Sefer Yetzirah (The Book of Formation) · 4 of 7 · tr. Wynn Westcott
Section 1d
Resh, predominant in peace, crowned, combined, and formed Saturn in the Universe, the sixth day of the week, and the left nostril in man.
Tau, predominant in beauty, crowned, combined and formed Jupiter in the Universe, the seventh day in the week, and the mouth of man.
By these seven letters were also made seven worlds, seven heavens, seven lands, seven seas, seven rivers, seven deserts, seven days (as before), seven weeks from Passover to Pentecost, and every seventh year a jubilee.
CHAPTER V 1.
The simple letters are twelve, namely: He, Vau, Zain, Heth, Teth, Yod, Lamed, Nun, Samech, Oin, Tzaddi, and Quoph; they represent the fundamental properties, eight, hearing, smell, speech, desire for food, the sexual appetite, movement, anger, mirth, thought, sleep, and work.
These symbolize also twelve directions in space: northeast, southeast, the east above, the east below, the northwest, southwest, the west above, the west below, the upper south, the lower south, the upper north, the lower north.
These diverge to all eternity, and an as the arms of the universe.
2.
These twelve letters, he designed, formed, combined, weighed, and changed, and created with them the twelve divisions of the heavens (namely, the zodiacal constellations), the twelve months of the year, and the twelve important organs of the frame of man, namely the right and left hands, the right and left feet, two kidneys, the liver, the gall, the spleen, the intestines, the gullet, and the stomach.
3.
Three mothers, seven double and twelve simple, these are the twenty-two letters with which I H V H Tetragrammaton, that is our Lord of Hosts, exalted, and existed in the ages, whose name is Holy, created three fathers, fire and spirit and water, progressing beyond them, seven heavens with their armies of angels; and twelve limits of the universe.
SUPPLEMENT TO CHAPTER V (Found in some Versions) 1.
God produced He, predominant in Speech, crowned, combined, and formed Aries in the world, Nisan in the year, and the right foot of man.
2.
God produced Vau, predominant in Mind, crowned, combined, and formed Taurus in the world, Yiar in the year, and the right kidney of man.
3.
God produced Zain, predominant in movement, crowned, combined, and formed Gemini in the world, Sivan in the year, and the left foot of man.
4.
He produced Heth, predominant in Sight, crowned, combined, and formed Cancer in the world, Tammuz in the year, and the right hand of man.
5.
He produced Teth, predominant in Hearing, crowned, combined, and formed Leo in the world, Ab in the year, and the left kidney in man.
6.
He produced Yod, predominant in Labor, crowned, combined, and formed Virgo in the world, Elul in the year, and the left hand of man.
7.
He produced Lamed, predominant in sexual desire, crowned, combined, and formed Libra in the world, Tisri in the year, and the gall in man.
8.
He produced Nun, predominant in smell, crowned, combined, and formed Scorpio in the world, Marchesvan in the year, and the intestines in man.
9.
He produced Samech, predominant in sleep, crowned, combined, and formed Sagittarius in the world, Kislev in the year, and the stomach of man.
10.
§ Ask Guru about this passage →Themes
Correspondencecosmology
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.
[auto] The text establishes a direct structural mapping between cosmic elements like planets and months and specific parts of the human body.
All passages →Kingdom Withinanthropology
The claim that the divine realm is present inside the individual, accessible without external mediation.
The correspondence between cosmic structures (heavens, planets) and human anatomy suggests the divine realm is reflected within the individual.
All passages →Letter Meditationpraxis
Contemplative practice focused on Hebrew letters as cosmic symbols or gates of divine power.
The text provides the symbolic framework and cosmic correspondences used in contemplative practices focused on Hebrew letters.
All passages →Letters Of Creationcosmology
The twenty-two Hebrew letters as the building blocks through which God creates and sustains all existence.
[auto] The passage explicitly details how Hebrew letters formed the universe, planets, days, and human anatomy.
All passages →Living Godtheology
The divine conceived as active, present, and dynamic—not an abstract principle but a personal responsive reality.
The divine is depicted as actively designing, forming, and combining letters to create the world.
All passages →Logoscosmology
The divine reason, word, or ordering principle through which the universe was created; mediates between the transcendent God and the material world.
[auto] The letters function as the divine ordering principle or word through which the universe was created and sustained.
All passages →Microcosm Macrocosmcosmology
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.
[auto] Human organs and limbs are described as corresponding mirrors to zodiacal constellations, months, and cosmic directions.
All passages →Numerical Mysticismtheology
Numbers, proportions, and mathematical relationships as the underlying structure of divine reality.
[auto] The text heavily emphasizes the numbers seven and twelve as structural foundations for worlds, heavens, directions, and properties.
All passages →Permutation Of Letterspraxis
Combining, transposing, or cycling through letters or names as a meditative or theurgical technique.
[auto] The passage describes God designing, forming, combining, weighing, and changing the letters to create existence.
All passages →Sacred Namestheology
Divine names or formulas that carry ontological power, used in prayer, liturgy, or magical practice.
[auto] The letters are treated as formulas carrying ontological power to form celestial bodies and human faculties.
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