The Sephiroth are the spheres depicted on the Tree of Life. The word Sephirah (plural Sephiroth) literally means “enumeration”, but can also be understood as “sapphire/jewel”, “brilliance”, “boundary”, and even “womb”.
The sephiroth are emanations of the Agnostos Theos, the unknowable divinity.
“The ten Sephiroth of universal vibration emerge from the Ain Soph, which is the microcosmic star that guides our interior. This star is the real Being of our Being. Ten Sephiroth are spoken of, but in reality there are twelve; the Ain Soph is the eleventh, and its tenebrous antithesis is in the abyss, which is the twelfth Sephirah. These are twelve spheres or universal regions that interpenetrate each other without confusion.
The Sephiroth are atomic. The ten Sephiroth can be reduced into three tables:
1. A quantum table of the radiant energy that comes from the sun
2. An atomic weight table of the elements of nature
3. A molecular weight table of compounds.
This is Jacob’s ladder, which goes from Earth to heaven. All of the worlds of cosmic consciousness are reduced to the three tables.”
– Samael Aun Weor, Tarot and Kabbalah
“The ten known Sephiroth come from Sephirah, the Divine Mother, who resides in the heart temple. The mantra of the Divine Mother is IO which is the 10 emanations of Prakriti, in other words, the 10 (ten) Sephiroth.
The Holy Spirit is our Divine Mother that dresses with a blue mantle and a white tunic of exquisite splendors. The Mother holds in her hand a precious lamp.
This lamp is the Innermost who burns within the depth of our hearts. The Innermost is contained within a fine and transparent glass of alabaster. This glass is our own superlative Consciousness; it is our Buddhi.
The Innermost is the Sephirah Chesed, and Buddhi is the Sephirah Geburah.
The Innermost and Buddhi express themselves through the Human Soul.
The Human Soul is Tiphereth, willpower, beauty.
Therefore, the Innermost, with his two Souls, the Divine and Human, officiates on his throne, which is the cerebrospinal nervous system. The Innermost is crowned with the Sephirothic Crown. The Innermost abides in his temple. The temple of the Innermost has two columns, Jachin and Boaz. Jachin is the mind and Boaz is the Astral body. The mind is the Sephirah Netzach and the Astral body is the Sephirah Hod. These two columns of the temple are sustained upon the Cubic Stone of Yesod. This Cubic Stone also serves as a foundation for the Kingdom, Malkuth.
This Cubic Stone is the Ethereal Body. Malkuth is the physical body.
Therefore, the human being is a complete decade. We have ten fingers on our hands, ten Sephiroth, and Ten Commandments.”
– Samael Aun Weor, Tarot and Kabbalah
References and further reading
Kabbalah from Gnostic Muse
Dion Fortune, The Mystical Kabbalah
Samael Aun Weor, The Initiatic Path in the Arcana of Tarot and Kabbalah