But the Duad, although the origin of Evil, or Matter—hence unreal in Philosophy—is still Substance during Manvantara, and is often called the Third Monad, in Occultism, and the connecting line as between two Points, or Numbers, which proceeded from That, “which [pg 678] was before all Numbers,” as expressed by Rabbi Barahiel. And from this Duad proceeded all the Scintillas of the three Upper and the four Lower Worlds or Planes—which are in constant interaction and correspondence. This is a teaching which the Kabalah has in common with Eastern Occultism. For in the Occult Philosophy there is the “One Cause” and the “Primal Cause,” the latter thus becoming, paradoxically, the Second, as is clearly expressed by the author of the Qabbalah, from the Philosophical Writings of Ibn Gabirol, who says:
In the treatment of the Primal Cause, two things must be considered, the Primal Cause per se, and the relation and connection of the Primal Cause with the visible and unseen universe.[1064]
Thus he shows the early Hebrews, as the later Arabians, following in the steps of the Oriental Philosophy, such as the Chaldean, Persian, Hindû, etc. Their Primal Cause was designated at first,
By the triadic שדי Shaddaï, the [triune] Almighty, subsequently by the Tetragrammaton, יהוה, YHVH symbol of the Past, Present, and Future,[1065]
and, let us add, of the eternal IS, or the I AM. Moreover, in the Kabalah the name YHVH (or Jehovah) expresses a He and a She, male and female, two in one, or Chokmah and Binah, and his, or rather their Shekinah or synthesizing Spirit (or Grace), which again makes of the Duad a Triad. This is demonstrated in the Jewish Liturgy for Pentecost, and the prayer:
“In the name of Unity, of the Holy and Blessed Hû [He], and His She'keenah, the Hidden and Concealed Hû, blessed be YHVH [the Quaternary] for ever.” Hû is said to be masculine and YaH feminine, together they make the יהוה אחד i.e., one YHVH. One, but of a male-female nature. The She'keenah is always considered in the Qabbalah as feminine.[1066]
And so it is considered in the exoteric Purânas, for Shekinah is no more than Shakti—the female double of any God—in such case. And so it was with the early Christians, whose Holy Spirit was feminine, as Sophia was with the Gnostics. But in the transcendental Chaldean Kabalah, or Book of Numbers, Shekinah is sexless, and the purest abstraction, a state, like Nirvâna, neither subject nor object, nor anything except an absolute Presence.
Thus it is only in the anthropomorphized systems—such as the Kabalah has now for the most part become—that Shekinah-Shakti is feminine. As such she becomes the Duad of Pythagoras, the two straight lines which can form no geometrical figure and are the symbol [pg 679] of Matter. Out of this Duad, when united in the basic line of the Triangle on the lower plane (the upper Triangle of the Sephirothal Tree), emerge the Elohim, or Deity in Cosmic Nature, with the true Kabalists the lowest designation, translated in the Bible “God.”[1067] Out of these (the Elohim) issue the Scintillas.
The Scintillas are the “Souls,” and these Souls appear in the three-fold form of Monads (Units), Atoms and Gods—according to our Teaching. As says the Esoteric Catechism: