Etz Chaim: Directions in the The Tree of Life

1:5   Their measure without end. Depth of beginning. Depth of end. Depth of Tov. Depth of Raa. Depth of above. Depth of below. Depth of East. Depth of West. Depth of North. Depth of South. Adon Yahhid true King (or eternal) has dominion over the Universe of (the) Holy Abode. Eternity of eternity immemorial. 1:13 Five: three Autiot among the simples. Sealed (the) height (or apex). Three chosen. Solidified them with his great Name: Yod-Hay-Waw. And sealed with six extremities. Turned towards the upper, sealed it with Yod-Hay-Waw. Six: sealed the lower, turned towards the underneath and sealed it with Yod-Waw-Hay. Seven: sealed the East, turned towards his (own) face and sealed it with Hay-Yod-Waw. Eight: sealed the West, turned behind it and sealed it with Hay-Waw-Yod. Nine: sealed the South and turned to his right and sealed it with Waw-Yod-Hay. Ten: sealed the North, turned to his left and sealed it with Waw-Hay-Yod.

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 spatial 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.