linguistic theory of creation in which God creates the universe by combining the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet, along with emanations represented by the ten numerals, or sefirot.
- By thirty-two mysterious paths of wisdom Yah has engraved all things, who is the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, the living God, the Almighty God, He that is uplifted and exalted, He that Dwells forever, and whose Name is holy; having created His world by three derivatives of the Hebrew root-word sefar : namely, sefer (a book), sefor (a count) and sippur (a story), along with ten calibrations of empty space, twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet, of which three are principal letters (i.e. א מ ש), seven are double-sounding consonants (i.e. בג"ד כפר"ת) and twelve are ordinary letters (i.e. ה ו ז ח ט י ל נ ס ע צ ק).
These 32 divisions correspond to: the 22 Hebrew Letters, the 10 numbers, the 10 Divine Names of God, the Tetragrammaton, the Hebrew Calendar (7 days & 12 months), the Solar System (7 visible planets & 12 constellations of the zodiac), the 12 Tribes of Israel, 12 Boundaries (EastUp/ENorth/ELow), Space (Above/Below, Up/Down, East/West, North/South, Left/Right), Time (Day-Night, Hours, & Past/Present/Future), the 4 Classical Greek Elements (Air, Earth, Fire, Water), the Human Body (Head/Arms/Legs/etc.), the various Human Body Functions, the Mental Foundations (Speech/Thought/Motion/etc), the Mystical Experience (negation of self outside of Time) riding the Teli/Dragon on the Merkava(Chariot), and the function Factorial (eg. 6! =1x2x3x4x5x6=720).
According to the Sefer Yetzirah, the first emanation from the spirit of God was the ruach (רוּחַ rúaħ "spirit", "air") that produced water, which, in its turn, formed the genesis of fire. In the beginning, however, these three substances had only a potential existence, and came into actual being only by means of the three letters Aleph, Mem, Shin; and as these are the principal parts of speech, so those three substances are the elements from which the cosmos has been formed.
“Kabbalah. The short and fundamental Kabbalistic text Sepher Yetzirah7 (the “Book of Creation,” third century A.D.?) expounds a cosmology based on the doctrine of correspondences, notably the sevenfold one of the planets, days of the week, openings in the head and body, etc., and the twelve-fold one of the zodiac, directions of space, months, organs of the body, etc. It describes a cosmos not torn between good and evil, but held in polarity by positive and negative energies. The method of salvation is through becoming aware of oneself as a microcosm, seating the “King on his Throne” (the divine presence) in the center of life. Again we have a doctrine that is affirmative of nature and the body, and dedicated to the realization of the macrocosm in the microcosm. The esoteric idea of Israel is also a Hermetic one: it is that the Jews are called upon to bear witness to the divine order on earth. Just as in Hermetism the earth, including the human body, is replete with celestial influences, so the Jewish way of life is designed to ensure that every action carries a spiritual significance” - The Golden Thread The Ageless Wisdom of the Western Mystery Traditions. Joscelyn Godwin
"Each element has its source in a higher element, and they all have their common origin in the Word or the Holy Spirit." — Sefer Yetzirah