8 Hod
Splendour
Hod is Splendour, the sphere of intellect, language and deliberate form-making. On the lower left pillar it analyses and organises the feelings and impulses associated with Netzach.
9 sourced claims: 8 traditional , 1 contested
Names and titles
Divine names and Yetziratic titles from Sefer Yetzirah and Kabbalistic tradition.
The Absolute or Perfect Intelligence
Awaiting spot-check against Westcott's appendix.
Sources (1)
- Sefer Yetzirah , Westcott translation, 3rd edition, 1911 (first published 1887) — Appendix: The 32 Paths of Wisdom, Path 8
Elohim Tzabaoth (אלהים צבאות)
Sources (1)
- 777 , First edition, 1909 (anonymous) — Table VI, col. II · systematising, not originating
Angelic hierarchy
Archangels of the sephirah and the angelic choir it leads. Maimonides gives the ten choirs; the sephirothic pairings are later Kabbalistic tradition.
Michael is named in Daniel. Agrippa directly assigns him to Hod and Mercury, while also reporting an alternative planetary list that assigns Michael to the Sun.
Sources (2)
-
Three Books of Occult Philosophy
, English translation, J.F., London 1651
— Book III, chapter 10
Agrippa's chapter 10 gives the Hod–Mercury assignment; chapter 24 preserves both planetary lists.
-
777
, First edition, 1909 (anonymous)
— Table VI, col. VIII
· systematising, not originating
NB: In some 'planetary archangel' tables Michael is paired with the Sun; the Kabbalistic sephirothic assignment differs.
Beni Elohim (Sons of God)
Eighth of Maimonides's ranks. From Genesis 6:2 and 6:4.
Sources (2)
-
Mishneh Torah
, Original Hebrew, Maimonides c. 1180
— Yesodei HaTorah 2:7
“There are ten names given to the angels: Chayot HaKodesh, Ophanim, Erelim, Chashmalim, Seraphim, Malachim, Elohim, B'nei Elohim, Cherubim, and Ishim.”
Maimonides's ten angelic ranks. The pairing of each class with a specific sephirah is a later Kabbalistic development. Available on Sefaria.
- 777 , First edition, 1909 (anonymous) — Table VI, col. IX · systematising, not originating
Astrological
The classical planet or sphere associated with the sephirah.
Mercury (Kokab)
Sources (1)
- 777 , First edition, 1909 (anonymous) — Table VI, col. I / Table IV · systematising, not originating
Agrippa's Renaissance Christian-Cabalist table is explicit. It is not presented as a planetary scheme stated by Sefer Yetzirah or another ancient Jewish source.
Sources (2)
-
Three Books of Occult Philosophy
, English translation, J.F., London 1651
— Book II, chapter 13, Scale of the Number Ten
The table aligns the ten Sephiroth with the ten spheres in order.
Golden Dawn attributes
Correspondences established by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn between 1888 and 1912.
The Eights concentrate skill on the matter at hand. They can work with real precision and success, though the result may reach no farther than the immediate task.
Book T classifies the Eights under Hod and calls their common quality solitary success: sufficient for the present matter, but not necessarily generative beyond it.
Sources (1)
- Book T , Mathers, c. 1888 (Golden Dawn internal) — General meanings of the small cards under the Sephiroth, p. 27
Correspondences 9 sourced correspondences
| Relation | To | First attested |
|---|---|---|
| Planetary attribution | Mercury | 1509 CE |
| Sephirah of | Eight of Wands | 1888 CE |
| Counts of | 10 | 100 CE |
| Channel | Malkuth | 1548 CE |
| Channel of | Geburah | 1548 CE |
| Channel | Yesod | 1548 CE |
| Archangel | Michael | 1509 CE |
| Divine name | Elohim Tzabaoth | 1907 CE |