Tree of Life · 1 of 10
Keter: crown
Keter names the crown at the top of the tenfold arrangement. It concerns the source of the sequence before its qualities become distinct.
- Position in this diagram
- Middle column
- Hermetic correspondence
- Primum mobile
The source before a particular idea
Chokhmah concerns an emerging idea. Keter asks about the intention before there is an idea to examine. Treating both as intelligence removes that distinction.
Read alongside Chokhmah: wisdom.
Original teaching analogy
An everyday example
Someone wants to create a place where neighbours can meet. Before choosing a building or writing a programme, they have an intention. In this original analogy, that prior intention is the Keter theme. The proposal that follows belongs to another stage.
The Primum mobile correspondence
Primum mobile means the first moving sphere in an older cosmology. This correspondence does not assign Keter to a modern planet.
This association comes from Mathers's 1887 table, introduction section 53.
Compare all ten correspondencesContext and sources
The sefirot belong to Jewish Kabbalah. Chabad's account of the ten sefirot explains the names and counting variants; its Sefirot chapter explains the religious context. The planetary association used here is a later Hermetic layer.
The everyday example is an Astriel analogy, not a traditional quotation. Reviewed 20 September 2026.