Ascent Of The Atarah

Regarding kabbalistic theurgy, Moshe Idel (Kabbalah, New Perspectives, p. 196-7) writes:

The ascent of the Atarah to the highest place in the divine pleroma was adopted by theosophical Kabbalah. Notwithstanding its being a classical symbol of the lowest of the sefirot - Malchut - Atarah is at times portrayed as ascending to Keter, in a way similar to that of the anonymous author whose view is preserved in the book of R. Eleazar of Worms. Already R. Ezra of Gerona had commented upon the verse in Song of Songs 3:11: "the whole structure will cleave and unite with and ascend to Eiyn Sof."

The ritual of composing the Atarah by prayer and its ascent and setting on the head of God is tantamount ot coronation of the king. This installation by ritual is clearly reminiscent of the ancient interconnection between ritual and kingship. Kabbalah may therefore be viewed not only as the cultivation of the Garden but also as the cultivation of the Gardener. If the symbolism of Lebanon pertains to the lower face of Divinity, that of the Atarah belongs to its highest aspect. The human range of activity therefore expands beyond those divine manifestations that are ruling the created worlds, to the most recondite layers of the Divine. But while the lower manifestations are structured or made by the ritual, the higher ones are ornamented by the addition of the crown or crowns; again, these ornaments originate from the ascent of a lower divine power - the Atarah.

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