Three Mother Letters

"These are the 22 Letters with which God engraved and made Three Sefarim, and with them He created His Universe.  And with them He formed all that was ever formed, and all that will ever be formed.  Three on Seven; Seven on Twelve; and all are bound together." (Sefer Yetzirah)

In this picture can be seen all 22 Hebrew letters.  The 3 Mother Letters are in the triangle/pyramid in the top part; the 7 Double Letters are in the circle/sphere in the middle; and the 12 Simple Letters are in the hexagon/cube in the lower part.  The 3 Mothers and the 7… more

The red Shin ש represents Fire אש (aiSh) in Hebrew, thus, it rises up like fire;  the blue Mem מ represents Water מים (MahyiM) in Hebrew, thus, it flows downward like water.  The sounds of these 2 Letters are also opposites -  the outward hissing of Shhh.... and the inward humming of Mmmm...

The yellow  between them also surrounds them both.  It represents the first Hebrew letter Aleph א - which represents a Breath of Air אויר (Aveer) in Hebrew.  I made Aleph yellow because it also represents Light אור (Ohr).  Both words start with Aleph and are almost identical.  This can be… more

Most of the concepts that are presented in Sefer Yetzirah appear in this image.  The 22 Hebrew Letters and 10 Numbers (Sefirot) are said to be the building blocks of Creation, It is not so different from the letters and numbers that represent the building blocks of matter in the Periodic Table of the Elements, and the subatomic particle Zoo.  Because this picture looks like the motherboard of a computer, and because it contains Mother Letters, I call this picture The Sefer Yetzirah Motherboard.  All the arrows in this picture and all the words or phrases that are marked with similar… more

In the Passover song ‘Who Knows One?’, when we answer “God is One in Heaven and Earth” we mean that God is both transcendent (unknowable and so far beyond us) and  immanent (right here within us) at the same time.  Really, these are not two different things.  Transcendent God (in Heaven) and Immanent God (in Earth) is One.  A good word for this is non-dual.  The red ש Shin (symbolizing Fire) in this picture is open upward towards 'Heaven'; while the blue מ Mem (symbolizing Water) is open downward towards 'Earth'.  The yellow diagonal between them hints at the Letter ו  Vav (which means '… more

"3 Mothers א Aleph, מ Mem and ש Shin are Air אויר (avir), Water מים (mahyim) and Fire אש (aish). Fire is above, Water is below, and the Breath of Air balances between them. 

Mem hums, Shin hisses, and Aleph is the Breath of Air between them. (Sefer Yetzirah)

This picture can be used as a focus for meditation.  Sit comfortably and become aware of your chest rising and falling with the Air of your Breath.  Breathe in through your nose down into your belly with your lips closed.  This is the Mem.  Open your lips and breathe out through your teeth.  This is the Shin.  Repeat… more

“3 Mothers ש מ א Shin, Mem, and Aleph in the Soul dimension are the head, the belly, and the chest.  The head is created from Fire, the belly is created from Water and in the chest is the Breath of Air that is between them." (Sefer Yetzirah 3:6)

The 3 Mothers can also hint at the 3 primary shapes in Geometry - the triangle, the circle, and the rectangle.  ש Shin is Gematria 300, or in Simple Gematria, 3.  Geometric shapes are Numbers in Space.  We see these with our eyes, and you can see that 3 is a triangle which has 3 angles and 3 sides.   Musical rhythms are Numbers in Time.  We… more