The Kabbalah Unveiled — S. L. MacGregor Mathers (from Knorr von Rosenroth's Latin) (1887)

(c) Proof. — As the primary cause of the world is infinite, nothing can exist vnthout (extra) him ; hence he is immanent.

Scholion. — As the Ain Soph is invisible and exalted, it is the root of both faith and unbelief.

II. Proposition. — The Sephiroth are the medium between the absolute Ain Soph and the real world.

Proof. — As the real world is limited and not perfect, it cannot directly proceed from the Ain Soph ; still the Ain Soph must exercise his influence over it, or his perfection would cease. Hence the Sephiroth, which, in their intimate connection with * “Beitrage zur Geschicbte der Kabbalah, Erstes Heft.” Leipzig. 1852.

INTRODUCTION.

b9 the Ain Soph, are perfect, and in their severance are imperfect, must be the medium.

Scholion. — Since all existing things originated by means of the Sephiroth , there are a higher, a middle, and a lower degree of the real world. ( Vide infra , Proposition YI.)

III. Proposition. — There are ten intermediate
Sephiroth.

Proof. — All bodies have three dimensions, each of which repeats the other (3x3); and by adding thereto space generally, we obtain the number ten. As the Sephiroth are the potencies of all that is limited they must be ten.

(a) Scholion. — The number ten does not contradict the absolute unity of the Ain Soph ; as one is the basis of all numbers, plurality proceeds from unity, the germs contain the development, just as fire, flame, sparks, and colour have one basis, though they differ from one another.

(b) Scholion. — Just as cogitation or thought, and even the mind as a cogitated object, is limited, becomes concrete, and has a measure, although pure thought proceeds from the Ain Soph ; so limit, measure, and concretion are the attributes of the Sephiroth.

IV. Proposition. — The Sephiroth are emanations, and not creations.

1. Proof. — As the absolute Ain Soph is perfect, the
Sephiroth proceeding therefrom must also be perfect ;
hence they are not created.

2. Proof. — All created objects diminish by abstraction ; the Sephiroth do not lessen, as their activity never ceases ; hence they cannot be created.

Scholion. — The first Sephira was in the Ain Soph as a power before it became a reality ; then the second Sephira emanated as a potency for the intellectual world ; and afterwards the other Sephiroth emanated for the moral and material worlds. This, however, does not imply a

KABBALAH.

prius and posterius , or a gradation in the Ain Soph , but just as a light whose kindled lights, which shine sooner and later, and variously, so it embraces all in a unity.

Y. Proposition. — The Sephiroth are both active and passive (MQBIL VMThQBL, Megabit Va-Metheqabel).

Proof. — As the Sephiroth do not set aside the unity of the Ain Soph , each one of them must receive from its predecessor and impart to its successor — i.e., be receptive and imparting.

VI. Proposition. — The first Sephira is called Inscrutable Height , RVM MOLH, Rom Maaulah ; the second, Wisdom , ChKMH, Chohmah ; the third, Intelligence , BINH, Binah : the fourth, Love, ChSD, Chesed ; the fifth, Justice , PChD, Pachad ; the sixth, Beauty , ThP ARTh, Tiphereth ; the seventh, Firmness , NTzCh, Netzach ; the eighth, Splendour , HVD, Hod ; the ninth, the Righteous is the Foundation of the World , TzDIQ IS YD OVLM, Tzediq Yesod Olahm; and the tenth, Righteousness , TzDQ, Tzedeq.

(a) Scholion. — The first three Sephiroth form the world of thought ; the second three the world of soul ; and the four last the world of body ; thus corresponding to the intellectual, moral, and material worlds.

(b) Scholion. — The first Sephira stands in relation to the soul, inasmuch as it is called a unity , IChIDH, Yechidah ; the second, inasmuch as it is denominated living , ChIH, Chiah ; the third, inasmuch as it is termed Spirit , RV Ch, Ruach ; the fourth, inasmuch as it is called vital principle, NPSh, Nephcsch ; the fifth, inasmuch as it is denominated soul , NShMH, Neschamah : the sixth operates on the blood, the seventh on the bones, the eighth on the veins, the ninth on the flesh, and the tenth on the skin.

(c) Scholion. — The first Sephira is like the concealed light, the second like sky-blue, the third like yellow, the fourth like white, the fifth like red,* the sixth like white-

* This mixture of white and red refers to Microprosopus, as will be seen in the greater and lesser Holy Assembly.

Plate VIII.

(To face page 4*1.)

INTRODUCTION.

4i