Egyptian-Hebrew stream·Sefer Yetzirah (Book of Formation)·Chapter IV — The Seven Doubles
Beth, Gimel, Daleth, Kaph, Peh, Resh, Tau
The seven double-letters as the seven planetary, weekly, and bodily principles. Each letter governs an opposed pair (life/death, peace/war, wisdom/folly, wealth/poverty, beauty/ugliness, fruitfulness/desolation, grace/abomination).
Source context
- Theme
- Elemental permutations of the seven double letters and their governance of opposites
Steiner
not engaged in the GA corpus
Cross-tradition
- Pythagorean number-letter cosmologyCross-tradition congruence appears in the Pythagorean assignment of numerical ratios to cosmic principles, where letters and numbers jointly articulate the structure of reality rather than serving merely as linguistic signs.
- Vedantic bija-mantra doctrineCross-tradition congruence appears in the Sanskrit bija-mantra system, where seed-syllables are held to carry generative cosmological force, paralleling the Sefer Yetzirah's treatment of the double letters as dual-natured formative powers governing planetary and bodily polarities.
- Hermetic / Neoplatonic sevenfold planetary schemeCross-tradition congruence appears in Hermetic and Neoplatonic cosmologies that assign seven planetary intelligences to seven corresponding principles in the human being, structurally homologous to Chapter IV's mapping of the seven double letters onto seven planets, seven days, and seven bodily apertures.
CHAPTER IV
1There were formed seven double letters, Beth, Gimel, Daleth, Kaph, Pe, Resh, Tau, each has two voices, either aspirated or softened. These are the foundations of Life, Peace, Riches, Beauty or Reputation, Wisdom, Fruitfulness, and Power. These are double, because their opposites take part in life, opposed to Life is Death; to Peace, War; to Riches, Poverty; to Beauty or Reputation, Deformity or Disrepute; to Wisdom, Ignorance; to Fruitfulness, Sterility; to Power, Slavery.
2These seven double letters point out the dimensions, East, West, height, depth, North, South, with the holy temple in the middle, sustaining all things.
3These seven double letters He formed, designed, created, and combined into the Stars of the Universe, the days of the week, the orifices of perception in man; and from them he made seven heavens, and seven planets, all from nothingness, and, moreover, he has preferred and blessed the sacred Heptad.
4From two letters, or forms He composed two dwellings; from three, six; from four, twenty-four; from five, one hundred and twenty; from six, seven hundred and twenty; from seven, five thousand and forty; and from thence their numbers increase in a manner beyond counting; and are incomprehensible. These seven are Planets of the Universe, the Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars; the seven days are the days of creation; and these an the seven gateways of a man, two eyes, two ears, two nostrils and a mouth, through which he perceives by his senses.