Atik Yomin (עתיק יומין), the Ancient of Days
“In his hand he took the golden compasses, Prepared in God’s eternal store, To circumscribe This Universe and all created things. One foot he fixed in the center, and the other turned Round through the vast profundity obscure, And said: ‘Thus far extend, thus far thy bounds; This be thy just circumference, O World.’” - "The Ancient of Days", 1794 by William Blake
ATIK YOMIN, The Ancient of Days
In Qabalistic doctrine, Atik Yomin (עתיק יומין), the Ancient of Days, is the most concealed aspect of the Divine Will within Keter, the Crown of the Tree of Life. He is not a deity in anthropomorphic form, but the primal stirring of intention prior to thought, the Root of Roots (Shoresh ha Shoreshim), concealed within the White Head (Reisha d’lo Ityada, the Unknowable Head). Here enthroned between the Pillars of Severity and Mercy, Atik Yomin presides over the polarity of fire and water, judgment and compassion, whose equilibrated tension sustains the cosmos. The lion and the bull evoke the fixed signs of Leo and Taurus, guardians of the celestial throne, the eagle (implied in the composite symbolism) completes the chariot vision of Ezekiel, the Merkabah. Together they encode the fourfold living creatures surrounding the Supernal Presence. From His hands stream the currents of Chesed and Gevurah, descending as differentiated forces into creation. Above His crown rises the luminous Shekhinah (the indwelling Presence), emerging from the supernal light of Ein Sof. Below, the embryonic form within the cosmic sphere signifies the concealed seed of manifestation, the world gestating within the womb of Binah, Understanding. - Spankovics István