“The man who was largely responsible for making Safed into a renowned center of Kabbalah was Moses Cordovero, Safed’s chief systematic theologian of Kabbalah. Cordovero was either born in Safed or settled there after the Spanish Inquisition. He was known for his profound religious thinking as well as his ability to elucidate the teachings of Kabbalah. A prolific author, Cordovero wrote about thirty works in his short life. He died at the age of forty-eight in 1570, two years before the death of Isaac Luria. One of Cordovero’s popular works is The Palm Tree of Deborah. Found among Cordovero’s manuscripts after his death, it was first published in 1588. This classic is a step-by-step guide to cultivating the attributes of the sefirot within ourselves, and its advice is as practical today as it was four hundred years ago. Cordovero’s premise is that since we were made in the image and likeness of God, we are supposed to imitate our Creator through our virtues and our deeds. Thus the goal of the mystic, says Cordovero, is not simply to contemplate the attributes of the ten sefirot but to actually embody those attributes—to become a chalice for God’s (1) mercy and humility (Keter), (2) wisdom (Hokhmah), (3) understanding (Binah), (4) love (Hesed),(5) justice and judgment (Gevurah),(6) beauty and compassion (Tiferet), (7) victory and endurance (Netzah), (8) majesty (Hod),(9) foundation (Yesod), and (10) sovereignty (Malkhut).”
“Here we see at play the ancient Hermetic axiom “As Above, so below”: as God exhibits divine attributes in dealing with us, so we must exhibit those same attributes in dealing with others. But The Palm Tree of Deborah also reflects the corollary axiom, “As below, so Above.” For it is founded on the unique Kabbalistic principle that every action we take in this world produces a corresponding reaction in the divine world, whether for good or for ill. In other words, we affect the activity of the sefirot. By embodying their attributes, we activate those attributes in the world above and thereby stimulate the flow of God’s blessings into the world below. When we do not imitate the divine attributes, we disrupt the world of the sefirot above and thereby block the flow of God’s blessings into the world below. Thus the Kabbalist believes that the quotient of spiritual blessings that God bestows upon mankind depends entirely on how we live our lives. As Cordovero describes it, if we imitate the qualities of the sefirot, those qualities will “shine upon earth.”[314] But if we don’t imitate those qualities, they will disappear from this world. Whenever you are[…]”
To Acquire Endurance and Majesty…