The Tharshishim (תרשים, singular Tharshish) translate as “the brilliant ones” or “the ruby ones,” a name connected to the precious stone tarshish (ταρσις, often identified with chrysolite or beryl). In the angelic hierarchy of Briah (the world of pure creation), this order embodies the flashing, fiery splendor of divine judgment tempered with mercy — a fitting expression for the sphere of Geburah.

Position on the Tree of Life

The Tharshishim occupy the fifth Sephirah, Geburah (Strength or Severity), on the central pillar’s left side. This position places them as the active, limiting, and discriminating force of divine power — the angels of strict justice, severity, and the fire that refines. Their station in Briah means they are the archetypal pattern of severity itself, before it takes on material form in Yetzirah or Assiah.

Astrological and planetary correspondence

The Tharshishim correspond to the planet Mars (in traditional Western occultism, associated with Geburah). This astrological link underscores their nature: martial, assertive, and purifying. In the 777 system, the colors, god-forms, and magical weapons associated with Mars — such as the flaming sword, the whip, and the red ray — all find their angelic expression in this choir.

Historical context

The name Tharshishim appears first in biblical and apocryphal angelology, derived from the stone tarshish set in the high priest’s breastplate (Exodus 28:20; 39:13) and from the vision of the Living Creatures in Ezekiel (1:16, 10:9), where wheels of beryl-like fire are described. In early Kabbalistic literature, the Zohar distinguishes ten angelic orders, but the Tharshishim are not uniformly placed in every list. By the time of the systematizers — notably Rabbi Moses Cordovero (Pardes Rimonim) and later Christian Kabbalists like Johann Reuchlin (De Arte Cabalistica) — the order was fixed to the fifth choir, as a direct emanation of the severity of God. In the Hekhalot literature, the Tharshishim are among the angels who surround the Merkabah chariot-throne, their radiance so intense that even the Seraphim veil themselves. Mathers, in his Kabbalah Unveiled, identifies them as “the Ruby Angels” and places them in the first palace of the Briatic world. In the grimoire tradition (e.g., The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin), the Tharshishim appear as the resplendent ministers of judgment who can be invoked only by the purified adept. Modern ceremonial magic, following the Golden Dawn model, retains the Tharshishim as the angelic choir of Geburah, “the Rulers of the Sphere of Mars.”

In Aleister Crowley’s Liber 777, the Tharshishim are listed in table row LXXXVI (the Choirs of Angels in Briah) at scale step 5, making them the governing angelic force of Geburah within the world of pure creation. This row thus positions them as the supreme archetype of disciplinary fire and righteous strength, a direct counterpart to the serpent of wisdom, the fifth Sephirah’s planetary intelligence, and the terrible mercy of the Lord of Hosts.