CHAPTER V 27

1. The simple letters are twelve, namely: He, Vau, Zain, Heth, Teth, Yod, Lamed, Nun, Samech, Oin, Tzaddi, and Quoph; they represent the fundamental properties, sight, hearing, smell, speech, desire for food, the sexual appetite, movement, anger, mirth, thought, sleep, and work. These symbolize also twelve directions in space: northeast, southeast, the east above, the east below, the northwest, southwest, the west above, the west below, the upper south, the lower south, the upper north, the lower north. These diverge to all eternity, and are as the arms of the universe.

2. These twelve letters, he designed, formed, combined, weighed, and changed, and created with them the twelve divisions of the heavens (namely, the zodiacal constellations), the twelve months of the year,28 and the twelve important organs of the frame of man, namely the right and left hands, the right and left feet, two kidneys, the liver, the gall, the spleen, the intestines, the gullet, and the stomach.

3. Three mothers, seven double and twelve simple, these are the twenty-two letters with which I H V H Tetragrammaton, that is our Lord of Hosts, exalted, and existed in the ages, whose name is Holy, created three fathers, fire and spirit and water, progressing beyond them, seven heavens with their armies of angels; and twelve limits of the universe.

SUPPLEMENT TO CHAPTER V

(Found in some Versions)

1. God produced He, predominant in Speech, crowned, 27 CHAPTER V.-The fifth chapter is specially concerned with the Dodecad; the number twelve itself is pointed out, and the characteristics of its constituents, once more in three zones of the Universe, Time, and Man: and concludes with a recapitulation of the whole number of letters: the Supplement describes a more definite association of each of the twelve letters to the signs of the Zodiac, the Months, and the organs of the Body respectively.

28 Nisan, Yiar, Sivan, Tammuz, Ab, Elul, Tisri, Marchesvan, Kislev, Tebet, Sebat, Adar.

combined, and formed Aries in the world, Nisan in the year, and the right foot of man.

2. God produced Vau, predominant in Mind, crowned, combined, and formed Taurus in the world, Yiar in the year, and the right kidney of man.

3. God produced Zain, predominant in movement, crowned, combined, and formed Gemini in the world, Sivan in the year, and the left foot of man.

4. He produced Heth, predominant in Sight, crowned, combined, and formed Cancer in the world, Tammuz in the year, and the right hand of man.

5. He produced Teth, predominant in Hearing, crowned, combined, and formed Leo in the world, Ab in the year, and the left kidney in man.

6. He produced Yod, predominant in Labor, crowned, combined, and formed Virgo in the world, Elul in the year, and the left hand of man.

7. He produced Lamed, predominant in sexual desire, crowned, combined, and formed Libra in the world, Tisri in the year, and the gall in man.

8. He produced Nun, predominant in smell, crowned, combined, and formed Scorpio in the world, Marchesvan in the year, and the intestines in man.

9. He produced Samech, predominant in sleep, crowned, combined, and formed Sagittarius in the world, Kislev in the year, and the stomach of man.

10. He produced Oin, predominant in Anger, crowned, combined, and formed Capricornus in the world, Tebet in the year, and the liver in man.

11. He produced Tzaddi, predominant in Taste, crowned, combined, and formed Aquarius in the world, Sebat in the year, and the gullet in man.

12. He produced Quoph, predominant in Mirth, crowned, combined, and formed Pisces in the world, Adar in the year, and the spleen in man.

CHAPTER VI 29

1. In proof of these things, and witnessing faithfully are the Universe, the Year of time, and Man himself, the Microcosm. He fixed these as testimonies of the Triad, the Heptad, and the Dodecad; the twelve constellations rulers of the world, the Dragon (THELE) Tali which environs the universe, and the microcosm, man.

The triad, fire, water, and air; the fire above, the water below, and the air in the midst. The proof of which is that air is a participator with both.

2. Tali, the Dragon,30 is above the Universe, as a king on his throne; the sphere in the year as a king in his State, the Heart of man as a king in warfare.

And our God made the states of opposition, good and evil, good from the good, and evil from the evil. Happiness is reserved for the just, and misery for the wicked ones.

3. And out of the triad one stands apart; and in the heptad there are two triads, and one standing apart. The dodecad symbolizes war, the triad of amity, the triad of enmity, three which are life-giving, three which are death-dealing, and God, the faithful king, rules over all from the throne of his sanctity.31

29 CHAPTER VI.—This chapter is a résumé of the preceding five, calling the universe and mankind to witness the accuracy of the scheme of distribution of the essences of the numbers among created forms; and concludes by a narration that these things were revealed to Abraham, who received them and faithfully accepted them, as a form of covenanted Wisdom.

30 Tali, or Theli, the Dragon; the Hebrew letters are TLI, 400 and 30 and 10, which equal 440; now the "Book of Concealed Mystery," "Sepher Dtzenioutha," speaks of "repressing its crest," this is understood to mean eliminating its initial letter, by which means we obtain the number 40, which is equivalent to M, Mem, which means, Water.

The Dragon may be the constellation Draco, which is very long, and meanders through the sky; or an astronomical line joining caput and cauda draconis; or an imaginary circle around the universe.

31 After the subdivision of the dodecad, Mayer's version has these words: "The triad of amity are the heart and the two ears; the triad of enmity are the liver, the gall, and the tongue; the three life-givers are the two nostrils and the milt (spleen); the three death-dealing ones are the mouth and the two openings of the body." Postellus and Rittangelius give: "The three friendly are the heart, ears, and

One above three, three above seven, and seven above twelve, and all are linked together, and one with another.

4. After that our father Abraham had seen, and pondered over, investigated, and understood these things, he designed, engraved, and composed them, and received them into his power (hands). Then the Lord of all appeared unto him, made a covenant with him, and kissed his head, and naming him after his own name, called him his friend; and as it is written, completed a covenant with him and with his seed forever, who then believed on God, the Tetragrammaton, and it was imputed to him for righteousness.

God ordained a covenant between the toes of his feet, that of circumcision; and a covenant between the fingers of his hands, that of the Tongue. He bound the essences of the twenty-two letters on his tongue, and God disclosed to him the secrets of them. God has carried these through waters, He has borne them aloft through fire, and He has stamped them in the storms of the air; He has distributed them among the seven stars, and has assigned them to twelve celestial constellations.32 Amen.

THE THIRTY-TWO PATHS OF WISDOM 33

APPENDIX TO THE SEPHER YETZIRAH

34

The First Path is called the Admirable or the Concealed mouth; the three hostile are the liver, the gall, and the tongue," and omits the other six.

82 This section is said to be less ancient than the other portions. There are several versions of the last phrase, following the word "tongue." Rabbi Judah Halevi gives: “And said of him, before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee." Rabbi Luria gives the version I have translated from Pistorius. Postellus gives: "He drew him into the water, He rose up in spirit, He inflamed him in seven suitable forms with twelve signs." Mayer writes: "He drew them with water, he kindled them with fire, he moved them with spirit (air), distributed them with seven, and sent them forth with twelve."

33 The Hebrew word NTIB, a "treading" or "foot made track,” in Greek tribos, a word of which the ideal meaning is uncertain, is here rendered "path," or way," and is taken to mean doctrine. S. L. Mathers, in his "Kabbalah Denudata," writes, "the term 'Path' is used throughout the Kabbalah to signify a hieroglyphical idea, or rather the sphere of ideas, which may be attached to any glyph or symbol." Paths," which are found in the edition of Rittangelius,

34 These 66

Intelligence (The Highest Crown): for it is the Light giving the power of comprehension of that First Principle which has no beginning, and it is the Primal Glory, for no created being can attain to its essence.

The Second Path is that of the Illuminating Intelligence, it is the Crown of Creation, the Splendor of the Unity, equaling it, and it is exalted above every head, and named by the Kabbalists the Second Glory.

The Third Path is the Sanctifying Intelligence, and is the basis of foundation of Primordial Wisdom, which is called the Former of faith, and its roots, Amen; and it is the parent of Faith, from whose virtues doth Faith emanate.

The Fourth Path is named Measuring, Cohesive, or Receptacular; and is so called because it contains all the holy powers, and from it emanate all the spiritual virtues with the most exalted essences: they emanate one from the other by the power of the primordial emanation (The Highest Crown), blessed be it.

The Fifth Path is called the Radical Intelligence, because it is itself the essence equal to the Unity, uniting itself to the BINAH 35 or Intelligence which emanates from the primordial depths of Wisdom or CHOCHMAH.36

The Sixth Path is called the Intelligence of the Mediating Influence, because in it are multiplied the influxes of the emanations; for it causes that affluence to flow into all the reservoirs of the Blessings, with which these themselves are united.

The Seventh Path is the Occult Intelligence, because it is the Refulgent Splendor of all the Intellectual virtues which are perceived by the eyes of intellect, and by the contemplation of faith.

The Eighth Path is called Absolute or Perfect, because it is the means of the primordial, which has no root by which

and in some other Hebrew MSS., are of a much more abstruse character than the Sepher Yetzirah itself, and are of later date; they resemble very nearly the doctrinal clauses of the "Sepher Dtzenioutha," or "Book of Concealed Mystery."

35 BINAH, the third Sephira, Understanding. 36 CHOCHMAH, the second Sephira, Wisdom.

VOL. IV.-12.