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The Kabbalah Unveiled

By S.L. Macgregor Mathers

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Concerning the Skull of Microprosopus and its Appurtenances; Namely, Concerning the Subtle Air, and the Fire and the Dew.

536. THIS is the tradition. When the White Head 1 propounded unto Himself to superadd ornament unto His own adornment, He constituted, prepared, and produced one single spark from His intense splendour of light. He fanned it and condensed it (or conformed it).

537. And He developed His thought, and extended it in three hundred and seventy directions.

538. And the spark subsisted, and waited until the pure air went forth which involved it around; and an ultimate extension having been made, He produced a certain hard skull (bounded) on four sides. 2

539. And in that pure subtle air was the spark absorbed and comprehended and included therein.

540. Dost thou not think therein? Truly it is hidden therein.

541. And therefore is that skull expanded in its sides; and that air is the most concealed attribute of the Ancient of Days.

542. In the spirit which is hidden in that skull there are expanded fire on the one side and air on the other. And the subtle air is whirled about it from this side, and the subtle fire is whirled about it from that side.

543. What is the fire in this place? But verily it is not fire, but that splendour which is included in the subtle air, and it shineth in two hundred and seventy worlds.

544. And rigour or judgment is found therefrom; and therefore it is called the hard skull.

545. Within that skull are nine thousand myriads of worlds, which receive the influx from it, and are at peace above it.

546. In that skull distilleth the dew 1 from the White Head, which is ever filled therewith; and from that dew are the dead raised unto life.

547. And that dew hath in itself two colours. From the White Head there is a whiteness in it, which entirely comprehendeth all whiteness.

548. But whensoever it remaineth in that head of Microprosopus, there appeareth in it a redness, like as in crystal, which is white, and there appeareth a red colour in the white colour.

549. And therefore is it written, Dan. xii. 2: "And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt."

550. "To everlasting life." Because they are worthy of that whiteness which cometh from Macroprosopus, even from the Ancient of Days.

551. "To shame and everlasting contempt." Because they are worthy of that redness of Microprosopus.

552. And all things are contained in that dew as is intimated in these words, Isa. xxvi. 19: "Because the dew of lights is thy dew"--where there is a duality of expression.

553. And that dew, which distilleth, distilleth daily upon the field of apples, in colour white and red.

554. This skull shineth in two colours toward this side and toward that.

555. And from that subtle air, from the skull, there are expanded in His countenance one hundred and fifty myriads of worlds; and therefore is He called Zauir Aphin (or Anpin), Microprosopus, the Lesser Countenance.

556. But in that time, when there is need, is His countenance expanded and made vast, because He looketh back upon the countenance of the Ancient of the Ancient Ones, from whom is the life of the universe.

557. And from that skull there is a place of exit in one place unto those which are below; and they reflect His light towards the Ancient of Days, when they ascend in numeration beneath the wand. 1

558. Therefore is His skull cleft beneath, when (the inferiors) ascend in numeration, and from this cleavage a reflection of light ariseth toward the Ancient of Days.

Footnotes
177:1 Another title for the crown, Kether. (See Introduction.)

177:2 By the letters of the Tetragram.

178:1 This subtle air, fire, and dew are analogous to the three "mother letters" of the "Sepher Yetzirah." A, M. and Sh: the letter A symbolising air, the medium between M the water, and Sh the fire.

179:1 This statement will be utterly unintelligible to the ordinary reader. unless he is told that there are four secret qabalistical symbols attached to the four letters of Tetragrammaton--viz., the wand to I, the cup of libation to H, the sword to V and the shekel of gold to H final. The wand in the text refers to the I, Yod, of the Ancient One, hidden and concealed in the I of IHVH and at the head of the Sephiroth.