6 Tiphareth
Beauty
Tiphareth is Beauty and occupies the centre of the Tree, where it joins more paths than any other sephirah. It represents harmony and the mediating self, reconciling the expansive and restrictive forces of the two outer pillars.
10 sourced claims: 1 canonical , 9 traditional
Names and titles
Divine names and Yetziratic titles from Sefer Yetzirah and Kabbalistic tradition.
The Intelligence of the Mediating Influence
Sources (1)
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Sefer Yetzirah
, Westcott translation, 2nd edition, 1893
— Appendix: The 32 Paths of Wisdom, Path 6
“The Sixth Path is called the Intelligence of the Mediating Influence, because in it are multiplied the influxes of the emanations, for it causes that influence to flow into all the reservoirs of the Blessings, with which these themselves are united.”
The 32 Paths of Wisdom appear as an appendix to Westcott's Sefer Yetzirah.
YHVH Eloah va-Da'at (יהוה אלוה ודעת)
'YHVH God of Knowledge'. A composite name specific to the Kabbalistic sephirothic system; not attested as an independent biblical name.
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.
Malachim (Kings)
Sixth of Maimonides's ranks. Malachim is the ordinary Hebrew word for 'messengers' — the general term translated 'angels' in most contexts.
Sources (2)
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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
Raphael is anciently attested in Tobit and 1 Enoch, but not named as an angel in the Hebrew Bible's canonical books. Agrippa directly assigns Raphael to Tiphereth and the Sun.
Sources (2)
- Three Books of Occult Philosophy , English translation, J.F., London 1651 — Book III, chapter 10
- 777 , First edition, 1909 (anonymous) — Table VI, col. VIII · systematising, not originating
Astrological
The classical planet or sphere associated with the sephirah.
The Sun (Shemesh)
The most anciently attested of the planetary attributions. The Sun as the centre of the sky corresponds to Tiphareth as the centre of the Tree.
Sources (2)
- 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)
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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 Sixes bring the work into a clear, coherent accomplishment. What was contested in the Five has carried through to a result.
Book T classifies the Sixes under Tiphareth. Each suit qualifies what accomplishment means in its own elemental field.
Sources (1)
- Book T , Mathers, c. 1888 (Golden Dawn internal) — General meanings of the small cards under the Sephiroth, p. 27