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The Sepher
Yetzirah
Chapter 2
2.1
Twenty two formative letters: three Mothers, seven
Doubles, twelve Singles.
The three mothers are aleph, mem,
shin.
Their foundation is a scale pan of merit, a scale pan of liability,
and the tongue of decree deciding between them.
Three Mothers, aleph, mem,
shin. Mem hums, shin hisses, and aleph is the breath of air
deciding between them.
2.2
Twenty two formative letters: He engraved them, He carved them,
He permuted them, He weighed them, He transformed them. And with them He
depicted all that was formed and all that would be formed.
2.3
Twenty two formative letters: He engraved them with voice, He
carved them with breath, He set them in the mouth in five places.
Aleph,
cheth, he, ayin in the throat;
Gimel, yod, kaph, qof in the
palate;
Daleth, teth, lamed, nun, tau in the tongue;
Zayin,
samekh, shin, resh, tzaddi in the teeth;
Beth, vau, mem, pe in the
lips.
2.4
Twenty two formative letters: He placed them in a circle, like
a wall with 231 gates. The circle moves backwards and forwards. A sign of this
is: there is nothing in good higher than delight (ayin, nun, gimel),
there is nothing in evil lower than plague (nun, gimel, ayin).
2.5
How did He do this? He permuted them, weighed them and
transformed them.
Aleph with all, and all with
aleph.
Beth with all, and all with beth.
They repeat
in a cycle and exist in 231 gates. It emerges that all that is formed and all
that is spoken emanates from one Name.
2.6
He formed substance out of chaos and made non-existence into
existence.
He carved great pillars from air that cannot be grasped.
This
is a sign: He foresees, transforms and makes all that is formed and all that is
spoken: one Name. A sign for this is twenty two objects in one body.
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