The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) · 286 of 530
The Qabbalah, the Secret Doctrine of Israelj
He caused the letter ס(S) to predominate in sleep, crowned it, combined it with the others, and fashioned by them Sagittarius (the Archer) in the universe, the month Kislev in the year, and the stomach in the human body (male and female).
10th .
He caused the letter ע(O) to predominate in anger, crowned it, combined it with the others, and fashioned by them Capricorn (the Goat) in the universe, the month Tebet in the year, and the liver in the human body (male and female).
11th .
He caused the letter צ(Tz) to predominate in taste (or swallowing), crowned it, combined it with the others, and fashioned by them Aquarius (the Water Bearer) in the universe, the month Sebat in the year, and the esophagus in the human body (male and female).
12th .
He caused the letter ק(Q) to predominate in mirth, crowned it, combined it with the others, and fashioned by them Pisces (the Fishes) in the universe, the month Adar in the year, and the spleen in the human body (male and female).
6.
He made them as a conflict, He arranged them as provinces and drew them up like a wall.
He armed them and set one against another as in warfare.
(The Elohim did likewise in the other spheres.) Chapter Six 1.
There are three Mothers or first elements, אמש(A, M, Sh), from which emanated three Fathers (progenitors)--primordial (spiritual) air, water, and fire--from which issued the seven planets (heavens) with their angels, and the twelve oblique points (zodiac).
2.
To prove this there are three faithful witnesses: the universe, the year, and man.
There are the twelve, the balance, and the seven.
Above is the Dragon, below is the world, and lastly the heart of man; and in the midst is God who regulates them all.
3.
The first elements are air, water, and fire; the fire is above, the water is below, and a breath of air establishes balance between them.
The token is: the fire carries the water.
The letterמ(M) is mute; ש(Sh) is hissing like fire; there is א(A) among them, a breath of air which reconciles the two.
4.
The Dragon (Tali) is in the universe like a king upon his throne; the celestial sphere is in the year like a king in his empire; and the heart is in the body of men like a king in warfare.
5.
God also set the opposites against each other: the good against the evil, and the evil against the good.
Good proceeds from good, evil from evil; the good purifies the bad, the bad the good.
The good is reserved for the good, and the evil for the wicked.
6.
There are three of which each stands by itself: one is in the affirmative (filled with good), one is in the negative (filled with evil), and the third equilibrates them.
7.
There are seven divided three against three, and one in the midst of them (balance).
Twelve stand in warfare: three produce love and three hatred; three are life-givers and three are destroyers.
8.
The three that cause love are the heart and the two ears; the three that produce hatred are the liver, the gall, and the tongues; the three life-givers are the two nostrils and the spleen; and the three destroyers are the mouth and the two lower openings of the body.
Over all these rules God, the faithful king, from His holy habitation in all eternity.
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.
The text asserts that the universe, year, and man are three faithful witnesses reflecting the same structure.
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.
The text describes a flow of emanation from the first elements to the seven planets and twelve oblique points.
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 passage equates the heart of man with the Dragon in the universe and the celestial sphere with a king in his empire.