The Path of The Lightning Flash Besides what has been discussed previously in ALITD, 'The Lightning Flash' has another significance in Cabalistic theory. Traditional lore has it that each of the spheres, in the first phase of the creative act, takes shape as an unbalanced and unharmonised centre of energy. This imbalance is personified by a term known as 'negative power' in place of the technical term shell or shard (Qlippah) -- and the balancing and harmonising of each sphere by the descending energy of creation takes on the imagery of a war against the powers of chaos.
As the sword, the descent of energy from sphere to sphere becomes a weapon defeating and casting out destructive forces; in practical magical terms -- the formula of the sword is thus one of the principle tools of the magician against the inner sources of imbalance, the reflections of these negative powers (or demonic entities) within the microcosm.
The descent of the Lightning Flash brings the energies of the tree of life down from the Sphere of the absolute unity to the realms of the every day experience.
