The Book of Concealed Mystery (Siphra Dtzenioutha) · 5 of 9 · tr. S.L. MacGregor Mathers
1e
31: "And He was wise above every man." Because these are not classed with man.
21.
(But when it is said) "And the Tetragrammaton gave him wisdom," then is understood the supernal He .
(Because he gave unto him the influx of the wisdom of the queen.) "And he was wise before every man," because from her he received the wisdom here below (through the path to the kingdom).
22.
Those (spirits) are powerful who exist from eternity.
That is, from (eternity or) the supernal world (the understanding, namely, whence are excited severity and rigour).
The men of the name (that is) who exercised themselves in the name.
23.
In what name?
In the Holy Name, wherein they exercised themselves (for the performing of various wonders), and not the holy inferiors.
Yet (these) did not exercise themselves save in the name (and not in holiness).
24.
It is said openly "the men of the name," and not p.
102 [paragraph continues] "the men of the Tetragrammaton." Not (therefore used they the name) with respect unto the mystery of the Arcanum, or in a diminutive form; nor yet with any diminution of the (name itself).
25.
(And because) the men of the name (are) openly (spoken of, hence) are they shut out from the general conception of man.
26.
It is written, Ps.
xlix.
12: "Man being in honour, abideth not." (When it is said) "man being in honour" (the same is as if also it were said, a man such as was Solomon) shall not remain long in the honour of the King without the spirit.
(That is, in the influx from the King, Microprosopus, to whom, or to the beautiful path, the spirit belongeth.) 27.
Thirteen kings (that is, the twelve metatheses of the Tetragrammaton with its radix, which are the measures of mercies) wage war with seven (with the Edomite kings; because, while the lights of the former flowed down, these could not maintain themselves, and, besides, they are the classes of the most rigorous judgments which are opposed to the mercies.
For) seven kings are seen in the land (Edom), and now after that their vessels are broken, they are called shells, who have fallen down among the inferiors.
(These) nine vanquished in war (the measures of Microprosopus, concerning which see the "Idra Rabba"; through which David conquered his enemies), which ascend in the paths of those which pass downward, on account of His ruling power (that is, which make thirteen, as they are in Macroprosopus and his beard, which is called his influence, and freely floweth down), and there is none who can withhold their hand.
(For whilst the supernal measures permit the increase in the inferiors, all judgments are subdivided.) [Concerning the "twelve banners of the sacred Name," the metatheses of the Tetragrammaton, see Introduction, § 62; also concerning the Edomite kings.
I have before remarked that the p.
103 demons are called Qliphoth, or "shells," by the Qabalists.
The thirteen in Microprosopus is composed of nine manifest and four hidden.
28.
Five kings (that is, the five letters MNTzPK, Me , Nun , Tzaddi , Pe , Kaph , which are the roots of the judgments), betake themselves into swift flight before four (the four letters of the Tetragrammaton which bear with them the influx of benignity.
They cannot remain (since the judgments and rigours cease and flee).
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] Wisdom flows from the 'supernal He' and 'queen' down to 'here below,' indicating a downward chain of divine principles.
Augustinian and Plotinian doctrine that evil has no positive being of its own but is a lack, distortion, or absence of the good — denying ontological dualism while preserving moral seriousness.
The Qliphoth are described as 'shells' and 'broken vessels,' implying a lack or deficiency rather than positive being.
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.
The terms Microprosopus and Macroprosopus relate to the reflection of divine structure in different scales.
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.
[auto] It describes 'men of the name' exercising themselves in the Holy Name for the 'performing of various wonders,' indicating ritual magic.