jmd
Qabalah - Letters - General
There are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet, which is one of the reasons why correlations has been made with the Major Arcana of the Tarot. Some claim, however, that the Tarot may itself have arisen from Kabbalistic thought.
The twenty-two letters are all consonants, though some have vowel-like qualities. For example, Aleph (A), Heh (E) (Eve, in Hebrew, is spelled HVH), Vau (U), Yod (I), Ayin (O). In standard Hebrew, however, the vowel pronunciation which links the 'bones' of the consonant-words is given through 'dots' positioned below the letters.
In Hebrew, also, the numbers are also those same letters. To write 3, for example, one would use the Hebrew letter Gimel (G). Unlike our usual way of thinking, it isn't that the letters have a value, rather they are each letter and numerical value.
The letters are:
In the list above, those in bold are called 'Mother' letters, and correspond to an element, whilst those in Italics are double letters (because they have a plosive and fricative sound - eg, B and V are both expressions of Bet) and correspond to one of the seven traditional celestial bodies (Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn).
I'll add some comments relating these to ancient Greek and our own Roman alphabet later... but I'll leave this pot for now - and hope for numerous comments !
There are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet, which is one of the reasons why correlations has been made with the Major Arcana of the Tarot. Some claim, however, that the Tarot may itself have arisen from Kabbalistic thought.
The twenty-two letters are all consonants, though some have vowel-like qualities. For example, Aleph (A), Heh (E) (Eve, in Hebrew, is spelled HVH), Vau (U), Yod (I), Ayin (O). In standard Hebrew, however, the vowel pronunciation which links the 'bones' of the consonant-words is given through 'dots' positioned below the letters.
In Hebrew, also, the numbers are also those same letters. To write 3, for example, one would use the Hebrew letter Gimel (G). Unlike our usual way of thinking, it isn't that the letters have a value, rather they are each letter and numerical value.
The letters are:
- Alef = 1
- Bet = 2
- Gimel = 3
- Dalet = 4
- Heh = 5
- Vav = 6
- Zain = 7
- Heth = 8
- Teth = 9
- Yod = 10
- Kaph = 20
- Lamed = 30
- Mem = 40
- Nun = 50
- Samekh = 60
- Ayin = 70
- Peh = 80
- Tzaddhi = 90
- Qoph = 100
- Resh = 200
- Shin = 300
- Tau = 400
In the list above, those in bold are called 'Mother' letters, and correspond to an element, whilst those in Italics are double letters (because they have a plosive and fricative sound - eg, B and V are both expressions of Bet) and correspond to one of the seven traditional celestial bodies (Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn).
I'll add some comments relating these to ancient Greek and our own Roman alphabet later... but I'll leave this pot for now - and hope for numerous comments !