How to Draw Down Divine Energy and the Sabbath Soul

Me’irat ‘enayim (Illumination of Eyes), a major kabbalistic work written in late-thirteenth-century Spain by Isaac of Acre, is a composition in the Moses Naḥmanides tradition of kabbalah. It is in part a meta-commentary on the brief kabbalistic interpretations that appear in the biblical commentary written by Naḥmanides (Ramban), a genre that was known as be’ure sodot ha-Ramban (“clarifications of the secrets of Naḥmanides”). It is also, in large part, a reflection on kabbalistic theology and especially meditative practice. This brief excerpt presents a description of the meditative experience of drawing down the divine flow into the human devotee—a mode of religious action and intention known in the study of religion as “theurgy.” The divine life force is drawn forth from the sefirot into the very body, or vessel, of the mystic.