The Bride of Microprosopos is Malkuth.

Zaur Anpin is sometimes called the King and the Bride is sometimes called the Queen. This is one of the reasons why some systems of Tarot relate the Knight to Chokmah and the Tarot King to Tiphareth.

The three Countenances show Adam Kadmon as a three-fold entity of spirit, psyche, and physical body.

Prepared by Emmanuel Rose
Ó Emmanuel Rose 2000 

The Vast Countenances is Arik Anpin, the Greater Head, called Macroprosopos.

It is associated with Kether, but can also be considered to include the whole of the Supernals, including Chokmah and Binah.

The Lesser Countenance, Zaur Anpin, is reflected from Arik Anpin. Zaur Anpin is the Lesser Head or Microprosopos. It consists of Tiphareth, especially, but also includes the next six sephiroth: Chesed, Geburah, Tiphareth, Netzach, Hod, and Yesod. The sephiroth of the Lesser Countenance have been assigned functions anthropomorphically.

The Countenances

In a fashion to similar to the concept of the Four Worlds, the Tree of Life can be divided into the Countenances.

This term derives from the idea of the Heavenly Man, Adam Kadmon, the archetypal human, actually a Divine Being of whom the earthly human is a reflection. This idea is implicit in the statement in Genesis 1:26, "Let us make man in our image." It is also consistent with the Emerald Tablet which states "As above, so below."

Hermeticists have long affirmed that it is sufficient to know oneself completely, for then one knows the All. Indeed, since every object is an expression of the One, knowing any object completely would have the same effect.

Medieval qabalists went to great lengths to anthropomorphize the Tree of Life, even relating minute aspects of the qabalah to the hairs in the beard of Adam Kadmon. For the purposes of this introduction, a simpler approach is adequate, and it is sufficient to approach the Countenances abstractly.

These aspects are the Vast Countenance, the Lesser Countenance, and the Bride.