The Kabbalah Unveiled. S. L. Macgregor Mathers
I, Yod, as we have above said.) And by the name of Israel shall he call himself. He shall call himself thus in truth. (For the conception of the Microprosopus is more properly under the name of Jacob, whose wife is Rachel; and his cognomen, as it were, is Israel, whose wife is Leah.) [The understanding is Binan, the third Sephira, which is referred to the supernal H, He, The "beautiful path" is Tiphereth, the sixth. The foundation is Yesod, the ninth. It is the final Yod, I, of the form of the Tetragrammaton IHVI, which is referred to Yesod, and not the initial, which belongs to Chokmah, the second Sephira, the Father.]
40. That man shall say, I am the Lord's; he descendeth. (That is: that very conception of the word I, which is elsewhere attributed to the supernal mother, forasmuch as in her agree the three letters of the word ANI, Ani, I; namely A, Aleph, is the highest crown; N, Nun, is the understanding itself, in its fifty celebrated gates; I, Yod, is the foundation or knowledge of the Father; but in this instance it is attributed to the lowest grade of the lower mother, and now is ADNI, Adonaï, without the D, Daleth, D, or poverty, but filled with the influx, and is ANI, Ani.) And all things are called BIDV, Byodo (that is, all these things are applied to IVD, Yod, concerning which this discourse is.) All things cohere by the tongue, which is concealed in the mother. (That is, through Daath, or knowledge, whereby wisdom is combined with the understanding, and the beautiful path with his bride the queen; and this is the concealed idea, or soul, pervading the whole emanation.) Since this is opened for that which proceedeth from itself (that is, Daath is itself the beautiful path, but also the inner, whereto Moses referreth; and that path lieth hid within the mother, and is the medium of its conjunction. But whensoever it is considered in the outer, when it hath come forth from the mother, then is it called Jacob.)
[The reader is referred to the Introduction for the names, &c., of the Sephiroth. Nun in its fifty gates refers to the numerical value of the letter N, which is 50. The "lower mother" is of course the final H of the word IHVH, the "bride." Daath generally symbolizes the conjunction of the second and third Sephiroth.]
41. (And herein IHV Yod, He, Vau, differeth from the whole name and from all the four letters. Now, he turneth back to the other portion of the four--namely, IHV, Yod, He, Vau--and saith:) The Father resideth in the beginning (that is, that the letter I, Yod, which is the symbol of the wisdom and of the father, in that part holdeth the first place, like as in the whole system; since the crown nevertheless is hidden, and is only compared to the highest apex of the letter I, Yod). The mother in the middle (for the letter H, He, which is the symbol of the unformed understanding and the supernal mother, holdeth the middle place between I, Yod, and V, Vau, even as in the supernals she is comprehended by the Father from above, and by the Microprosopus, which is her son, she is covered from below, in whom she sendeth herself downward into the path of Hod, or of glory.) And she is covered on this side and on that (by the two, father and son). Woe, woe unto him who revealeth their nakedness! (Since this can be done by the faults of the inferiors, so that Microprosopus loseth this influx, whereby he is of so great power that he can seek to enshroud his mother; for that covering is the reception of the supernal influx, and the capability of transmitting the same to the inferiors, which cannot be done if the mother be uncovered and taken away from the Microprosopus, as the Israelites did when they committed the sin of the calf.
[IHV is of course the Tetragrammaton without the final H. It is interesting to note that in the qabalistical work called the "Sepher Yetzirah," this trigrammatic name is used instead of the Tetragrammaton. The crown which is hidden is Kether, the first Sephira, or Macroprosopus, who is AHIH, and is therefore not openly shown in IHVH. The path of Hod is the eighth Sephira. The father and the son, by whom the mother is enclosed, are of course the letters I and V in the word IHV. With regard to what is said regarding the Israelites when they committed the sin of the calf. I imagine that it is intended to intimate--(a) That the calf was a symbol of ALHIM, Elohim, not of IHVH; for the Israelites had said, "Make us Elohim to go before us." (b) That this name, "Elohim" is applied to the feminine portion of the Tetragrammaton HH. (c) That therefore the force was unbalanced which they adored, and that it would have been just as wrong to adore IV alone.)
42. And God said, let there be MARTh, Maroth, lights in the firmament of the heaven. (Now he hasteneth to the third part of that quadrilateral name, namely, to these two letters IH, Yod, He. But by lights are understood the sun and the moon, the beautiful path and the kingdom or bride. And herein the sense is this: although usually by these two letters are accustomed to be understood the Father and the Mother, or the wisdom and the understanding, yet in this place the supernal lights are wanting, like as the word MARTh, Maroth, is written in a defective form; and the meaning is proper to be applied unto the firmament of the heaven--that is, to the foundation, extended and prepared for marital conjunction; for the spouse is called the heaven, and the member of the treaty is the firmament, like, as, therefore, the two last paths in the whole name IHVI, Yod, He, Vau, Yod are designated by the letters V, Vau, and I, Yod, so likewise these in this portion of the square are designated by the letters, I, Yod, and H, He.) The husband hath dominion over the wife (since it is not written by V, Vau, but by I, Yod, which is the symbol of the member of the treaty, and herein denoteth the actual combination with the female): like as it is written (Prov. x. 25): "And the just man is the foundation of the world." (By this saying he illustrateth his meaning; because by the letter I, Yod, is understood the fundamental member by which the world is preserved in existence.)
(If the reader refers to the Introduction, he will there find in the Table showing the operation of the Sephiroth in the four worlds. &c., that in the world of Asiah the sun is referred to Tiphereth and the moon to Yesod. Furthermore, the circumstance of certain words being written defectively or redundantly is commented on in the Introduction, § 15. The term "square," or "square name." is sometimes applied to the Tetragrammaton. The phrase "member of the treaty" probably alludes to the symbolism of circumcision. In this sense, I, Yod, in the path of Yesod, the ninth Sephira, has a symbolical phallic signification.)
43. I, Yod, therefore irradiateth two. (That is, the letter I, Yod, in this square of the Tetragrammaton hath a double sense of influx, forasmuch as in the first instance it signifieth the father who illuminateth the mother; and forasmuch as in the second instance it signifieth the Microprosopus, or rather his treaty, which illuminateth the kingdom.) And (again in another manner) it shineth (that is, and also hath a third signification, whilst in the complete name it constituteth the last letter), and passeth on into the woman. That is, and denoteth the bride of Microprosopus, as is shown above, because it is put in the place of the last H, He, of the Tetragrammaton IHVH; like as also it hath the same power of signification in the connection of the names of existence and domination in this manner, IAChD, VNHI.)
44. (Now he turneth to the last part of this square, which is I, Yod, alone, and saith), I, Yod, remaineth one and alone (in order that it may show that all flow out from the one single letter I, Yod, which is in the form of a point, yet partaking of three parts, concerning which see elsewhere; yet in this place denoting only the woman, or the kingdom, wherein are contained all the supernals.).
[Yod at the end of the Tetragrammaton denotes the synthesis, the circular movement by which the end returns to the beginning. In the secret qabalistical alphabet known as the "celestial alphabet," Yod is represented by three circles at the angles of an equilateral triangle with the apex uppermost. Malkuth, the tenth Sephira, of course receives the influx of all the other Sephiroth (see Table showing the reception and transmission of the Sephiroth in the four worlds.]
45. And then (if now the Tetragrammaton be not considered in the manner just described, but in this manner of instituting the square, IHVI, IHV, IH, I, then Yod also is in a certain sense solitary, but in a plainly contrary sense. For it ascendeth in its path upwards and upwards. (That is, it doth not so much receive the higher sense, in order that it may denote the beautiful path or the foundation; but the highest, that is, the father or the wisdom.) The woman is again hidden. (That is, in this instance, the former meaning by which it denoted the bride of Microprosopus, namely, the last letter of the above-written form of the Tetragrammaton, ceaseth in itself.)
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