Binah, Hebrew BINH, «understanding,» is the third Sephirah of the Kabbalah Tree of Life and the highest Sephirah of the Pillar of Serenity. Binah is the primary feminine power on the tree, associated with Aima Elohim the Divine Mother, and its symbols include the sea and the womb.
Universal symbolism:
Name of God: YHVH, Tetragrammation Elohim
Archangel: Tzpqial, Tzaphiel, (Contemplation of God)
Angelic Host: ARALIM, Aralim (Valiant Ones)
Astrological Correspondence: ShBThAL, shabathai (Saturn)
Tarot Correspondence: The four Threes and the four Queens of the pack
Elemental Correspondence: Water
Magical Image: An old woman with long hair
Additional Symbols: All creic (vaginal) symbols
Additional Title: AMA, the dark sterile mother; AIMA, the bright fertile mother; MRH, the Green Sea
Colors:
in Atziluth – crimson,
in Briah – black,
in Yetzirah – dark brown,
in Assiah -gray flecked with white
Correspondence in the Microcosm: Neshamah, the spiritual understanding
Correspondence in the Body: Right side of the head
Grade of Initiation: 8=3, Magister Templi
Qlippoth: SAThARIAL, Sathariel, the Concealers
Text from the Thirty-two Paths of Wisdom corresponding to this Sephirah: «The Third Path is called the Sanctifying Intelligence; it is the foundation of Primordial Wisdom; it is called the creator faith, and its roots are in Amen. It is the parent of faith, and from its virtues faith emanates.»
Binah, the intelligence of God, reflects the unity, Kether, and the wisdom, Chokmah, of God, which are not able to be seen by themselves. In other words, Binah mirrors or reflects God’s unity and wisdom. In Chokmah the wisdom of God is still concealed or hidden, but through Binah it becomes illuminated, and intelligible. It is only through Binah that the Divine ontological wisdom is discerned and qualitatively determined, and the channeled through the seven cosmological principles so to enter the creative ocean. This by no means indicates the Binah ever operates separately; this third Sephirah extends directly from Kether, the first, as does the second, Chokmah and they all act in unison even though each has a different function. In this role Binah plays the feminine role as a mother showing the world the wisdom of God. A.G.H.
Sources:
Greer, John Michael. The New Encyclopedia of the Occult. St. Paul, MN, Llewellyn Worldwide. p. 65
Schaya, Leo. The Universal Meaning of the Kabbalah. Secaucus, NJ. University Books. 1971 pp.41-44