Occasionally, you'll come across a depiction of the ten sephirot arranged in a circle rather than in the three columns that make up the more common image of the Tree of Life. In her audio presentation, Shekhinah as Mourner, Jill Hammer mentions that early Jewish mysticism was architectural, an attempt to figure out how the Temple could be rebuilt internally. Originally, the sephirot represented directions and elements.
This intrigues me. The Tree of Life may be a Medicine Wheel!
| East Mizrach | Tiferet "Beauty" | 6 |
| South Darom | Chesed "Kindness" | 4 |
| West Ma'arav | Yesod "Foundation" | 9 |
| North Tzafon | Gevurah "Strength" | 5 |
| Up L'maalah | Netzach "Victory" | 7 |
| Down Metachat | Hod "Splendor" | 8 |
| Holy of Holies Merkaz | Da'at "Knowledge" | 0 |
| Beginning (Fire) Reishit | Chokmah "Wisdom" | 2 |
| End (Water) Sof | Binah "Understanding" | 3 |
| Good (Air) Tov | Keter "Crown" | 1 |
| Evil Ra | Malkuth "Kingship" | 10 |
One obvious difference between Kabbalah and Native American beliefs regards the sanctity of the world. The Creator Stone is in the center of Native American medicine wheels. Ayn Sof is outside of the Jewish medicine wheel. The Kabbalists posited that God contracted to make an empty space in which to create the world. While there are divine sparks in the world and there is a Divine Presence who has gone into exile with us; the sacred, in Jewish belief, is primarily transcendent, not immanent... well, except for the Shekhinah...
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