The Maternals

From the Spirit he produced Air, and formed in it twenty-two sounds, the letters. Three are mothers, seven are double, and twelve are simple, but the Spirit is first and above these.

The FOOL is Air. ALl the other Tarot cards are implicit in this Transitional Air, they all arise from Air.

From the Air, He formed the Waters and from the formless and void made mire and clay, and designed surfaces upon them, and hewed recesses in them, and formed the strong material foundation.

The HANGED MAN is Water. It is the basis of matter, and is a part of Microprsopus on the Tree of Life, at the side of the Pllar of Severity. Alchemists call Water the 'root of all minerals.'

From the Water he formed Fire and made for himself a Throne of Glory with Auphanim, Seraphim, and Kerubim, as his ministering angels, and with those three he completed his dwelling...

JUDGMENT is Fire. The final maternal connects Microprosopus with its bride, Malkuth, again in the side of the Pillar of Severity.

As the Path of the Flaming Sword which is the Path of Emanation of the Sephiroth, crosses the Abyss from Binah to Chesed where no Path exists, so there is the possibility of passge across the Abyss from Chokmah to Geburah [although this is not a viable possibility for the developing spirit]. Were this done, it would be possible to move up and down the Tree of life using only three Paths, those of the Maternals. From Kether the Path of THE FOOL leads to Chokmah. From Chokmah it is a leap across the terrible abyss to Geburah. From Geburah is the Path of THE HANGED MAN into Hod. Finally, the Path of JUDGMENT leads into the material compleption of Malkuth.

There is a quality of 'mind games' to working with the Sepher Yetziran in this way, but this method is esential to understanding the ways in which the Tarot embodies high Qabalistic principle.

Qabalistic Tarot
~Robert Wang~
pgs 125-128