Zain

1. 1

   I AM the sword,The sword which is understanding,Dividing between the darkness and the lightAt creation's dawn.

2. 2

   Not by additionDoth the multiplicity of creaturesCome into existence,For I, the source of all, am one,One and alone,Even as it is written,'Beside me there is nothing.'

   Verily the beginning of all thingsIs division, as Moses saith.'In the beginning the Elohim cut apartThe heaven and the earth.'

3. 3

   That, therefore, which to purblind eyesSeemeth to be another than myself,That which to the deludedAppeareth as somewhat fashioned by my hand,Into which I enter not,The wise know as a portion of mine own beingSet apart for my regardBy mine unfathomable power of self-reflection.

   This power the Secret Wisdom calleth the Mother.It is the power of Understanding,The power also of the Elohim,For in BINAH are the Elohim enthroned,And their Thrones are set in Her.

   Mine are the Thrones,Mine the powers of the Elohim,And I, whom men adore as Father,Am known also to the wise as the Great MotherIn whose name are hidThe names of the Father and the Son.

4. 4

   This name is the sharp swordWhereby the One that I amDivideth itself into the Many.

   From BINAH this sharp sword proceedeth,And by its separative forceI cleave asunder mine own unityDividing myself into Two,The Father and the Mother.

   This thou mayest discern in ZAIN, ;Whose beginning is the sword of separation,Whose middle is the paternal YOD,And whose end referreth by numerationTo the Gates of the Mother.

   Here, too, shalt thou perceiveThe, Elohim (for they are Seven),And the Lights of Emanation (for they are Ten),And the Gates of Understanding (for they are Fifty).

   Thus in ZAIN, the Sword,Is shown a figure of all things that have been,That are, and that shall be in time to come.

5. 5

   And the sword flasheth forth .From the heart of the MotherInto the heart of the Son,And its course is the path of the Disposing Intelligence.

   This path is calledThe Foundation of Beauty in the place of the Supernals.And why is it so called?Because it riseth in BINAHAnd proceedeth unto TIPHARETH,And that same BINAH is thus the Foundation of Beauty;Yet her place is among the Supernals,For She is the second emanation from the Crown.

6. 6

   After another manner, also,Is BINAH the Foundation of Beauty,For she is AIMA, the Mother,And that same AIMA is by numberOne with B N, Ben, the Son, which is TIPHARETH.

   This Mother is the Great Sea,Yet is the power flashing through the path of theSword a fiery power,For the Sea is the sphere of Shabbathai,Which is the secret abode of FIRE.

   The FIRE of the FatherIs shut up in the WATER of the Mother,And from this FIRE and WATERProceedeth the Airy spiritOf the path of the Sword.

   And this Airy spiritIs the breath of my angel, Raphael,He who rightly apportioneth my Word,And ruleth as lord in the sign of the Twins.