THE BOOK OF FORMATION.

INTRODUCTION.

The "Sepher Yetzirah," original: "Sepher Yetzirah," meaning "Book of Formation" or "Book of Formation," is perhaps the oldest philosophical treatise still in existence written in the Hebrew language. The great interest shown in recent years regarding the Hebrew Kabbalah The Kabbalah is a traditional system of Jewish mysticism and self-knowledge and its related schools of thought has led me to translate this volume from the original Hebrew texts, comparing them with the Latin versions produced by medieval scholars. Three important books of the "Zohar," or "Splendor"—which serves as the primary storehouse of Kabbalistic teaching—have been translated into English for the first time by the skillful and learned Kabbalist MacGregor Mathers, my fellow student in the occult sciences. This English translation of the "Sepher Yetzirah" is an almost essential companion to those even more difficult and complex discussions; indeed, the two books explain one another.

Although its name means "The Book of Formation," the "Sepher Yetzirah" is not a narrative of Creation in the sense of a replacement for the Book of Genesis. Instead, it is a very ancient and educational philosophical treatise on one specific perspective regarding the origin of the universe and humanity—a perspective that is both ancient and characteristically Hebrew. This method of organizing the processes of origin into a system that is simultaneously alphabetical and numerical is a feature found only among Semitic authors.

Attention must be called to the essential characteristic of Hebrew doctrines: the inseparable and necessary association—