Etz Chaim: Directions in the The Tree of Life

I:5         Ten Sefirot of Nothingness: Their measure is ten which have no end. A depth of beginning, a depth of end; a depth of good, a depth of evil; a depth of above, a depth below; a depth east, a depth west; a depth north, a depth south. I:13         Five: With three of the simple letters seal "above". Choose three and place them in His great Name: YHV. With them seal the six extremities. Face upward and seal it with YHV. Six: Seal "below". Face downward and seal it with YHV. Seven: Seal "east". Face straight ahead and seal it with HYV. Eight: Seal "west". Face backward and seal it with HVY Nine: Seal "south". Face to the right and seal it withn VYH. Ten: Seal "north". Face to the left and seal it with VHY.

The nature and grouping of the directions shows that their natural representation is the Cube. The first four Sephirot (the non-spacial directions) are the center and axes of the Cube of Space; the last six (the extremities) are the spacial directions and the faces of the Cube, and the last six Sephirot of the Tree, a fact that seems sadly lost. Directions in the Cube

Sephirotic Assignments for the Ten Directions in the Zohar and other Sources   SY # Ari Pree Yitzchak Raavad Isaac the Blind Ramak   WoC   Suares Beginning 1 Chokmah Keter Chokmah Chokmah Keter   Da'at   Keter End 2 Binah Malkut Binah Binah Malkut   Tipheret   Hhokhmah Good 3 Keter Chesed Chesed Chesed Chokhmah   Hhesed   Binah Evil 4 Malkut Gevurah Gevurah Malkut Binah   Gevurah   Gedolah Up 5 Netzach Netzach Keter Keter Netzach   Kether   Gevurah Down 6 Hod Hod Malkut Yesod Hod   Yesod   Tiferet East 7 Tiferet Tiferet Tiferet Tiferet Tiferet   Hhokmah   Netzach West 8 Yesod Yesod Yesod Netzach Yesod   Hod   Hod South 9 Chesed Binah Hod Hod Chesed   Netzach   Yesod North 10 Gevurah Hhokmah Netzach Gevurah Gevurah   Binah   Malkut   Kaplan, SY,1995, p.46; Glotzer, Fundamentals of Jewish Mysticism, 1992, p.29; and other sources

Without an orienting geometry in 3-D space, the directions fall apart and are strewn around the Tree. Among the critical losses (aside from semantic integrity) are the nature of the fifth Sephira as a hinge between Adam Qadmon's inner and existential space, the rooting of the North and left in the 10th Sephira, the location of the psyche's kernel, and the exile of the Shekinah.