Sepher Yetzirah (Book of Formation) - Westcott

This lecture was delivered before the Hermetic Society of London in the summer of 1886, with Dr. Anna Kingsford, the President, in the chair. Some of the notes included here were explanations given verbally, and later in writing, to members of the Society who requested information on difficult points in the "Sepher" original: "Sepher," meaning "Book," referring here to the Sepher Yetzirah and regarding related doctrines. Other notes, added at a later date, are answers provided to inquiring Theosophists and members of the Hermetic G. D. The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, a famous magical society founded in 1887.

The late Madame Blavatsky Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831–1891), co-founder of the Theosophical Society.—my esteemed teacher of Theosophy and my personal friend—suggested a friendly alliance between the Hermetic Order of the G. D. and the Inner Group of Theosophical students. She expressed to me her recognition of the value of the "Sepher Yetzirah" The "Book of Formation," one of the oldest and most important Jewish mystical texts. as a mystical treatise on the origin of the universe, and she gave her approval of my work in translating it, as well as my notes and explanations.