THE WINGS OF THE SUN
Traditional Jewish Healing in Theory and Practice

By Rabbi Avraham Greenbaum


The Ten Pulses as explained by the Ari

from Shaar Ruach HaKodesh p.3

 

It is written: "You have made everything with chokhmah, wisdom" (Psalms 104:24). Chokhmah is the source of the vitality of the world of Atzilut ("Emanation," the highest of the spiritual worlds.) When Ein Sof, the Infinite God, extends His supernal light into Atzilut, the light is first clothed and concealed within Chokhmah, which is called Abba, "father," and then Abba in turn is clothed in Atzilut, extending to its very end. Thus through Abba, Atzilut draws from the supreme vitality of Ein Sof, which vitalizes the entire world of Atzilut. This is the meaning of the verse, "You have made everything with wisdom."

The vitalizing power of Abba extends into the arteries and veins of the human body in the form of the pulse patterns governing the blood circulation. These pulse patterns are a garb for the supreme vitality of Ein Sof, which vitalizes the whole of Atzilut and is concealed and clothed within these pulse patterns. The pulse itself is Abba, while the vitality contained within it is the light and vitality of Ein Sof, which gives man life....

Now we know that Abba is associated with holy name of YHVH expanded with yud's (i.e. each of the four root letters of the name is written out in full. When this name is written out according to the method of achorayim, Yud, Yud Hey, Yud Hey Vayv, Yud Hey Vayv Hey, the numerical value of all the letters together is 184, which is the same as that of the word DoFeK, which means "pulse."

The explanation of this is that it is not the inner essence of Abba that descends and clothes itself in the human being but a lower, external facet - his achorayim (lit. "hinder parts"). For it is a known principle that when a higher power influences a lower one, it does not itself descend, but only its lowest, most external facet. This is the dofek, the pulse [the sum of the Hebrew letters of which is the same as that of the achorayim of Yud Hey Vav Hey, the name associated with Abba, as we have seen]. And this is why a person's entire life depends on his pulse. All his ailments can be felt in it, because any sin or transgression he commits results in a corresponding lack of light and vitality in the pulse.

There are ten kinds of pulse patterns, corresponding to the Hebrew vowels, kamatz, patach, tzeirei,, etc. (Tikkuney Zohar #69, 108a). The explanation is that the Hebrew vowels originate at their root from the level of Abba. [As a partzuf Abba has ten sefirot, each of which is associated with one of the nine Hebrew vowel signs, with the exception of the last sefirah, Malkhut, which receives from all the others.] All the pulse patterns are in the form of dots. When you feel the pulse with your fingers you will sometimes find it to be a single point followed by a second point at its "side." This is the vowel sign tzeirei. Sometimes the first point is "above" and the second point "underneath" it. This is the vowel sign sh'va. Sometimes the first beat is a longer fleck and the second beat a single point. This is the kamatz. All the other vowel signs are fashioned accordingly.

A given pulse pattern indicates from which aspect of Abba the vital energy in the pulse is coming at the particular moment when this pattern appears. For example, a pulse pattern like a kamatz indicates that the prevalent influence originates from the level of Keter ("Crown") of Abba. This is the source of the vitality radiating to all the limbs and organs of the body at that moment. A pulse like a patach indicates that the source of the vitality coming into the body is Chokhmah ("Wisdom") of Abba. The same applies to all the other vowel signs. Sometimes two vowel points are joined together, such as sh'va-tzeirei,, sh'va-kamatz, sh'va-patach, sh'va-segol and so on...

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WINGS OF THE SUN HOMEPAGE

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By Rabbi Avraham Yehoshua Greenbaum
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