The Kabbalah Unveiled · 4 of 16 · tr. S.L. MacGregor Mathers
Introduction, Section 1d
and must therefore be referable to the Edomite kings.] p.
48 19.
And it hath proceeded out of that which hath undergone the curse, as it is written in Genesis v., 29, "From the earth which the Lord hath cursed." (The meaning is: That the kingdom of the restored world was formed from the kingdom of the destroyed world, wherein seven kings had died and their possessions had been broken up.
Or, the explanation of the world, of which mention is made elsewhere, proceedeth from the kingdom of the destroyed world.) [These seven kings are the Edomite kings before mentioned in Section 3.] 20.
It was formless and void, and darkness upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of the Elohim vibrating upon the face of the waters.
Thirteen (these words, from "it was formless" down to "of the waters," are thirteen in the Hebrew text of Genesis) depend from the thirteen (forms) of the dignity of dignity (that is, the beard of the Macroprosopus, or first formed head).
[I have before remarked that the number thirteen expresses unity.
The author of "The Book of Concealed Mystery" here argues that the very number and order of the words in the Hebrew text refer to certain forms of the Deity.
The terms "face of the deep" and "face of the waters" bear a striking analogy to Macroprosopus and Microprosopus, the Vast and the Lesser Countenances.
In this sense the "face of (from) the deep (abyss)" is the countenance formed from Ain Soph, the Limitless One; namely.
the first Sephira the Crown Kether.] 21.
Six thousand years depend from the six first.
This is what the wise have said, that the world shall last six thousand years, and it is understood from the six numbers of Microprosopus.
But also the six following words give occasion to this idea: VIAMR ALHIM IHI AVR VIHI AVR, Veyomar Elohim Yehi Aur Vayehi Aur : "And the Elohim said, Let there be light, and there was light." [By an exegetical rule of numbers, not so often employed as the others.
simple numbers or units signify divine things; numbers of ten, celestial things; numbers of a hundred, terrestrial things; and thousands p.
49 signify the future, what shall be in an after-age.
Hence are the "six thousand years" deduced from the six first words, which also are said to refer to the six Sephiroth of whom Microprosopus is formed; the idea of six being extended into as many thousands, to symbolise that number on the plane of a future age.] 2:.
The seventh (the millennium, and the seventh space.
namely, the Kingdom), above that One which alone is powerful--( i.e.
, when the six degrees of the members denote mercies and judgments, the seventh degree tendeth alone to judgment and rigour).
And the whole is desolate (that is, the Kingdom, MLKVTh, Malkuth , in the higher powers, is the antitype of the sanctuary, and like as this is destroyed, so also the Schechinah, or Kingdom, is itself exiled) for twelve hours (for the Hebrews include all this time of their exile in the space of one day).
Like as it is written: "It was formless and void, &c." (for from the word "it was formless," down to "upon the faces of," are twelve words in the Hebrew text of Genesis.) [By the same rule, the millennium is deduced from the seventh word.
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.
The passage establishes a correspondence between word counts (micro) and cosmic time/degrees (macro), e.g., six words to six thousand years.
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] Describes forms depending from higher dignities and a restored world formed from a destroyed one, implying a hierarchical flow.
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 passage outlines a timeline of six thousand years followed by a seventh degree of judgment and rigour.
The twenty-two Hebrew letters as the building blocks through which God creates and sustains all existence.
[auto] The passage explicitly analyzes the Hebrew word count and order in Genesis to reveal divine forms, treating language as ontological building blocks.
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 Macroprosopus and Microprosopus imply a divine structure often mirrored in the human archetype within Kabbalah.
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.
The text describes the Schechinah or Kingdom as 'exiled' and the world proceeding from a 'destroyed world'.