Page 52 (part 9)

113 to 355, have to be specialised.* But this last ratio is but a modified form of light or 20612 to 6561, as a '[[ pi ]]' value, being only a variation of the same (that is 20612 to 6561 is 31415 to one, or Alhim or God) -- and in such a manner that one can be made [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * See " Source of Measures, " pp. 276, et seq. App. VII. [[Vol. 2, Page]] 39 THE NUMBERS OF CREATION. to flow into and be derived from the other, and these are the three steps by which the Unity and sameness can be shown of the divine names. That is, the two are but variations of the same ratio, viz., that of '[[pi]].' The object of this comment is to show the same measuring use for the Cabbalah as was employed in the three Covenants of the Bible, and in the symbols of Masonry, as just noticed." "First then, the Sephiroth are described as Light, that is, they themselves are a function of, indeed, the same as, the manifestation of Ain Soph; and they are so from the fact that Light represents the ratio of 20612 to 6561, as part of the 'Words,' DBRIM, 41224, or as to the Word, Debar, 206 (= 10 cubits). Light is so much the burden of the Kabbalah, in explaining the Sephiroth, that the most famous book on the Kabbalah is called Zohar or Light. In this we find expressions of this kind: -- 'The Infinite was entirely unknown and diffused no light before the luminous point violently broke through into vision . . . .' 'When he first assumed the form (of the Crown, or the first Sephira), he caused 9 splendid lights to emanate from it, which, shining through it, diffused a bright light in all directions': that is, these 9 with his one (which was the origin, as above, of the nine), together made the 10, that is or , or the sacred Ten ( numbers or Sephiroth ) , or Jod - - and these numbers were ' the Light. ' Just as in the Gospel of St. John, God (Alhim, 31415 to one) was that light (20612 to 6561) by which (Light) all things were made." In Sepher Jezirah, or Numbers of Creation, the whole process of evolution is given out in Numbers. In its "32 paths of Wisdom" the number 3 is repeated four times, and the number 4 five times. Therefore, the Wisdom of God is contained in numbers (Sephrim or Sephiroth), for Sepher (or S-ph-ra when unvowelled) means "to cipher." And therefore, also, we find Plato stating that the deity geometrizes in fabricating the Universe. The Kabalistic book, the Sepher Jezirah, opens with a statement of the hidden wisdom of Alhi in Sephrim, i.e , the Elohim in the Sephiroth. "In thirty and two paths, hidden wisdom, established Jah, JHVH, Tzabaoth, Elohi of Israel, Alhim of Life, El of Grace and Mercy -- exalted, uplifted Dweller on high, and King of Everlasting, and his name -- Holy! in three Sephrim: viz: -- B-S'ph-r, V-S'ph-r, V-Siph-o-r." "This Comment sets forth 'the Hidden Wisdom ' of the original text by hidden Wisdom, that is, by the use of words carrying a special set of Numbers and a special phraseology, which will set forth the very explanatory system which we find to fit so accurately in the Hebrew Bible. . . . . In setting forth his scheme, to enforce it, and to finish out his detailed exposition in a general postulate, viz., the one word [[Vol. 2, Page]] 40 THE SECRET DOCTRINE. Sephrim ( Sephiroth ) of the Number Jezirah, the author explains the separation of this word in the three subordinate ones, a play upon a common word s-ph-r, or number." The prince Al-Chazari says to the Rabbi*: -- "I wish now that thou wouldest impart to me some of the chiefest or leading principles of Natural Philosophy, which as thou sayest were in former times worked out by them (the Ancient Wise Ones)"; to which the Rabbi makes answer: -- "To such principles appertains the Number of Creation of our Race-father Abraham" (that is Abram and Abraham, or numbers 41224 and 41252). He then says that this book of Number treats of teaching the Alhim-ness and One-ness through, "DBRIM," viz., the numbers of the Word " Words. " That is, it teaches the use of the ratio 31415 to one, through 41224, which last, in the description of the Ark of the Covenant, was divided into two parts by two tables of stone, on which these, DBRIM or 41224, were written or engraved -- or 20612 by 2. He then comments on these three subordinately used words, and takes care as to one of them to make the comment: -- "And Alhim (31415 to 1) said: Let there be Light (20612 to 6561)." The three words as given in the text are: . And the Rabbi in commenting upon them says: "It teaches the Alhim-ness (31415) and One-ness (the diameter to Alhim) through Words ( DBRIM, 41224), by which on the one side there is infinite expression in heterogeneous creations, and on the other a final harmonic tendency to One-ness " (which as everyone knows is the mathematical function of "[[ pi ]]" of the schools, which measures, and weighs and numbers the stars of heaven, and yet resolves them back into the final Oneness of the Universe through Words). "Their final accord perfects itself in that Oneness that ordains them and which consists in (Book of Al-Chazari), that is the Rabbi, in his first comment, leaves the jod, or i , out of one of the words, whereas afterwards he restores it again. If we take the values of those subordinate words, we find them to be 340, 340, 346; together these are 1026, and the division of the general word into these has been to produce these numbers, which by Temurah may be changed in various ways for various purposes." (Kabala.) The reader is asked to turn to Stanza IV . of Book I.