Medieval alchemy, Kabbalah and Islamic esotericism

Joseph Gikatilla

Joseph ben Abraham Gikatilla · Chiquatilla

Author of Sha'arei Orah, the book that organises the whole system around the divine names — and the one this site reads for the names on the Jewish tree.

Dates: c. 1248 – c. 1305
Dating: approximate dates
Born: Medinaceli, Castile

The life

A student of Abraham Abulafia, and later close to Moses de León during the years the Zohar was appearing.

Place in the tradition

Sha'arei Orah is the most lucid medieval account of the sefirot, which is exactly why it was the first one the Christian Hebraists had translated.

a note on the record

History and later legend

The relationship between his work and the Zohar runs in both directions and is not settled.

the written record

Principal works

late 13th century

Sha'arei Orah

שערי אורה

Gates of Light: the ten sefirot expounded through the divine names, taken from the lowest gate upward. The source this site reads for the names on the Jewish tree.

held in the source catalogue Read at sefaria.org ↗