Ayn Sof

The Realm of the True God

The **Ayn Sof** is an undefinable or nameless being/construct that oversees all of the timelines within the story. Above all things that exist or have yet to exist, it regularly performs checks on anomalies and abnormalities to prevent unseen cataclysmic events. The construct itself is all-knowing and omnipotent, only appearing as Mithra's alter ego. It's emanations are known as the Ten Sephirot, expressions of it's almighty will.

It is the main source of power controlled by the Four Cardinal Gods and they use it in various ways to control aspects of the world itself.

## Overview

The term **Ayn Sof** or **Ein Sof** is heavily associated with the idea of a Supreme Being, prior to any manifestation in all realms, being known as the Endless One.

The Kabbalists introduced a distinction between the hidden and revealed aspects of God. The hidden, infinite aspect of God is called “the Infinite” (Ein Sof, “without end”). This name was understood as the proper one for the hidden aspect of God. It suggests that God exists without implying anything about her character. According to the Kabbalists, God should be called It rather than He or She, although there is no neuter gender in the Hebrew language. Actually, because of the great sublimity and transcendence of God, no name at all can be applied to “the Infinite.” The name Ein Sof conveys only that God is unlike anything we know. According to these mystics, Ein Sof is not the proper object of prayers, since Ein Sof has no relationship with her creatures. The personal aspect of the hidden God is mediated by the ten sefirot, ten knowable aspects of her being. There are, therefore, two natures of God, the infinite, unknowable essence and the ten discernible aspects.

The word sefirot originally meant “numerals,” and was taken from the earliest Hebrew text on the nature of numbers and letters, Sefer Yetzirah (The Book of Formation). Sefirot is a generic term that means that the aspects of God’s being, or the instruments of God’s activity, can be counted. There are ten sefirot just as there are ten cardinal numbers. Some Kabbalists explain that the word comes from the Hebrew root sapper, “to tell,” implying that these aspects tell us about God. Others have suggested that it derives from the Hebrew word for sapphire, since the sefirot illuminate our knowledge of God like a precious and radiant gem.

There have been a variety of attempts to translate sefirot into English. They have often been called “spheres,” “radiances,” or other occult terms. The sefirot, however, are numerically identifiable symbols of the various aspects of God’s being or activities. A more faithful English rendition would be “calculi,” a word that signifies both a means of reckoning and the use of symbols. Since there is no good English translation of sefirot, the use of the original Hebrew term is still preferable.

### Four Worlds

The concept of "Worlds" denotes the emanation of creative lifeforce from the Ein Sof Divine Infinite, through progressive, innumerable tzimtzumim (concealments/veilings/condensations). As such, God is described as the "Most Hidden of All Hidden", and Olam is etymologically related to, and sometimes spelled as, עלם (Noun: העלם Ha'elem meaning "concealment"). While these dimmings form innumerable differentiated spiritual levels, each a particular World/Realm, nonetheless, through the mediation of the sephirot (Divine attributes), five Comprehensive Worlds emerge. "Higher" realms metaphorically denote greater revelation of the Divine Ohr light, in more open proximity to their source, "Lower" realms are capable of receiving only lesser creative flow. The Worlds are garments of the Ein Sof, and Hasidic thought interprets their reality as only apparent to Creation, while "from above" the Divine Infinite fills all equally.

As particular sephirot dominate in each realm, so the primordial fifth World, Adam Kadmon, is often excluded for its transcendence, and the four subsequent Worlds are usually referred to. Their names are read out from Isaiah 43:7, "Every one that is called by My name and for My glory (Atziluth "Emanation/Close"), I have created (Beriah "Creation"), I have formed (Yetzirah "Formation"), even I have made (Asiyah "Action"). Below Asiyah, the lowest spiritual World, is Asiyah-Gashmi ("Physical Asiyah"), our Physical Universe, which enclothes its last two sephirot emanations (Yesod and Malchut). Collectively, the Four Worlds are also referred to as ABiYA, after their initial letters. As well as the functional role each World has in the process of Creation, they also embody dimensions of consciousness within human experience.

* **Adam Kadmon** (אָדָם קַדְמוֹן) meaning Primordial Man. The anthropomorphic metaphor "Adam" denotes the Yosher (Upright) configuration of the sephirot in the form of Man, though not yet manifest. "Kadmon" signifies "primary of all primaries", the first pristine emanation, still united with the Ein Sof. Adam Kadmon is the realm of Keter Elyon (Supernal Crown of Will), "the lucid and luminous light" (Tzachtzachot), "the pure lucid sephirot which are concealed and hidden" in potential. Containing the future emergence of Creation, it is Divine light with no vessels, the manifestation of the specific Divine plan for Existence, within Creation (after the Tzimtzum in Lurianic Kabbalah). In Lurianism, the lights from A"K precipitate Tohu and Tikun. As Keter is elevated above the sephirot, so Adam Kadmon is supreme above the Worlds, and generally only Four Worlds are referred to.

* **Atziluth** (אֲצִילוּת), meaning World of Emanation, also "Close." On this level the light of the Ein Sof (Infinite Divine "without end") radiates and is still united with its source. This supernal revelation therefore precludes the souls and Divine emanations in Atzilus from sensing their own existence. In Atzilus the 10 sephirot emerge in revelation, with Chochma (Wisdom) dominating, all is nullification of essence (Bittul HaEtzem) to Divinity, not considered created and separate. The last sephirah Malchut (Kingdom) is the "Divine speech" of Genesis 1, through which lower Worlds are sustained.

* **Beriah** (בְּרִיאָה or alternatively בְּרִיָּה), meaning World of Creation. On this level is the first concept of creatio ex nihilo (Yesh miAyin), however without yet shape or form, as the creations of Beriah sense their own existence, though in nullification of being (Bittul HaMetzius) to Divinity. Beriah is the realm of the "Divine Throne", denoting the sephirot configuration of Atzilus descending into Beriah like a King on a Throne. The sephirah Binah (Understanding) predominates, Divine intellect. Also called the "Higher Garden of Eden". The Highest Ranking Angels are in Beriah.

* **Yetzirah** (יְצִירָה), meaning World of Formation. On this level the created being assumes shape and form. The emotional sephirot Chesed to Yesod predominate, the souls and angels of Yetzirah worship through Divine emotion and striving, as they sense their distance from the Understanding of Beriah. This ascent and descent channels the Divine vitality down through the Worlds, furthering the Divine purpose. Therefore, in Yetzirah are the main angels, such as Seraphim, denoting their burning consummation in Divine emotion. Also called the "Lower Garden of Eden".

* **Asiyah** (עֲשִׂיָּה), meaning World of Action. On this level the creation is complete, differentiated and particular, due to the concealment and diminution of the Divine vitality. However, it is still on a spiritual level. The angels of Asiyah function on the active level, as the sephirah Malchut (fulfilment in Kingship) predominates. Below spiritual Asiyah is Asiyah Gashmi (עֲשִׂיָה גַשׁמִי, "Physical Asiyah"), the final, lowest realm of existence, our material Universe with all its creations. The last two sephirot of Asiyah channel the lifeforce into Physical Asiyah.

These four worlds are spiritual, Heavenly realms in a descending chain, although the lowest world of Assiah has both a spiritual and a physical aspect. The physical level of Assiah is our physical finite realm, including the cosmological Universe studied by Science. Consequently, as Kabbalah is a metaphysical study, its reference to Ohr ("light") is a metaphor for Divine emanation, and the terms "higher" and "lower" are metaphors for closer and further from Divine consciousness and revelation.

The 16th-century systemisation of Kabbalah by Moshe Cordovero brought the preceding interpretations and schools into their first complete rational synthesis. Subsequent doctrines of Kabbalah from Isaac Luria, describe an initial Tzimtzum (withdrawal of the universal Divine consciousness that preceded Creation) to "allow room" for created beings on lower levels of consciousness. Lower levels of consciousness require the self-perception of independent existence, by the created beings on each level, to prevent their loss of identity before the magnificence of God. This illusion increases with more force in each subsequent descending realm. The number of graduations between the Infinite and the finite, is likewise infinite, and arises from innumerable, progressively strong concealments of the Divine light. Nonetheless, the four worlds represent fundamental categories of Divine consciousness from each other, which delineates their four descriptions. Consequently, each world also psychologically represents a spiritual rung of ascent in human consciousness, as it approaches the Divine.

Kabbalah distinguishes between two types of Divine light that emanate through the 10 Sephirot (Divine emanations) from the Infinite (Ein Sof), to create or affect reality. The continual flow of an immanent lower light ("Mimalei Kol Olmin"), the light that "fills all worlds" is the creating force in each descending world that itself continually brings into being from nothing, everything in that level of existence. It is this light that undergoes the concealments and contractions as it descends downward to create the next level, and adapts itself to the capacity of each created being on each level. A transcendent higher light ("Sovev Kol Olmin"), the light that "surrounds all worlds" would be the manifestation on a particular level of a higher light above the capacity of that realm to contain. This is ultimately rooted in the infinite light ("Ohr Ein Sof") that preceded Creation, the Tzimtzum and the Sephirot, rather than the source of the immanent light in the "Kav" (first emanation of creation after the Tzimtzum), in the teachings of Isaac Luria. Consequently, all the worlds are dependent for their continual existence on the flow of Divinity they constantly receive from the Divine Will to create them. Creation is continuous. The faculty of Divine Will is represented in the Sephirot (10 Divine emanations) by the first, supra-conscious Sephirah of "Keter"-Crown, that transcends the lower 9 Sephirot of conscious intellect and emotion. Once the Divine Will is manifest, then it actualises Creation through Divine Intellect, and "subsequently" Divine Emotion, until it results in action. The reference to temporal cause and effect is itself a metaphor. The psychology of man also reflects the "Divine psychology" of the Sephirot, as "Man is created in the image of God" (Genesis 1:27). In man the activation of willpower through intellect and emotion until deed, requires time and subsequent cause and effect. In the Divine Sephirot and their activation of Creation, this does not apply, as limitations only apply to Creation.

### The Sephirot

**Sefirot** (ספירות, sfirot, singular ספירה sfirɔ), literally means "counting, enumeration", but early Kabbalists presented a number of other etymological possibilities from the same Hebrew root including: sefer ("text" - ספר), sippur ("recounting a story" - סיפור), sappir ("sapphire" - ספיר, "brilliance", "luminary"), sfar ("boundary" - ספר), and sofer, or safra ("scribe" - ספרא, סופר). The term sefirah thus has complex connotations within Kabbalah.

The original reference to the sefirot is found in the ancient Kabbalistic text of Sefer Yetzirah, "The Book of Formation", attributed to the first Jewish patriarch, Abraham. However, the names of the sefirot as given in later Kabbalah are not specified there. Further references to the sefirot, now with their later-accepted names, are elaborated on in the medieval Kabbalistic text of the Zohar, which is one of the core texts of Kabbalah.

The sefirot are ten emanations, or illuminations of God's infinite light as it manifests in creation. As revelations of the creator's will (רצון rɔṣon), the sefirot should not be understood as ten different "gods" but as ten different channels through which the one God reveals his will. In later Jewish literature, the ten sefirot refer either to the ten manifestations of God; the ten powers or faculties of the soul; or the ten structural forces of nature.

* **Keter** - "Crown": Divine Will to create/Infinite Light of the Creator/the Hebrew name of God "Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh-I Am that I Am"

* **Chokhmah** - "Wisdom": First unbounded flash of an idea before it takes on limitations/male light/divine reality/first revelation/creation from nothingness

* **Binah** - "Understanding": the infinite flash of Chochmah brought into the vessel of understanding to give it grasp of breadth and depth/feminine vessel that gives birth to the emotions/reason/understanding brings teshuva return to God

* **Da'at** - "Knowledge": Central state of unity of the 10 sefirot, also called the Tree of Life.

* **Chesed** - "Kindness": Loving grace of free giving/love of God/inspiring vision

* **Gevurah** - "Severity": Strength/discipline/judgment/withholding/awe of God

* **Tiferet** - "Beauty": Symmetry/balance between Chesed and Gevurah in compassion

* **Netzach** - "Eternity": 'perpetuity', 'victory', or 'endurance'

* **Hod** - "Splendor": Withdrawal/Surrender/sincerity

* **Yesod** - "Foundation": Connecting to the task to accomplish/wholly remembering/coherent knowledge

* **Malkuth** - "Kingship": Exaltedness/Humility. All the other sefirot flow into Malkuth (like the moon which has no light of its own), and it is the final revelation of the divine; the receiver and the giver.

### The Qliphoth

The Qliphoth/Qlippoth/Qlifot or Kelipot (Hebrew: קְלִיפּוֹת‎, the different English spellings are used in the alternative Kabbalistic traditions of Hermetic Qabalah and Jewish Kabbalah respectively), literally "Peels", "Shells" or "Husks" (from singular: קְלִפָּה‎ qlippah "Husk"), are the representation of evil or impure spiritual forces in Jewish mysticism, the polar opposites of the holy Sefirot. The realm of evil is also termed **Sitra Achra/Aḥra** (Aramaic סטרא אחרא‎, the "Other Side" opposite holiness) in Kabbalah texts.

* **Thaumiel/Thamiel** - "The Contending Forces": The name of Keter’s Qliphoth Thaumiel hasn’t been passed down with a precise translation unfortunately (just like the word Sephira itself). However, its archetype is the nature of the two conflicting forces and thus suggest a translation of ‘The Contending Forces’ (german, ‘Die Widerstreitenden Kräfte’). Thaumiel being the evil side of Keter represents the eternally aggressive tension or duality between two opposing polarities. If all is one and unified in the first ray of light in Keter, all is divided and cleaved in its most inner essence in Thaumiel.

* **Ghogiel** - "The Hindering Ones": Ghogiel (also Ghagiel) represents the antagonism to the well of creative potential and eternal motion in Chokmah. This qliphothic aspect is fully encapsulated in the traditional translation of its name, ‘The Hindering Ones’. Ghogiel itself is the nature of blocking and inhibiting the influx of divine motion. Thus, the Qliphoth of Chokmah represents the death of the first seed of creation and the obstruction of the first movement of creative forces in nature.
* **Satoriel** - "The Concealing Ones": If Binah’s light side represents the starting point of clothing unbound creative forces into equivalent shapes (german, Formwerdung), Satoriel represents the death of creative energy in aid of eternal, lifeless structure. The pursue of Satoriel is to becloud the nature of being behind shapes that fail to reflect the essence they represent. Thus perception and contact with these types of lifeless shapes runs dry on the surface and cannot connect with their inner creative forces. Satoriel is translated as ‘The Concealing Ones’ (german, ‘Die Verberger’).
* **Belial** - "The Worthless Ones": The knowledge of Daath is a door that leads from the First Triad to the Second and Third and equally from the light side to the dark side of the tree. The Qliphoth of Daath is blocking passage through this door by creating the notion of knowledge as an end in itself. When curiosity changes to greed for knowledge one loses the actual intent of one’s (spiritual) journey and gets caught in an ivory tower of (secret) information. The Qliphoth of Daath is knowledge that isn’t brought to or re-unified with life. At the same time the Qliphoth of Daath can take the opposite shape and present itself in the contempt and demise of knowledge. Either way, the Qliphoth of Daath is taking the most precious value from knowledge - making it a door and passage from one perspective and state of being to another. The Qliphoth of Daath is called Belial or ‘Belial‘ which can be translated as ‘The Worthless Ones’ (german, ‘Die Wertlosen’).
* **Gha Agsheblah** - "The Smiting Ones": The Qliphoth of Chesed is the divine force that spreads so far and thin that it breaks due to its own weakness. This Qliphoth represents the misguided and imbalanced love which exhausts and ultimately suffocates its object with its borderless benevolence and tenderness. The Qliphoth of Chesed is called ‘Gha Agsheblah’ which can be translated as “The Smiting Ones” (german, ‘Die Zerbrechenden’).
* **Golohab** - "The Flaming Ones": The qliphothic aspect of Geburah is the most easy to explain of all: it is the corybantic severity and merciless violence which judges according to biased standards. It is wrath against the wave-like, unpredictable motions of life and creation (Chokmah/ Chesed). The Qliphoth of Geburah is prepared to burn the last seed of life in order to maintain an established structure or law. The Qliphoth of Geburah is called ‘Golohab’ which can be translated as ‘The Flaming Ones’ (german, ‘Die Verbrenner’).
* **Tagimron** - "The Disputers": The qliphothic aspect of Tiphareth is represented by all influences that help to conceal rather than unveil beauty. The essence of this demonic nature becomes apparent if one truly tries to understand the meaning of beauty in Tiphareth: here beauty is not a term to coin cultural expressions of physical aesthetics, but it is the most inner nature of creation itself. In order to grasp the mystical or secret beauty of nature one depends on an intuitive access uninfluenced by intellect or rationale, i.e. a state of Gnosis or Henosis. The Qliphoth of Tiphareth thus are the forces that hinder man from experiencing this state of union, communion and beauty. They can take shape in any force that creates confusion rather than fusion of heart and mind. The Qliphoth of Tiphareth is called ‘Tagimron’ which can be translated as ‘The Disputers’ (german, ‘Die Streitenden’ or ‘Die Disputierer’)
* **Gharab** - "The Corrosive Ones": The Qliphoth of Netzach is represented by these two opposing forces of nature without the influence of wisdom (Chokmah) and mildness (Chesed). If creation starts to produce life as carelessly as it is prepared to destroy it again we can see the demon of Netzach unfold. The Qliphoth of Netzach is called ‘Gharab’ or ‘Areb-Zereq’ which can be translated either as ‘The Corrosive Ones’ (german, ‘Die Zersetzer’) or as ‘The Ravens of Death’.
* **Samael** - "The Deceitful Ones": The Qliphoth of Hod similarly is founded on the idea of a radiating object: our eyes are blinded and cannot look behind the radiating surface. Unauthentic brilliance can be understood as the beginning of illusion and deceit. In the realm of the mind the shadow of Hod therefore is represented by the lie, artfulness or beguilement. At the same time the demon of Hod correlates to the ideas of fickleness, hesitation and lack of determination - the negative fluctuations of our mind. The Qliphoth of Hod is called ‘Samael‘ which can be translated as ‘The Deceitful Ones‘ (german, ‘Die Täuscher’) or ‘Poison of God’ (german, ‘Das Gift Gottes’).
* **Gamaliel** - "The Obscene Ones": The qliphothic aspect of Yesod is represented by a distorted or destructive sense of fertility. On a plain physical level this signifies the sexual urge which is never satisfied but always demanding new and stronger stimuli and thus consuming vitality and creativity without offering anything in return. The more general idea of this Qliphoth, however, is any act of creation which is not based on an intention of beauty (in a sense of Tiphareth) and thus fails to generate a creature of beauty. The Qliphoth of Yesod is called ‘Gomaliel‘ or ‘Gamaliel’ and can be translated as ‘The Obscene Ones‘ (german, ‘Die Obszönen’).
* **Lilith** - "Queen of the Night": Just like the positive forces of the nine Sephiroth above Malkuth are condensed in this single point, the Qliphoth of Malkuth equally is a culmination of all preceding demonic forces. The shape and influence of this Qliphoth is therefore one and many at the same time; just like it is stated in the Bible “My name is Legion, because there are many of us.” (Mark 5:9). The name of the Qliphoth of Malkuth is ‘Lilith’ or ‘Nahemoth’ which can be translated as ‘Queen of the Night’. The Zohar explains “thedisgracing spirit of nature” (Sohar I. fol. 55a) as the source or reason of Lilith and her sister demons ‘Naama’ and ‘Igrith’.