Linked to expansiveness and liberation, Chesed, the fourth Sephirah in the Tree of Life is favored by many. As Chokmah on a lower arc, it is titled the Greater Benefic, suggesting abundance, wisdom, and leadership.
But is Chesed only about generosity, or does it teach a deeper lesson in balance, responsibility, and optimal growth? In a previous video, we focused on Geburah. In this one, we’ll explore the true nature of Chesed.
The Merciful Chesed
Also called Gedulah (Greatness), Chesed derives from the Hebrew root חסד, meaning:
- Mercy,
- Grace,
- Kindness
- Love, and
- Expansion
Chesed’s divine name, EL, means God, implying limitless beneficence. However, this boundless generosity actually has a cost.
Pairs of Opposites
As mentioned in the Geburah video:
“The Sephiroth can only be examined in the context of the Tree, while the side ones as pairs of opposites.”
— POTB
Chesed’s mercy and expansion find balance in Geburah’s severity and restriction. Neither exists without the other, as one builds, governs, and sustains, whereas the other restricts and reinforces.
- Excess Chesed leads to stagnation and indulgence.
- Too much Geburah leads to tyranny and destruction.
At the center of the side pillars, Chesed and Geburah are their strongest representations, as Boaz and Jachin translate into:
- He will establish, and
- In him is strength.
Likewise, the Elements are best expressed in their fixed signs in the middle of the triplicity. The dichotomy brings equilibrium within the Tree, which maps the human psyche.
Build and Destroy
While you can recall the 5 Percenters emphasizing ‘Build and Destroy,’ the best way to understand Chesed and Geburah is by considering insulin and glucagon.
As antagonists, these complement and oppose each other. When insulin is up, glucagon is down, and vice versa.
Insulin
Like Chessed, insulin stores, gathers, builds, develops, etc. Spiked strategically, insulin helps us survive, recover, and build muscle. Hence, its importance in Bodybuilding. Frequently abused insulin causes:
- Obesity,
- Diabetes,
- Permanent hunger, and
- Other issues rooted in insulin resistance.
Glucagon
Balancing that Glucagon is the metabolic Geburah. Whatever energy is stored, it breaks down, destroys, and burns.
Due to mobilizing the fat deposits, Glucagon is called ‘A Weight Loss Hormone.’ It (also) promotes autophagy, which burns, destroys, and eliminates damaged cells, toxic proteins, and tumors. More on that is in my book OMAD GAINS.
The Architect King
While Geburah is the Warrior Queen, Chesed is the Architect King. The first goes to war and protects territories. The second:
- Cares for his people,
- Organizes resources,
- Optimizes cities and
- Builds infrastructures.
This is why Chesed is called Cohesive Intelligence, organizing all things for the greater good.
Creativity
Chesed rules:
- Innovation,
- Inspiration,
- Visionary or Big-picture Thinking,
- Creative Ideation, and Lofty Abstractions, and
- Blueprints behind structures, systems, and philosophies.
It is our creative engine, individually and collectively sourcing abstract concepts, eventually becoming something. The Creative Imagination.
Complementing Chesed, the Sacrificial Priestess Geburah sacrifices ideas and concepts that (actually) suck, preventing ‘mental obesity.’
Now. Imagine having precise visions of turning things into being based on opportunities others can’t see. Working Chesed effectively implies:
- Transcending the mundane states of entropy associated with Malkuth and
- Navigating such visions as a mathematician does formulas.
Doing so separates innovators from dreamers. Those bringing expansive ideas into actionable reality, advancing the race micro and macrocosmically. Think of:
- Nikola Tesla,
- Henry Ford,
- Thomas Edison,
- Steve Jobs,
- Elon Musk,
- etc.
Visionaries
Visionaries look beyond immediate limitations (Saturn), seeing a thriving enterprise before it exists. They anticipate components like:
- Strategic locations,
- Market demands,
- Infrastructure,
- etc.
Leaders and innovators function this way. They create and do not react to trends, actually shaping the future.
Consciously or not, they operate within the sphere of Chesed.
Chesed in The Tree of Life
Chokmah emanates Chesed through the reflection of the Supernals in the Moral or Ethical triad.
Besides representing structure, and expansion, Chesed contains the last remnants of form before dissolving into the Supernals’ pre-formative states. It embodies the tension between material manifestation and spiritual realization.
Netzach mirrors Geburah, whereas Hod does Chesed. Established through the reflection of the Moral into the Magickal triangle, the second dynamic is cyphered:
- The Unicursal Hexagram, and
- The Grades:
- 3=8 Practicus Hod Water, and
- 4=7 Philosophus Netzach Fire.
Reflections
Ruling transformation and development, Chesed and Geburah are regarded as high principles.
- Chesed’s Mercy and Expansion are reflected in Hod’s Intellect and Communication.
- Geburah’s Discipline and Restriction mirrors Netzach’s Emotion and Passion.
This actually goes both ways. Elevating consciousness moves from physical (matter) to energy (spirit), passing through perfect balance, Tiphereth. To manifest physically, Spiritual forces must also be filtered through Tiphereth.
While a matter of another discussion, Tiphereth is symbolized by the Mysteries of the Crucifixion associated with:
- Sacrifice,
- Equilibrium
- Redemption, and
- Transformation
Grounding Ideas
To turn practical, visions and ideas must be balanced through experience and structure. To serve a higher purpose, physical action must be coupled with wisdom and alignment.
Without Tiphereth, the function spheres malfunction, resulting in:
- Uncontrolled emotions and aggression in Netzach and Geburah and
- Rigid intellectualism, mental obesity, and excess in Chesed and Hod.
A visionary (Chesed) must refine ideas through harmony (Tiphareth) before they become effective communication (Hod). A disciplined warrior (Geburah) must pass through Tiphareth’s balance to ensure their passion (Netzach) is directed, not chaotic.
Aubrey Marcus’ Warrior Poet embodies both. Let me know if you agree.
Tiphareth is the checkpoint harmonizing raw energy and matter.
“Chesed, (…), reflects into Hod through (…) Tiphareth, just as Geburah reflects into Netzach. This teaches us a great deal, for it indicates that for consciousness to rise from form to force and for force to descend to form, it must pass through the Centre of Equilibrium and Redemption, to which are assigned the Mysteries of the Crucifixion.”
— Dion Fortune. Mystical Qabalah
Expansion
Due to its expansive nature, Chesed gets all the credit for combating Saturn’s limitations and entropy. Arguably, it expands beyond what’s already there, Saturn Binah.
A Magickal approach availing of that is banishing Saturn and invoking Jupiter to remove personal limitations, and obstacles.
Psycho-Cybernetics
Similarly, Psycho-Cybernetics views expanding beyond your self-image as the key to success and well-being. Usually influenced by random circumstances (Saturn), the self-image is like a ‘box’ determining what you can do.
By expanding beyond it, you are effectively navigating the principles of Chesed.
However, some situations don’t allow for expansion and development. They need radical change and fierce elimination, which is why Chesed and Geburah should always go hand-in-hand.
- Chesed: orders, builds, utilizes, and expands beyond existing forms and randomness, Saturn.
- Geburah: destroys and breaks down those hindering progress and causing stagnation.
Only together can they counteract the entropy, ensuring both growth and necessary destruction. As I shared in the Geburah video:
“External expansion and development often demand internal elimination and refinement.”
—POTB
Jupiter is associated with material and financial success.
Yet, working Geburah mystically might be the key to working it practically effectively. And the ritual I suggest is the Greater Hexagram a detailed manual on which is on my Etsy store.
Mythology
Mentioning that Saturn (Cronos) was the leader of the Titans and ruler of time. Fearing a prophecy that one of them would overthrow him, Saturn devoured his children.
However, his wife Cybele (Magna Mater) deceived him, saving the child Jupiter.
Jupiter was hidden and raised in secrecy until gaining the strength to challenge Cronos. When the time came, Jupiter freed his siblings, defeating Cronos and establishing cosmic order.
Chesed is Jupiter and Zeus. Platonic and Neopythagorean philosophy links him to the Demiurge, the architect of the material universe. Originating from Greek, the term ‘Demiurge’ means:
- Creator,
- Producer,
- Craftsman,
- etc.
The concept echoes Plato’s vision of Jupiter as the shaper of the tangible world.
The Kaph Letter
Jupiter is The Kaph כ letter and the 21 Path. Kaph means palm, suggesting ‘control over destiny.’
The 21st Path is called Intelligence of Conciliation. Paul Foster Case explains it as mediation and harmony between contrasting forces in motion, conveying a cyclic and everlasting change.
- It is also called Rewarding Intelligence of Those Who Seek, implying assuming the essential-to-success ‘seek, and you’ll find’ state of mind.
Perpetual Change
The 21st path is the Fortune card, symbolizing perpetual change. Chesed represents wisdom and knowledge. This resonates with Carol Dweck’s concept of Permanent Education, which is perpetual change.
Like the wheel of fate, cycles repeat, and stability is found by embracing that change. Alchemically, it’s one stage after another.
- The Sphinx (Sulfur and Rajas) represents intelligence, mastery, and balance.
- The Hermanubis (Mercury and Sattva) is a psychopomp guiding change and mediating between states (of life and death).
- Typhon (Salt and Tamas) symbolizes stagnation, ignorance, and resistance to transformation.
As covered in my Fortune card video, stillness and balance are found within change, particularly in the wheel’s center associated with:
- The eye of the storm, and
- The eye of Hadit.
You must find stability amid chaos, grounding yourself with Stoic and Hermetic principles.
The Element of Luck
“It would be narrow to think of Jupiter as good fortune; he represents the element of luck. The incalculable factor.”
— Aleister Crowley. The Book of Thoth p. 90
Jupiter rules prosperity and fortune. Yet luck is not passive. It’s the mystery of fate including both destruction and creation. Think of Chesed being the creative engine.
Recap
Chesed is the sphere of expansion, wisdom, and structured benevolence. Counterbalanced by Geburah, it ensures measured growth, not recklessness. It lets visionaries turn abstract ideas into reality, shaping the world through innovation.
True stability lies in transformation. Whether in esoteric practice, personal development, or business, mastering the balance between expansion and restriction (build and destroy) is key to both spiritual and material success, which is why balancing Chesed and Geburah is so critical for occultists. But that’s just my opinion. Let me know if you agree. Thank you for your time.