God associated with Gevurah is Elohim Gebor, the archangel that presides over it is Khamael, the order of angels that resides in it are the Seraphim ( Fiery Serpents ) and the mundane chakra associated with it is Mars.

In 777 it has the associations to the four fives of the Tarot, Red, Horus, Nephthys, Vishnu, Death, Thor, Aries, Hades, Mars, Christ Returning, Basilisk, Oak, Nettle, Ruby, Sword, Spear, Iron, Sulphur, and Tobacco. (Not a complete list)

Attempts are made to reconcile the system of the kabbalah with the chakra system of Indian mysticism. One such association is with the Vishuddha, which is a creative chakra, and which is also associated with moral choices, yama and niyama, the do's and do-not's of yoga.

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)

External link

• Basics in Kabbalah, The Ten Sefirot: Gevurah (inner.org)