Kabbalah-of-the-Golden-Dawn-Pat-Zalewski - D Ank Unlimited

The Early Books 43
Franck, in his The Kabbalah,34 divides the essence of the Sepher Yetzirah
into the following: 0) In general, the composition of the world; (2) In
the division of the year or in the distribution of time in which the year
is the principal unit; (3) The structure of man, the main principal uniting
all these factors being the application of the book to the Macrocosm
as well as to the Microcosm.
It would be fair to say that up until the 9th century the main theme
of Jewish doctrine was very much against Kabbalistic teaching, and in
many instances was aimed at trying to prevent it from being taught. Gaon
Saadiah (892-942 C.E.), head of the Persian Academy at Sura, and one of
those who did an enormous amount of Hebrew Linguistic research into
Kabbalistic teachings, was one of the first to give Kabbalism its full due as
a metaphysical doctrine in its own right. He wrote a reputable commentary
on the Sepher Yetzirah which still exists today and which brought a
new understanding of Kabbalism to the Jewry of his own era. Gaon Hai
(939-1038), a contemporary of Gaon Saadiah, also wrote a commentary
on the Sepher Yetzirah, as well as other works that have strong Kabbalistic
references, such as "The Voice of God in its Power."
The Sepher Yetzirah is a very different book in style from the Bahir
and has none of the question and answer phrasing which is so characteristic
of the Zoharic documents. Possibly one of the first published versions
of the Sepher Yetzirah was in 1562, Mantua Edition. 35
The actual title of the Sepher Yetzirah is a little ambiguous for instead
of a being a study of the Sephiroth it in fact is concerned with the formation
and structure of the Paths of the Kabbalah. The book itself is broken
down into six chapters:
Chapter 1 gives the breakdown of the ten Sephiroth and the 22
paths. It also discusses the theory of the Lightning Flash and the hidden
method of ascending "Jacobs Ladder" through meditation. The formation
of the elements is then discussed; from Spirit came Air, and from Air
came Water, and from Water came Fire. The Three angelic Choirs of the
Auphanium, Seraphim and Kerubim are then named. The Name ofYOD
'" First French Edition 1843, Paris. First published English translation in 1967, by University Books.
I found a numberofEnglishtranslationsof variouspartsof the text at 'Whare Ra. Forthe most part
they differ only slightly from the later English publication. When quoting from Franck, I will be
using the old Whare Ra translations, which no doubt were done in the late 1880s by Golden
Dawn members.
'", Gulielmus Postellus did a Latin translation in 1552, but it was not for general publication.