The Path of Gimel: Kether to Tiphareth

The thirteenth path is one of the three that cross the abyss, running straight down the central Pillar of Equilibrium from Kether, the Crown, to Tiphareth, Beauty, the longest vertical descent on the Tree, linking the highest sphere to the harmonising heart. It carries the letter Gimel, whose name means "camel", the beast that carries burdens across the desert, an image the Kabbalists read as the path that bears the influence of the Crown across the great gulf to the centre.

In the Sefer Yetzirah Gimel is one of the seven double letters assigned to the seven planets, and it is given to the Moon, whose reflected light and mediating position suit a path that carries the higher light downward through darkness. The pairing of the letter with the Moon is part of the ancient Jewish attribution of the alphabet to the powers of creation, the double letters mapping onto the seven planets that govern the days and the visible heavens.