The Four Worlds
Assiah — the Material World
The Princess scale belongs to Assiah, the Material World; on this one-Tree lens it is represented by Malkuth and its four elemental quarters.
Part of The Four Worlds.
In this pattern
The last verb of Isaiah 43:7: asah, "yea, I have made him". The verse ends there and so does the descent.
One caution, since the verse carries so much weight here. The earliest kabbalistic text to quote it is Sefer HaBahir §78, which quotes it while asking whether Abraham had a daughter. The reading that divides the worlds is later, and Cordovero is the source cited for it.
Sources
The World of action and material manifestation, represented in this lens by Malkuth. Mundane spheres, planets and elements are its characteristic correspondences.
This is the one-Tree banding used by the Hermetic lens. Mathers also records a complete ten-sephirah Tree within each World; the two models answer different study questions.
Sources (2)
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The Mystical Qabalah
, First edition, Williams & Norgate, 1935
— ch. 3 §§14–19 and ch. 8 §18
· systematising, not originating
Fortune gives both the exact one-Tree banding used by this lens and the Divine Name / Archangel / Choir / mundane hierarchy.
Isaiah 43:7
עֲשִׂיתִיו — The third verb: asah, 'yea, I have made him'. The verse ends there and so does the descent.
Sources (3)
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Tanakh
, The Holy Scriptures: A New Translation
— Isaiah 43:7
“Every one that is called by My name, and whom I have created for My glory, I have formed him, yea, I have made him.”
1917 JPS, public domain. The word this world is named for is עֲשִׂיתִיו.
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Pardes Rimonim
, Hebrew text
— Pardes Rimonim 4:10:6
· systematising, not originating
Where Cordovero reads the verse's three verbs — בראתיו יצרתיו אף עשיתיו — as הבריאה והיצירה והעשייה, the three lower worlds, in the order the verse gives them.
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Sefer HaBahir
, Torat Emet Hebrew text
— Sefer HaBahir 78
· systematising, not originating
This early kabbalistic use of Isaiah 43:7 appears in a discussion of whether Abraham had a daughter, not in a division of the worlds. The reading of its three verbs into three lower worlds comes later.
Members and associations
These are the sourced associations already attached to each member sphere. Open a sphere's research page for every claim, status note and source.
| Sphere | Divine name | Archangel | Angelic choir | Planet / sphere | Yetziratic title | Research page |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 Malkuth | Adonai ha-Aretz (אדני הארץ) | Sandalphon | Ashim (Souls of Fire) | The Elements (Cholem Yesodoth, the Breaker of the Foundations) | The Resplendent Intelligence | Sources and correspondences → |