Ath is the classical Hebrew name for the Plane of Saturn, the revolving sphere that encloses and bounds the visible universe. Its root, ‛H, suggests a turning or whirling motion, identical to the verbal root of the sephirah AIN. In the context of the ancient Hebrew planetary spheres, Ath is the outermost of the seven moving heavens, the sphere that separates the fixed stars from the silent wastes of the primaeval waters. As the plane of Shabbathai (Saturn), it is the throne of death, limitation, and the black inertness of the Great Void.

Position on the Tree of Life

Ath does not correspond to any of the ten sephiroth, but occupies a unique position as the thirty-first and final "Heaven of Assiah" (the material world), listed under step 31 bis. This placement is anomalous: it is the last of the heavens before the fixed earth (Aretz, step 32 bis) and stands outside the normal sephirothic ladder. In the diagram of the qliphoth, Ath becomes the thirty-second aerodynamic path, the reversed sphere of the unconscious, the plane of the materialisation of the void.

Astrological and planetary correspondence

Astrologically, Ath is the sphere of Saturn, the slowest visible planet, the Lord of Karma. Its colour is black, its metal lead, its sign the crescent and cross of matter. In the PGM and the Sefer Yetzirah, the sphere of Shabbathai is associated with the letter Shin (ש), the crowning fire, and the number 300. Its intelligence is Agiel, its demons are the Qliphoth Ve Shabbathai.

Historical context

The term Ath appears in the Hebrew Bible as the indefinite singular of the word for "time" or "age" (‛ath‛). In the system of The Heavens of Assiah, the seven planetary spheres are listed as: Shabbathai, Tzedeq, Madim, Shemesh, Nogah, Kokab, Levanah, and then the firmament (Rashith ha-Gilgalim), the constellations (Mazloth), and finally the fixed earth. Ath as the plane of Saturn is the outermost of the movable heavens, beyond which lies the eighth heaven, the firmament of the fixed stars. In the Zohar, this sphere is called the "black mirror" or the "shell of the shell" (kelipat ha-kelipah). The Zohar describes Ath (‛ath‛) as the sphere where the infinite light becomes completely occluded, a point of ultimate contraction.

In Liber 777

In the table of Liber 777, the entry for 31 bis (The Heavens of Assiah) gives Ath as the name of the sphere of Saturn, with correspondence to the AIN (the negative veil). The row tags are omitted, leaving this entry as a pure, unadorned designation: the veil beyond which nothing can be spoken. It is the numerical and spatial analogue of the qliphothic sphere of Shabbathai, the shell of the outermost darkness.