Chesed, Mercy
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Four: Fire from Water;
With it He engraved and carved
the Throne of Glory
Seraphim, Ophanim, and holy Chayot
and Ministering angels
From these three He founded His dwelling
as it is written:
"He makes His angels of breaths,
His ministers of flaming fire."[1]
— Sepher Yetzirah
Chesed is the Builder, the framework of Manifestation, the loving Father who is King, the receptacle of all power. It is conditioned creativity, reflecting the unconstrained creativity of Chokmah but moderated by the boundaries imposed by Binah. Chesed creates within the boundaries established by Binah, and wants to push those boundaries around. It is the beginning of the possibility of form, the first day of creation
where form begins to emerge from the possibility of form established in the world above it.
| Planet | Jupiter (Tzedeq, צדק) |
|---|---|
| Name | Chesed, חסד, mercy (kindness); also called Gedulah, גדולה, greatness (majesty) |
| Divine Name | El, אל |
| Archangel | Tzadkiel (צדקי־אל)[2], Prince of Mercy and Beneficence |
| Angelic host | Chasmalim, Brilliant Ones (also called Order of Dominions or Dominations) |
| Tarot | the four fours |
| Color | Blue |
| Yetsiratic Attribution[3] | Measuring or Cohesive Intelligence (Settled Consciousness, Sekhel Kavua), because it contains all the holy powers, and from it emanate all the spiritual virtues with the most exalted essences: they emanate one from the other by the power of the primordial emanation (The Highest Crown), blessed be it. |
| Triad | Ruach |
חסד is 72, 2 x 6 x 6; as such, it represents the 72 hidden names of God.
Also called Gedulah (גדולה, Magnificence), this sephirah is where godhood begins to descend into worldliness. It is the first of the emotive
attributes, the expression of Divine Love below the Abyss and the desire to bestow that Love upon all of Creation. It is also the first day of Creation, day one
(יום אחד -- from Genesis 1:5):
ה. ויקרא אלהים לאור יום ולחשך קרא לילה ויהי־ערב ויהי־בקר יום אחד
5. And Elohim called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, day one.
I said above that Chesed is the beginning of the possibility of form. In geometry, four points (remember, Chesed is the fourth Sephirah) are the minimum number required to have a three-dimensional figure. The simplest figure in solid geometry is the triangular pyramid, which has four faces and four points.
righteousness, this name means
Righteousness of God
righteousness, this name means
Righteousness of God