- In the World—Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon.
- In Man—Wisdom, Riches, Dominion, Life, Favour, Progeny, Peace.
- In the Year—Sabbath, Thursday, Tuesday, Sunday, Friday, Wednesday, Monday.
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Owing to the opposite = double pronunciation of these seven letters, being hard and soft, they are also the symbols of the seven opposites (תמורות) in which human life moves, viz., wisdom and ignorance, riches and poverty, fruitfulness and barrenness, life and death, liberty and bondage, peace and war, beauty and deformity. Moreover, they correspond to the seven ends (שבע קצוות), above and below, east and west, north and south, and the Holy Place in the centre, which supports them; and with them God formed the seven heavens, the seven earths or countries, the seven weeks from the feast of Passover to Pentecost. (Chapter iii, Mishna, i–v; cap. iv, Mishna, i–iii.)
3. Twelve simple consonants שתיﬦ עשר פשוטות.
The three dominions then respectively developed themselves into twelve parts, the macrocosm into the twelve signs of the Zodiac, time into twelve months, and the microcosm into twelve active organs. This is shown by the twelve simple consonants of the alphabet. Thus it is declared, that by means of the twelve letters, which are הוז חטי לן סעצק, God created the twelve signs of the Zodiac, viz.:—
- In the World—Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricornus, Aquarius, Pisces.
- In Man—The organs of Sight, Hearing, Smelling, Talking, Taste, Copulating, Dealing, Walking, Thinking, Anger, Laughter, Sleeping.
- In the Year—The twelve months, viz., Nisan, Jiar, Sivan, Tamus, Ab, Elul, Tishri, Cheshvan, Kislev, Tebet, Shebat, Adar. (Comp. chapter v, Mishna i.)
The three dominions continued gradually to develope into that infinite variety of objects which is perceptible in each. This infinite variety, proceeding from the combination of a few, is propounded by means of the great diversity of combinations and permutations of which the whole alphabet is capable. [[154]]These letters, small in number, being only twenty-two, by their power of combination and transposition, yield an endless number of words and figures, and thus become the types of all the varied phenomena in the creation.[7] “Just as the twenty-two letters yield two hundred and thirty-one types by combining Aleph (א) with all the letters, and all the letters with Aleph; Beth (ב), with all the letters, and all the letters with Beth, so all the formations and all that is spoken proceed from one name.” (Chapter ii, Mishna, iv.). The table on the opposite page will shew how the two hundred and thirty-one types are obtained by the combination of the twenty-two letters.
The infinite variety in creation is still more strikingly exhibited by permutations, of which the Hebrew alphabet is capable, and through which an infinite variety of types is obtained. Hence the remark[8]—“Two letters form two houses, three letters build six houses, four build twenty-four, five build a hundred and twenty houses, six build seven hundred and twenty houses; and from thenceforward go out and think what the mouth cannot utter and the ear cannot hear.” (Chapter iv, Mishna iv.) The following table will show how the letters, by permutation, will yield an infinite variety.
TABLE OF PERMUTATION.
| a. Two letters | b. Three letters | c. Four letters | |||||||||
| אב | 1. | אבג | 1. | דאבג | 19. | גאבד | 13. | באגד | 7. | אבגד | 1. |
| בא | 2. | אגב | 2. | דאגב | 20. | גאדב | 14. | באדג | 8. | אבדג | 2. |
| באג | 3. | דבאג | 21. | גבאד | 15. | בגאד | 9. | אגבד | 3. | ||
| בגא | 4. | דבגא | 22. | גבדא | 16. | בגדא | 10. | אגדב | 4. | ||
| גאב | 5. | דגאב | 23. | גדאב | 17. | בדאג | 11. | אדבג | 5. | ||
| גבא | 6. | דגבא | 24. | גדבא | 18. | בדגא | 12. | אדגב | 6. | ||
| form two. | build six. | build twenty-four. | |||||||||