Chokmah (חכמה): Wisdom
The second Sephirah
Chokmah is the second sephirah from which all intellectual creation emerges. The flash of intuitive insight, the foundational principle of existence itself, distinguished into upper Chochmah (the transcendent, unknowable source) and lower Chochmah (the manifest generative principle). Post Zohar, this dual-aspect framework becomes canonical for subsequent tradition.
In The Palm Tree of Devorah by Moses ben Jacob Cordovero, Chokmah has two faces, one facing Keter above, and the other overseeing the other sefirot.
The Zohar identifies Chochmah with bereishit (“in the beginning”), establishing it as the absolute beginning from which all thirty-two paths extend and within which all creation remains ultimately contained.
Chokmah (Hebrew: חָכְמָה, romanized: ḥoḵmā, also transliterated as chokma, chokhmah or hokhma) is the Biblical Hebrew word rendered as “wisdom” in English Bible versions (LXX σοφία sophia, Vulgate sapientia). It is the second of the ten sefirot in Kabbalah, and represents the first power of conscious intellect and subtle manifestation, emerging from Keter‘s pure potentiality. It embodies wisdom coming from nothingness, as highlighted in the Book of Job and the Bahir. Chokmah is the primordial point of divine wisdom that becomes comprehensible through Binah.
| The Sefirot in Kabbalah | ||
|---|---|---|
 | ||
|
The Tree of Life | |
This article incorporates text from a large language model, which is prohibited in Wikipedia articles. (November 2025) |
In Jewish mystical texts, Chokmah is described as the primordial point of divine wisdom, which shines forth from the will of God. This point remains incomprehensible until differentiated and given form in Binah. The Zohar, an essential Kabbalistic text, emphasizes Chokmah’s role in the emanation process and its association with the sense of sight, as well as an inner spiritual sense of taste that precedes and arouses sight. The interplay between Chokmah and Binah is crucial for understanding how abstract wisdom becomes concrete understanding.
The ethical behavior associated with Chokmah involves emulating its dual nature: communion with the Creator to gain wisdom and teaching others the wisdom received. This reflects the sefirah’s dual role of receiving and disseminating divine insight. Practical applications of Chokmah in Kabbalistic practice include meditative techniques to cultivate wisdom, selflessness, and alignment with divine will, illustrating its central role in theoretical and applied Kabbalistic disciplines.
In Western esotericism, Chokmah holds a significant place within Hermetic Qabalah, associated with analytical thinking and stability. Its corresponding divine name, Yah, the archangel Raziel, and the angels Ophanim, as well as its Tarot associations, underscore its importance in mystical and spiritual traditions. The paths connecting Chokmah to Keter, Binah, Chesed, and Tiferet, symbolized by corresponding Tarot cards, illustrate the flow of divine wisdom through different aspects of the Tree of Life, integrating it into various levels of consciousness and action.