The compact gloss, strength or might, supplies the first layer. The numbered circle, pillar position, Mars attribution, and the four Fives belong to later arrangements that must be read separately.
- Number
- 5
- Hebrew
- גבורה
- Common gloss
- Strength or might
- Hermetic sphere
- Mars
- Divine name row
- Elohim Gibor
- Tarot rank
- the four Fives
EARLIEST LAYER ON THIS PAGE
Geburah as a Hebrew word
1 Chronicles 29:11: The doxology gives power or might, ha-gevurah, to God alongside beauty, victory, splendor, and rule. Several later sephirotic names occur in one verse without an arrangement into ten circles.
SEFER YETZIRAH LAYER
The 5th count is not yet Geburah
In one long recension, the fifth count begins the six sealed directions with “above.” This is not called Geburah in the text. The preserved number can acquire a new name and symbolism in later Kabbalah; this difference records the change.
PRINTED DIAGRAM · 1653
What Kircher makes visible
Kircher’s fifth circle is labeled Pechad, “Fear,” with Latin Timor and language of severity nearby, rather than using Geburah as its largest visible name. One coordinate therefore carries the later standard title and the older alternative as distinct labels.
GOLDEN DAWN AND CROWLEY
Mars, Kamael, and the four Fives
Golden Dawn tables use Geburah and align row 5 with Mars, Elohim Gibor, Kamael, Seraphim, and the Fives. Crowley’s table format makes the martial row easy to scan, which helped the Geburah title overshadow Kircher’s Pechad in modern reference charts.
MODERN SYNTHESIS
How the shorthand was assembled
Modern accounts describe discipline, cutting, judgment, anger, or necessary limits. The strength noun, Kircher’s fear/severity vocabulary, and the Mars correspondence combine in these psychological themes.
WORKED COMPARISON
Read Geburah across three layers
Set the three names side by side: biblical gevurah is divine might, Kircher prints Pechad or fear, and Golden Dawn uses Geburah with Mars. A worked reading of the node should preserve that shift instead of treating “strength,” “fear,” and “Mars” as interchangeable translations.