The Book of Concealed Mystery (Siphra Dtzenioutha) · 1 of 9 · tr. S.L. MacGregor Mathers
1a
CHAPTER V.
1.
(It is written) Isa.
i.
4: "Woe unto the sinful nation, unto the people heavy with iniquity, unto the seed of evildoers, &c." (Here the author of the "Siphra Dtzenioutha" reasoneth concerning the small word HVI, "woe," which also is a form of the name.
And this word is alone separated from the following portions of the sentence.) 2.
Seven are the paths (if the Tetragrammaton, be written in this way partially complete), IVD, HH, V, H, (where the father and mother are written in full, Microprosopus and his bride are written uncovered.
If here the last and first letters be combined, and the penultimate and second, and therefore the paths at either extremity, so that they may form the letters) HI and VV (mother and son), then are produced (the three middle letters) HH, D (which are the symbols of the queen, heavy with judgments.
But if mother and daughter be combined) HVI and HH, (then) is produced forth VV (or Microprosopus)as well as DV (or the androgyn, who also is a condition of judgments), for occultly Adam is denoted, or the male and female, who are that DV concerning whom it is written (in the place cited above) "corrupt children." 3.
(When it is said) BRAShITh, BRA, Berashith bera , "In the beginning created," (the supernal paths are under p.
96 stood.
For) BRAShITh, Berashith , is the speech (one of the ten rules of Genesis), but BRA, Bera , is the speech halved.
(But there are here understood) Father and Son, the hidden and the manifest.
(And also) 4 The superior Eden is hidden and concealed.
(That is, no mention is made of the crown.) The inferior Eden cometh forth so that it may be transferred (towards the inferiors) and manifested (through the voice of its original, which denoteth wisdom.) ["No mention made of the crown"-- i.e.
, Kether, the first Sephira, Macroprosopus.] 5.
For the name (Tetragrammaton) IHVH, Yod , He , Vau , He , includeth the name IH, Yah , (which is of the father, and the name) ALHIM, Elohim (which here followeth in the text, and pertaineth unto the mother).
6.
ATh, Ath (the fourth word of this text, which in another manner signifieth the name) ADNI, Adonaï , "Lord" (namely, the path of the kingdom; also the name) AHIH, Eheieh (that is, the path of the crown, and this symbolizeth in itself the two extreme paths; here denoteth) the right and the left (that is, benignity and severity), which are united in one (equilibrium).
[ Ath , ATh, means "the," "the very substance of." Qabalistically it signifies "the beginning and the end," and is like the term "Alpha and Omega" used in the Apocalypse.
For as Alpha and Omega are respectively the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, so are Aleph and Tau of the Hebrew.
The "two extreme paths" are the crown, Kether, and the kingdom, Malkuth, the first and tenth Sephiroth.
the highest and the lowest, Macroprosopus, and the queen.
The Hermetic axiom that the structure of the cosmos is reflected at every scale — 'as above, so below; as within, so without' — making each level a legible map of the others.
Links the Superior Eden (hidden) with the Inferior Eden (manifested) through voice and wisdom.
The Stoic and Plotinian doctrine that all parts of the cosmos are bound by hidden affinities, so that a movement in one part resonates through the whole; the metaphysical basis for astrology, magic, and divination.
Suggests hidden affinities between letters and divine states that resonate through the cosmos.
A chain of divine beings or principles flowing downward from a single transcendent source (the One or the Father), each level less perfect than the one above.
[auto] The text outlines paths and relationships between divine figures like father, mother, and son.
The Hermetic doctrine that a masculine-feminine generative principle operates on every plane of being, not only the biological — present at all times as a structural feature of creation itself. Distinct from divine_marriage (a specific reunification event or symbol) and aeons (paired divine beings arranged in syzygies, not a universal structural claim).
The entire passage is structured around male-female divine pairs: Father and Mother (Macroprosopus and his bride), Microprosopus and his bride, and the explicit statement that 'the male and female' are the androgynous DV, making gender a structural feature of the divine architecture.
The balance of two contrary forces as the structural law of cosmos and operation — Lévi's equilibrium, expressed in Kabbalah by the senary: the will of God in its first cause, liberty in man, mathematical equilibrium in matter; the twofold vibration required to direct the Astral Light safely.
The passage explicitly states that the right and left (benignity and severity) 'are united in one (equilibrium),' directly expressing the balancing of two contrary forces as a structural law.
The human being as a small-scale image of the entire cosmos; the body, soul, and intellect mirroring the structure of the heavens and the divine — distinct from correspondence in that it makes the human the privileged mirror.
Denotes Adam as male and female reflecting the divine androgynous condition.
The Hermetic doctrine that apparent opposites are identical in nature but differ in degree — two extremes of the same scale (hot/cold, love/hate) — such that one pole can be shifted toward its opposite by a change of degree ('mental transmutation'). Distinct from opposites_transcended (a completion-state marking the path's end, not this doctrine's active technique) and magical_equilibrium (balance held BETWEEN two forces, not identity-by-degree of what looks like two forces).
The passage repeatedly presents paired opposites—hidden and manifest, right and left, benignity and severity, superior and inferior Eden, father and son—as two extremes of a single divine scale.
Iamblichean ritual practice that engages the gods directly through consecrated material symbols and actions, on the premise that divine power descends into properly prepared matter — distinct from philosophical contemplation alone.
Implies that manipulating letters and names engages divine power and conditions of judgment.