The Kabbalah Unveiled — S. L. MacGregor Mathers (from Knorr von Rosenroth's Latin) (1887)
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CONCERNING HIS PARTS, AND ESPECIALLY CONCERNING
HIS SKULL.
34. And after a certain time was that veil entirely disunited in formless separation, and recomposed according to its conformation.
3 5 . And this is the tradition : The Absolute desired within Himself to create the essence of light {the laiv — that is, the letters of the alphabet , from whose transpositions the laiu was formed ), hidden for two thousand years, and produced Her. And She answered thus unto Him : “ He who wisheth to dispose and to constitute other things, let Him first be disposed according unto a proper conformation.”
36. This is the tradition described in the u Concealed Book of the King,”* that the Ancient of the Ancient Ones, the Concealed of the Concealed Ones, hath been constituted and prepared as in various members ( for future hnowledge).
37. Like as if it were said, “ He is found (that is, He may in some way to a certain extent be known), and He is not found ; ” for He cannot be clearly comprehended ; but He hath as it were been formed ; neither yet is He to be known of any, since He is the Ancient of the Ancient Ones.
38. But in His conformation is He known ; as also He is the Eternal of the Eternal Ones, the Ancient of the Ancient Ones, the Concealed of the Concealed Ones ; and in His symbols is He knowable and unknowable.
39. White are His garments, and His appearance is the likeness of a Face vast and terrible.
* The “ Siphra Dtzenioutha,” cap. i. § 16.
ii6
KABBALAH.
40. Upon tlie throne of flaming light is He seated, so that He may direct its (flashes).
4 1 . Into forty thousand superior worlds the brightness of the skull of His head is extended, and from the light of this brightness the just shall receive four hundred worlds in the world to come.
42. This is that which is written, Gen. xxiii. 16:
“ Four hundred shekels of silver, current money with the
merchant.”
43. Within His skull exist daily thirteen thousand myriads of worlds, which draw their existence from Him, and by Him are upheld.
CHAPTER IV.
CONCERNING THE DEW, OR MOISTURE OF THE BRAIN, OF
THE ANCIENT ONE, OR MACROPROSOPUS.
44. And from that skull distilleth a dew upon Him which is external, and filleth His head daily.
45. And from that dew which floweth down from his head, that (namely) which is external, the dead are raised up in the world to come.
46. Concerning which it is written, Cant. v. 2 : “ My head is filled with dew.” It is not written : “ It is full with dew;” but NMLA, Nimla , “ it is filled.”
’ 47. And it is written, Isa. xxvi. 19 : “The dew of the lights is Thy dew.” Of the lights — that is, from the brightness of the Ancient One.
48. And by that dew are nourished the holy supernal ones.
49. And this is that manna which is prepared for the just in the world to come.
50. And that dew distilleth upon the ground of the
THE GREATER HOLY ASSEMBLY.
ii 7 holy apple trees. This is that which is written, Exod. xvi. 14: “ And when the dew was gone np, behold upon the face of the desert a small round thing.”
5 1 . And the appearance of this dew is white, like unto the colour of the crystal stone, whose appearance hath all colours in itself. This is that which is written, Num. xi. 7: “And its varieties as the varieties of crystal.”
CHAPTER Y.
FURTHER CONCERNING THE SKULL OF MACROPROSOFUS.
52. The whiteness of this skull shineth in thirteen carved out sides : in four sides from one portion ; in four sides from the part of His countenance ; and in four sides from another part of the periphery ; and in one above the skull, as if this last might be called the supernal side.*
53. And thence is the Yastness of His Countenance extended into three hundred and seventy myriads of worlds ; and hence ARK APIM,f Arikh Aphim , Yastness of Countenance is His name.
54. And He Himself, the Most Ancient of the Most Ancient Ones, is called ARIK D ANPIN, Arikh Ha- Anpin , the Yast Countenance, or Macroprosopus ; and He Who is more external is called ZOIR AN PIN, Zciuir Anpin ,
* The hidden sense of this somewhat obscure passage is, that the brightness arises from the skull, which it conceals , which latter is therefore the emblem of the Concealed One. The thirteen parts are three tetragrammatic forms, which give twelve letters, and symbolize thus the Trinity of the Tetragram ; and the one supernal part is the unity. The meaning therefore is, the Trinity in Unity, proceeding from the Concealed Unity, which also proceedeth from the Negatively Existent. Thirteen, moreover, occultly points out unity, for AChD, Acliad , Unity, adds up for thirteen.