Geburah or Gevurah is the 5th Sephirah on the tree of life and Geburah means severity, harsh, or judgement. Geburah is the 2nd day of creation with the constructive tendency of energy. The fourth sphere of Chesed is the expansive tendency of energy and Geburah is contractive. Gevurah is associated with the soul with the power to restrain ones innate urge to bestow goodness upon others, when the recipient of that good is judged to be unworthy and liable to misuse it. As the force which measures and assesses the worthiness of creation, gevurah is also referred to in the Kabbalah as midat hadin (“the attribute of judgment ”). It is the restraining might of gevurah which allows one to overcome his enemies, be they from without or from within (his evil inclination). Chesed and Gevurah act together to create an inner balance in the souls approach to the outside world(Gal Einai, 2014). Just like having to balance your masculine and feminine energy of Chokmah and Binah, you have to balance Chesed and Geburah. Geburah alone would create no peace and no kindness and Chesed alone would create pacifism ready to be walked on all the time. Geburah has to do with justice and its harsh masculine force has to be balanced with the feminine kindness. Someone balancing these attributes would defend themselves and their family from unjustified harm, for example. Within ones own self Geburah is the discipline, control, breaking habit, and standing up for ones self. Geburah virtue is justice and courage and its vice is cruelty and destruction. With the psyche, Geburah is the Will in Ruach. Its planet in the physical realm is Mars, the planet of energy, action, desire and more.
