Sepher Yetzirah (Book of Formation) - Westcott

CHAPTER II.

SECTION 1. The twenty-two sounds and letters are the foundation of all things. They consist of three "mothers," seven "doubles," and twelve "simples" These categories refer to the phonetic properties of the Hebrew alphabet and their corresponding astrological or elemental associations.. The Three Mothers are Aleph (א), Mem (מ), and Shin (ש); they represent Air, Water, and Fire. Water is silent The sound of Mem is a closed-lip hum., Fire is sibilant The sound of Shin is a hissing "sh" sound., and Air—derived from the Spirit—is like the tongue of a balance standing between these opposites. It maintains equilibrium, reconciling and mediating between them.

2. He has formed, weighed, and composed with these twenty-two letters every soul, and the soul of everything that shall ever exist in the future.

3. These twenty-two sounds or letters are formed by the voice, impressed upon the air, and audibly modified in five places: in the throat, in the mouth, by the tongue, through the teeth, and by the lips The five phonetic classifications of Hebrew letters: gutturals, palatals, linguals, dentals, and labials..

4. These twenty-two letters, which are the foundation of all things, He arranged as if upon a sphere with two hundred and thirty-one gates. This sphere may be rotated forward or backward, whether for good or for evil; from the good comes true pleasure, and from evil comes nothing but torment.

5. For He showed the combination of these letters, each with the other: Aleph with all, and all with Aleph; Beth with all, and all with Beth. Thus, by combining all the letters together in pairs, the two hundred and thirty-one gates of knowledge are produced This refers to the mathematical combinations of the 22 letters taken two at a time (22 × 21 / 2 = 231)..

6. And from the non-existent original: Ayin, meaning "nothingness" or the primordial void. He made "Something" original: Yesh, meaning "existence" or "substance."; He created all forms of speech and everything that has been produced. From the empty void He made the material world, and from the inert earth He brought forth everything that has life. He hewed, as it were, vast columns out of the intangible air, and by the power of His Name made every creature and everything that exists. The production of all things from the twenty-two letters is the proof that they are all merely parts of one single body This suggests a monistic view where all of creation is a unified whole emerging from the divine alphabet..