Introduction, Section 1i

unless he reads carefully what I have said in the Introduction concerning the Literal Qabalah under the heads of Notariqon and Temurah, to which therefore I refer him. Any four-lettered name is of course a tetragrammaton, but this term is especially applied to the word of four letters called by biblical translators Jehovah. It must be remembered that the natural course of writing Hebrew and Chaldee is from right to left , and that when it is written from left to right , it is said to be written "backwards," "in retrograde order," or "averse." By the "path of understanding" is meant Binah. the third Sephira. Schechinah is of course the Divine Presence manifested in the path of Malkuth. I have explained in the Introduction the meaning of the term "path" as employed in the Zohar.] 33. But in one balance are they equiponderated. (The balance denoteth the male and the female; and the meaning is, that the fetters I, Yod , and H, He --of which the former is masculine and referreth to the path of the foundation; and the latter is feminine, pertaining to the queen--are interchangeable; since whilst the equilibrium existeth there is an intercommunication between them, p. 56 and they are joined together as one. Add to this that the queen is also called ADNI, Adonaï , wherein the letter I, Yod , bringeth up the rearguard of the army, as it were; because also it is accustomed to be called the Lesser Wisdom.) And the living creatures rush forth and return. (This is what is said in Ezek. i. 14 concerning the living creatures, which it is accustomed to be said concerning those letters of the Tetragrammaton, which sometimes hold the last place and sometimes the first; as when I, Yod , rusheth forth unto the last place, and when it returneth unto the beginning again; and so also the letter H, He . Likewise, then, also the living creatures are said to rush forth, when the Tetragrammaton is written with the final H, He , because then the whole system of emanatives is exhausted. But they are said to return when the Tetragrammaton is written with the final I, Yod , so that the sense may be collected in such a manner as to return from the last path of the queen into the penultimate of the foundation, which is designated by this letter I, Yod . [I have defined "balance" in the Introduction, § 29, which see. The "path of the foundation" is of course Yesod, the ninth Sephira, while the queen is Malkuth, the tenth. Yesod is therefore the connecting link between the Microprosopus and the bride. The letter I "bringeth up the rearguard as it were" in the name ADNI, Adonai , because it is the last letter. Ezek, i. 14: the Qabalists by the term ChIVTh HQDSh, Chaioth Ha-Qadesch , the Holy Living-Creatures, understand the letters of the Tetragrammaton. With regard to the "letters of the Tetragrammaton, which sometimes hold the last place and sometimes the first," the following are two examples-namely, as in the form IHVI, Yod, He, Van, Yod , the letter I, Yod , is both at the beginning and end of the word; and in the form which is more usual IHVH, Yod, He, Van, He , the letter H, He , is in the second and last place.] 34. Like as it is written: "And the Elohim saw the substance of the light, that it was good.