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Solve et Coagula
The Twenty-two Hebrew Letters
Aside from being the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, these twenty-two letters have been associated in Qabalah with the Zodiac, Planets, and Elements. They are sometimes described as connecting the ten Sephiroth; there are various ways but that depicted here is commen in the Western Mystery Tradition and Hermetic Qabalah.
ספר היצירה Sepher ha-Yetzirah (the Book of Formation)
2:2 Twenty-two Foundation letters: He engraved them, He carved them, He permuted them, He weighed them, He transformed them, and with them, He depicted all that was formed and all that would be formed.
3:3 Three Mothers: ש ,מ ,א. He engraved them, He carved them, He permuted them, He weighed them, and with them He depicted Three Mothers אמש in the Universe, Three Mothers אמש in the Year, Three Mothers אמש in the Soul, male and female.
4:6 Seven Doubles: ת ,ר ,פ ,כ ,ד ,ג ,ב of Foundation. He engraved them, He carved them, He permuted them, He weighed them, He transformed them, and with them He formed, Seven planets in the Universe, Seven days in the Year, Seven gates in the Soul, male and female.
5:3 Twelve Elementals: ק ,צ ,ע ,ס ,נ ,ל ,י ,ט ,ח ,ז ,ו ,ה. Their foundation is [that] He engraved them, carved them, permuted them, weighed them, and transformed them, and with them He formed twelve constellations in the Universe, twelve months in the Year, and twelve directors in the Soul, male and female.
6:5 Three: each one stands alone, one acts as advocate, one acts as accusor, and one decides between them. Seven: three opposite three, and one is the rule deciding between them. Twelve stand in war: three love, three hate, three give life, and three kill. [...] And God faithful King rules over them all from His holy habitation until eternity of eternities. One on three, three on seven, seven on twelve, and all are bound, one to another.
6:7 [...] And He bound the 22 letters of the Torah to his tongue and He revealed to him His mystery; He drew them in water, He flamed them with fire, He agitated them with Breath, He burned them with the seven [planets], He directed them with the twelve constellations.
א |
ב |
ג |
ד |
ה |
ו |
ז |
ח |
ט |
י |
כ |
ל |
מ |
נ |
ס |
ע |
פ |
צ |
ק |
ר |
ש |
ת |
Last of all is the most mysterious passage of them all, and if any of you saw it you would think there was a foolish man in it
being bitten by crocodiles and dogs, and carrying a sack with nothing any use in it at all. But really it is the man who meant
to wake up, and did wake up. So that it is his House, he is the old King himself, and so are you. So he wouldn’t care what any
one thought he was. He made the letter Alef king over Breath and He bound a crown to it and He combined them one with another and with them He
formed Air in the Universe, the temperate in the Year, and the chest in the Soul, the male with אמש and
the female with אמש. |
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Truth, laughter, lust: Wine's Holy Fool! Veil
rent,
And there is the way by which I always go to the King, my Father, and that passage is built of thunder and lightning; but
there is a holy Magician called Hermes, who takes me through so quickly that I arrive sometimes even at the very moment that
I start. He let the letter Bet predominate in Life, crowned it, combined one with the other and formed by them: Mercury in the world,
the Fourth day in the year, and the right eye in man, male and female {Contrary to the G∴ D∴ interpretation used here, the
more reliable texts say: Moon, First Day and right eye}. He made the letter Bet king over Wisdom and He bound a crown to it and He combined one with another and with them He formed the Moon in the Universe, Sunday in the Year, the right eye in the Soul, male and female. |
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The Word of Wisdom weaves the web of
lies,
The way by which he is joined with the new Fairy Prince, where dwells a moonlike virgin with an open book, and always, always
reads beautiful words therein, smiling mysteriously through her shining veil, woven of sweet thoughts and pure kisses. He let the letter Gemel predominate in Peace, crowned it, combined one with the other, and formed by them: the Moon in the
world, the Second day in the year and right ear in man, male and female. {There are various associations of the seven gates of
the senses to different things. The whole matter is the subject of a tract in the "Sepher Zohar" "The Book of Concealed Mystery"
— this tract may be found in Mather's "Kabbalah Unveiled" and in Luzzatto's "General Principles of the Kabbalah". Neither of
these two books provide an exact solution to the allocation of the seven double letters, but they provide material from which
the problem may be attacked. The more reliable texts here assign: Mars, Second day and right ear.} He made the letter Gimel king over Wealth and He bound a crown to it and He combined one with another and with them He formed Mars in the Universe, Monday in the Year, the right ear in the Soul, male and female. |
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Mother, moon-maiden, playmate, bride of Pan;
There is the path of the Queen of Love which is more beautiful than anything, and along it my own dear lover passes to my
bridal chamber. He let the letter Dalet predominate in Wisdom, crowned it, combined one with the other, and formed by them: Venus in the
world, the sixth day in the year, the right nostril in man, male and female. {The word translated there as "Man" is actually
"Nepesh", the name of the "animal soul" or that which animates the body during life. This word is used in all statements like
this one throughout the "Yetzirah" in the Hebrew text. Later mystical traditions ascribe the Nepesh soul to be the ghostly
spirit that lingers after death in some cases while higher souls are said to ascend to better places. The more reliable texts
here assign: Sun, Third day and right nostril.} He made the letter Dalet king over Seed and He bound a crown to it and He combined one with another and with them He formed the Sun in the Universe, Tuesday in the Year, The right nostril in the Soul, male and female. |
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Beauty, display thine Empire! Truth above
Then there was another passage which was really too secret for anything; all I shall tell you is, there was the most beautiful Goddess that ever was, and she was
washing herself in a river of dew. If you ask what she is doing she says: “I’m making thunderbolts.” It was only starlight, and yet one could see quite clearly, so don’t
think I’m making a mistake. He made the letter Heh "All these old letters of my Book are aright; but צ is not the Star." - Liber AL, I:57
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Nuit, our Lady of the Stars! Event
The path of the Hierophant with the flaming star and the incense in the vast cathedral. He made the letter Vav king over thought and He bound a crown to it and He combined one with another and with them He
formed Taurus in the Universe, Iyar in the Year, and the right kidney in the Soul, male and female. |
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Wisdom to each apportioned to his want
The passage where the twins live is very difficult too. They are too sisters; and one is very pure and good, and they other is a horrid fast woman. But that just
shows you how silly dream language is—really there is another way to put it: you can say they are two sisters, and one is very silly and ignorant, and the other has
learnt to know and enjoy. Now when one is a Princess it is very important to have good manners, so you have to go into the passage, and take one on each arm, and go
through with them singing and dancing; and if you hurt the feelings of either of them the least little bit in the world it would show you were not really a great lady,
only a dress lady, and there is a man with a bow and arrow in the air, and he would soon finish you, and you would never get to the Third House at all. He made the letter Zayin king over motion and He bound a crown to it and He combined one with another and with them He
formed Gemini in the Universe, Sivan in the Year, and the left foot in the Soul, male and female. |
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To each his Understanding sooth discovers
Now I shall tell you about the chariot race in the first passage. The chariot is all carved out of pure, clear amber, so that electric sparks fly about as the furs
rub it. The whole cushions and rugs are all beautiful soft ermine fur. There is a canopy of bright blue with stars (like the sky in the dream world), and the
chariot is drawn by two sphinxes, one black and one white. The charioteer is a most curious person; he is a great big crab in the most lovely glittering
armour, and he can just drive! His name in the mysterious name I told you about with eleven letters in it, but we call him Jehu for short, because he’s
only nineteen years old. It’s important to know though because this journey is the most difficult of all, and without the chariot one couldn’t ever do it,
because it is so far—much further than the heaven is from the earth in the dream world. He made the letter Chet king over sight and He bound a crown to it and He combined one with another and with them He
formed Cancer in the Universe, Tamuz in the Year, and the right hand in the Soul, male and female. |
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Behold, the Chariot! Through the water floods
But I was telling you about the ways to the Fourth House, and the third way is full of lions, and a person might be
afraid; only whenever one comes to bite at you, there is a lovely lady who puts her hands in its mouth and shuts it. So we
went through quite safely, and I thought of Daniel in the lions’ den. He made the letter Tet king over hearing and He bound a crown to it and He combined one with another and with them He
formed Leo in the Universe, Av in the Year, and the left kidney in the Soul, male and female. |
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The Lion-Serpent begets Gods! Thy throne
Then there was a really lovely passage, like a deep wood in Springtime, the dearest old man came along who had lived
there all his life, because he was the guardian of it, and he didn’t need to travel because he belonged to the First House
really from the beginning. He wore a vast cloak, and he carried a lamp and a long stick; and he said that the cloak meant
you were to be silent and not say anything you saw, and the lamp meant you were to tell everybody and make them glad, and
the stick was like a guide to tell you which to do. But I didn’t quite believe that, because I am getting a grown-up girl
now, and I wasn’t to be put off like that. I could see that the stick was really the measuring rod with which the whole
Palace was built, and the lamp was the only light they had to build it by, and the cloak was the abyss of darkness that
covers it all up. He made the letter Yud king over action and He bound a crown to it and He combined one with another and with them He formed Virgo in the Universe, Elul in the Year, and the left hand in the Soul, male and female.- Sepher ha Yetzirah, 5:8 (Kaplan) |
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Most secret seed of all Life's serpent plan,
The first passage is a very curious place, all full of wheels and ever such strange creatures, like monkeys and sphinxes and jackals climbing about them and trying
to get to the top. It was very silly, because there isn’t really any top to a wheel at all; the place you want to get to is the centre, if you want to be quiet. He let the letter Koph predominate in Wealth, crowned it, combined one with the other, and formed by them: Jupiter in the world, the Fifth day in the year, and the
left eye in man, male and female {The more reliable texts here assign: Venus, Fourth day, left eye}. He made the letter Kaf king over Life and He bound a crown to it and He combined one with another and with them He formed Venus in the Universe, Wednesday in the Year, the left eye in the Soul, male and female. |
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Sped by its energies triune, the Wheel
Then there was the other passage where there was a narrow edge of green crystal, which was all you had to walk on, and
there was a beautiful blue feather balancing on the edge, and if you disturbed the feather there was a lady with a sword,
and she would cut off your head. So I didn’t dare hardly to breathe, and all round there were thousands and thousands of
beautiful people in green who danced and danced like anything, and at the end there was the terrible door of the Fifth
House, which is the Royal armoury. He made the letter Lamed king over coition and He bound a crown to it and He combined one with another and with them He formed Libra in the Universe, Tishrei in the Year, and the gall bladder in the Soul, male and female.- Sepher ha Yetzirah, 5:9 (Kaplan) |
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Adjustment! Rhythm writhes through every act.
The [passage] is all water [...] you must be painted all over with blood up to your waist, and you cross your legs, and then they put a rope round one ankle and
swing you off. I had such a pretty white petticoat on, and my Prince said I looked just like a white pyramid with a huge red cross on the top of it, which
made me ever so glad, because now I knew I should be the Saviour of the World, which is what one wants to be, isn’t it? Only sometimes the world
means all the other children in the dream, and sometimes the dream itself, and sometimes the wake-things one sees before one is quite, quite awake. He made Mem king over water and He bound a crown to it and He combined one with another and with them He formed Earth in the Universe, Cold in the Year, and the belly
in the Soul: the male with מאש and the female with משא. |
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In Mother-Deeps of Ocean the God-Man
My Fairy Prince was laughing all the time in the third path. There was nobody there but an old gentleman who had but his
bones on outside, and was trying ever so hard to cut down the grass with a scythe. But the faster he cut it, the faster it
grew. My Fairy Prince said: “Everybody that ever was has come along this path, and yet only one ever got to the end of it.”
But I saw a lot of people walking straight through as if they knew it quite well; he explained, though, that they were
really only one; and if you walked through that proved it. I thought that was silly, but he’s much older and wiser than I
am; so I said nothing. The truth is that it is a very difficult Palace to talk about, and the further you get in, the
harder it is to say what you mean because it all has to be put into dream talk, as of course the language of the wake-world
is silence. He made the letter Nun king over smell and He bound a crown to it and He combined one with another and with them He formed Scorpio in the Universe, Cheshvan in the Year, and the intestine in the Soul, male and female.- Sepher ha Yetzirah, 5:9 (Kaplan) |
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Eagle, and Snake, and Scorpion! The Dance
Then there was another passage called the Arrow by Day, and there was a most lovely lady all shining with the sun, and
moon, and stars, who was lighting a great bowl of water with one hand, by dropping dew on it out of a cup, and with the
other she was putting out a terrible fire with a torch. She had a red lion and a white eagle, that she had always had ever
since she was a little girl. She had found them in a nasty pit full of all kinds of filth, and they were very savage; but
by always treating them kindly they had grown up faithful and good. This should be a lesson to all of us never to be unkind
to our pets. He made the letter Samekh king over sleep and He bound a crown to it and He combined one with another and with them He formed Sagittarius in the Universe, Kislev in the Year, and the Kivah in the Soul, male and female.- Sepher ha Yetzirah, 5:9 (Kaplan) |
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Solve, coagula! By V.I.T.R.I.O.L. shewn,
But in the first we came to a mighty throne of grey granite, shaped like the sweetest pussy cat you ever saw, and set up
on a desolate heath. It was midnight and the Devil came down and sat in the midst; but my Fairy Prince whispered: “Hush! it
is a great secret, but his name is Yeheswah, and he is the Saviour of the World.” And that was very funny, because the girl
next to me thought it was Jesus Christ, till another Fairy Prince (my Prince’s brother) whispered as he kissed her: “Hush,
tell nobody ever, that is Satan, and he is the Saviour of the World.” He made the letter Eyin king over anger and He bound a crown to it and He combined one with another and with them He formed Capricorn in the Universe, Tevet in the Year, and the liver in the Soul, male and female.- Sepher ha Yetzirah, 5:10 (Kaplan) |
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Ιο παν! upon the summits the God-goat
The third path is a most terrible passage; it’s all a great war, and there’s earthquakes and chariots of fire, and all the castles breaking to pieces. He let the letter Peh predominate in Beauty, crowned it, combined one with the other, and formed by them: Mars in the world, the Third day in the year, and the left
ear in man, male and female. {The more reliable texts say: Mercury, Fifth day, left ear}. He made the letter Peh king over Dominance and He bound a crown to it and He combined one with another and with them He formed Mercury in the Universe, Thursday in the Year, the left ear in the Soul, male and female. |
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Bellona scream! Unhood the Hawks! The roar
The path of the Mighty Ruler, who governs everything with his orb and his crown and his sceptre. He made the letter Tzadi "All these old letters of my Book are aright; but צ is not the Star." - Liber AL, I:57
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Sire and inceptor, Emperor and King
We walked through a pool, each on the arm of a great big Beetle, and then we found ourselves on a narrow winding path.
There were nasty Jackals about, they made such a noise, and at the end I could see two towers. Then there was the queerest
moon you ever saw, only a quarter full. The shadows fell so strangely, one could see the most mysterious shapes, like great
bats with women’s faces, and blood dripping from their mouths, and creatures partly wolves and partly men, everything
changing from one into the other. And we saw shadows like old, old, ugly women, creeping about on sticks, and all of a
sudden they would fly up into the air, shrieking the funniest kind of songs, and then suddenly one would come down flop,
and you saw she was really quite young and ever so lovely, and she would have nothing on, and as you looked at her she
would crumble away like a biscuit. He made the letter Kuf king over laughter and He bound a crown to it and He combined one with another and with them He formed Pisces in the Universe, Adar in the Year, and the spleen in the Soul, male and female.- Sepher ha Yetzirah, 5:10 (Kaplan) |
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Witch-moon, upon thy beck of blood afloat
So we went (at the same time it was; you see in dreams people can only be in one place at a time; that’s the best of being awake) through another passage, which was
lighted by the Sun. Yet there were fairies dancing in a great green ring, just as if it was night. And there were two children playing by the wall, and my Fairy Prince
and I played as we went; and he said: “The difference is that we are going through. Most people play without a purpose; if you are travelling it is all right, and play
makes the journey seem shorter.” He let the letter Resh predominate in Fruitfulness, crowned it, combined one with the other, and formed by them: The Sun in the world, the First day in the year, and
the left nostril in man, male and female. {The more reliable texts say: Saturn, Sixth day and left nostril.} He made the letter Resh king over Peace and He bound a crown to it and He combined one with another and with them He formed Saturn in the Universe, Friday in the Year, the left nostril in the Soul, male and female. |
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The Sun, our Father! Soul of Life and Light,
This passage was all fire and flames and full of coffins. There was an Angel blowing ever so hard on a trumpet, and people
getting up out of the coffins. My Fairy Prince said: “Most people never wakeup for anything less.” He made Shin king over fire and He bound a crown to it and He combined one with another and with them He formed Heaven in the Universe, Hot in the Year, And the head
in the Soul: the male with שאם And the female with שמא. |
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Nuit, Hadit, Ra-Hoor-Khuit! The Aeon,
We came into a dreadful dark passage again, so narrow and low, that it was like a dirty old tunnel, and yet so vast and wide that everything in the whole world was
contained in it. We saw all the strange dreams and awful shapes of fear, and really I don’t know how we ever got through, except that the Prince called for some
splendid strong creatures to guard us. There was an eagle that flew, and beat his wings, and tore and bit at everything that came near; and there was a lion that roared
terribly, and his breath was a flame, and burnt up the things, so that there was a great cloud; and rain fell gently and purely, so that he really did the things good
by fighting them. And there was a bull that tossed them on his horns, so that they changed into butterflies; and there was a man who kept telling everyone to be quiet
and not make a noise. He let the letter Taw predominate in Dominion, crowned it, combined one with the other, and formed by them Saturn in the world, the Seventh day in the year, and the
mouth of man, male and female. {The more reliable texts say: Jupiter, Seventh day and mouth.} He made the letter Tav king over Grace and He bound a crown to it and He combined one with another and with them He formed Jupiter in the Universe, the Sabbath in the Year, the mouth in the Soul, male and female. |
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Naught becomes All to realize the spanhttp://hermetic.com/heidrick/yetzirah.html