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The Kabbalah Unveiled

By S.L. Macgregor Mathers

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Concerning the Skull of the Ancient One...His Brain...Three Heads...Hair...Discriminatory Paths

51. THE skull of the White Head hath not beginning, but its end is the convexity of its joining together, which is extended, and shineth.

52. And from it the just shall inherit four hundred 2 desirable worlds in the world to come.

53. And from this convexity of the joining together of this White Skull daily distilleth a dew into Microprosopus, into that place which is called Heaven; and in that very place shall the dead be raised to life in the time to come.

54. Like as it is written, Gen. xxvii. 27: "And Elohim shall give thee from the dew of heaven."

55. And His head is filled with that dew, and all the place of the apple-trees distilleth therewith.

56. He, the Most Holy Ancient One, is hidden and concealed, and in that Skull is the Supernal Wisdom concealed, who is found and who is not found.

57. For assuredly in Him, the Ancient One, nothing is revealed save the Head alone, seeing that that Head is itself the Head of all heads.

58. The beginning of that Supernal Wisdom which also is itself the Head, is hidden therein, and is called the Supernal Brain, the Hidden Brain, the Tranquil and Calm Brain; neither doth any man know it save He Himself.

59. Three Heads have been formed forth, one within the other, and the other above the other.

60. One Head is the Concealed Wisdom, which is covered and is not disclosed.

61. And this Hidden Wisdom is the Head of all things, and the Head of the remaining wisdoms.

62. The Supernal Head is the Most Holy Ancient One, the Concealed with all Concealments.

63. The Head of all Heads, the Head which is not a Head 1--namely, that which is in that Head--neither knows nor is known, because it cannot be comprehended either by Wisdom or Understanding.

64. And therefore is it read, Num. xxiv. 11: "Fly thee in thy place;" and Ezek. i. 14. The Chaioth, living creatures, are said to run forth and return.

65. And therefore is the Most Holy Ancient One called AIN, Ain, the Negatively Existent; seeing that back from Him dependeth the AIN, the Negative Existence. 1

66. But all these hairs and all those locks depend from the Hidden Brain.

67. And all are calm (otherwise, are disposed) in the Equilibrium; neither in any manner is the neck seen (i.e., because of the locks which overshadow it).

68. Because He the Most Holy Ancient One is in an unvarying condition of joy, neither changeth He from mercy for ever.

69. But in the thirteen measurements 2 of mercies is He found, because that Wisdom hidden in Him is divided into three, 3 paths in a quarternary, and He Himself the Ancient One comprehendeth them, and through them doth He reign over all things.

70. One (path) which shineth in the midst of the hairs going forth from the Skull, is that path by whose light the just are led into the world to come.

71. Like as it is written, Prov. iv. 18: "And the path of the just shineth as the light."

72. And concerning this it is written, Isa. lviii. 14: "Then shalt thou delight thyself in Tetragrammaton."

73. And from that path 1 are all the other paths illuminated which depend from Microprosopus.

74. He the Eternal Ancient of the Ancient Ones is the highest Crown among the Supernals, wherewith all Diadems and Crowns are crowned.

75. And from Him are all the Lights illuminated, and they flash forth flames and shine.

76. But He verily is the Supreme Light, which is hidden, which is not known.

77. And all the other Lights are kindled by Him, and derive (their) splendour (from him).

78. He the Most Holy Ancient One is found to have three heads, which are contained in the one Head. 2

79. And He Himself is that only highest supreme Head.

80. And since He the Most Holy Ancient One is thus symbolized in the Triad, hence all the other Lights which shine are included in Triads. 3

81. Moreover, the Most Holy Ancient One is also symbolized by the Duad.

82. And the division of the Ancient One in the Duad is so that the (one form is) the Highest Crown of all the Supernals, the Head of all Heads.

83. And (the other is) that superior Head, and It is not known.

84. So also all the remaining Lights are mystically divided into Duads.

85. Furthermore, the Most Holy Ancient One is symbolized and concealed under the conception of the Unity, for He himself is One, and all things are One.

86. And thus all the other Lights are sanctified, are restricted, and are bound tog-ether in the Unity or Monad, and are One; and all things are HVA, Hoa, Himself.

Footnotes
264:1 The Sephiroth.

264:2 Which is the number of Th, the last letter of the Hebrew Alphabet, which includes the symbology of the cross.

265:1 That is to say, which will hardly admit even of so vague a definition, seeing it is the Indefinite Absolute in Kether.

266:1 We must be most careful not to misapprehend the meaning intended to be conveyed in this passage. Kether, the Ancient One, Macroprosopus, is not in the more restricted sense of the first Sephira. the AIN, but that that idea links back from Him must be manifest on consideration. Not even He, the Vast Countenance, is hidden and concealed; how much more, then, the AIN! From Negative to Positive. through Potential Existence, eternally vibrates the Divine Absolute of the Hidden Unity of processional form masked in the Eternal Abyss of the Unknowable, the synthetical hieroglyph of an illimitable pastless futureless PRESENT. To the uttermost bounds of space rushes the Voice of Ages, unheard save in the concentrated unity of the thought-formulated Abstract, and eternally that Voice formulates a Word which is glyphed in the vast ocean of limitless life.

266:2 The thirteen conformations of the beard of Macroprosopus.

266:3 The Trinity completed by the Quaternary.

267:1 Kether, the first Sephira, from which all the other Sephiroth, proceed, namely, those which are summed up in the Tetragrammaton.

267:2 I.e., His manifestation is triune.

267:3 This refers to the Triads in the Sephiroth, when the Autz Chaiim. is formed. (See Introduction.) It will be found that in this arrangement of the ten Sephiroth there are ten Triads, viz.:

(1) Kether, Chokmah, Binah.
(2) Chesed, Geburah, Tiphereth.
(3) Netzach, Hod, Yesod.
(4) Chokmah, Chesed, Netzach.
(5) Tephereth, Yesod, Malkuth.
(6) Binah, Geburah, Hod.
(7) Chokmah, Tiphereth, Hod.
(8) Binah, Tiphereth, Netzach.
(9) Chesed, Tiphereth, Hod.
(10) Geburah, Tiphereth, Netzach.

Wherein Kether and Malkuth are each repeated once: Chokmah, Binah, Chesed, and Geburah thrice; Tiphereth, six times, Netzach and Hod each four times; and Yesod twice.