It was not until I began looking to the Judaic Hebrew root, from which the Western Tradition had sprung, that I began to increase in my understanding of the S.Y.  And over the years of studying it from these two perspectives, the S.Y. has for me become just the opposite of enigmatic!  Now I understand it to be a very concise, crystal clear description, though of an infinitely complex process.

In my estimation, there are four keys to understanding the S.Y.  The first is that the S.Y. refers to the Genesis, chapter one, creation story.  A careful examination of the Hebrew text of these Torah verses should be considered a prerequisite to study of the S.Y. itself.

The "32 well trodden paths, mysterious things of wisdom" mentioned in the opening line of the S.Y. correspond to the 32 times that the name "Elohim" is mentioned in Genesis, chapter one. 

The Genesis story tells of the Briatic work of Creation; and the S.Y. tells of the Yetziratic work of the creation's Formation.  In other words, the S.Y. picks up where the Genesis, chapter one story leaves off.

It is important to note that the S.Y. does not explain the transition from the Yetziratic infinity of symbols to the Assiatic infinity of physical manifestation. 

It is equally important to note that the transition from Briatic (non-sequentialized meaning) to Yetziratic (sequence), which is described in the S.Y., requires an infinite number of sequentialized combinations, and that for this reason, such an act is impossible to accomplish from within the realm of sequence -- there simply is not enough time!  In other words, it requires a Briatic level of consciousness, which by its nature encompasses the whole passage of time, in order to enact this infinite number of combinations.

Infinity is a very important concept in Qabala.  Each of the Four Worlds is an infinity within an infinity, encompassing yet another infinity.  Atziluth is a unitary infinity of being; Briah is an infinity of non-sequentialized meaning; Yetzirah is an infinity of sequentialized meaning, of time, and of specified symbol; and Assiah is an infinity of spatially related, sequentialized meaning. 

The undivided infinity of being (Atziluth), multiplies itself by another order of infinity and causes the infinity of specified, non-sequentialized meaning (Briah).  In this state, Unitary being experiences the whole infinite variety of specific meanings, but without sequence or order.  This is the archetypal, symbolic ocean, in which each drop reflects the whole and the whole is mirrored in each drop.   It is a chaos of potentiality in which all things are not only possible, but also probable and actual.

This infinity of random meaning (Briah), multiplies itself by another order of infinity and causes the infinity of sequence and relationship (Yetzirah).  This is the realm of symbol, of order, logic, emotion, thought -- the realm where one thing leads to another.  This is also the realm of time, the essence of which is sequence. 

This infinity of sequentialized meaning (Yetzirah), multiplies itself by another order of infinity and causes the infinity of spatial relationship (Assiah) and our familiar physical realm.

The first multiplication of The One Self -- the transition from the Atziluthic Unity of being, to the Braitic infinity of non-sequentialized meaning -- is described in the Genesis, chapter one, creation story.  The second transition, from the Briatic infinity to the sequentialized Yetziratic infinity, is the topic of the Sepher Yetzirah.  Thus the S.Y. is very orderly and systematic in its presentation and closely examines the structure of time ("eternity"). 

The second key to the S.Y. is the mystery of IHVH and ShMA.  The S.Y. deals with I-H-V and relates it directly to Sh-M-A.  It tells the tale of the mixing of the Yod, Vav and Heh, and of the Shin, Mem and Aleph.  The unexplained mystery of this, is that it is by the infinite mixing of these three that the Heh-final of IHVH comes to be. 

The third key to the S.Y. is an understanding of "speech".  In the S.Y., the letters are spoken and it is this process of speech that transforms non-sequential Briah into sequentialized Yetzirah. 

Through speech, inner ideas are externalized.  Air passes over vocal cords, giving them a corresponding vibration, and then this vibrating air is shaped more closely and specifically by the mouth.  The sound that emerges carries with it specific meaning, and as this vibration passes outward, it affects the things it encounters. 

When a Briatic consciousness speaks formatively (Yetziratically), the "Air" inhaled is the Briatic realm itself.  Upon this non-sequentialized substance, the specific will of the Former is impressed.  Then as it passes over the vocal cords and is further refined by the mouth, it is given a vibration corresponding to its meaning.  What emerges is Yetziratic (i.e., sequentialized) and it communicates the Former's will to other things by setting them to vibrating in harmony with the Former's speech. 

Not completely satisfied with any of the English translations I've read, I have resorted to crafting my own rendition.  This experience netted just as unsatisfying a result!  My advice to the serious student of Qabala, is that you study the Hebrew text itself, for it is impossible to translate any more than the most superficial level of its symbolism  into English.  And it is these deeper levels of symbolism, achieved through the Hebrew letters themselves, which fires the illumination offered by the S.Y.


Sepher Yetzirah and the Gra's Tree compared:

S.Y.-1:1  Through 32 well trodden paths, mysterious things of wisdom, Yah portrayed: IHVH Tzabaoth, Elohi Israel, Elohim of Life; and the King of eternity, El Shaddai, merciful and gracious, high and exalted, dwelling throughout time; and the holy Name, lofty and holy He is.  And [Yah] created the entirety of time through a triad of written things: through text (symbolization of meaning), and number (sequentialization of meaning), and through communication (the interaction of one symbolized meaning with another).

S.Y.-1:2  Ten symbols made of nothingness and 22 potentials of foundation: 3 mothers and 7 doubles and 12 rinds.

The second verse explains the first and provides the basic outline of the S.Y.'s structure. 

At one level of meaning, the holy names "portrayed" by Yah equate to the ten sephiroth, and the 22 potentials of foundation refer to the "triad of written things": the 3 mothers equate with "text", the 7 doubles with "number", and the 12 rinds with "communication". 
The phrase "a triad of written things" means that all things in Yetzirah exist in triune relationship. Only when related dynamically in this way, is the fourth thing -- the whole -- realized.

Since the Briatic realm is not sequentialized, it exists beyond the limitations of time and appears to us as a sort of randomized chaos of potentialities.  The transition from the Briatic into the Yetziratic is therefore a process of sequentialization.  When sequence comes into play, each thing suddenly exists in relationship with other things: step two follows step one and is followed by step three, one thought leads to another thought, etc.  Sequence is the essence of time and it is for this reason that the Yetziratic realm is referred to as "eternity". 

Eternity therefore refers to the entirety of time, to the whole infinity of sequence itself.   

While the creation of Briah happens without sequence, the formation of Yetzirah is sequence -- the specifics of which are symbolized in the above two verses. 

S.Y.-1:3  Ten symbols made of nothingness:  in the number of ten digits, five explaining five, and a singular agreement stationed in the middle -- in the circumcision of the tongue and circumcision of the genitals.

S.Y.-1:4  Ten symbols made of nothingness:  ten and not nine, ten and not eleven.  Understand with wisdom and be wise with understanding.  Assay with them and dig a well out of them, and make it stand to speak to its creator, and return the Former to His habitation.

This begins the section on the ten sephiroth.  It describes their "number".  Here we are told that they exist in polarity, five opposite five.  This polarization establishes a sequential continuum, described here as the mediating covenant of circumcision. 

In the Briatic realm, archetypal meanings exist in their pure state, without combination and interaction.  It is not till Yetzirah that they become sequentialized and placed into context with each other.  Thus in Briah Fire exists as a separate thing from Water, but in Yetzirah, they exist only in combination. 
In Yetzirah, Fire becomes the relative absence of Water, and vise versa.  Each thing in this realm is defined by what it is not as much as by what it is.   

S.Y.-1:5  Ten symbols made of nothingness: their measurements are ten without end to them -- a depth of beginning and a depth of end; a depth of good and a depth of evil; a depth of highness and a depth of lowness; a depth of east and a depth of west; a depth of north and a depth of south.  The singular master, El, faithful king, dominates over them all from his holy dwelling throughout the whole passage of time.

Here we have the "measurements" of the ten sephiroth.  This refers to "assay with them" in 1:4, and to "dig a well out with them" refers to the establishment of ten "depths".  It is important to note the manner in which these depths are described, for they lead us to the central perspective of the  Gra Tree, the Aleph-Resh crossing. 

For example, "a depth of above and a depth of below" defines three things: 1) an unlimited upwardness; 2) an unlimited downwardness; and 3) the central point from which above stretches infinitely and from which below likewise, stretches infinitely.  In an infinite continuum such as this, the central point referred to can occur anywhere and/or everywhere along the continuum, and the two poles will still stretch infinitely (therefore, equally) above and below.

S.Y.-2:1  Twenty-two foundation potentials: 3 mothers and 7 doubles and 12 rinds.  Three mothers AM'Sh -- their foundation is a pan of clarity and a pan of obscurity and the tongue of decree deciding between them.  Three mothers AM'Sh -- Mem is silent, Shin hisses with derision, Aleph is the air of breath deciding between them.

S.Y.-2:2  Twenty-two foundation potentials: He portrayed them, hewed them out, refined them, considered them, and changed them.  And with them He formed all that is formed and all that is ready to be formed.

S.Y.-2:3  Twenty-two foundation potentials: He portrayed them with voice; He hewed them out with breath; He hid them in the mouth in five places -- Aleph, Cheth, Heh Ayin: in the throat.  Gimel, Yod, Kaph, Qooph: in the palate.  Daleth, Teth, Lamed, Nun, Tav: in the tongue.  Zayin, Samekh, Shin, Resh, Tzaddi: in the teeth.  Beth, Vav, Mem, Peh: in the lips.

S.Y.-2:4  Twenty-two foundation potentials: He placed them in a circle like a wall with 231 gates and the circle oscillates forward and backward.  A sign for this: to speak nothing in good higher than delight and nothing in evil lower than plague.

S.Y.-2:5  How?  He refined them, He considered them, and He changed them: Aleph with them all and all of them with Aleph; Beth with them all and all of them with Beth.  And they repeat in a cycle and exist in 231 gates.  And it comes to be that all that is formed and all that is spoken, emanates from a single Name.

S.Y.-2:6  He formed substance out of desolation and made non-existence exist; and He hewed out great pillars out of air that cannot be grasped; and this is a sign: Aleph with them all and all of them with Aleph.  He watches and changes and makes all that is formed and all that is spoken a singular Name.  A sign for this: to speak 22 precious things in a single body.

These verses give very specific details of how the 22 letters, as a group, are employed in the act of formation.  The following sections 3, 4 and 5, provide the details of how each sub-grouping (i.e.: 3 mothers, 7 doubles, 12 rinds) is employed and how each individual letter is employed.

The implication here in section 2 is that the letters, through speech, are mixed with each other in an infinite number of combinations, each establishing a sequentialized continuum.  The infinity of infinite continuums thus created is the field of Yetziratic experience.  Each multiplication by infinity causes, fills, is the descendant infinity.  The primal Unity loses nothing of its self-awareness in this process since its awareness literally 'fills all' -- the descendant infinities are its self-awareness.

What we have in section 2, is a description of how, through these 22 foundation potentials, the infinity of non-sequentialized meaning (Briah) completes its multiplication.  This particular stage of the multiplication is enacted upon/through the single body of the ten symbols made of nothingness.  Each aspect is mixed with every other aspect and in this way the sephiroth impress themselves throughout the whole infinity of sequence.

Again, these are the actions of a higher dimensional infinity carried out upon an encompassed infinity of a lower dimension.  Therefore, successfully following section 2 as practical instruction for the act of formation, requires access to the aforementioned Briatic consciousness.

The following three sections give specific details as to the powers of the letters.  Each section begins with a few comments on the particular sub-group of letters concerned, and then goes on to focus on the individual letters themselves.   When reading sections 3, 4 and 5, it is important to remember the comprehensiveness of the actual working displayed in section 2. 

It is necessary, considering the limitations inherent to our physical brains, for us to describe the letters in minute, sequential detail.  But this is not how they are wielded in the act of formation itself.  When a Briatic consciousness forms, it does so without sequence -- its formation though, is sequence. 

Or as I stated it earlier, there are literally an infinite number of combinations to be made in the transition from Briah to Yetzirah, and it is impossible to enact an infinite number of sequential combinations from within the realm of sequence itself -- there simply is not enough time to do so.  This can only be accomplished when you can encompass the entire infinity of sequence/time with your self-awareness.

The long and the short of it is, the act of formation is no where near as simple as a cursory reading of the S.Y. has led many to believe.  Only the few who are "Wise with Understanding and Understand with Wisdom" can truly achieve conscious formation.  On the other hand (attached to the same singular body!), it is, in time-space terms, the destiny of every single aspect of the infinite Unity to become fully self-aware and to consciously surpass even the limitations of Briah.

S.Y.-3:1  Three mothers AM'Sh: their foundation is a pan of clarity and a pan of obscurity and the tongue of decree deciding between them.

S.Y.-3:2  Three mothers AM'Sh: a great secret, mystical and covered up, and they are sealed with six seal-rings, and from them emanate air, water, fire, and from them are born fathers, and from the fathers, descendents.

S.Y.-3:3  Three mothers AM'Sh: He portrayed them, hewed them out, refined them, considered them, and changed them, and with them He formed three mothers AM'Sh in eternity and three mothers AM'Sh in the measured passage of time ["year"] and three mothers AM'Sh in the breath-filled soul [Nephesh], male and female.

S.Y.-3:4  Three mothers AM'Sh in eternity: air, waters, fire.  The heavens [upper-waters] He creates from fire; and the Earth He created from the [lower] waters; and air from breath decides between them.

S.Y.-3:5  Three mothers AM'Sh in the measured passage of time: heating, cooling and the temperate.  The heating He created from fire; the cooling He created from the [lower] waters; and the temperate from breath decides between them.

S.Y.-3:6  Three mothers AM'Sh in the breath-filled soul, male and female: the head and the womb and the respiring chest.  The head He created from fire; and the womb He created from the [lower] waters; and the respiring chest from breath decides between them.

These correspondences for the double letters come directly from Genesis, chapter 1.  The key, is their correlation to the 7 days of the creation.  The Briatic meaning of each of those days, is here translated into Yetziratic symbol: 

Doubles: "Elohim saw:"
      Day 1 -- Beth ("the light, that it was good." 1:4): Life, Saturn, Right Eye.
      Day 2(3) -- Gimel ("that it was good." separation of land & waters 1:10): Peace, Jupiter, Left Eye.
      Day 3 -- Daleth ("that it was good" earth bringing forth grass 1:12): Wisdom, Mars, Right Ear.
      Day 4 -- Kaph ("that it was good" two lights in the firmament 1:18): Wealth, Sun, Left Ear.
      Day 5 -- Peh ("that it was good" swarming of waters & air 1:21): Grace, Venus, Right Nostril.
      Day 6 -- Resh ("that it was good" the beasts of the earth 1:25): Seed, Mercury, Left Nostril.
      Day 7(6) -- Tav ("every thing He had made, and it was very good." 1:31): Dominion, Moon, Mouth.

As before, it is an error to think that the text means the planet Saturn was formed by simply speaking the letter Beth.  Closer to the correct meaning is that through combining Beth with all the other letters, the saturnine influence is formed.  But even this is a gross over-simplification in light of the infinite number of combinations entailed in formation. 

S.Y.-5:3  Twelve rinds H'V'Z, Ch'T'Y, L'N'S, O'Tz'Q: their foundation is He portrayed them, hewed them out, refined them, considered them, and changed them.  And with them He formed twelve destinies in eternity; twelve new moons in the measured passage of time; twelve directors in the breath-filled soul, male and female.

S.Y.-5:4  Twelve destinies in eternity are: aries, taurus, gemini, cancer, leo, virgo, libra, scorpio, sagittarius, capricorn, aquarius, pisces.

S.Y.-5:5  Twelve new moons in the measured passage of time are: nissan, iyar, sivan, tamuz, av, elul, tishrei, cheshvan, kislev, tevet, shevat, adar.

S.Y.-5:6  Twelve directors in the breath-filled soul, male and female, are: two hands, two feet, two kidneys, spleen, liver, gall, esophagus, stomach, intestines.

S.Y.-5:7  He made the letter Heh king over sight and He bound to it a crown; and He refined them, this one with that one; and with them He formed: aries in eternity; and nissan in the measured passage of time; and the right hand in the breath-filled soul, male and female.

He made the letter Vav king over hearing and He bound to it a crown; and He refined them, this one with that one; and with them He formed: taurus in eternity; and iyar in the measured passage of time; and the left hand in the breath-filled soul, male and female.

He made the letter Zayin king over smell and He bound to it a crown; and He refined them, this one with that one; and with them He formed: gemini in eternity; and sivan in the measured passage of time; and the right foot in the breath-filled soul, male and female.

S.Y.-5:8  He made the letter Cheth king over speech and He bound to it a crown; and He refined them, this one with that one; and with them He formed: cancer in eternity; and tamuz in the measured passage of time; and the left foot in the breath-filled soul, male and female.

He made the letter Teth king over taste and He bound to it a crown; and He refined them, this one with that one; and with them He formed: leo in eternity; and av in the measured passage of time; and the right kidney in the breath-filled soul, male and female.

He made the letter Yod king over the coition and He bound to it a crown; and He refined them, this one with that one; and with them He formed: virgo in eternity; and elul in the measured passage of time; and the left kidney in the breath-filled soul, male and female.

S.Y.-5:9  He made the letter Lamed king over action and He bound to it a crown; and He refined them, this one with that one; and with them He formed: libra in eternity; and tishrei in the measured passage of time; and the spleen in the breath-filled soul, male and female.

He made the letter Nun king over motion and He bound to it a crown; and He refined them, this one with that one; and with them He formed: scorpio in eternity; and cheshvan in the measured passage of time; and the liver in the breath-filled soul, male and female.

He made the letter Samekh king over anger and He bound to it a crown; and He refined them, this one with that one; and with them He formed: sagittarius in eternity; and kislev in the measured passage of time; and the gall bladder in the breath-filled soul, male and female.

S.Y.-5:10  He made the letter Ayin king over mirth and He bound to it a crown; and He refined them, this one with that one; and with them He formed: capricorn in eternity; and tevet in the measured passage of time; and the pharynx in the breath-filled soul, male and female.

He made the letter Tzaddi king over thought and He bound to it a crown; and He refined them, this one with that one; and with them He formed: aquarius in eternity; and shevat in the measured passage of time; and the stomach in the breath-filled soul, male and female.

He made the letter Qooph king over sleep and He bound to it a crown; and He refined them, this one with that one; and with them He formed: pisces in eternity; and adar in the measured passage of time; and the intestines in the breath-filled soul, male and female.

He made them like a sort of raised bed, He arranged them like a sort of wall, He arrayed them like a sort of battle.

The ordering of these correspondences varies greatly from version to version of the S.Y.  The arrangement I offer here comes after careful examination of the linguistic use of the letters, their relationship to Genesis: Chapter 1, and their established astrological correlations.