Re: [BardonPraxis] Re: YHVH-Tetragrammaton

["Rawn Clark" <rawnclark@...>]

Dear Olivier,

>> Thank you all for your insights regarding the element-to-letter
association of the YHVH. I'm still not quite clear as to whether the
first "Heh" should correspond to Air or to Water, and am a bit puzzled
with the seemingly different interpretations of Alexandre Moryason and
Rawn. I suppose it will become more clear with practice and is probably
not critical for me at this point. <<

Instead of letting your query get stale by waiting till April to
respond, I decided to reply today. :)

Essentially this issue is of little practical importance at this stage.
However, the discrepancy is fairly easy to explain.

It comes down to the differences between *Jewish* kabbalah and Western
Hermetic kabbalah. Moryason's thoughts relate only to Western Hermetic
kabbalah whereas my own relate to Jewish kabbalah. As Peter pointed
out, Bardon seems to have comprehended both: the Western Hermetic
through his words and the Jewish through his KTQ diagram.

In Jewish kabbalah, the tetragrammaton refers to the Four Worlds, not
the "Elements". The attribution of Elements to the Letters of The Name
is a non-Jewish, Western Hermetic invention. In other words, there are
two separate traditions of these attributions and they are best treated
as separate entities instead of trying to reconcile them.

According to Jewish kabbalah, the Letters Aleph, Mem and Shin are
"Mother Letters" which represent the three primal building blocks.
[Plus, Jewish kabbalah has no Mother Letter for the Hermetic Earth
Element.] These are not the same thing as the *four* Hermetic Elements.

According to the Jewish scheme, the Yod equates to the World of
Atziluth, Heh to the World of Briah, Vav to the World of Yetzirah, and
the final-Heh to the World of Assiah. On the "Composite Tree" (which
seeks to express all four Worlds on a single Tree of Life), the Letters
of the Name correspond thusly: Yod = Kether & Chokmah, Heh = Binah, Vav
= Tiphareth, and final-Heh = Yesod & Malkuth. From this perspective,
it's easier to see why I equate the four *Hermetic* Elements as I do.

Ultimately, which attributions you employ matters only when it comes to
uttering The Name kabbalistically. At that point, you will *know* which
is proper and these questions of theory will seem irrelevant. :)

My best to you,
:) Rawn Clark
25 Holiday 2004
rawnclark@...
rawn@...
http://www.ABardonCompanion.com
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