Sephiroth
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Origin 1270 to 1300
Hod means Splendour (also translated Glory), the eighth Sephirah, at the foot of the Pillar of Severity on the left side of the Tree of Life. Its divine name is Elohim Tzabaoth, 'God of Hosts', its archangel is Michael (in the Golden Dawn Sephirothic scheme), and its angelic order is the Beni Elohim, the Sons of God; its planet is Mercury, ruler of mind and communication. It is the sphere of intellect, language, and the structuring of thought.
As a sphere of experience Hod governs reason, analysis, speech, and system: the mind that names, measures, and orders the world. It is the natural partner and opposite of Netzach, emotion, and the two must be balanced so that thought and feeling inform each other rather than war. It is symbolized by the number eight, the names and versicles of ceremonial magic, and the apron, and it is the sphere where the magician works through language, symbol, and disciplined mind.
Facts
Origins
Origin Period1270 to 1300 1Tradition: Zoharic Kabbalah Origin PeriodSourced to the subject's own account1888 to 1900 2Tradition: Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn Origin Period200 to 600 CE 1Tradition: Sefer Yetzirah, where the ten sefirot are first enumerated Origin PeriodHod appears among the Sefer Yetzirah's original ten Sephiroth of Nothingness, a text Scholem places between the second and sixth century CE and which survives in recensions that do not agree in every particular. 1 Origin PeriodHod's place in the now-standard system of ten Sephiroth, with the specific divine name, archangel and planetary associations recorded on this page, crystallizes in the Zoharic literature that Scholem locates in Castile between 1270 and 1300. 1 Origin PeriodSourced to the subject's own accountThe Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, founded in 1888, fixed Hod's place within its own ceremonial correspondence system by 1900, the scheme this atlas follows for Hod's Golden Dawn associations. 2Tradition: Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn Place of OriginSefer Yetzirah tradition, late-antique Near East 1 Place of OriginSefirotic system developed in Provence and Castile 1 Place of OriginWestern correspondences added in London 1 Attributions
Ruling PlanetSourced to the subject's own accountMercury 2Tradition: Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn Divine NameSourced to the subject's own accountElohim Tzabaoth 2Tradition: Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn IncenseSourced to the subject's own accountStorax 3Tradition: Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn GemstoneSourced to the subject's own accountOpal, Especially Fire Opal 3Tradition: Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn PlantSourced to the subject's own accountMoly (Golden Garlic) 3Tradition: Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn Queen Scale ColourSourced to the subject's own accountOrange 2Tradition: Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn Tree of Life PillarSourced to the subject's own account Identity
Also Known As Learn More
Hod, Splendour
Hod, Splendour or glory, is the eighth sefirah, the lowest of the left-hand Pillar of Severity, and the sphere of the intellect, reason, language and the analytic mind. Paired with Netzach across the Tree, Hod supplies the form, structure and rational articulation that balance the surging emotion of its opposite: where Netzach feels and desires, Hod thinks, names and orders. It is traditionally the sphere of the intellect and of communication, and Western esotericism has associated it with magic and with the written and spoken word, the shaping of reality through language and symbol. Its divine name is Elohim Tzabaoth, the God of Hosts, paired with the YHVH Tzabaoth of Netzach.
In the Kabbalistic map of the soul Hod is the seat of the reasoning faculty, mediating and structuring the material world just above the foundation of Yesod. The sefirah takes its place in the doctrine of the ten emanations named in the Sefer Yetzirah and developed through the Zohar and the Lurianic Kabbalah, one of the lower seven qualities active in creation and in the human person.
Sources The ZoharTraditionally attributed to Moses de Leon with Sefer Yetzirah: The Book of Creation in Theory and PracticeAryeh Kaplan
Hod and the Western Correspondences
Hod is assigned the planet Mercury, and the pairing is apt: Mercury, the classical planet of the mind, communication, commerce and the messenger's swift intelligence, is the fitting counterpart of the sefirah of intellect, reason and language. In the Golden Dawn system of 1888 and in Liber 777, Hod's colour is orange, and it corresponds to the four Eights of the tarot suits; the Mercurial attribution underlies the strong Western-esoteric association of Hod with magic itself, understood as the art of manipulating symbol and word, the domain of the Mercurial trickster and scribe. As always the layers must be kept distinct.
Hod as the eighth sefirah, its name Elohim Tzabaoth, and its role as the rational faculty of the soul are Jewish Kabbalah, the fruit of centuries of mystical reflection, while the cross-referencing to Mercury, to a tarot rank and to a scale of magical colours is Hermetic Qabalah, the Western ceremonial adaptation formalised in 1888. The Tree is the same figure in both, but the uses to which its eighth sphere is put diverge sharply.
Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
Michael is set over Hod, the sphere of Splendor and of Mercury, presiding over intellect, communication and the ordering, analytical mind.
The notation 3=8 sets Practicus on Hod, the eighth sephirah.
Originates in Language
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