El (אל)

El (אל) is a singular, masculine divine name of the highest antiquity in the Semitic world. The consonants Aleph-Lamed form a root signifying strength, authority, and—through a long secondary chain—the sense of “to be bound by an oath” or “to be strong in a covenant.” In Hebrew, El is the generic word for a god; as a proper name, it designates the supreme God in His aspect as the source of all power, distinct from the more specific Tetragrammaton or the plural Elohim.

Position on the Tree of Life

The name El (אל) appears at the fourth Sephirah, Chesed (Mercy), on the scale of the Tree of Life. Chesed is the first fully active, expansive force below the Abyss—the sphere of grace, loving-kindness, and structured authority. Here, the God-name is appropriate precisely as a title of the overwhelming, benevolent, and binding power of the universe, the paternal or kingly energy that gives form and substance to creation.

Astrological and planetary correspondence

In the Qabalistic scheme of Liber 777, Chesed is aligned with the sphere of Tzedek (צדק), the planet Jupiter. In astrological terms, this is the principle of expansion, generosity, justice, and the ordering of society. The name El (אל) thus carries a specifically Jupiterian quality: the high, beneficent, kingly force that establishes law by its own abundant nature.

Historical context

The name El is not merely an abstract title; it is one of the most ancient divine names of the Near East. In the Canaanite pantheon, as recovered from the Ugaritic texts of the 14th–12th centuries BCE, El (𐎛𐎍) is the supreme creator god, the father of the gods, the “Bull” of heaven, the lord of wisdom and judgment. He sits on a throne in the cosmic mountain, dispensing decrees and presiding over the assembled divine court. This figure is also known as El Elyon (God Most High) and appears by name in the Hebrew Bible, where the Canaanite High God was absorbed and transformed into the God of Israel. The name occurs in theophoric compounds (Michael, Daniel, Immanuel) and in the distinctive title El Shaddai (God Almighty)—the primary god-name of the Patriarchs in Genesis. In Jewish and Kabbalistic tradition, therefore, El never lost its sense of transcendent, ultimate authority; it stands for the initial outflow of raw, unlimited power before that power becomes subdivided into the laws of the universe.

Closing

In the 777 table, at the scale-step of Chesed in the Assiatic (material) world, the God-name is El (אל). The practitioner of the Qabalah here encounters the presence of the one Supreme Strength, the root of all orderly expansion and the binding principle of the universe, operating directly in the sphere of concrete manifestation.