Dear Rawn: Thank you for your answer, I think I understand. It also sheds light on Peter's answer which I hadn't understood as I realize now. >> Ultimately, which attributions you employ matters only when it comes to >> uttering The Name kabbalistically. I realize that learning attributions on an "intellectual" level is of little importance and does not preclude confusion. Only practice brings the wisdom necessary to fully know what is correct and what is not. Or so it seems :) Thanks again and I hope you had nice holidays. Enjoy the few more days to go before April ;) Fraternally, Olivier -----Original Message----- From: Rawn Clark [mailto:rawnclark@...] Sent: Friday, March 26, 2004 3:25 AM To: BardonPraxis@yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: [BardonPraxis] Re: YHVH-Tetragrammaton 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 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BardonPraxis http://E.webring.com/hub?ring=arionthebardonwe Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BardonPraxis/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: BardonPraxis-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.