The Kabbalah Unveiled. S. L. Macgregor Mathers
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the real world is limited and not perfect, it cannot directly proceed from the Ain Soph: still the Ain Soph must exercise his influence over it, or his perfection would cease. Hence the Sephiroth, which, in their intimate connection with the Ain Soph, are perfect, and in their severance are imperfect, must be the medium.
Scholion.--Since all existing things originated by means of the Sephiroth, there are a higher, a middle, and a lower degree of the real world. (Vide infra, Proposition VI.)
III.--PROPOSITION.--There are ten intermediate Sephiroth.
PROOF.--All bodies have three dimensions, each of which repeats the other (3 x 3); and by adding thereto space generally, we obtain the number ten. As the Sephiroth are the potencies of all that is limited they must be ten.
(a) Scholion.--The number ten does not contradict the absolute unity of the Ain Soph; as one is the basis of all numbers, plurality proceeds from unity, the germs contain the development, just as fire, flame, sparks, and colour have one basis, though they differ from one another.
(b) Scholion.--Just as cogitation or thought, and even the mind as a cogitated object, is limited, becomes concrete, and has a measure, although pure thought proceeds from the Ain Soph; so limit, measure, and concretion are the attributes of the Sephiroth.
IV. PROPOSITION.--The Sephiroth are emanations, and not creations.
1. PROOF.--As the absolute. Ain Soph is perfect, the Sephiroth proceeding therefrom must also be perfect hence they are not created.
2. PROOF.--All created objects diminish by abstraction; the Sephiroth do not lessen, as their activity never ceases; hence they cannot be created.
Scholion.--The first Sephira was in the Ain Soph as a power before it became a reality; then the second Sephira emanated as a potency for the intellectual world; and afterwards the other Sephiroth emanated for the moral and material worlds. This, however, does not imply a prius and posterius, or a gradation in the Ain Soph, but just as a light whose kindled lights, which shine sooner and later, and variously, so it embraces all in a unity.
V. PROPOSITION.--The Sephiroth are both active and passive (MQBIL VMThQBL, Meqabil Va-Metheqabel.)
PROOF.--As the Sephiroth do not set aside the unity of the Ain Soph, each one of them must receive from its predecessor and impart to its successor--i.e., be receptive and imparting.
VI. PROPOSITION.--The first Sephira is called Inscrutable Height, RVM MOLH, Rom Maaulah; the second, Wisdom, ChKMH, Chokmah; the third, Intelligence, BINH, Binah; the fourth, Love, ChSD, Chesed; the fifth, Justice, PChD, Pachad; the sixth, Beauty, ThPARTh, Tiphereth; the seventh, Firmness, NTZCh, Netzach; the eighth, Splendour, HVD, Hod; the ninth, the Righteous is the Foundation of the World, TzDIQ ISVD OVLM, Tzediq Yesod Olahm; and the tenth, Righteousness, TzDQ, Tzedeq.
(a) Scholion.--The first three Sephiroth form the world of thought; the second three the world of soul; and the four last the world of body; thus corresponding to the intellectual, moral, and material worlds.
(b) Scholion.--The first Sephira stands in relation to the soul, inasmuch as it is called a unity, IChIDH, Yechidah; the second, inasmuch as it is denominated living, ChIH, Chiah; the third, inasmuch as it is termed, Spirit, RVCh, Ruach; the fourth, inasmuch as it is called vital principle, NPSh, Nephesch; the fifth, inasmuch as it is denominated soul, NShMH, Neschamah; the sixth operates on the blood, the seventh on the bones, the eighth on the veins, the ninth on the flesh, and the tenth on the skin.
(e) Scholion.--The first Sephira is like the concealed light, the second like sky-blue, the third like yellow, the fourth like white, the fifth like red, 1 the sixth like white-red, the seventh like whitish-red, the eighth like reddish-white, the ninth like white-red whitish-red reddish-white, and the tenth is like the light reflecting all colours.
77. I will now revert to the subject of Arikh Anpin and Zauir Anpin, the Macroprosopus and the Microprosopus, or the Vast and the Lesser Countenances. Macroprosopus is, it will be remembered, the first Sephira, or Crown Kether; Microprosopus is composed of six of the Sephiroth. (See subjoined plate.) In Macroprosopus all is light and brilliancy; but Microprosopus only shineth by the reflected splendour of Macroprosopus. The six days of creation correspond to the six forms of Microprosopus. Therefore the symbol of the interlaced triangles, forming the six-pointed star, is called the Sign of the Macrocosm, or of the creation of the greater world, and is consequently analogous to. the two countenances of the Zohar. This, however, is not the only occult reason that I have placed this symbol in the plate, for it typifies other ideas upon which I shall not here enter. The "Book of Concealed Mystery" fully discusses the symbolism of Macroprosopus and Microprosopus; therefore it is well, before reading it, to be cognizant of their similarities and differences. The one is AHIH, Eheieh; the other is the V, Vau, of the Tetragrammaton. The first two letters, I and H, Yod and He, are the father and mother of Microprosopus, and the H final is his bride. But in these forms is expressed the equilibrium of severity and mercy; 1 severity being symbolized by the two Hs, Hes, the mother and the bride, but especially by the latter. But while the excess of Mercy is not an evil tendency, but rather conveys a certain idea of weakness and want of force, too great an excess of severity calls forth the executioner of judgment, the evil and oppressive force, which is symbolized by Leviathan. Wherefore it is said, "Behind the shoulders of the bride the serpent rears his head:" of the bride, but not of the mother, for she is the supernal H, and bruises his head. "But his head is broken by the waters of the great sea." The sea is Binah, the supernal H, the mother. The serpent is the centripetal force, ever seeking to penetrate into Paradise (the Sephiroth), and to tempt the supernal Eve (the bride), so that in her turn she may tempt the supernal Adam (Microprosopus).
It is utterly beyond the scope of this Introduction to examine this symbolism thoroughly, especially as it forms the subject of this work; so I will simply refer my reader to the actual text for further elucidation, hoping that by the perusal of this introductory notice he will be better fitted to understand and follow the course of qabalistic teaching there given.
Footnotes
1 See note to the numerical values in the Table of the Hebrew Alphabet, &c.. Plate I.
1 Or, "which exists negatively."
1 "Euphrates; or, The Waters of the East."
1 BN, Ben, means "Son."
1 See Plate I., the Table of the Hebrew Alphabet, for the forms of the letters of the Tetragrammaton.
1 As distinguished from the God-man.
1 Beiträge zur Geschichte der Kabbalah, Erstes Heft." Leipzig. 1852.
1 This mixture of white and red refers to Microprosopus, as will be seen in the greater and lesser Holy Assembly.