Liber LVIII

Great as were Frater P.'s accomplishments in the ancient sciences of the East, swiftly and securely as he had passed in a bare year the arduous road which so many fail to traverse in a lifetime, satisfied as himself was — in a sense — with his own progress, it was yet not by these paths that he was destined to reach the Sublime Threshold of the Mystic Temple. For thought it is written, "To the persevering mortal the blessed immortals are swift," yet, were it otherwise, no mortal however persevering could attain the immortal shore. As it is written in the Fifteenth Chapter of St Luke's Gospel, "And when he was yet afar off, his Father saw him and ran." Had it not been so, the weary Prodigal, exhausted by his early debauches (astral visions and magic) and his later mental toil (yoga) would never have had the strength to reach the House of his Father.

One little point St. Luke unaccountably omitted. When a man is as hungry and weary as was the Prodigal, he is apt to see phantoms. He is apt to clasp shadows to him and cry: "Father!" And, the devil being subtle, capable of disguising himself as an angel of light, it behoves the Prodigal to have some test of truth.

Some great mystics have laid down the law, "Accept no messenger of God," banish all, until at last the Father himself comes forth. A counsel of perfection. The Father does send messengers, as we learn in St Mark xii.; and if we stone them, we may perhaps in our blindness stone the son himself when he is sent.

So that is no vain counsel of "St John" (1 John iv. 1), "Try the spirits, whether they be of God," no mistake when "St Paul" claims the discernment of Spirits to be a principal point of the armour of salvation (1 Cor. xii. 10).

Now how should Frater P. or another test the truth of any message purporting to come from the Most High? On the astral plane, its phantoms are easily governed by the Pentagram, the Elemental Weapons, the Robes, the God- forms, and such childish toys. We set phantoms to chase phantoms. We make our Scin-Laeca pure and hard and glittering, all glorious within, like the veritable daughter of the King; yet she is but the King's daughter, the Nephesch adorned: she is not the King himself, the Holy Ruach or mind of man. And as we have seen in our chapter on Yoga, this mind is a very aspen; and as we may see in the last chapter of Captain Fuller's "Star in the West," this mind is a very cockpit of contradiction.

What then is the standard of truth? What tests shall we apply to revelation, when our tests of experience are found wanting? If I must doubt my eyes that have served me (well, on the whole) for so many years, must I not much more doubt my spiritual vision, my vision just open like a babe's, my vision untested by comparison and uncriticized by reason?

Fortunately, there is one science that can aid us, a science that, properly understood by the initiated mind, is as absolute as mathematics, more self- supporting than philosophy, a science of the spirit itself, whose teacher is god, whose method is simple as the divine Light, and subtle as the divine Fire, Whose results are limpid as the divine Water, all-embracing as the divine Air, and solid as the divine Earth. Truth is the source, and Economy the course, of that marvellous stream that pours its living waters into the Ocean of apodeictic certainty, the Truth that is infinite in its infinity as the primal Truth with which it is identical is infinite in its Unity.

Need we say that we speak of the Holy Qabalah? O science secret, subtle, and sublime, who shall name thee without veneration, without prostration of soul, spirit, and body before thy divine Author, without exaltation of soul, spirit, and body as by His favour they bathe in His lustral and illimitable Light?

It must first here be spoken of the Exoteric Qabalah to be found in books, a shell of that perfect fruit of the Tree of Life. Next we will deal with the esoteric teachings of it, as Frater P. was able to understand them. And of these we shall give examples, showing the falsity and absurdity of the uninitiated path, the pure truth and reasonableness of the hidden Way.

For the student unacquainted with the rudiments of the Qabalah we recommend the study of S. L. Mathers' "Introduction" to his translation of the three principal books of the Zohar,[1] and Westcott's "Introduction to the Study of the Qabalah." We venture to append a few quotations from the former document, which will show the elementary principles of calculation. Dr Westcott's little book is principally valuable for its able defence of the Qabalah as against exotericism and literalism.

The literal Qabalah ... is divided into three parts: גמטריא, Gematria; נוטריקון, Notariqon; and תמורה, Temura.

Gematria is a metathesis of the Greek word γραμματεια. It is based on the relative numerical values of words. Words of similar numerical values are considered to be explanatory of each other, and this theory is extended to phrases. Thus the letter Shin, ש, is 300, and is equivalent to the number obtained by adding up the numerical values of the letters of the words רוח אלהים, Ruach Elohim, the spirit of Elohim; and it is therefore a symbol of the spirit of Elohim. For ר‎ = 200, ו‎ = 6, ח‎ = 8, א‎ = 1, ל‎ = 30, ה‎ = 5, י‎ = 10, מ‎ = 40; total = 300. Similarly, the words אחד, Achad, Unity, One, and אהבה, Ahebah, love, each = 13; for א‎ = 1, ח‎ = 8, ד‎ = 4, total = 13; and א‎ = 1, ה‎ = 5, ב‎ = 2, ה‎ = 5, total = 13. Again, the name of the angel מטטרון, Metatron, and the name of the Deity, שדי, Shaddai, each make 314; so the one is taken as symbolical of the other. The angel Metatron is said to have been the conductor of the children of Israel through the wilderness, of whom God says, "My name is in him." With regard to Gematria of phrases (Gen. xlix. 10), יבא שילה, Yeba Shiloh, "Shiloh shall come" = 358, which is the numeration of the word משיח, Messiah. Thus also the passage, Gen. xviii. 2, והנה שלשה, Vehenna Shalisha, "And lo, three men," equals in numerical value אלו מיכאל גבריאל ורפאל, Elo Mikhael Gabriel Ve-Raphael, "These are Mikhael, Gabriel and Raphael"; for each phrase = 701. I think these instance will suffice to make clear the nature of Gematria.

Notariqon is derived from the Latin word notarius, a shorthand writer. Of Notariqon there are two forms. In the first every letter of a word is taken from the initial or abbreviation of another word, so that from the letters of a word a sentence may be formed. Thus every letter of the word בראשית, Berashith, the first word in Genesis, is made the initial of a word, and we obtain בראשית ראה אלהים שיקבלו ישראל תורה, Berashith Rahi Elohim Sheyequebelo Israel Torah; "In the beginning Elohim saw that Israel would accept the law." In this connection I may give six very interesting specimens of Notariqon formed from this same word בראשית by Solomon Meir Ben Moses, a Jewish Qabalist, who embraced the Christian faith in 1665, and took the name of Prosper Rugere. These have all a Christian tendency, and by their means Prosper converted another Jew, who had previously been bitterly opposed to Christianity. The first is, בן רוח אב שלושתם יהד תמים, Ben, Ruach, Ab, Shaloshethem Yechad Thaubodo: "The Son, the Spirit, the Father, ye shall equally worship Their Trinity." The second is בן רוח אב שלושתם יחדתעכודו, Ben Ruach Ab, Shaloshethem Yechad Thaubodo: "The Son, the Spirit, the Father, ye shall equally worship Their Trinity.: The third is בכורי ראשנוי אשר שמו ישוע תעבודו, Bekori Rashuni Asher Shamo Yeshuah Thaubodo: "Ye shall worship My first-born, My first, Whose name is Jesus." The fourth is, בבוא רבן אשר שמו ישוע תעבודו, Beboa Rabban Asher Shamo Yeshuah Thaubodo: "When the Master shall come Whose Name is Jesus ye shall worship." The fifth is, בתולה ראויה אבחר שתלד ישוע תאשרוה, Bethulh Raviah Abachar Shethaled Yeshuah Thashroah: "I will choose a virgin worthy to bring forth Jesus, and ye shall call her belssed." The sixth is, בעוגת רצפים אסתתר שגופי ישוע תאכלו, Beaugoth Ratzephim Asattar Shgopi Yeshuah Thakelo: "I will hide myself in cake (baked with) coals, for ye shall eat Jesus, My Body."

The Qabalistical importance of these sentences as bearing upon the doctrines of Christianity can hardly be overrated.

The second form of the Notariqon is the exact reverse of the first. By this the initials or finals, or both, or the medials, of a sentence, are taken to form a word or words. Thus the Qabalah is called חכמה נסתרה, Chokhmah Nesethrah, "the secret wisdom"; and if we take the initials of these two words Ch and N, we form by the second king of Notariqon the word חן, Chen, "grace." Similarly, from the initials and finals of the words , Mi Iaulah Leno Ha-Shamayimah, "Who shall go up for us to heaven?" (Deut. xxx. 120, are formed מילה, Milah, "circumcision," and יהוה, the Tetragrammaton, implying that God hath ordained circumcision as the way to heaven.

Temura is permutation. According to certain rules, one letter is substituted for another letter preceding or following it in the alphabet, and thus from one word another word of totally different orthography may be formed. Thus the alphabet is bent exactly in half, in the middle, and one half is put over the other; and then by changing alternately the first letter or the first two letters at the beginning of the second line, twenty-two commutations are produced. These are called the "Table of the Combinations of Tziruph (צירוף)". For example's sake, I will give the method called אלבת, Albath, thus:

Each method takes its name from he first two pairs composing it, the system of pairs of letters being the groundwork of the the whole, as either letter in a pair is substituted for the other letter. Thus, by Albath, from רוח, Ruach, is formed דצע, Detzau. The names of the other twenty-one methods are: אבגת, אגדת, אדבג, אהבד, אובה, אזבי, אחבז, אתבח, איבת, אכבי, אלבך, אמבל, אנבם, אסבן, אעבס, אפבע, אצבף, אקסץ, ארבק, אשבר, and אתבש. To these must be added the modes אבגד and אלבם. Then comes the "Rational Table of Tziruph," another set of twenty-two combinations. There are also three "Tables of the commutations," known respectively as the Right, the Averse, and the Irregular. To make any of these, a square, containing 484 squares, should be made, and the letters written in. For the "Right Table" write the alphabet across from right to left; in the second row of squares do the same, but begin with ב and end with א; in the third begin with ג and end with ב; and so on. For the "Averse Table" write the alphabet from right to left backwards, beginning with ת and ending with א; in the second row begin with ש and end with ת, &c. The "Irregular Table" would take too long to describe. Besides all these, there is the method called תשרק, Thashraq, which is simply writing a word backwards.

There is one more very important form called the "Qabalah of the Nine Chambers" or איק בכר, Aiq Bekar. It is thus formed:

I have put the numeration of each letter above to show the affinity between the letters in each chamber. ?sometimes this is used as a cipher, by taking the portions of the figure to show the letters they contain, putting one point for the first letter, two for the second, &c. Thus the right angle, containing איק, will answer for the letter ק if it have three dots or points within it. Again a square will answer for ה, נ, or ך, according to whether it has one, two, or three points respectively placed within it. So also with regard to the other letters. But there are many other ways of employing the Qabalah of the Nine Chambers, which I have not space to describe. I will merely mention as an example, that by the mode of Temura called אתבש, Athbash, it is found that in Jeremiah xxv. 26, the word ששך, Sheshakh, symbolises בבל, Babel.

Besides all these rules,there are certain meanings hidden in the shape of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet; in the form of a particular letter at the end of a word being different from that which it generally bears when it is a final letter, or in a letter being written in the middle of a word in a character generally used only at the end; in any letters or letter being written in a size smaller or larger than the rest of the manuscript, or in a letter being written upside down; in the variations found in the spelling of certain words, which have a letter more in some places than they have in others; in peculiarities observed in the position of any of the points or accents, and in certain expressions supposed to be elliptic or redundant.

For example the shape of the Hebrew letter Aleph, א, is said to symbolize a Vau, ו, between a Yod, י, and a Daleth, ד; and thus the letter itself represents the word יוד, Yod. Similarly the shape of the letter He, ה, represents a Daleth, ד, with a Yod, י, written at the lower left-hand corner, &c.

In Isaiah ix. 6, 7, the word למרבה, Lemarbah, "for multiplying," is written with the character ם (M final) in the middle of the word, instead of with the ordinary initial and medial מ. The consequence of this is that the total numerical value of the word, instead of being 30 + 40 + 200 + 2 + 5 = 277, is 30 + 600 + 200 + 2 + 5 = 837 = by Gematria תת זל, Tet Zal, the profuse Giver. Thus by writing the Mem as a final instead of the ordinary character, the word is made to bear a different qabalistical meaning.

It is to be further noted with regard to the first word in the Bible, בראשית, Berashith, that the first three letters, ברא, are the initial letters of the names of the three persons of the Trinity: בן, Ben, the Son; רוח, Ruach, the Spirit; and אב, Ab, the Father. Furthermore the first letter of the Bible is ב, which is the initial letter of ברכה, Berakhah, blessing; and not א, which is that of ארר, Arar, cursing. Again, the letters of Berashith, taking their numerical powers, express the number of the years between the Creation and the birth of Christ, thus: ב‎ = 2,000, ר‎ = 200, א‎ = 1,000, ש‎ = 300, י‎ = 10, and ת‎ = 400; total = 3910 years, being the time in round numbers. Picus de Mirandola gives the following working out of בראשית, Berashith: By joining the third letter, א, to the first, ב, אב, Ab = Father, is obtained. If to the first letter ב, doubled, the second letter, ר, be added, it makes בבר, be-Bar, in or through the Son. If all the letters be read except the first, it makes ראשית, Rashith, the beginning. If the fourth letter, ש, the first ב and the last ת be connected, it makes שבת, Shebeth, the end or rest. If the first three letters be taken, they make ברא, Bera, created. If, omitting the first, the three following be taken, they make ראש, Rash = head. If the fourth and the last be joined, they give שת, Sheth, foundation. Again if the second letter be put before the first, it makes רב, Rab, great. If after the third be placed the fifth and the fourth, it gives איש, Aish, man. If to the two first be joined the two last, they give ברית, Berith, covenant. And if the first be added to the last, it gives תב, Theb, which is sometimes used for טוב, Tob, good.

There are three qabalistical veils of the negative existence, and in themselves they formulate the hidden ideas of the Sephiroth not yet called into being, and they are concentrated in Kether, which in this sense is the Malkuth of hidden ideas of the Sephiroth. I will explain this. The first veil of the negative existence is the אין, Ain, Negativity. This word consists of three letters, which thus shadow forth the first three Sephiroth or numbers. The second veil is the אין סוף, Ain-Soph, the limitless. This title consists of six letters, and shadows forth the idea of the first six Sephiroth or numbers. The third veil is the אין סוף אור, Ain Soph Aur, the Limitless Light. This again consists of nine letters, and suymbolises the first nine Sephiroth, but of course in their hidden idea only. But when we reach the number nine we cannot progress farther without returning to the unity, or the number one, for the number ten is but a repetition of unity freshly derived from the negative, as is evident from a glance at its ordinary representation in Arabic numerals, where the circle O represents the Negative and the I the Unity. Thus, then, the limitless ocean of negative light does not proceed from a centre, for it is centreless, but it concentrates a centre, which is the number one of of the Sephiroth, Kether, the Crown, the First Sephira; which therefore may be said to be the Malkuth or the number ten of the hidden Sephiroth. Thus "Kether is in Malkuth and Malkuth is in Kether." Or as an alchemical author of great repute (Thomas Vaughan, better known as Eugenius Philalethes) says (in Euphrates, or The Waters of the East), apparently quoting from Proclus: "That the heaven is in the earth, but after an earthly manner; and that the earth is in the heaven, but after a heavenly manner." But inasmuch as negative existence is the subject incapable of definition, as I have before shown, it is rather considered by the Qabalists as depending back from the number of unity than as a separate consideration therefrom; therefore they frequently apply the same terms and epithets indiscriminately to either. Such epithets are "The concealed of the Concealed," "The Ancient of the Ancient Ones," the "Most Holy Ancient One," &c.

I must now explain the real meaning of the terms Sephira and Sephiroth. The first is singular, the second is plural. The best rendering of the word is "numerical emanation." There are ten Sephiroth, which are the most abstract forms of the ten numbers of the decimal scale — i.e., the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Therefore, as in the higher mathematics we reason of numbers in their abstract sense, so in the Qabalah we reason of the Deity by the abstract forms of the numbers in other words, by the ספירות, Sephiroth. it was from this ancient Oriental theory that Pythagoras derived his numerical symbolic ideas.

Among the Sephiroth, jointly and severally, we find the development of the persons and attributes of God. Of these some are male and some female. Now, for some reason or other best known to themselves, the translators of the Bible have carefully crowded out of existence and smothered up every reference to the fact that the Deity is both masculine and feminine. They have translated a feminine plural by a masculine singular in the case of the word Elohim. They have, however, left an inadvertent admission of their knowledge that it was plural in Genesis iv, 26: "And Elohim said: Let Us make man." Again (v. 27), how could Adam be made in the image of Elohim, male and female, unless the Elohim were male and female also? The word Elohim is a plural formed from the feminine singular אלה, Eloh, by adding ים to word. But inasmuch as ים is usually a termination of the masculine plural and is here added to a feminine noun, it gives to the word Elohim the sense of a female potency united to a masculine idea, and thereby capable of producing an offspring. Now, we hear much of the Father and the Son, but we hear nothing of the Mother in the ordinary religions of the day. But in the Qabalah we find that the Ancient of Days conforms Himself simultaneously into the Father and the Mother, and thus begets the son. Now, this Mother is Elohim. Again, we are usually told that the Holy Spirit is masculine. But the word רוח, Ruach, Spirit, is feminine, as appears from the following passage of the Sepher Yetzirah: אחת רוח אלהים חיים, Achath (feminine, not Achad, masculine) Ruach Elohim Chayyim: One is She the Spirit of the Elohim of Life."

Now, we find that before he Deity conformed Himself thus — i.e., as male and female — that the worlds of the universe could not subsist, or, in the words of Genesis, "The earth was formless and void." These prior worlds are considered to be symbolised by the "kings who reigned in Edom before there reigned a king in Israel," and they are therefore spoken of in the Qabalah as the "Edomite kings." This will be found fully explained in various parts of this work.

We now come to the consideration of the first Sephira, or the Number One, the Monad of Pythagoras. In this number are the other nine hidden. It is indivisible, it is also incapable of multiplication; divide 1 by itself and it still remains 1, multiply 1 by itself and it is still 1 and unchanged. Thus it is a fitting representative of the unchangeable Father of all. Now this number of unity has a twofold nature, and thus forms, as it were, the link between the negative and the positive. In its unchangeable one-ness it is scarcely a number; but in its property of capability of addition it may be called the first number of a numerical series. Now, the zero, 0, is incapable even of addition, just as also is negative existence. How, then, if 1 can neither be multiplied nor divided, is another 1 to be obtained to add to it; in other words how is the number 2 to be found? By reflection of itself. For thought 0 be incapable of definition, 1 is definable. And the effect of a definition is to form an Eidolon, duplicate, or image, of the thing defined. Thus, then, we obtain a duad composed of 1 and its reflection. Now also we have the commencement of a vibration established, for the number 1 vibrates alternately from changelessness to definition, and back to changelessness again. Thus, then, it is the father of all numbers, and a fitting type of the Father of all things.

The name of the first Sephira is כתר, Kether, the Crown. The Divine Name attributed to it is the Name of the Father given in Exod. iii. 4: אהיה, Eheieh, I am. It signifies Existence.

The first Sephira contains nine, and produces them in succession thus:

The number 2, or the Duad. The name of the second Sephira is חכמה, Chokmah, Wisdom, a masculine active potency reflected from Kether, as I have before explained. this Sephira is the active and evident Father, to whom the Mother is united, who is the number 3. This second Sephira is represented by the Divine Names, יה, Yah, and יהוה; and the angelic hosts by אופנים, Auphanim, the Wheels (Ezek. i.). It is also called אב, Ab, the Father.

The third Sephira, or Triad, is a feminine passive potency, called בינה, Binah, the Understanding, who is co-equal with Chokmah. For Chokmah, the number 2, is like two straight lines which can never enclose a space, and therefore it is powerless till the number 3 forms the triangle. Thus this Sephira completes and makes evident the supernal Trinity. It is also called אמא, Ama, Mother, and אימא, Aima, the great productive Mother, who is eternally conjoined with אב, the Father, for the maintenance of the universe in order. Therefore is she the most evident form in whom we can know the Father, and therefore is she worthy of all honour. She is the supernal Mother, co-equal with Chokmah, and the great feminine form of god, the Elohim, in whose image man and woman are created, according to the teaching of the Qabalah, equal before God. Woman is equal with man, and certainly not inferior to him, as it has been the persistent endeavour of so-called Christians to make her. Aima is the woman described in the Apocalypse (chap. xii.). This third Sephira is also sometimes called the Great Sea. To her are attribute the Divine names, אלהים, Elohim, and יהוה אלהים; and the Angelic Order אראלים, Aralim, the Thrones. She is the Supernal Mother, as distinguished from Malkuth, the inferior Mother, Bride, and Queen.

The number 4. This union of the second and third Sephiroth produced חסד, Chesed, Mercy or Love, also called גדולה, Gedulah, Greatness or Magnificence; a masculine potency represented by the Divine Name אל, El, the Mighty One, and the angelic name, חשמלים, Chashmalim, Scintillating Flames (Ezek. iv. 4).

The number 5. From this emanated the feminine passive potency גבורה, Geburah, strength or fortitude; or דין, Deen, Justice; represented by the Divine Names, אלהים גבור, and אלה, Eloh, and the angelic name שרפים, Seraphim (Isa. vi. 6). This Sephira is also called פחד, Pachad, Fear.

The number 6. And from these two issued the uniting Sephira, תפארת, Tiphereth, Beauty or Mildness, represented by the Divine Name אלוה ודעת, Eloah Va-Daath, and the angelic names שנאנים, Shinanim (Ps. lxviii. 18), or מלכים, Melakim, kings. Thus by the union of justice and mercy we obtain beauty or clemency, and the second trinity of the Sephiroth is complete. This Sephira, or "Path," or "Numeration" — for by these latter appellations the emanations are sometimes called — together with the fourth, fifth, seventh eighth, and ninth Sephiroth, is spoken of as זעיר אנפין, Zaur Anpin, the Lesser Countenance, Microprosopus, by way of antithesis to Macroprosopus, or the Vast Countenance, which is one of the names of Kether, the first Sephira. The six Sephiroth of which Zauir Anpin is composed, are then called His six members. He is also called מלך, Melekh, the King.

The number 7. The seventh Sephira is נצח, Netzach, or Firmness and Victory, corresponding to he Divine Name יהוי צבאות, IHVY Tzabaoth, the Lord of Armies, and the angelic names :HEB(ALHYM), Elohim, gods, and תרשישים, Tharshishim, the brilliant ones (Dan. x. 6).

The number 8. Thence proceeded the feminine passive potency הוד, Hod, Splendour, answering to the Divine Name אלהים צבאות, Elohim Tzabaoth, the God of Armies, and among the angels to בני אלהים, Beni Elohim, the sons of the Gods (Gen. vi. 4).

The number 9. These two produced יסוד, Yesod, the Foundation or Basis, represented by אל חי, El Chai, the Mighty Living One, and שדי, Shaddai; and among the angels by אשים, Aishim, the Flames (Ps. civ. 5), yielding the third Trinity of the Sephiroth.

The number 10. From this ninth Sephira came the tenth and last, thus completing the decad of the numbers. It is called מלכות, Malkuth, the Kingdom, and also the Queen, Matrona, the inferior Mother, the Bride of Microprosopus; and שכינה, Shekinah, represented by the Divine Name אדני, Adonai, and among the angel hosts by the כרובים, Kerubim.

Now, each of these Sephiroth will be in a certain degree androgynous, for it will be feminine or receptive with regard to the Sephira which immediately precedes it in the sephirotic scale, and masculine or transmissive with regard to the Sephira which immediately follows it. But there is no Sephira anterior to Kether, nor is there a Sephira which succeeds Malkuth. By these remarks it will be understood how Chokmah is a feminine noun, though marking a masculine Sephira. The connecting-link of the Sephiroth is the Ruach, spirit, from Mezla, the hidden influence.

I will now add a few more remarks on the qabalistical meaning of the term מתקלא, Metheqela, balance. In each of the three trinities or triads of the Sephiroth is a duad of opposite sexes, and a uniting intelligence which is the result. In this, the masculine and feminine potencies are regarded as the two scales of the balance, and the uniting Sephira as the beam that joins them. Thus, then, the term balance may be said to symbolise the Triune, Trinity in Unity, and the Unity represented by the central point of the beam. But, again, in the Sephiroth there is a triple Trinity, the upper, lower, and middle. Now, these three are represented thus: the supernal, or highest, by the Crown, Kether; the middle by the King, and the inferior by the Queen; which will be the greatest trinity. And the earthy correlatives of these will be the primum mobile, the sun and the moon. Here we at once find alchemical symbolism.

The Sephiroth are futher divided into three pillars — the right-hand Pillar of Mercy, consisting of the second, fourth, and seventh emanations; the left-hand Pillar of Judgment, consisting of the third, fifth, and eighth; and the middle Pillar of Mildness, consisting of the first, sixth, ninth, and tenth emanations.

In their totality and unity the ten Sephiroth represent the archetypal man, אדם קדמון, Adam Qadmon, the Protogonos. In looking at the Sephiroth constituting the first triad, it is evident that they represent the intellect; and hence this triad is called the intellectual world, עולם מושכל, Olahm Mevshekal. The second triad corresponds to the moral world, עולם מורגש, Olahm Morgash. The third represents power and stability, and is therefore called the material world, עלום המותבע, Olahm Ha-Mevethbau. These three aspect are called the faces, אנפין, Anpin. Thus is the tree of life, עץ חיים, Otz Chaiim, formed; the first triad being placed above, the second and third below, in such a manner that the three masculine Sephiroth are on the right, the three feminine on the left, whilst the four uniting Sephiroth occupy the centre. This is the qabalistical "tree of life," on which all things depend. There is considerable analogy between this and the tree Yggdrasil of the Scandinavians.

I have already remarked that there is one trinity which comprises all the Sephiroth, and that it consists of the crown, the king, and the queen. (In some senses this is the Christian Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, which in their highest Divine nature are symbolised by the first three Sephiroth, Kether, Chokmah, and Binah.) It is the Trinity which created the world; or, in qabalistical language, the universe was born from the union of the crowned king and queen. But according to the Qabalah, before the complete form of the heavenly man (the ten Sephiroth) was produced, there were certain primordial world created, but these could not subsist, as the equilibrium of balance was not yet perfect, and they were convulsed by the unbalanced force and destroyed. These primordial worlds are called the "kings of ancient time" and the "kings of Edom who reigned before the monarchs of Israel." In this sense, Edom is the world of unbalanced force, and Israel is the balanced Sephiroth (Gen. xxxvi. 31.). This important fact, that worlds were created and destroyed prior to the present creation, is again and again reiterated in the Zohar.

Now the Sephiroth are also called the World of Emanations, or the Atziluthic World, or the archetypal world, עולם אצילות, Olahm Atziluth; and this world gave birth to three other worlds each containing a repetition of the Sephiroth, but in a descending scale of brightness.

The second world is the Briatic world, עולם הבריאה, Olahm Ha-Briah, the world of creation, also called כורסיא, Khorsia, the throne. It is an immediate emanation from the world of Atziloth, whose ten Sephiroth are reflected herein, and are consequently more limited, though they are still of the purest nature, and without any admixture of matter.

The third is the Yetziratic world, עולם היצירה, Olahm Ha-Yetzirah, or world of formation and of angels, which proceeds from Briah, and though less refined in substance, is still without matter. It is in this angelic world that reside those intelligent and incorporeal beings who are wrapped in a luminous garment, and who assume a form when they appear unto man.

The fourth is the Assiatic world, עולם העשיה, Olahm Ha-Asiah, the world of action, called also the world of shells, עולם הקליפות, Olahm Ha-Qliphoth, which is this world of matter, made up of the grosser elements of the other three. In it is also the abode of the evil spirits, which are called "the shells" by the Qabalah, קליפות, Qliphoth, material shells. The devils are also divided into ten classes, and have suitable habitations. (See Tables in "777.")

The demons are the grossest and most deficient of all forms. Their ten degrees answer to the decad of the Sephiroth, but in inverse ratio, as darkness and impurity increase with the descent of each degree. The two first are nothing but absence of visible form and organisation. The third is the abode of darkness. Next follow seven Hells occupied by those demons which represent incarnate human vices, and those who have given themselves up to such vices in earth-life. Their prince is Samael, סמאל, the angel of poison and death. His wife is the harlot, or woman of whoredom, אשת חנינים, Isheth Zennuim; and united they are called the beast, חיוא, Chioa. Thus the infernal trinity is completed which is, so to speak,the averse and caricature of the supernal Creative One. Samael is considered to be identical with Satan.

The name of the Deity, which we call Jehovah, is in Hebrew ad name of four letters, יהוה; and the true pronunciation of it is known to very few. I myself know some score of different mystical pronunciations of it. The true pronunciation of it is a most secret arcanum, and is a secret of secrets. "He who can rightly pronounce it, causeth heaven and earth to tremble, for it is the name which rusheth through the universe." Therefore when a devout Jew comes upon it in reading the Scripture, he either does not attempt to pronounce it, but instead makes a short pause, or else he substitutes for it the name Adonai, אדני, Lord. The radical meaning of the word is "to be," and it is thus, like אהיה, Eheieh, a glyph of existence. It is capable of twelve transpositions, which all convey the meaning of "to be"; it is the only word that will bear so many transpositions without its meaning being altered. They are called the "twelve banners of the mighty name," and are said by some to rule the twelve signs of the Zodiac. These are the twelve banners: — יהוה, יההו, יוהה, הוהי, הויה, ההיו, וההי, ויהה, והיה, היהו, היוה, ההוי. There are three other tetragrammatic names, which are אהיה, Eheieh, existence; אדני, Adonai, Lord; and אגלא. This last is not properly speaking, a word, but is a notariqon of the sentence, אתה גבור לעולם אדני, Ateh Gebor le-Olahm Adonai: "Thou art mighty for ever, O Lord!" A brief explanation of Agla is this; A, the one first; A, the one last; G, the Trinity in Unity; L, the completion of the great work.

But יהוה, the Tetragrammaton, as we shall presently see, contains all the Sephiroth with the exception of Kether, and specially signifies the Lesser Countenance, Microprosopus, the King of the qabalistical Sephirotic greatest Trinity,and the Son in His human incarnation, in the Christian acceptation of the Trinity. Therefore, as the Son reveals the Father, so does יהוה, Jehovah, reveal אהיה, Eheieh.

And אדני is the Queen, by whom alone Tetragrammaton can be grasped, whose exaltation into Binah is found in the Christian assumption of the Virgin.

The Tetragrammaton יהוה is referred to the Sephiroth, thus: the uppermost point of the letter Yod, י, is said to refer to Kether; the letter י itself to Chokmah, the father of Microprosopus; the letter ה, or "the supernal He," to Binah, the supernal Mother; the letter ו to the next six Sephiroth, which are called the six members of Microprosopus (and six is the numerical value of ו, the Hebrew Vau); lastly, the letter ה, the "inferior He," to Malkuth, the tenth Sephira, the bride of Microprosopus.

Advanced students should then go to the fountain head, Knorr von Rosenroth's "Kabbala denudata," and study for themselves. It should not prove easy; Frater P., after years of study, confessed: "I cannot get much out of Rosenroth"; and we may add that only the best minds are likely to obtain more than an academic knowledge of a system which we suspect von Rosenroth himself never understood in any deeper sense. As a book of reference to the hierarchical correspondences of the Qabalah, of course "777" stands alone and unrivalled.

The graphic Qabalah has been already fully illustrated in this treatise. See Illustrations 2, 12, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 24, 28, 29, 33, 34, 35, 38, 39, 40, 41, 43, 45, 46, 47, 48, 50, 51, 61, 63, 64, 65, 66, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 82.

By far the best and most concise account of the method of the Qabalah is that by an unknown author, which Mr. Aleister Crowley has printed at the end of the first volume of his Collected Works, and which we here reprint in full.