Divine Names in Kabbalistic Tradition: Insights from Reuchlin's De Arte Cabalistica

its power. This means that reciting, meditating, synchronizing with the divine name not only allows for better intellectual understanding of divinity, but also a real transmutation of consciousness that relates to the Energy, the Divine Presence. By reciting a divine name, man enters the divine atmosphere. Miracles are performed in the Name... even today we say "In the Name of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit."

Uniqueness of the Divine Name

The Uniqueness of the Divine name is guaranteed by the Unity of God: "Hear O Israel, YHVH our God, YHVH is One." The unique name of God is that of the Messiah who is the human incarnation of Divine Unity: "On that day God will be One and Unique will be his Name."

Unpronounceability of the Divine Name and its Explanation

Awaiting such a day, the true and unique Name of God is unpronounceable and therefore unfolds into a multitude of Divine Names that emanate from the unique central name, veiling and revealing it at the same time. Therefore there are many divine names, but this does not mean there are many gods. The multiplicity of Divine Names is thus not seen in a pantheistic key as a multiplicity of gods, but as a multiplicity of virtues that emanate from the Hidden God revealed by the Messiah.

Practical Utility

To all this doctrinal vision of divine names is added practical utility. In particular, what Reuchlin had noticed was precisely a way of behavior of consciousness that is facilitated in concentration through the use of symbols and divine names. As the generous horse tired from a long journey recovers at the sound of the trumpet and as the elephant finds its audacity again when shown fire, so our virtue weakened by thoughts of this world needs external and material incitements, like words or figures, so that the strength of our soul dedicates itself with greater commitment to the spiritual enterprise and our contemplation is pushed more intensely upward.

Reuchlin also explains how this process works: names stimulate the senses, these in turn stimulate imagination and memory, the intellect stimulates the mind and the mind the angel: from the angelic name thus begins the process of raising consciousness. According to Reuchlin, however, it is not necessary to invoke these names aloud, but they were born as simple cues for meditation, capable of drawing the faithful toward the sphere of the divine. For Reuchlin, names have value but in relation to the sensitivity and strength of the consciousness that pronounces them. They can also be pronounced aloud, but they do not have a mechanical value, that is, independent of the consciousness that pronounces them.

The Sefirotic Tree and Divine Correspondences

Reuchlin does not directly expose the practical meditative technique, which seems to be inspired by the school of Abulafia whom he cites as one of the most important authors. In particular, however, it is important to note how in his writing he provides a universal key for correspondences, represented by the sefirotic tree. Reuchlin takes up an ancient Kabbalistic tradition first exposed in the Sefer Yetzirah but then largely developed in the Sefer ha-Zohar and in subsequent speculation in which the divine qualities are not uncoordinated, but are organized among themselves in a precise hierarchical structure and outlined, as if it were a metaphysical topography of divine qualities and essences.

The Name of Christ

However, the main name that encompasses all is associated with a divine characteristic that, as you can see, is found at the center of the diagram and from which all other characteristics are reconciled and summarized, and it is Beauty or Royalty expressed by the sefirah Tiferet and gathered in the Universe by the Messiah. For this reason, the name of the Messiah, as Reuchlin says, is superior to every other name and has dominion in heaven and earth over everything.

At the end of De Arte Cabalistica, Reuchlin states: "Everything that the Kabbalists can accomplish by virtue of the Ineffable Name through the seals and characters you have just shown us, true Christians can realize with much greater efficacy through the pronounceable Name of Jesus accompanied by the appropriate sign of the cross. They believe they pronounce the Tetragrammaton much more correctly in the form Iod He Shin Vau He, the Authentic Messiah."

Here is the crucial point: the Unique Name highlighted by Kabbalistic doctrine that is unpronounceable and ineffable and that must be explained through...