The Book of Concealed Mystery (Siphra Dtzenioutha) · 6 of 9 · tr. S.L. MacGregor Mathers
1f
[The letters of the Hebrew alphabet are divided into three classes, the three mothers as they are called, AMSh; the seven duplex letters, BGDKPRTh, so called because they are sometimes tenues and sometimes aspirates, according to whether they are written with or without the Daghesh point; and the twelve simple letters, HVZChTILNSOTzQ.
They are also divided into the three categories of Chesed , Din , and Rachmim , or mercy, judgment, and mildness.
Now these five letters MNTzPK denote the severest judgments, and their number = 280 = PR = the name of the angel Sandalphon , SNDLPVN, the angel IOR, or of the wood of the world of Asiah, since the greatest part of it are sterile trees.] 29.
Four kings slay four (that is, the four letters of the Tetragrammaton are bound together with the four letters ADNI, Adonaï , which) depend from them like grapes in a cluster (in the concatenation of these two names, thus, IAHDVNHI).
30.
Among them are set apart (that is, among these paths of the Divine names a selection of holiness is made from these broken vessels) seven channels (that is, seven broken vessels, which now are like the shells, and contain in themselves a great part of the lights and souls); they testify testimony (that is, the souls thus selected, thence having been born into the universe, testify that they are freed from impurity) and they do not remain in their place (and are no longer detained under the shells).
31.
The tree which is mitigated (that is, the path of the kingdom or Schechinah, which is the tree of the p.
104 knowledge of good and evil, which in itself existeth from the judgments, but is mitigated by the bridegroom through the influx of mercies) resideth within (within the shells; because the kingdom hath its dominion over all things, and its feet descend into death).
In its branches (in the inferior worlds) the birds lodge and build their nests (the souls and the angels have their place).
Beneath it those animals which have power seek the shade (that is, the shells, "for in it every beast of the forest doth walk forth," Ps.
civ.
20).
[See the Introduction for the Sephiroth arranged in the three pillars, or tree of life.] 32.
This is the tree which hath two paths (for thus is this passage restored in the corrected Codex) for the same end (namely, good and evil, because it is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil).
And it hath around it seven columns (that is, the seven palaces), and the four splendours (that is, the four animals) whirl around it (in four wheels) on their four sides (after the fourfold description of the chariot of Yechesqiel (Ezekiel).
[The seven palaces answer to the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th Sephiroth, operating through the respective orders of the angels into the spheres of the seven planets, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sol, Venus, Mercury, and Luna.
The four animals, or Chaioth Ha-Qadesch , are the vivified powers of the four letters of the Tetragrammaton operating under the presidency of the first Sephira as the mainspring of primum mobile of creation.
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.
There is a clear mapping between Sephiroth, planets, letters, and the four animals of Ezekiel.
Ontological opposition between two primal principles (light/darkness, truth/lie, spirit/matter) as the fundamental structure of reality.
[auto] The text contrasts categories like mercy and judgment, as well as lights versus broken vessels/sterile trees, indicating an ontological opposition.
Fragments of divine light or spirit trapped inside material bodies, awaiting liberation and return to their source.
[auto] The text describes broken vessels that contain a great part of the lights, aligning with the concept of divine fragments trapped in material forms.
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 description of paths of Divine names depending from one another like grapes suggests a structured flow of divine principles.
Final, collective cosmic judgment as an event in which the wicked are sentenced and the cosmos restored; distinct from psychopomp_journey (individual passage at death) and emphasising verdict where Zoroastrian frashokereti emphasises restoration.
The categories of Chesed, Din (Judgment), and Rachmim are central to the cosmic structure described.
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.
Impurity and sterility are described as conditions of the shells rather than positive divine attributes.
Transgressive knowing acquired against divine prohibition — the Watchers' teaching of metallurgy, sorcery, and cosmetics in 1 Enoch, the Gnostic Eve narratives, the Promethean mytheme; explicitly contrasted with gnosis_direct_knowledge, which is salvific.
The 'tree of the knowledge of good and evil' is mentioned as a central cosmic path.
Numbers, proportions, and mathematical relationships as the underlying structure of divine reality.
[auto] The text extensively uses gematria and numerical classifications (three mothers, seven duplex, twelve simple, number = 280) to explain divine structure.
The felt condition of exile from one's divine origin — Rumi's reed flute torn from its bed, Plotinus's 'we have forgotten,' the Gnostic forgetfulness; the affective wound that complements return_to_source and gives the return its motive.
Souls are described as being detained under shells, implying exile from their divine origin.