Sefer Yetzirah (The Book of Formation)
From Association of Independent Readers and Rootworkers
Sefer Yetzirah (The Book of Formation) is a brief Jewish book of magical instructions attributed to Abraham but likely written between the 3rd and 6th centuries. The earliest known text of Jewish esotericism, it describes 32 paths to higher knowledge and teaches a form of meditation said to strengthen mental concentration to the point that the practitioner can develop telekinetic and telepathic powers. It prescribes signs, incantations, and divine names that can be utilized to influence or alter the course of natural events and also lays the foundation of numerological gematria and teaches that the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet are the building blocks out of which God creates our physical and metaphysical realms. The text explains how tzaddikim, just and charitable people who master the secret knowledge of the 22 letters, are empowered to make a golem, a living being formed of clay and brought to life by inscribing sacred letters on its forehead. The accomplishment of this act not only places Sefer Yetzirah in the realm of Jewish grimoires and Medieval wonder books, but to some critics it crosses a line into blasphemy because they hold that only God can create life. Perhaps to soften that accusation that is deals in sorcery, Kabbalistic devotees of Sefer Yetzirah often describe it as a "mystical" work, like the much later Zohar or Book of Radiance. To them it is the most influential text in the Ma'aseh Bereshit mystical tradition, which is devoted to analytical contemplation of the literal first words of the Book of Genesis in the Bible, and to developing an understanding of the links between the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet and the elements, planets, and signs of the Zodiac.
Traditionally, Sefer Yetzirah's authorship is ascribed to Abraham. Some say that the book first came to Adam, and that it was passed to Noah, and then to Abraham. Others credit the authorship to Rabbi Akiva, one of the authors of the Talmud. Regardless, the book is certainly old. It is referenced in the Talmud itself (San. 65b, 67b), where it is written that "On the eve of every Shabbat, Rav Hanina and Rav Hoshaiah would sit and engage in study of Sefer Yetzirah." Academic scholars agree that it was written sometime in Late Antiquity (circa 100-500 C.E.) There are four major variations and editions of the Sefer Yetzirah -- broadly grouped into four categories: the Short Version, the Long Version, the Saadia Version, and the Gra Version. The Short Version is only about 1300 words in length, while the Long Version is about twice as long as that. In the 10th century CE, Saadia Gaon reorganized the structure of the Long Version and wrote his own commentary on it; this is called the Saadia Version. In the 13th century CE, Abraham Abulafia noted the existence of both Long and Short Versions of co-existant. In the 16th century CE, the Isaac Luria, known as "The Ari," redacted the text to harmonize it with the Zohar, and then in the 18th century CE, Eliyahu the Gaon of Vilna, known as "the Gra" further redacted Luria's text, and this is now called the Gra Version
The book describes the 32 paths of wisdom, consisting of the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet and the 10 sefirot -- circular or spherical attributes or emanations through which Ein Sof (God prior to his self-manifestation) reveals itself and continuously creates both the physical and metaphysical realms. These 10 sefirot and the 32 paths that connect them have become synonymous with the mysticism of the Kabbalah. They form the basis for Isaac Luria's well-known Tree of Life diagram, which greatly influenced Christian and Theosophist esotericists of the 19th century, and can be seen in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and Builders of the Adytum approaches to the interpretation of the tarot cards. In particular, the division of the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet into 3 elemental mother-letters, 7 planetary letters, and 12 zodical letters was applied by these esoteric orders to the 22 trump cards of the tarot -- and the entire tree of life with its implied 32 paths appears on the Waite-Smith tarot's 10 of Pentacles card. This deep connection between modern esoteric thought, cartomancy, and the Sefer Yetzirah is often overlooked by modern card readers.
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- Author: Dr. Jeremy Weiss
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