Introduction, Section 1l

(For the conception of the Microprosopus is more properly under the name of Jacob, whose wife is Rachel; and his cognomen, as it were, is Israel, whose wife is Leah.) p. 60 [The understanding is Binan, the third Sephira, which is referred to the supernal H, He , The "beautiful path" is Tiphereth, the sixth. The foundation is Yesod, the ninth. It is the final Yod, I, of the form of the Tetragrammaton IHVI, which is referred to Yesod, and not the initial, which belongs to Chokmah, the second Sephira, the Father.] 40. That man shall say, I am the Lord's; he descendeth. (That is: that very conception of the word I, which is elsewhere attributed to the supernal mother, forasmuch as in her agree the three letters of the word ANI, Ani , I; namely A, Aleph , is the highest crown; N, Nun , is the understanding itself, in its fifty celebrated gates; I, Yod , is the foundation or knowledge of the Father; but in this instance it is attributed to the lowest grade of the lower mother, and now is ADNI, Adonaï , without the D, Daleth , D, or poverty, but filled with the influx, and is ANI, Ani .) And all things are called BIDV, Byodo (that is, all these things are applied to IVD, Yod , concerning which this discourse is.) All things cohere by the tongue, which is concealed in the mother. (That is, through Daath, or knowledge, whereby wisdom is combined with the understanding, and the beautiful path with his bride the queen; and this is the concealed idea, or soul, pervading the whole emanation.) Since this is opened for that which proceedeth from itself (that is, Daath is itself the beautiful path, but also the inner, whereto Moses referreth; and that path lieth hid within the mother, and is the medium of its conjunction. But whensoever it is considered in the outer, when it hath come forth from the mother, then is it called Jacob.) [The reader is referred to the Introduction for the names, &c., of the Sephiroth. Nun in its fifty gates refers to the numerical value of the letter N, which is 50. The "lower mother" is of course the final H of the word IHVH, the "bride." Daath generally symbolizes the conjunction of the second and third Sephiroth.] 41. (And herein IHV Yod , He, Vau , differeth from p. 61 the whole name and from all the four letters. Now, he turneth back to the other portion of the four--namely, IHV, Yod, He, Vau --and saith:) The Father resideth in the beginning (that is, that the letter I, Yod , which is the symbol of the wisdom and of the father, in that part holdeth the first place, like as in the whole system; since the crown nevertheless is hidden, and is only compared to the highest apex of the letter I, Yod ). The mother in the middle (for the letter H, He , which is the symbol of the unformed understanding and the supernal mother, holdeth the middle place between I, Yod , and V, Vau , even as in the supernals she is comprehended by the Father from above, and by the Microprosopus, which is her son, she is covered from below, in whom she sendeth herself downward into the path of Hod, or of glory.) And she is covered on this side and on that (by the two, father and son).