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Sefirot in Movement
Celeste Patten
Kabbalah is the ancient Jewish doctrine that seeks ultimate reality, or in Kabbalistic terms, Ein Sof. Ein Sof, or the un-manifested G-d, connects the physical world to the spiritual world through the Sefirot, which are the modes through which Ein Sof manifests Himself. His will is put into eleven Sefirot which create the bridge that connects the mystic realm to our created world. It is through these powers that G-d created and rules the universe and how G-d sends forces of either compassion or judgement to man.
There are eleven Sefirot and each one of them is said to have two parts; one being the reflection of Ein Sof and His limitless nature and infinite power that is incomprehensible to man. The other aspect is the limited form of G-d, this is how he is able to communicate with man. It is through His infinite power that He creates the limited worlds, and it is through the Sefirot that G-d communicates with man. Using the latter part of the aspects of the Sefirot man can begin to understand what G-d’s will for humans is.
To understand Ein Sof, we must turn inwards. For man, according to many religious texts, was made in G-d’s image. To understand G-d we must understand the Sefirot, and this is only possible by looking within ourselves, to the Sefirot we possess. The Sefirot not only connect G-d’s infinite power to creation of man, but also it connects man to the soul, which can be viewed as a piece of G-d within you.
In many places in the Torah, scripture speaks of G-d as if He had human features, “the eyes of G-d,” the “will of G-d,” “the voice of G-d,” and so on. Why would the Torah put features of man onto G-d when we know that G-d doesn’t have a human body? The Torah is written in the language of man, it is the bridge from the unknowable to the tangible, it is how humans can apply the Sefirot to themselves and carry out the will of G-d, so by attributing human features to G-d, man is able to better understand His will.
The Sefirot can be found everywhere in nature, there are Sefirot within Sefirot within Sefirot. It can be put on a micro and macrocosmic scale; an example being G-d as the macro and man as the micro. Or alternatively humans could be the macrocosm and the microcosm could be specific body parts. This has actually been done, for Kabbalists have created a diagram of the Sefirot on the human body by using the man's physical organs to reflect higher forces. Using this format one can apply the Sefirot to any aspect of human life whether it be; love, charity, food, or in the case of this essay, movement.
As a dancer learning about Kabbalah I was fascinated by the Sefirot in reference to the body. How each body part could represent a Sefirah, and that Sefirah could be turned into an action, a thought, a dance, a way of being. How all of these different sefirot, all these different qualities could create a whole entity, a soul, an art form. It brought me to wonder what would the Sefirot look like in movement?
I decided to make a short video on the Sefirot and how they manifest in movement. In order to do so I had to understand what each Sefirah represents and moreover how they relate to one another. The Sefirot can be divided up in many different ways; one popular way is through intellect and emotion. The first four Sefirot are considered the “mothers” because they are the creators of the other seven. Without the Intellect there could be no Emotions. Keter is the first of the Sefirot, it is known to be the will of G-d, mysterious and the highest Sefirah, it is thought of as the spark to creation. It comes before movement itself it is what gives us the urge to move before we know what movement is. So in this case, a slow gaze towards the sky captured Keter’s essence. Movement can be most powerful in its subtleties.
The next of the “mothers” is Chochmah, it is the potential to move. I see it as the wisdom to move, a single kernel, containing all possible human movements before imploding and letting everything within its potential out into the physical world. This was shown in the video as soft full bodied movement that is rich and effortless. As in all the other pieces I had the dancer wear the color of the sefirot, in this case the light blue seemed very fitting.
The next step to consciousness is Binah. Binah represents understanding, it takes the will to move and the wisdom to be able to do so and adds a certain level of aptitude. In the video the camera pans down the movers body and shows the intention she has to move each part of her body, she has an understanding of every body part, as well as control. With will, wisdom, and now understanding, the mover now has the ability to be thoughtful, and when you combine these forces together you are brought to the last of the Intellectual Sefirot, Da’at.
Da’at is the physical manifestation of Keter. To show this I made sure to use the same person to represent both of these Sefirot. Keter can only be physicalized due to the incorporation of Chochmah and Binah. Combined, the mover is given full consciousness, you have the crown of the head; Keter, and both the right and left sides of the brain; Chochmah and Binah. This is hinted at in the video by the camera panning down the body to show knowledge, as it did in Binah, to then pan out to show the full body moving to represent Chochmah. Da’at is the piece of the puzzle needed for creativity to manifest. For without Da’at, Chochmah and Binah are static.
With the consciousness of movement solidified, the Emotions are able to materialize. The seven Emotions are called doubles because they manifest themselves in a polarized way. The first two Emotions are Chesed and Gevurah. Chesed represents kindness and is attributed to the right arm. In everyday life for Kabbalists giving charity is associated with the right arm, but when you apply it to movement, rather than clothing or money, you give with your body. The camera starts on the right arm and it makes a giving gesture, the dancer focuses outwards instead of inwards and exudes happiness and expansive open gestures, for Chesed knows no boundaries.
Gevurah is strength, the strength to know boundaries and to discipline. It is represented through razor blade like hands and quick sharp gestures. The power of the dancers movement portrays the strength of Gevurah. To balance the scale the two qualities are kneaded together to form Tiferet. It is the centering of both Gevurah and Chesed. The combination results in the beautiful, harmonious Tiferet. To portray this through movement I used a duet combining the dancers of Chesed and Gevurah and letting the qualities bleed together to create a unified, sharp yet smooth movement between the two dancers.
Netzach is the next Emotion and it is one of victory. It is part of the foundation of the Sefirot and so the dancer is grounded in the part of the body represented by Netzach, the right leg. It is the dominant of its counter and so the dancer exudes confidence through eye contact and confrontational body language. Hod is the counter and total opposite. It is complete submission, which is shown through curves, and the dancer bending to the dominance of Netzach. Yesod is the balancing point, combining dominance and submission into a duet where one can support or lean, push or pull, and where a sense of equality and understanding is found between the dancers. With one leg you can stand, however you can progress when both legs work together.
The last Sefirot is Malchut, or manifestation. It is the result of every Sefirah working together, in a spiritual sense it exudes G-dliness, in a movement sense it is the manifestation of all emotional and intellectual movement; it is a piece. A piece of of every Sefirah to create something that can be performed on a stage or an amphitheater or anyway the movers creative and emotional drive decides.
Through understanding and exploring movement I am better able to understand the Sefirot and how they relate to movement. As a mover it can also be said that movement helps me to better understand myself, and the Sefirot within me. This in turn is a bridge for me and anyone else to understand G-d in Kabbalistic terms. To reach ultimate reality one must properly align the Sefirot within themselves; in this case movement is the microcosmic action that can let one experience the macrocosmic version.
Bibliography
Dubov, Nissan Dovid. "The Sefirot." The Key to Kabbalah. May 2008. Web. 25 May 2016.
Sauter, Sia. "Kabbalah/Yoga." Inter Religious Dialogue (n.d.): Web. 25 May 2016.
Schochet, Jacob Immanuel. "Mystical Concepts in Chassidism." (1988): 13-145. Kehot Publications Society.
There are eleven Sefirot and each one of them is said to have two parts; one being the reflection of Ein Sof and His limitless nature and infinite power that is incomprehensible to man. The other aspect is the limited form of G-d, this is how he is able to communicate with man. It is through His infinite power that He creates the limited worlds, and it is through the Sefirot that G-d communicates with man. Using the latter part of the aspects of the Sefirot man can begin to understand what G-d’s will for humans is.
To understand Ein Sof, we must turn inwards. For man, according to many religious texts, was made in G-d’s image. To understand G-d we must understand the Sefirot, and this is only possible by looking within ourselves, to the Sefirot we possess. The Sefirot not only connect G-d’s infinite power to creation of man, but also it connects man to the soul, which can be viewed as a piece of G-d within you.
In many places in the Torah, scripture speaks of G-d as if He had human features, “the eyes of G-d,” the “will of G-d,” “the voice of G-d,” and so on. Why would the Torah put features of man onto G-d when we know that G-d doesn’t have a human body? The Torah is written in the language of man, it is the bridge from the unknowable to the tangible, it is how humans can apply the Sefirot to themselves and carry out the will of G-d, so by attributing human features to G-d, man is able to better understand His will.
The Sefirot can be found everywhere in nature, there are Sefirot within Sefirot within Sefirot. It can be put on a micro and macrocosmic scale; an example being G-d as the macro and man as the micro. Or alternatively humans could be the macrocosm and the microcosm could be specific body parts. This has actually been done, for Kabbalists have created a diagram of the Sefirot on the human body by using the man's physical organs to reflect higher forces. Using this format one can apply the Sefirot to any aspect of human life whether it be; love, charity, food, or in the case of this essay, movement.
As a dancer learning about Kabbalah I was fascinated by the Sefirot in reference to the body. How each body part could represent a Sefirah, and that Sefirah could be turned into an action, a thought, a dance, a way of being. How all of these different sefirot, all these different qualities could create a whole entity, a soul, an art form. It brought me to wonder what would the Sefirot look like in movement?
I decided to make a short video on the Sefirot and how they manifest in movement. In order to do so I had to understand what each Sefirah represents and moreover how they relate to one another. The Sefirot can be divided up in many different ways; one popular way is through intellect and emotion. The first four Sefirot are considered the “mothers” because they are the creators of the other seven. Without the Intellect there could be no Emotions. Keter is the first of the Sefirot, it is known to be the will of G-d, mysterious and the highest Sefirah, it is thought of as the spark to creation. It comes before movement itself it is what gives us the urge to move before we know what movement is. So in this case, a slow gaze towards the sky captured Keter’s essence. Movement can be most powerful in its subtleties.
The next of the “mothers” is Chochmah, it is the potential to move. I see it as the wisdom to move, a single kernel, containing all possible human movements before imploding and letting everything within its potential out into the physical world. This was shown in the video as soft full bodied movement that is rich and effortless. As in all the other pieces I had the dancer wear the color of the sefirot, in this case the light blue seemed very fitting.
The next step to consciousness is Binah. Binah represents understanding, it takes the will to move and the wisdom to be able to do so and adds a certain level of aptitude. In the video the camera pans down the movers body and shows the intention she has to move each part of her body, she has an understanding of every body part, as well as control. With will, wisdom, and now understanding, the mover now has the ability to be thoughtful, and when you combine these forces together you are brought to the last of the Intellectual Sefirot, Da’at.
Da’at is the physical manifestation of Keter. To show this I made sure to use the same person to represent both of these Sefirot. Keter can only be physicalized due to the incorporation of Chochmah and Binah. Combined, the mover is given full consciousness, you have the crown of the head; Keter, and both the right and left sides of the brain; Chochmah and Binah. This is hinted at in the video by the camera panning down the body to show knowledge, as it did in Binah, to then pan out to show the full body moving to represent Chochmah. Da’at is the piece of the puzzle needed for creativity to manifest. For without Da’at, Chochmah and Binah are static.
With the consciousness of movement solidified, the Emotions are able to materialize. The seven Emotions are called doubles because they manifest themselves in a polarized way. The first two Emotions are Chesed and Gevurah. Chesed represents kindness and is attributed to the right arm. In everyday life for Kabbalists giving charity is associated with the right arm, but when you apply it to movement, rather than clothing or money, you give with your body. The camera starts on the right arm and it makes a giving gesture, the dancer focuses outwards instead of inwards and exudes happiness and expansive open gestures, for Chesed knows no boundaries.
Gevurah is strength, the strength to know boundaries and to discipline. It is represented through razor blade like hands and quick sharp gestures. The power of the dancers movement portrays the strength of Gevurah. To balance the scale the two qualities are kneaded together to form Tiferet. It is the centering of both Gevurah and Chesed. The combination results in the beautiful, harmonious Tiferet. To portray this through movement I used a duet combining the dancers of Chesed and Gevurah and letting the qualities bleed together to create a unified, sharp yet smooth movement between the two dancers.
Netzach is the next Emotion and it is one of victory. It is part of the foundation of the Sefirot and so the dancer is grounded in the part of the body represented by Netzach, the right leg. It is the dominant of its counter and so the dancer exudes confidence through eye contact and confrontational body language. Hod is the counter and total opposite. It is complete submission, which is shown through curves, and the dancer bending to the dominance of Netzach. Yesod is the balancing point, combining dominance and submission into a duet where one can support or lean, push or pull, and where a sense of equality and understanding is found between the dancers. With one leg you can stand, however you can progress when both legs work together.
The last Sefirot is Malchut, or manifestation. It is the result of every Sefirah working together, in a spiritual sense it exudes G-dliness, in a movement sense it is the manifestation of all emotional and intellectual movement; it is a piece. A piece of of every Sefirah to create something that can be performed on a stage or an amphitheater or anyway the movers creative and emotional drive decides.
Through understanding and exploring movement I am better able to understand the Sefirot and how they relate to movement. As a mover it can also be said that movement helps me to better understand myself, and the Sefirot within me. This in turn is a bridge for me and anyone else to understand G-d in Kabbalistic terms. To reach ultimate reality one must properly align the Sefirot within themselves; in this case movement is the microcosmic action that can let one experience the macrocosmic version.
Bibliography
Dubov, Nissan Dovid. "The Sefirot." The Key to Kabbalah. May 2008. Web. 25 May 2016.
Sauter, Sia. "Kabbalah/Yoga." Inter Religious Dialogue (n.d.): Web. 25 May 2016.
Schochet, Jacob Immanuel. "Mystical Concepts in Chassidism." (1988): 13-145. Kehot Publications Society.