CHAPTER II.

mm

THE SACRED WORD YOD-HE-VAU-HE.

The Kabbalah and the Sacred Word— The Yod— The He— The Van
— The second He — Synthesis of the Sacred Word.

According to the ancient oral tradition of the Hebrews,
or Kabbalah,1 a sacred word exists, which gives to the
mortal who can discover the correct way of pronouncing it,
the key to all the sciences, divine and human. This word,
which the Israelites never uttered, and which the High
Priest pronounced once a year, amidst the shouts of the
laity, is found at the head of every initiative ritual, it-
radiates from the centre of the flaming triangle at the

1 "It appears, according to the most famous rabbis, that Moses
himself, foreseeing the fate which awaited his book, and the falsi;
interpretations which would be given to it in the course of time,
resorted to an oral law, which he delivered verbally to reliable men,
whose fidelity he had tested, and whom he charged to transmit it to
others in the secret of the sanctuary, who in their turn, transmitting
it from age to age, secured its preservation even for the most distant
posterity. This oral law, which modern Jews still flatter themselves'
that they possess, is called the Kabbalah, from a Hebrew word which
signifies that which is received, that which comes from elsewhere,
that which passes from hand to hand." — Fabre d'Olivet, La Langue
Hébraïque Restituée, p. 29.

c

18 THE TAROT.

33rd degree of the Freemasonry of Scotland, it is displayed
above the gateways of our old cathedrals, is formed of four
Hebrew letters, and reads thus, Yod-he-vau-he, TWVk

It is used in the Sepher Bercschit, or Genesis of Moses,
to designate the divinity, and its grammatical construction
recalls even by its formation 1 the attributes which men
have always delighted to ascribe to God. Now we shall
see that the powers attributed to this word are real up to
a certain point, for with its aid the symbolical gate of the
arch, which contains the explanation of the whole doctrine
of ancient science, is easily opened. It is therefore necessary
to enter into some detail respecting it.

The word is formed of four letters, Yod C), he (n),
van, p), he (il). This last letter he is repeated twice.

À number is attributed to each letter of the Hebrew
alphabet. We must look at those which relate to the
letters we are now considering.

>

Yôd =

= 10

n

he

= 5

i

vau =

; 6

1 "This name presents first the sign which indicates life, repeated
twice, and thus forming the essentially living root EE (HiT). This
root is never used as a noun, and is the only one which enjoys this
prerogative. It is from its formation not only a verb, but a unique
verb, from which ail the others are merely derivations ; in short, the
verb mn (EVE), to be, being. Here, as we can see, and as I have
carefully explained in my grammar, the sign of intelligible light 1
(VO) is placed in the midst of the root of life. Moses, when using
this unique verb to form the proper name of the Being of Beings,
added to it the sign of potential manifestation and of eternity, ^ (I) ;
he thus obtained mrP (IEVE), in which the facultative Being is
placed between a past tense without origin, and a future without
limit. This admirable word thus exactly signifies the Being who is,
who was, and who will be." — Fabre d'Olivet, La Langue Hébraïque
Restituée.

THE SACRED WORD YOD-HE-VAU-HE. 19

The total numerical value of the word mrp is therefore

10 + 5 + 6 + 5 = 26.
Let us now study each letter separately.

THE YOD.

The Yod, shaped like a comma or a dot, represents the
principle or origin of all things.

The other letters of the Hebrew alphabet are all pro-
duced by different combinations of the letter Yod} The
synthetic study of nature had led the ancients to conclude
that one law only existed, and ruled all natural productions.
This law, the basis of analogy, placed the Unity-principle
at the origin of all things, and regarded them as the
reflections at various degrees of this Unity-principle. Thus
the Yod, which alone forms all the other letters, and there-
fore all the words and all the phrases of the alphabet, was
justly used as the image and representation of this Unity-
principle, of which the profane had no knowledge.

Thus the law which presided over the creation of the
Hebrew language is the same law that presided over the
creation of the Universe, and to know the one is to know
the other, unreservedly. ^ The Sepher Yetzircch,2 one of the
most ancient books of the Kabbalah, proves this fact.

Before proceeding any further, let us illustrate the
definition which we have just given of the Yod by an
example. The first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, the
aleph (S), is composed of four yods placed opposite to each
other ; the other letters are all formed on the same basis.3

1 See the Kabbala D&nudaia.

8 Translated into English by Dr. Wynn \Yestcott.

3 See the Kabbala Denudata.

20 THE TAROT.

The numerical value of the yod leads to other consider-
ations. The Unity-principle, according to the doctrine of
the Kabbalists, is also the Unitv-end of beings and of
things, so that eternity, from this point of view, is only an
eternal present. The ancients used a dot in the centre of
a circle as the symbol of this idea, the representation of
the Unity-principle {the dot) in the centre of eternity (the
circle, a line without beginning or end).1

According to these demonstrations, the Unity is regarded
as the whole, of which all created beings are only the con-
stituent parts; just as the Unity-man is formed of an
agglomeration of molecules, which compose his being.

The Kabbalah, therefore, places at the origin of all things
the absolute assertion of the being by itself of the Ego-
Unity, which is represented by the yod symbolically, and
by the number 10. This number 10, representing the All-
principle 1, with the Zero-nothing 0, well supplies the
requisite conditions.2

1 See Kirclier, Œiipus JEquptiacus ;

,, Lenain, La Science Kabbalistique ;
,. J. Dee, Monas Hieroglyph tea.

2 See Saint-Mnrtin, Des rapports qui existent entre Dieu, V Homme

et V Univers.

A

,, Lacuna, Harmonies de VEtre exprimées par les nombres.

THE SACRED WORD YOD-HE-VAU-HE. 21

THE HE.1

But the Ego cannot be realized except through its
opposition to the Non-Ego. The assertion of the Ego is
scarcely established, when we must instantly realize a
reaction of the Ego, Absolute, upon itself, from which the
conception of its existence will be drawn, by a kind of
division of the Unity. This is the origin of duality, of
opposition, of the Binary, the image of femininity, even as
the Unity is the image of the masculine. Ten, divided

by itself, in opposition to itself, then equals -g- == 5, five,

the exact number of the letter He, the second letter of the
great sacred name.

The He therefore represents the passive in relation to
the Yod, which symbolizes the active; the Non-Ego in
relation to the Ego, the woman relatively to the man;
the substance relatively to the essence ; life in its relation
to the soul, &c, &c.

THE VAU.2

But the opposition of the Ego and the Non-Ego imme-
diately gives rise to another factor ; this is the Affinity
existing between this Ego and this Non-Ego.

Now the Vau, the sixth letter of the Hebrew alphabet,
produced by 10 (yod) + 5 (he) = 15 = 6 (or 1 + 5),
signifies link or analogy. It is the link which, uniting

1 See Eliphas Levi, Dogme et Rituel de la Hante Magie ; la Clef des
Grands Mystères; — Lacuria, op. cit.

2 See Fabre d' Olivet, La Langue Hébraïque Restituée.

22 THE TAROT.

antagonisms in the whole of nature, constitutes the third
word of this mysterious Trinity.

Ego — Non-Ego.

Affinity of the Ego with the Non-Ego.

THE 2ND HE.

Nothing can exist beyond this Trinity, considered as
a law.

The Trinity is the synthetic and absolute formula to
which all the sciences converge ; and this formula, forgotten
with regard to its scientific value, has been transmitted to
us integrally, by all the religions of the world, the uncon-
scious depositaries of the Science Wisdom of primitive
civilizations.1

Thus the great sacred name is formed of three letters
only. The fourth term of the name is formed by the
repetition of the second letter, the He.

This repetition indicates the passage of the Trinitarian
law into a new application; that is, to speak correctly,
a transition from the metaphysical to the physical world,
or generally, of any world whatever to the world that
immediately follows it.2

The knowledge of the property of the second He is the

1 See Louis Lucas, Le Roman alchimique.

" Prœter hœc tria mimera non est alia magnitudo, quod tria sunt
omnia, et ter undecunque, ut pythagorici dicunt; omne et omnia tribus
determinata sunt." — Aristotle. (Quoted by Ostrowski, page 24 of
his Mathèse. )

2 Ostrowski has seen this clearly. " The passage of 3 in 4 corre-
sponds to that of the Trimurti in Maïa, and as the latter opens the
second ternary of the pregenesetic decade, so the figure 4 opens that
of the second ternary of our genesetic decimal." — Mathèse, p. 25.

THE SACRED WORD YOD-HE-VAU-HE. 23

key to the whole divine name, in every application of
which it is susceptible. We shall presently see the 'proof
of this statement.

SUMMARY UPON THE WORD YOD-HE-VAU-HE.

Now that we have separately studied each of the letters
that compose the sacred name, we will apply the law of
synthesis to them, and sum up the results obtained.

The word Yod-he-vau-he is formed of four letters, signi-
fying:

The Tod The active principle pre-eminent.
The Ego = 10.

The He The passive principle pre-eminent.
The Non-Ego = 5.

The Van The Median letter, the link, which unites the
active to the passive.
The Affinity between the Ego and the Non-
Ego = 6.

These three letters express the Trinitarian law of the
Absolute.

The 2nd He The second He marks the passage from one
world to another. The Transition.

This second He represents the complete Being, com-
prising in one Absolute Unity the three letters which
compose it : Ego, Non-Ego, Affinity.

It indicates the passage from the noumenal tc the
phenomenal or reciprocal ; it serves as means of ascension
from one scale to another.

24

THE TAEOT.

REPRESENTATION OF THE SACRED WORD.

The word Yod-he-vau-he can be represented in various
ways, which are all useful.

The circle can be drawn in this way —

yod

1st he

n

2nd he

n

vau
1

But since the second He, the sign of transition, becomes
the active entity in the following scale, i. e. since this He
only represents a yod in germ,1 the sacred word can be
represented, with the second lie under the first yod,
thus —

yod 1st lie vau
2nd he

Lastly, a third method of representing the word consists
in enveloping the Trinity, Yod-he-vcm, with the tonalisating
letter, or second He, thus —

2nd he

2nd he

2nd he

2nd he

1 The second He, upon which we are intentionally dwelling at
some length, may be compared to a grain of wheat relatively to the

THE SACRED WORD YOD-HE-VAU-HE. 25

Now we will leave these data, to which we must return
later on, and speak of the occult or Pythagorean conception
of numbers.

ear. The ear, the Trinity, manifest or ' yod-he-vau, exerts all its
activity in the production of the grain of wheat, or second He. But
this grain of wheat is only the transition between the ear which
gave it birth, and the ear to which it will itself give birth in the
following generation. It is the transition between one generation
and another which it contains in germ ; this is why the second He is
a Yod in germ.