Chesedah, Hebrew ChSD, “mercy, love,” is he fourth Sephirah of the Kabbalah Tree of Life and at the center of the Pillar of Mercy. Chesed is the great center of expansive and creative forces of the tree. Its alternate name is Gedulah, GDVLH, which means “greatness, magnificence.”
Universal symbolism:
Name of God: AL, El, (God)
Archangel: TzDQIAL, Tzadkiel (Justice of God)
Angelic Host: ChShMLIM, Chashmalim (Shining Ones)
Astrological Correspondence: TzDQ, Tzedek (Jupiter)
Tarot Correspondence: The four Fours of the pack
Elemental Correspondence: Water
Magical Image: An old but mighty king sitting on a throne
Colors:
in Atziluth – deep violet,
in Briah – blue,
in Yetzirah – deep purple,
in Assiah -deep azure, flecked with yellow
Correspondence in the Microcosm: The memory in Ruach
Correspondence in the Body: The left shoulder
Grade of Initiation: 7=4, Adeptus Exemptus
Qlippoth: GAaShKLH, Ga’ashekelah, the Breakers of Pieces
Text from the Thirty-two Paths of Wisdom corresponding to this Sephirah: “The Fourth Path is called the Cohesive or Receptacular Intelligence, and is so called because it contains all the Holy Powers, and from it emanate all the spiritual virtues with the most exalted essences. These emanate, one from another, by the power of the Primordial Emanation, the Highest Crown.”
Chesed, Hesed, reflects the first reflection of the Divine indeterminate, the inaccessible attributes of Kether, Chokmah, and Binah–unity, wisdom, and intelligence, which is grace including mercy and love. This attribute has flowed from and through the three preceding Sephirahs and now is reflected in the fourth.
This grace reflected by the fourth Sephirah, Chesed, is in essence the creative, conservative, and creative presence of God in the cosmos. Fixed in his rigor, his steadfastness, all natural things perform accordingly to their purpose; without this rigor there would be nothing. This grace is the rigor or affirmation of the creation and the creation as well; within God, the two are identical. This rigor is both Divine love, establishing everything that is natural in its natural place, and anger, hating all that is unnatural. Things unnatural tend to glorify themselves and not God. In all things natural there is no void; God fills the emptiness and darkness with his rigor and illumination. A.G.H.
Sources:
Greer, John Michael. The New Encyclopedia of the Occult. St. Paul, MN, Llewellyn Worldwide. p. 99
Schaya, Leo, The Universal Meaning of the Kabbalah, Secaucus, NJ, University Books. 1971. pp. 46-49