Liber 58 Part 1

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, 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: GMTRIA, Gematria; NVTRIQVN, Notariqon; and ThMVRH, Temura.

Gematria is a metathesis of the Greek word: gamma rho alpha mu mu alpha tau epsilon iota alpha.  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, Sh, is 300, and is equivalent to the number obtained by adding up the numerical values of the letters of the words RVCh ALHIM, Ruach Elohim, the spirit of Elohim; and it is there fore a symbol of the spirit of Elohim.  For % = 200, V = 6, Ch = 8, A = 1, L = 30, H = 5, I = 10, M = 40; total = 300.  Similarly, the words AChD, Achad, Unity, One, and AHBH, Ahebah, love, each = 13; for A =1, Ch = 8, D = 4, total = 13; and A = 1, H = 5, B = 2, H = 5, total = 13. Again, the name of the angel MTTRVN, Metatron or Methraton, and the name of the Deity, ShDI, 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 phases (Gen. xlix. 10), IBA ShILH, Yeba Shiloh, "Sjhiloh shall come" = 358, which is the numeration of the word MShICh, Messiah.  Thus also the passage, Gen. xviii. 2, VHNH ShLShH, Vehenna Shalisha, "And lo, three men," equals in numerical value ALV MIKAL GBRIAL VRPAL, Elo Mikhale 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 BRAShITH, Berashith, the first word in Genesis, is made the initial of a word, and we obtain BRAShITh RAH ALHIM ShIQBLV IShRAL ThVRH, 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 BRAShITh 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, BN RVCh AB ShLVShThM IChD ThMIM, Ben, Ruach, Ab, Shaloshethem Yechad Thaubodo: "The Son, the Spirit, the Father, ye shall
equally worship Their Trinity."  The third is BKVRI RAShVNI AShR ShMV IShVO ThOBVDV, Bekori Rashuni Asher Shamo Yeshuah Thaubodo: "Ye shall worship My first-born, My first, Whose name is Jesus."  The fourth is, BBVA RBN AShR ShMV IShVO ThOBVDV, Beboa Rabban Asher Shamo Yeshuah Thaubodo: "When the Master shall come Whose Name is Jesus ye shall worship."  The fifth is, BThVLH RAVIH ABChR ShthLD ISh VO THAShRVH, 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, BOVGTh RTzPIM ASThThR ShGVPI IShVO ThAKLV, Beaugoth Ratzephim Asattar Shgopi Yeshuah Thakelo: "I will hid 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 ChKMH NSThRH, Chokhmah Nesthrah, "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 ChN, Chen, "gracce."  Similarly, from the initials and finals of the words MI IOLH LNV HShMIMH, Mi Iaulah Leno Ha-Shamayimah, "Who shall go up for us to heaven?" (Deut. xxx. 120, are formed MILH, Milah, "circumcision," and IHVH, 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 TzIRVP," Tzirup.  For example's sake, I will give the method called ALBTh, 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 RVCh, Ruach, is formed DTzO, Detzau.  The names of the other twenty-one methods are: ABGTh, AGDTh, ADBG, AHBD, AVBH, AZBY, AChBZ, ATBCh, AIBT, AKBI, ALBK, AMBL, ANBM, ASBN, AOBS, APBO, ATzBP, AQSTz, ARBQ, AShBR, AND AThBSh.  To these must be added the modes ABGD and ALBM.  Then comes the "Rational Table of Tziruph," another set of twenty-two combination.  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 B and end with A; in the third begin with G and end with B; and so on. For the "Averse Table" write the alphabet from right to left backwards,
beginning with Th and ending with A; in the second row begin with Sh and end with Th, &c.  The "Irregular Table" would take too long to describe.  Besides all these, there is the method called ThShRQ, Thashraq, which is simply writing a word backwards.  There is one more very important form called the "Qabalah of the Nine Chambers" or AIQ BKR, 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 AIQ, will answer for the letter Q if it have three dots or points within it.  Again a square will answer for H, H, or K final, 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 AThBsH, Athbash, it is found that in Jeremiah xxv. 26, the word ShShK, Sheshakh, symbolises BBL, 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, A, is said to symbolize a Vau, V, between a Yod, I, and a Daleth, D; and thus the letter itself represents the word IVD, Yod.  Similarly the shape of the letter He, H, represents a Daleth, D, with a Yod, I, written at the lower left-hand corner, &c.

In Isaiah ix. 6, 7, the word LMRBH, Lemarbah, "for multiplying," is written with the character for M final in the middle of the word, instead of with the ordinary initial and medial M.  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 ThTh ZL, Tet Zal, the profuse Giver.  Thus by writing the M final instead of the ordinary character, the word is made to bear a different qabalistical meaning.

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It is to be further noted with regard to the first word in the Bible, BRAShITH, that the first three letters, BRA, are the initial letters of the names of the three persons of the Trinity: BN, Ben the Son; RVCh, Ruach, the Spirit; and AB, Ab the Father.  Furthermore the first letter of the Bible is B, which is the initial letter of BRKH, Berakhah, blessing; and not A, which is that of ARR, 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: B = 2,000, R = 200, A - 1,000, Sh = 300, I = 10, and Th = 400; total = 3910 years, being the time in round numbers.  Picus de Mirandola gives the following working out of BRAShITh, Berashith: --- By joining the third letter, A, to the first, B, AB, Ab = Father, is obtained. If to the first letter B, doubled, the second letter, R, be added, it makes BBR, Bebar - in or through the Son.  If all the letters be read except the first, it makes RAShITh, Rashith = the beginning.  If the fourth letter, Sh, the first B and the last Th be connected, it makes ShBTh, Shebeth = the end or rest.  If the first three letters be taken, they make BRA, Bera = created.  If, omitting the first, the three following be taken, they make RASh, Rash = head.  If the fourth and the last be joined, they give ShTh, Sheth = foundation.  Again if the second letter be put before the first, it makes RB, Rab = great.  If after the third be placed the fifth and the fourth, it gives AISh, Aish = man.  If to the two first be joined the two last, they give BRITh, Berith = covenant.  And if the first be added to the last, it gives ThB, Theb, which is sometimes used for TVB, Thob = good.

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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 AIN, Ain, Negativity.  This word consists of three letters, which thus shadow forth the first three Sephiroth or numbers.  The second veil is the AIN SVP, 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 AIN SVP AVR, 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, 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," etc.

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 athematics 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 SPIRVTh, 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), who 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 ALH, Eloh, by adding IM to word.  But inasmuch as IM 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.  How, 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 RVCh, Ruach, Spirit, is feminine, as appears from the following passage of the Sepher Yetzirah: "AChTh RVCh ALHIM ChIIM, Achath (feminine, not Achad, masculine) Ruach Elohim Chimm: 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 KThR, Kether, the Crown.  The Divine Name attributed to it is the Name of the Father given in Exod. iii. 4: AHIH, Eheieh, I am.  It signifies Existence.

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

The number 2 or the Duad.  The name of the second Sephira is ChKMHm, 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, IH, Yah, and IHVHY; and the angelic hosts by AVPNIM, Auphanim, the Wheels (Ezek. i.).  It is also called AB, Ab, the Father.

The third Sephira, or triad, is a feminine passive potency, called BINH, 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 a triangle.  Thus this Sephira completes and makes evident the supernal Trinity.  It is also called AMA, Ama, Mother, and AIMA, Mima, the great productive Mother, who is eternally conjoined with AB, the Father, for the maintenance of the universe in order.  There fore 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, ALHIM, Elohim, and IHVH ALHIM; and the angelic
order, ARALIM, 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 ChSD, Chesed, Mercy or Love, also called GDVLH, Gedulah, Greatness or Magnificence; a masculine potency represented by the Divine Name AL, EL, the Mighty One, and the angelic name, ChShMLIM, Chashmalim, Scintillating Flames (Ezek. iv. 4).

The number 5.  From this emanated the feminine passive potency GBVRH, Geburah, strength or fortitude; or DIN, Deen, Justice; represented by the Divine Names, ALHIM GBVR, and ALH, Eloh, and the angelic name ShRPIM, Seraphim (Isa. vi. 6).  This Sephira is also called PChD, Pachad, Fear.

The number 6.  And from these two issued the uniting Sephira, ThPARTh, Tiphereth, Beauty or Mildness, represented by the Divine Name ALVH VDOTh, Eloah Va-Daath, and the angelic names, Shinanim, ShNANIM (Ps. lxviii. 18), or MLKIM, 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 ZOIR ANPIN, 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 MLK, Melekh the King.

The number 7.  The seventh Sephira is NTzCh, Netzach, or Firmness and Victory, corresponding to he Divine Name Jehovah Tzabaoth, IHVH TzBAVTh, the Lord of Armies, and the angelic names ALHIM, Elohim, gods, and ThRShIShIM,
Tharshishim, the brilliant ones (Dan. x. 6)5.

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

The number 9.  These two produced ISVD, Yesod, the Foundation or Basis, represented by AL ChI, El Chai, the Mighty Living One, and ShDI, Shaddai; and among the angels by AShIM, 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 MLVth, Malkuth, the Kingdom, and also the Queen, Matrona, the inferior Mother, the Bride of Microprosopus; and ShKINH, Shekinah, represented by the Divine Name Adonai, ADNI, and among the angel hosts by the kerubim, KRVBIM.  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, Mezla, the hidden influence.

I will how add a few more remarks on the qabalistical meaning of the term MThQLA, Metheqla, 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 maybe 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.

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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, ADM QDMVN, 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, OVLM MVShKL, Olahm Mevshekal.  The second triad corresponds to the moral world, OVLM MVRGSh, Olahm Morgash.  The third represents power and stability, and is therefore called the material world, OLVM HMVTHBO, Olahm Ha-Mevethau.  These three aspect are called the faces, ANPIN, Anpin.  Thus is the tree of life, OTz
ChIIM, 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, OVLM ATzILUTh, Olahm Atziloth; 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, OVLM HBRIAH, Olahm Ha-Briah, the world of creation, also called KVRSIA, 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 Jetziratic world, OVLM HITzIRAH, 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 Asiatic world, OVLM HOShIH, Olahm Ha-Asiah, the world of action, called also the world of shells, OVLM HQLIPVTh, 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, QLIPVTh, 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, SMAL, the angel of poison and death..  His wife is the harlot, or woman of whoredom, AShTh ZNVNIM, Isheth Zennuim; and united they are called the beast, CHIVA, 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, IHVH; 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, ADNI, Lord.  The radical meaning of the word is "to be," and it is thus, like AHIH, 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: --- IHVH, IHHV, IVHH, HVHI, HVIH, HHIV, VHHI, VIHH, VHIH, HIHV, HIVH, HHVI.  There are three other tetragrammatic names, which are AHIH, Eheieh, existence; ADNI, Adonai, Lord; and AGLA.  This last is not properly speaking, a word, but is a notariqon of the sentence, AThH GBVR LOVLM ADNI, Steh Gebor Le0Olahm Adonai: "Thou art might, 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 IHVH, 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 IHVH, Jehovah, reveal AHIH, Eheieh.  And ADNI 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 IHVH is referred to the Sephiroth, thus: the upper-most point of the letter Yod, I, is said to refer to Kether; the letter I itself to Chokmah, the father of Microprosopus; the letter H, or "the supernal He," to Binah, the supernal Mother; the letter V to the next six Sephiroth, which are called the six members of Microprosopus (and six is the numerical value of V, the Hebrew Vau); lastly, the letter H, 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 an 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.

QABALISTIC DOGMA

The Evolution of Things is thus described by the Qabalists.

First is Nothing, or the Absence of Things, Nun-final Yod Aleph, which does not and cannot mean Negatively Existing (if such an Idea can be said to mean anything), as S. Liddell Macgregor Mathers, who misread the Text and stultified the Commentary by the Light of his own Ignorance of Hebrew and Philosophy, pretends in his Translation of v. Rosenroth.

Second is Without Limit Pvs Nya, "i.e.", Infinite Space.

This is the primal Dualism of Infinity; the infinitely small and the infinitely great.  The Clash of these produces a finite positive Idea which happens (see Taw Yod Shin Aleph Resh Bet , in "The Sword of song," for a more careful study, though I must not be understood to indorse every Word in our Poet-Philosopher's Thesis) to be Light, Resh Vau Aleph.  This word Resh Vau Aleph is most important.  It symbolises the Universe immediately after Chaos, the confusion or Clash of the infinite Opposites.  Aleph is the Egg of Matter; Yod  is Taurus, the Bull, or Energy-Motion; and Resh  is the Sun, or organised and moving System of Orbs.  The three Letters of Resh Vau Aleph thus repeat the three Ideas.  The Nature of Resh Vau Aleph  is thus analysed, under the figure of the ten Numbers and the 22 Letters which together compose what the Rosicrucians have diagrammatised under the name of Minutum Mundom.  It will be noticed that every Number and Letter has its "Correspondence" in Ideas of every Sort; so that any given Object can be analysed in Terms of the 32.  If I
see a blue Star, I should regard it as a Manifestation of Chesed, Water, the Moon, Salt the Alchemical Principle, Sagittarius or What not, in respect of its Blueness ---- one would have to decide which from other Data --- and refer it to the XVIIth Key of the Taro in Respect of its Starriness.

The Use of these Attributions is lengthy and various: I cannot dwell upon it: but I will give one Example.

If I wish to visit the Sphere of Geburah, I use the Colours and Forces appropriate: I go there: if the Objects which then appear to my spiritual Vision are harmonious therewith, it is one Test of their Truth.

So also, to construct a Talisman, or to invoke a Spirit.

The methods of discovering Dogma from sacred Words are also numerous and important: I may mention: ---

("a)" The Doctrine of Sympathies: drawn from the total Numeration of a Word, when identical with, or a Multiple of Submultiple of, or a Metathesis of, that of another Word.

("b)" The Method of finding the Least Number of a Word, by adding (and re-adding) the Digits of its total Number, and taking the corresponding Key of the Taro as a Key to the Meaning of the Word.

("c") The Method of Analogies drawn from the Shape of the Letters.

("d") The Method of Deductions drawn from the Meanings and Correspondences of the letters.

("e") The Method of Acrostics drawn from the Letters.  This Mode is only valid for Adepts of the highest Grades, and then under quite exceptional and rare Conditions.

("f") The Method of Transpositions and Transmutations of the Letters, which suggest Analogies, even when they fail to explain in direct Fashion.

All these and their Varieties and Combinations, with some other more abstruse or less important Methods, may be used to unlock the Secret of a Word.

Of course with Powers so wide it is easy for the Partisan to find his favourite Meaning in any Word.  Even the formal Proof 0 = 1 = 2 = 3 = 4 = 5 = ....... = n is possible.

But the Adept who worked out this Theorem, with the very Intent to discredit the Qabalistic Mode of Research, was suddenly dumfounded by the Fact that he had actually stumbled upon the Qabalistic Proof of Pantheism or Monism.

What really happens is that the Adept sits down and performs many useless Tricks with the Figures, without Result.

Suddenly the Lux dawns, and the Problem is solved.

The Rationalist explains this by Inspiration, the superstitious Man by Mathematics.

I give an Example of the Way in which one works.  Let us take IAO, one of the "Barbarous Names of Evocation," of which those who have wished to conceal their own Glory by adopting the Authority of Zarathustra have said that in the holy Ceremonies it has ineffable Power.

But what Kind of Power?  By the Qabalah we can found out the Force of the Name IAO.

We can spell it in Hebrew Vau Aleph Yod  or Ayin Aleph Yod.  The Qabalah will even tell us which is the true Way.  Let us however suppose that it is spelt Vau Aleph Yod .  This adds up to 17.

But first of all it strikes us that I, A, and O are the three Letters associated with the three Letters Heh  in the great Name of Six Letters, Heh Vau Heh Yod Heh Aleph , which combines Heh Vau Heh Aleph  and Heh Vau Heh Yod  {WEH NOTE: sic.  Should be: Heh Yod Heh Aleph  and Heh Vau Heh Yod }, Macroprosopus and Microprosopus.  Now these feminine Letters Heh  conceal the "Three Mothers" of the Alphabet, Aleph , Mem , and Shin .  Replace these, and we get Aleph Vau Mem Yod Shin Aleph , which adds up to 358, the Number alike of Shin Chet Nun , the Serpent of Genesis, and the Messiah.  We thus look for redeeming Power in IAO, and for the Masculine Aspect of that Poser.

Now we will see how that Power works.  We have a curious Dictionary, which was made by a very learned Man, in which the Numbers 1 to 10,000 fill the left hand Column, in Order, and opposite them are written all the sacred or important Words which add up to each Number.

We take this Book, and look at 17.  We find that 17 is the number of Squares in the Swastika, which is the Whirling Disc or Thunderbolt.  Also there is Nun Vau Chet , a Circle or Orbit; Dalet Vau Zain , to seethe or boil; and some other Words, which we will neglect in this Example, thought we should not dart to do so if we were really trying to find out a Thing we none of us knew.  To help our Deduction about Redemption, too, we find Heh Dalet Heh  {WEH NOTE: sic, should be: Heh Dalet Chet }, to brighten or make glad.

We also work in another Way.  I is the Straight Line or Central Pillar of the Temple of Life; also it stands for Unity, and for the Generative Force.  A Circle from which everything came, also Nothingness, and the Female, who absorbs the Male.  The Progress of the Name shows then the Way from Life to Nirvana by means of the Will: and is a Hieroglyph of the Great Work.

Look at all our Meanings!  Every one shows that the Name, if it has any Power at all, and that we must try, has the Power to redeem us from the Love of Life which is the Cause of Life, by its masculine Whirlings, and to gladden us and to being us to the bosom of the Great Mother, Death.

Before what is known a the Equinox of the Gods, a little While ago, there was an initiated Formula which expressed these Ideas to the Wise.  As these Formulas are done with, it is of no Consequence if I reveal them.  Truth is not eternal, any more than God; and it would be but a poor God that could not and did not alter his Ways at his Pleasure.

This Formula was used to pen the Vault of the Mystic Mountain of Abiegnus, within which lay (so the Ceremony of Initiation supposed) the body of our Father Christian Rosen Creutz, to be discovered by the Brethren with the Postulant as said in the Book called Fama Fraternitatis.

There are three Officers, and they repeat the Analysis of the Word as follows: ---

• Chief.  Let us analyse the Key Word --- I.
  2nd.  N.
  3rd.  R.
  All.  I.
  Chief.  Yod. Yod .
  2nd.  Nun. Nun .
  3rd.  Resh. Resh .
  All.  Yod, Yod .
  Chief.  Virgo (Virgo) Isis, Mighty Mother.
  2nd.  Scorpio (Scorpio) Apophis, Destroyer.
  3rd.  Sol (Sun) Osiris, slain and risen.
  All.  Isis, Apophis, Osiris, IAO.

  All spread Arms as if on a cross, and say: ---

  The Sign of Osiris slain!

Chief bows his Head to the Left, rises his Right Arm, and lowers his Left keeping the Elbow at right Angles,thus forming the letter L (also the Swastika).

                        The Sign of the Mourning of Isis.

   2nd.  With erect Head, rises his Arms to form a V (but really to form the
triple tongue of Flame, the Spirit), and says: ---

                         The Sign of Apophis and Typhon.

   3rd.  Bows his Head and crosses his Arms on his Breast (to form the
Pentagram).

                          The Sign of Osiris risen.

   All give the Sign of the Cross, and say: ---

                                   L.V.X.

Then the Sign of Osiris risen, and say: ---

                       Lux, the Light of the Cross.

This formula, on which one may meditate for Years without exhausting its wonderful Harmonies, gives an excellent Idea of the Way in which Qabalistic Analysis is conducted.

First, the Letters have been written in Hebrew Characters.

Then the Attributions of them to the Zodiac an to Planets are substituted, and the Names of Egyptian Gods belonging to these are invoked.

The Christian Idea of I.N.R.I. is confirmed by these, while their Initials form the sacred Word of the Gnostics.  That is, IAO.  From the Character of the Deities and their Functions are deduced their Signs, and these are found to signal (as it were) the Word Lux (Resh Vau Aleph ), which itself is contained in the Cross.

A careful Study of these Ideas,and of the Table of Correspondences, which one of our English Brethren is making, will enable him to discover a very great Deal of Matter for Thought in these Poems which an untutored Person would pass by.

To return to the general Dogma of the Qabalists.

The Figure of Minutum Mundum will show how they suppose one Quality to proceed from the last, first in the pure God-World Atziluth, then in the Angel-World Briah, and so on down to the Demon-Worlds, which are however not thus organised.  They are rather Material that was shed off in the Course of Evolution, like theSloughs of a Serpent, from which comes their Name of Shells, or Husks.

Apart from silly Questions as to whether the Order of the Emanations is confirmed by Palaeontology, a Question it is quite impertinent to discuss, there is no Doubt that the Sephiroth are types of Evolution as opposed to Catastrophe and Creation.

The great Charge against this Philosophy is founded on its alleged Affinities with Scholastic Realism.  But the Charge is not very true.  No Doubt but they did suppose vast Storehouses of "Things of one Kind: from which, pure or mingled, all other Things did proceed.

Since Gemel, a Camel, refers to the moon, they did say that a Camel and the Moon were sympathetic, and came, that Part of them, from a common Principole: and that a Camel being yellow brown, it partook of the Earth Nature, to which
that Colour is given.

Thence they said that by taking all the Natures involved, and by blending them in the just Proportions, on might have a Camel.

But this is no more than is said by the Upholders of the Atomic Theory.

They have their Storehouses of Carbon, Oxygen, and such (not in one Place, but no more is Geburah in one Place), and what is Organic Chemistry but the Production of useful Compounds whose Nature is deduced absolutely from theoretical Considerations long before it is ever produced in the Laboratory?

The difference, you will say, is that the Qabalists maintain a Mind of each Kind behind each Class of Things on one Kind; but so did Berkeley, and his Argument in that Respect is, as the great Huxley showed, irrefragable.  For by the Universe I mean the Sensible; any other is not to be Known; and the Sensible is dependent upon Mind.  Nay, though the Sensible is said to be an Argument of a Universe Insensible, the latter becomes sensible to Mind as soon as the Argument is accepted, and disappears with its Rejection.

Nor is the Qabalah dependent upon its Realism, and its Application to the Works magical --- but I am defending a Philosophy which I was asked to describe, and this is not lawful.

A great Deal may be learned from the Translation of the Zohar by S. Liddell Macgregor Mathers, and his Introduction thereto, though for those who have Latin and some acquaintance with Hebrew it is better to study the Kabbala Denudata of Knoor von Rosenroth, in Despite of the heavy Price; for the Translator has distorted the Text and its Comment to suit his belief in a supreme Personal God, and in that degraded Form of the Doctrine of Feminism which is so popular with the Emasculate.

The Sephiroth are grouped in various Ways.  There is a Superior Triad or Trinity; a Hexad; and Malkuth: the Crown, the Father, and the Mother; the Son or King; and the Bride.

Also, a Division into seven Palaces, seven Planes, three Pillars or Columns, and the like.

The Flashing Sword follows the Course of the Numbers; and the Serpent Nechushtan or of Wisdom crawls up the Paths which join them upon the Tree of Life, namely the Letters.

It is important to explain the Position of Daath or Knowledge upon the Tree.  It is called the Child of Chokmah and Binah, but it hath no Place.  But it is really the Apex of a Pyramid of which the three first Numbers for the Base.

Now the Tree, or Minutum Mundum, is a Figure in a Plane of a solid Universe.  Daath, being above the Plane, is therefore a Figure of a Force in four Dimensions, and thus it is the Object of the Magnum Opus.  The three Paths which connect it with the First Trinity are the three lost Letters or Fathers of the Hebrew Alphabet.

In Daath is said to be the Head of the great Serpent Nechesh or Leviathan, called Evil to conceal its Holiness.  (Shin Chet Nun  = 358 = Chet Yod Shin Mem, the Messiah or Redeemer, and Koph-final Taw Yod Vau Lamed  = 496 = Taw Vau Koph Lamed Mem , the Bride.)  It is identical with he Kundalini of the Hindu Philosophy, the Kwan-se-on of the Mongolian Peoples, and means the magical Force in Man, which is the sexual Force applied to the Brain, Heart, and other Organs, and redeemeth him.

The gradual Disclosure of these magical Secrets to the Poet may be traced in these Volumes, which it has been my Privilege to be asked to explain.  It has been impossible to do more than place in the Hands of any intelligent Person the Keys which will permit him to unlock the many Beautiful Chambers of Holiness in these Palaces and Gardens of Beauty and Pleasure.
 
Of the results of the method we possess one flawless gem, already printed in the EQUINOX (Vol {I, No.) II. pp. 163-185), "A Note on Genesis" by V. H. Fra. I. A.

From this pleasant, orthodox, and-so-they-all-lived-happy-ever-after view let us turn for a moment to the critical aspect.  Let us demolish in turn the qabalistic methods of exegesis; and then, if we can, discover a true basis upon which to erect an abiding Temple of Truth.

1. Gematria.

The number 777 affords a good example of the legitimate and illegitimate deductions to be drawn.  It represents the sentence AChTh RVCh ALHIM ChIIM, "One is the Spirit of the Living God," and also OLAHM H-QLPVTh, "The world of the Shells (excrements --- the demon-world)."

Now it is wrong to say that this idea of the unity of the divine spirit is identical with this idea of the muddle of chaos --- unless in that exalted grade in which "the One is the Many."  But the compiler of Liber 777 was a great Qabalist when he thus entitled his book; for he meant to imply, "One is the Spirit of the Living God," "i.e." I have in this book unified all the
diverse symbols of the world; and also, "the world of shells," "i.e." this book is full of mere dead symbols; do not mistake them for the living Truth. Further, he had an academic reason for his choice of a number; for the tabulation of the book is from Kether to Malkuth, the course of the Flaming Sword; and if this sword be drawn upon the Tree of Life, the numeration of the Paths over which it passes (taking Gemel , 3, as the non-existent path from Binah to Chesed, since it connects Macroprosopus and Microprosopus) is 777. [See Diagrams 2 and 12.]

To take another example, it is no mere coincidence that 463, the Staff of Moses, is Taw , Samekh , Gemel , the paths of the Middle Pillar; no mere coincidence that 26, Heh Vau Heh Yod , is 1 + 6 + 9 + 10, the Sephiroth of the Middle Pillar.  But ought we not to have some supreme name for 489, their sum, the Middle Pillar perfect?  Yet the Sepher Sephiroth is silent.

Again, 111 is Aleph, the Unity, but also APL, thick Darkness, and ASN, Sudden Death.  This can only be interpreted as meaning the annihilation of the individual in the Unity, and the Darkness which is the Threshold of the Unity; in other words, one must be an expert in Samadhi before this simple Gematria has any proper meaning.  How, then, can it serve the student in his research?  The uninitiated would expect Life and Light in the One; only by experience can he know that to man the Godhead must be expressed by those things which most he fears.

We hare purposely avoid dwelling on the mere silliness of many Gematria correspondences, "e.g.", the equality of the Qliphoth of one sign with the Intelligence of another.  Such misses are more frequent than such hits as AChD, Unity, 13 = AHBH, Love, 13.

The argument is an argument in a circle.  "Only an adept can understand the Qabalah," just as (in Buddhism) Sakyamuni said, "Only an Arahat can understand the Dhamma."

In this light, indeed, the Qabalah seems little more than a convenient language for recording experience.

We may mention in passing that Frater P. never acquiesced in the obvious "cook" of arguing: "x" = "y" + 1  .'. "x" = "y", by assuming that "x" should add one to itself "for the concealed unity."  Why shouldn't "y" have a little concealed unity of its own?

That this method should ever have been accepted by any Qabalist argues a bankruptcy of ingenuity beyond belief.  In all conscience, it is easy enough to fake identities by less obviously card-sharping methods!

2. Notariqon.

The absurdity of this method needs little indication.  The most unsophisticated can draw pity and amusement from Mr Mathers' Jew, converted by the Notariqons of "Berashith."  True, F.I.A.T. is Flatus, Ignis, Aqua, Terra; showing the Creator as Tetragrammaton, the synthesis of the four elements; showing the Eternal Fiat as the equilibrated powers of Nature.  But what forbids Fecit Ignavus Animan Terrae, or any other convenient blasphemy, such as Buddha would applaud?

Why not take our converted Jew and restore him to the Ghetto with Ben, Ruach, Ab, Sheol! --- IHVH, Thora?  why not take the sacred 'Iota chi theta upsilon sigma  of the Christian who thought it meant 'Iota eta sigma omicron upsilon sigma  Chi rho iota sigma tau omicron sigma Theta epsilon omicron upsilon  'Upsilon iota omicron sigma  Sigma omega tau eta rho  and make him a pagan with "'Iota sigma kappa delta omicron sigma Chi alpha rho iota sigma Theta eta sigma alpha upsilon rho omicron sigma  'Upsilon iota omega nu Sigma omicron phi iota alpha sigma "?

Why not argue that Christ in cursing the fig, F.I.G.., wished to attack Kant's dogmas of Freewill, Immortality, God?

3. Temurah.

Here again the multiplicity of our methods makes our method too pliable to be reliable.  Should we argue that BBL = ShShK (620) by the method of Athbash, and that therefore BBL symbolises Kether (620)?  Why, BBL is confusion, the
very opposite of Kether.

Why Athbash?  Why not Abshath? or Agrath? or any other of the possible combinations?

About the only useful Temurah is Aiq Bkr, given above.  In this we do find a suggestive reasoning.  For example, we find it in the attribution of ALHIM to the pentagram which gives pi .  [See EQUINOX, No. II. p. 184]  Here we write Elohim, the creative deities, round a pentagram, and read it reverse beginning with Lamed , Libra, the letter of equilibrium, and obtain an approximation to pi  3.1415 (good enough for the benighted Hebrews), as if thereby the finite square of creation was assimilated to the infinite circle of he Creator.

Yes: but why should not Berashith 2, 2, 1, 3, 1, 4, give, say, "e"?  The only answer is, that if you screw it round long enough, it perhaps will!

The Rational Table of Tzirup should, we agree with Fra. P., be left to the Rationalist Press Association, and we may present the Irregular Table of Commutations to Irregular Masons.

4.  To the less important methods we may apply the same criticism.

We may glance in passing at the Yetziratic, Tarot, and significatory methods of investigating any word.  But though Frater P. was expert enough in these methods they are hardly pertinent to the pure numerical Qabalah, and we therefore deal gently with them.  The attributions are given in "777".  Thus Aleph  in the Yetziratic world is "Air," by Tarot "the Fool," and by signification "an ox."  Thus we have the famous I.N.R.I. = Yod , Nun , Resh , Yod  = Virgo, Scorpio, Sun, Virgo; the Virgin, the Evil Serpent, the Sun, suggesting the story of Genesis ii. and of the Gospel.  The initials of the Egyptian names Isis, Apophis, Osiris, which correspond, give in their turn the Ineffable Name IAO; thus we say that the Ineffable is concealed in and revealed by the Birth, Death, and Resurrection of Christ; and further the Sings of Mourning of the Mother, Triumph of the Destroyer, and Rising of the Son, give by shape the letters L.U.X., Lux, which letters are (again)
concealed in and revealed by the Cross
..L   V  \/
   :  .'. /\  the Light of the Cross.  Further examples will be found in "A
Note on Genesis."   One of the most famous is the Mene, Tekel, Upharsin of
Daniel, the imaginary prophet who lived under Belshazzar the imaginary king.

MNA.  The Hanged Man, Death, the Fool = "Sacrificed to Death by thy Folly."

ThKL.  The Universe, the Wheel of Fortune, Justice =  "Thy kingdom's fortune is in the Balance."

PRSh.  The Blasted Tower, the Sun, the Last Judgment  = "Ruined is thy glory, and finished."

But we cannot help thinking that this exegesis must have been very hard work.

We could more easily read

MNA.  To sacrifice to death is folly.
ThKL.  Thy kingdom shall be fortunate, for it is just.
PRSh.  The Tower of thy glory shall endure until the Last Day.

There! that didn't take two minutes; and Belshazzar would have exalted us above Daniel.

Similarly AL, God, may be may be interpreted, "His folly is justice," as it is written: "The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God."

Or, by Yetzirah: "The air is His balance," as it is written: "God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament."

Or, by meaning: "The ox and the goad," "i.e.", "He is both matter and motion."

We here append a sketch MS. by Frater P., giving his explanation by Tarot, etc., of the letters of the alphabet spelt in full.

MYSTIC READINGS OF THE LETTERS OF THE ALPHABET ("See" TAROT CARDS, "AND MEDITATE")  
 

(Other meanings suit other planes and other grades.)
 

Truly there is no en to this wondrous science; and when the sceptic sneers, "With all these methods one ought to be able to make everything our of nothing," the Qabalist smiles back the sublime retort, "With these methods One did make everything out of nothing."

Besides these, there is still one more method --- a method of some little importance to students of the Siphra Dzenioutha, namely, the analogies drawn from the shapes of letters; these are often interesting enough.  Aleph , for example, is a Vau  between Yod  and Yod , making 26.  Thus Heh Vau Heh Yod 26 = Aleph, 1.  Therefore Jehovah is One.  But it would be as pertinent to continue 26 x 2 x 13, and 13 = Achad = 1, and therefore Jehovah is Two.

This then is an absurdity.  Yes; but it is also an arcanum!

How wonderful is the Qabalah!  How great is its security from the profane; how splendid its secrets to the initiate!

Verily and Amen! yet here we are at the old dilemma, that one must know Truth before one can rely upon the Qabalah to show Truth.

Like the immortal burglar:

   "Bill wouldn't hurt a baby --- he's a pal as you can trust,
    He's all right when yer know 'im; but yer've got to know 'im fust."

So those who have committed themselves to academic study of its mysteries have found but a dry stick: those who have understood (favoured of God!) have found therein Aaron's rod that budded, the Staff of Life itself, yea, the venerable Lingam of Mahasiva!

It is for us to trace the researches of Frater P. in the Qabalah, to show how from this storehouse of child's puzzles, of contradictions and incongruities, of paradoxes and trivialities, he discovered the very canon of Truth, the authentic key of the Temple, the Word of that mighty Combination which unlocks the Treasure-Chamber of the King.

And this following is the Manuscript which he has let for our instruction.