Carlo Suares: The Sepher Yetsira: 12: The Seven Doubles

WHEN DEALING with Chapter IV, l, I was faced with a world of complexities: the Hebrew text, phonetic transcriptions in English, verbal symbolism (IV,2), the extremities of space (IV,3), the formation of the Planets (IV,6), the formation, one by one, of the seven Planets, the days of the week and the seven orifices of the face -- two eyes, two ears, two nostrils and the mouth (IV,5 to 12) -- and lastly a mathematical calculation of the combinations of the numbers one to seven. I could only follow the text and had no opportunity to check or delete the items which cannot be verified scientifically. These constitute the totality of the text except, perhaps, the reference to the Planets, and even these seemed doubtful. After having surveyed all the implications of the "Seven Doubles," which I had to do, I was able to go to the roots of the matter and to explain what these 7 are, and why they have dual characteristics. This allowed me to describe the nature of the Planets according to The Sepher Yetsira to be accepted, or not, by astrologers. The Hebrew text and the code are at the reader's disposal. If he is really interested he will read the analysis of the Sevens' opposite qualities: Hhaim-mot, Shalom-Raa, etc. At this stage J must assume that it can be understood why Hhaim (Hhayt-Yod-Yod-Mem) means, roughly, Life, and so on and so on. For it would be useless to begin the a b c OE the code all over again while trying to go further. Here are the Seven Doubles (IV,I) and their opposite qualities, briefly stated in their colloquial meanings, but not in their decoded meanings. Vayt is Hhaim=alive                              Bayt is Mot=death Djimel is Shalom=peace                       Ghimel is Raa=bad Thallet is Hhokmah=intelligence          Dallet is Olet=folly Khaf is 'Osser=health                            Kaw is 'Oni=poverty Phay is Hhan=charm                             Pay is Kee'or=dreamy Raysh is Zar' =seed                               Raysh is Shemama=waste Thav is Memshela= government          Tav is 'Abadot=slavery The constant factor is that the unpointed seven (soft in sound) are "good" and the pointed (hard) are "bad." We know that all the Autiot are not only symbols of different states of energy, but are actually those states which they represent. They are not, as it were, snapshots of fixed, congealed states; they are alive and active. Hence, they can react in opposite ways to the cosmic flow of living energy. In that they allow themselves to be penetrated by it, they are "soft;" in that they resist it, they are "hard." Obviously, then, when these Autiot absorb the cosmic energy (most favourably at night during sleep) my Vayt (body) is life, my Djimel (organic movement) is completely at peace, my Thallet (response to life) is intelligent, my Khaf (actions) are rich, my Phay (level of unconsciousness) are no longer cramped and complex but graceful and charming, my Raysh (projecttion of the cosmic body) is fruitful, my Thav (echo in me of the cosmic response to the flow of life) is in order. Contrarywise, if the Autiot in me react in daytime (as action) to the flow of life my Bayt (body) dies, my Ghimel (organic movement) spreads evil and calamities, my Dallet (response) is foolish and stupid, my Kaf (actions) only lead to poverty and affliction, my Pay does not know that it is half awake and half blind, my Raysh (cosmic container) is waste and void, my Tav (resistance to Aleph) drives me into a state of slavery. These statements are paradoxical only for the everyday, matter-of-fact state of consciousness. However, we must keep in mind the "Nativot Phayliot" of the 1st verse of The Sepher Yetsira shows that ouv sensorial world is the reverse of the Encvgy that pervades it. Thus understood, these statements ave nothing but plain common sense and dispel, once and for all, thc clouds of "occult mysteries" that have been wafted around The Sepher Yetsira by many generations of erudite illiterates. IV,2 asks us to re-establish the twofold flow of life in opposite directions. It contradicts the notion of life emanating from a deity in a one-way direction, and is therefore expressed with caution. IV,3 places the seven in space, taking the Earth as the centre (or observer). In this case the observer is the centre, the inner point where Aleph and Tav (life and its sanctuary) meet. This is my reason for composing a Zodiac to be read from the centre, from an Aleph. The Zodiac will have to be read by rotating it. IV,4 casts the seven in the skies and opens the way to astrology proper. The emphasis of the number seven and its variations, such as Shabyi, Shabatot, Shabat, leads us to Shabatai (Saturn) to whom priority is given. It is therefore formed by Vayt. The Planets Here is the chart of the seven Planets formed by the seven double letters, as re-established by the Zodiac: Shabatai       formed by         Vayt is Hhaim (alive) in Ghedi (Capricorn) (Saturn)                                  Bayt is Mot (dead) in Deli (Aquarius) Tsedeq         formed by           Djimel is Shalom (peace) in Daghirn (Pisces) (Jupiter)                                  Ghimel is Raa (bad) in Qoshet (Sagittarius) Meadim         formed by        Thallet is Hhokmah (intelligent) in 'Aqarav (Scorpio) (Mars)                                     Dallet is Olet (folly) in Toleh (Aries) Hhamah         formed by        Khaf is O'sser (wealth) in Arieh (Leo) (Sun)                                      Kaf is O'ni (poverty) in Arieh (Leo) Nogah           formed by         Phay is Hhan (charm) in Shaur (Taurus ) (Venus)                                   Pay is Kee'or (dreamy) in Meoznaim (Libra) Kawkab         formed by         Raysh is Zar' (seed) in Betolah (Virgo) (Mercury)                                Raysh is Shemama (waste) in Teomaim (Gemini) Lavanah         formed by         Thav is Memshalah (ruler) in Sartan (Cancer) (Moon)                                    Tav is Abadot (slavery) in Sartan (Camcer) the next step for the students who wish to establish the position of the sky according to The Sepher Yetsira is to imagine themselves as inside the spatial cube, facing East (as described above) and, following the instructions of IV,3, to put Shabatai (Saturn) at the top, Tsedeq (Jupiter) below, Meadim (Mars) in the East, Hhamah (The Sun) in the West, Nogah (Venus) in the North, Kawkab (Mercury) in the South, and Lvanah (The Moon) inside, Then, in accordance with verses I and Il, six diagonals should be imagined, each carrying a flow of energy in one single direction, thus; East-North with Hay forming Toleh (Aries) East-South with Waw forming Shaur (Taurus) East-Top with Zayn forming Teomaim (Gemini) East-Bottom with Hhayt forming Sartan (Cancer) North-Top with Tayt forming Arieh (Leo) North-Bottom with Yod forming Betolah (Virgo) West-South with Lammed forming Meoznaim (Libra) West-North with Noun forming 'Aqarav (Scorpio) West Top with Sammekh forming Qashot (Sagittarius) West-Bottom with Ayn forming Ghedi (Capricorn) South-Top with Tsadde forming Deli (Aquarius) South-Bottom with Qof forming Daghim (Pisces) I do not think that it is necessary to make a drawing of all the zodiacal signs and planets within this elaborate cube. Nor do I know what such a construction would lead to, because, as I pointed out when dealing with it, (see page 85-87) the cube is not a representation of physical space, but a chart symbolising our psychological structures. (And where would be the starting points of infinite directions?) Therefore, the position of the six planets on the surface of the cube and of the seventh (the Moon) inside it have definite psychological meanings expressed by their names; these meanings and names describe, in order, the values of their inner-most energy, by means of the double Autiot which form them, and locate them in different zodiacal signs. Shabatai (Saturn) is formed by Vayt-Bayt on the upper surface of the cube and thus graces us with the blessing of the Sabbath. It gives us freedom of action through the release Of our complete vitality, Its name is Sheen, the cosmic breath, Bayt, our physical body, Tav, the completion of our body as a Tabernacle of universal life-death and, finally the Yod Of manifested existence. Thus Shabatai on our head showers us with symbolic fire, that which forms the head; it is Hhaim (alive) by Vayt in Ghedi (Capricorn), and Mot (dead) by Bayt in Deli (Sagittarius), Tsedeq (Jupiter) formed by Djimel-Ghimel on the bottom surface is the sense of Justice upon which we stand: the sense of our rights and duties. Its name, Tsedeq, is, first of all, the Tsadde of all structures; then the Dallet of the necessary resistance to structures, leading to the cosmic Aleph: Qof. It is Shalom, (in peace) by Djimel, in Daghim (Pisces), and Raa (uncertain) by Ghimel in Qoshet (Sagittarius). Meadim (Mars) formed by Thallet-Dallet to the East, towards which we look, is always ahead of us. However long wc look in that direction we can never completely grasp it. The name Adam is contained in its name, mixed with Mem and Yod, the Autiot of the Waters. We project on Mars the wisdom which we have not yet attained. Our response to that projection is Hhokmah (intelligence) by Thallet in 'Aqarev (Scorpio); our blunt resistance to the future is Olet (folly). Hhamah (Sun) formed by Khaf-Kaf is behind us (West) as we face the East. We do not see the sun, but only our shadow cast at our feet. We cannot look at it fixedly: it would blind us. We cannot stand the power of its emanations. It provides all energy: it destroys, burns and calcinates by its power. Its elemental Hhayt has to meet the elemental Mem of the waters, and only then does it give forth its third Aut, Hay (life), and fertilise our actions. Its two formations are both in Arieh (Leo). By Khaf Hhameh it is O'ser (richness) and by Kaf it is O'ni (poverty). Nogah (Venus) formed by Phay-Pay, is on our left, on the Northern surface. Its name, Nogah, is a pleasant, naive, charming, thoughtless copulation, before sin was invented. The Northern energy, entering the waters of our body through the left hand, has no reason to be other than it is until it meets the psyche. In Shaur (Taurus) Nogah is Hhan (Hhayt unstructured, Noun final indeterminate). When by Pay, Nogah is in Meaznim (Libra) she is Ki'Or the mirage in which we have lived and perhaps of the illusions of our dream world, The name, Noun, Waw, Ghimel, Hay, is the picture of an organic life. Kawkab (Mercury) formed by Raysh unpointed and pointed is South, the flowing out through the right hand of the energy we receive through the left hand. Its name means, traditionally, the messenger of the gods and expresses (Kaf-Vaw-Kaf-Bayt) a dual action of self-fertilisation, thus justifying the epithet "messenger": an action towards an action, carrying the message, brought unconsciously by Venus, into conscious activity. By unpointed Raysh. Kawkabis Zar' (a seed) in Belolah (Virgo) and by pointed Raysh, it is Shememah (waste) in Teomaim (Gemini). Lavanah, the Moon. alone is inside the cube, at the centre. Therefore it is inside our psyche. It is formed by Thav and Tav, a strange tabernacle of cosmic energy, resisting Aleph to the potnt of being Aleph itself. Its name, beginning with the Lammed of Al, projects an infinite organic movement into our conviousness and engenders both the Noun of manifested life and the Hay of life -- two lives, one manifested, the other essential. The moon is regarded here as the source of our psychic energy. Its two formations by Thav and Tav, are both in Sartan (Cancer): Memshelah (towards a high evolution) by Thav, and Abadot (in slavery) by Tav. At this point a fundamental question arises. The cube, the planets with their positions, names and formative Autiot, their briefly-described inner nature, all form a consistent picture. But has this picture any relationship at all with the planets, as they exist in our solar system, and with their influence, if any, on our lives and on our physical and psychological bodies? When preparing the first, French, version of this book my chief concern was to find out if, by putting the names of the planets and of the zodiacal signs face to face, according to the code, I could reach conclusions more or less in agreement with the (absurd) encounter between Venus and a Bull, or Jupiter and the Fishes, and so on, As I have already stated, the results were far better than I could have expected, although I am totally ignorant of astrology, The horoscopes were cast by qualified astrologers by means of their calculations; the ephemeris and many traditional correspondences between the ascendent signs, the ecliptic, houses' degrees of the Zodiac, and other learned things of which I know nothing, I cannot cast a horoscope, but why can I read one as a psychological projection of the person concerned? I hardly believe that astrology is the result of physical observations of the sky and, I dare say, many astrologers also have their doubts. Imagine a time when there was no astrology: how could it have begun? Before investigating the cause of an effect, we must have felt the effect. So, to begin with, the influence of the planets on human lives, bodies and psyches must have been observed, Yet, if the system be the result of statistics, how many millions of lives would have had to be followed, day after day, for how tuany generations? How could such a fantastic number of records have been classified and read? Moreover, we must, a priori, grant that the anonymous authors of The Sepher Yetsira had serious intentions, and that they were not "joking" when they stated that different parts of the body are "formed" by Autiot corresponding to planets (e.g.: the seven orifices of the face), or that Zodiacal signs and their Autiot establish such functions as sight, hearing, nutrition, etc. My conclusion is that the originators of astrology were in direct conscious relationship with the life of the seven planets. (Uranus, Neptune and Pluto were discovered only recently, and their qualities are much a matter of speculation, leading to contradictory conclusions). We feel directly, and partially know, only the Sun and the Moon. Our awareness of the solar system as a whole, our galaxy and all the galaxies, is fragmentary, although we receive their impact. Many rays are being discovered -- cosmic, alpha, magnetic, electric and so on -- but we have yet to learn how universal energy has projected us as human beings limited to a physical body and to a personal consciousness. Such things have become known directly and intuitively. We are wanderers on a fossilized world, and thanks to scientific investigations using electronic and other more and more subtle and accurate devices, we can prove and recreate this knowledge. The very days of the week bear witness to the long-lost knowledge: Sun-day; Moon-day; in Italian Marte-di, the day of Mars for Tuesday; in French, Mercre-di, the day of Mercury for Wednesday; Giove-di, in Italian, the day of Jupiter (Giove, in Italian) for Thursday; Vener-di, the day of Venus (Venere in Italian) for Friday; Satur-day for Saturn, or Sabato in Italian, for Shabatai, the Sabbath. And there are seven planets. Leaving aside references to the human body, the days of the week, and the months, I now come to a study of the Twelve Simples.