Through Her was the world consummated...
On the seventh day God completed--This is Oral Torah, for She is the seventh day. Through Her was the world consummated, for She sustains all.
~Zohar 1:47b (Pritzker Edition of the Zohar Volume I, Page 258)
The seventh day is the Oral Torah, the Shabbat, and the Nukva, Shekhinah, the feminine aspect of G-d. Of the Sephiroth, the seven days of creation are the lower seven Sephiroth. Nukva is the seventh, Malkuth. Ze'ir Anpin is the previous six Sephiroth, the six days of creation. The world is consummated with their union, the Divine Marriage.
There are a few interesting things here. First, Nukva and the Oral Torah are one. The Oral Torah came first, the Written Torah much later. The Oral Torah was completed with the seventh day of creation. But Nukva, the Shekhinah, is made up of the souls of his people, specifically the Yechidoth, each of which contain one or more Divine Spark. So the Oral Torah is also made up of the souls of his people. This is also the mystery of the Shabbat.
The Shabbat is the "last in deed, first in thought". The previous six days of creation are for the purpose of the seventh day. ZA exists for the benefit of Nukva. ZA exists for the benefit of his people. And the seventh day is holy because of what was done on the previous days. Nukva gets her power from ZA.
"She sustains all." Nukva, the Shekhinah, is what holds the physical universe together. Her power, coming from ZA, feeds and sustains the universe.
The seventh day is also a boundary in time, setting a period of time apart.
The implicit remonstration against Karaism aside, the notion of the
world being consummated through the seventh day is clear here, and the
notion is of the Sabbath as a boundary in time. Even as the physical
world cannot exist without the limitations of physical space (defined
shapes), so too it cannot exist without limitations in time. To live
is to die, and that which cannot die is not truly living.
I find that this idea resonates with me on the level of ritual. Even
as we cast a circle to define the space of our workings, we also give
our rituals a distinct beginning and distinct end, whether through the
High Magic openings and closing, or calling quarters, and sending the
elements home when we are done, or even just casting the circle and
breaking it. An effective working is both a reflection of the creation
of the world, and is, in a sense, living.
~Soror FA, Order of the Celestial Academy
FFF,
~Muninn's Kiss
Note: Many of the ideas in this post came from a conversation between myself and Soror FA.