Malkuth: The Kingdom

Resplendent Intelligence: “God said: ‘Be fruitful and multiply’”

The tenth sphere, Malkuth (pronounced marl-KOOT) is the base of the Tree of Life, the lowest of all the Sephiroth. It is also known as Shekhinah, a term that refers to the female aspect of God – God the Mother, rather than the Father. As the Kingdom (or, perhaps more appropriately, ‘Queendom’) Malkuth represents the state of being. It is stability, the end result, physical embodiment – the very end of the act of creation. As such, it is associated with mundane physical reality, finished products and end results, the fruits of any act of creation.

Personal consciousness and the interaction of the senses with the physical universe all fall within the realm of Malkuth. Its planetary symbol is the Earth, but it is important to note that the sphere is not the physical universe itself. Solid matter – reality – is the product of all ten spheres and twenty-two paths, rather than just one. Malkuth then is not reality as such, but it is the portal through which reality is given form; the mother, rather than the child.

In terms of the soul’s journey and the development of the psyche, Malkuth is the realm of direct physical experience, the place where our senses interact with that which is real. Thought, emotion, memory and evocation have no place here – if you caress a piece of silk, Malkuth is the plain sensation of sheer softness, rather than any pleasure it evokes. It is sight and taste and feel, devoid of context or analysis, experience without meaning. There is nothing really self-aware about Malkuth; alone and uncombined with other spheres, is it bestial and purposeless. Pure Malkuth has no emotion or reason, no mind to speak of; just a certain amount of instinct and reflex. In Malkuth, existence happens from moment to moment, free of context or meaning. There is just physical sensation and the awareness of it. As such, it is very close to Greek concepts of Hades, the hellish domain of empty shells.

Malkuth: The Kingdom

This is not a bad thing, however. Without a solid, objective base for experience, there can be no reality. We all create our own meaning and significance internally for each event, and if we did not share a common base free of all assumptions, we could have no grounds for free-willed communication or existence. By remaining free of all emotion, thought and analysis, Malkuth ensures that it carries with it no assumptions. There is no built-in static to interfere with the way we create our view of reality. We have ultimate free will to determine our interactions with the world and each other – there is no dogma built in to Malkuth, no insistence on meanings or ethics or anything else. We are all individual, and by remaining entirely within the area of sensation, Malkuth allows us to share a world without compromising that individuality. For this reason, Malkuth is often referred to as the flower of the Tree of Life – we take the beauty from it that we seek.

On a more mystical level, Malkuth is the focus point for the rest of the forces of the Tree of Life. The Sephiroth express themselves into the world through Malkuth; it is a vital gateway, the first portal between the universe and the paths back to God – the gate to the orchard. Before the soul can start to seek its return to God, it first has to fully become separated, so Malkuth is the marker which denotes the point at which separation occurs – one has to pass beyond it before one can go back. As a balance point between physical matter and the energies of the spirit, it seethes with dynamic energies. Each Sephiroth is an infinity in it own right, and Malkuth is the infinity of boundless space speckled with tiny particles of matter.

Malkuth is often associated with the four classical elements of Greek philosophy: fire, air, water and earth. The elements themselves are further considered to represent energy, gasses, liquids and solids; power, will, intuition and strength; and destiny, spirit, life and inanimate matter. Malkuth is therefore usually depicted as the Cross of Equated Forces, divided into four equal quarters, coloured russet, citrine, olive and black. As the only sphere of the Tree grounded into physical reality, Malkuth is the only stable Sephira – changing it takes time and effort, due sacrifices to the inertia of causality.

The lessons that Malkuth asks us to learn are focussed on operating within the real world. We exist, as humans, in a sea of relationships that we share with other humans. Can we learn to apply the wisdoms we acquire in other areas of the Tree to our lives as social animals? Can we learn to cherish the senses and let go of the static that we associate with them? Can we appreciate moments of peace, beauty and love for what they are? These are the challenges of the sphere of Malkuth.

The Temple of Malkuth

When visualising Malkuth, it is usually depicted as a four-quartered Temple in an underground cavern. A long, rough tunnel some ten feet high winds its way through dark rock, lit by burning wooden torches. The tunnel is drafty, and the stone is damp, even wet in places, but the air is not cold. After a time, the tunnel leads to a set of stairs carved into the rock. They lead through a circular hole in the roof. Climbing the steps leads to the Temple of Equated Forces, a square cavern carved smoothly out of the rock and floored with sparkling sheets of marble. Each wall is covered by a curtain of shimmering silk. A stone altar stands in front of each curtain, holding a plain candle. Straight ahead from the point of entry – to the east – the curtain and candle are sky blue, and represent Raphael, the archangel of air. Behind, they are pure white, and represent Gabriel, archangel of water. To the right, they are bright red, and represent Michael, archangel of fire. Finally, to the left, they are a rich gold, and represent Uriel, archangel of earth.

In addition to its imagery, which represents its position as the foundation of the four elements that make up the world, Malkuth is also associated with the colour sky blue, gates, the human body, sandalwood, clover, oak trees, the magic circle, rabbits, gnomes, the virtue of discrimination, mother earth, organisational techniques and the moment of birth.