T H E T R E E O F L I F E

Lesson Five

The Second Veil of the Absolute is I'R# Ain Suph o r En Soph, m eaning l i t ­e ra lly , "No L im it," but usually tran s la ted as "The Boundless." The f i r s t w ord in th is name is a repetition of the designation fo r the F ir s t Veil, and c a r r ie s the sam e im p lica­tions .

To these , the second word, Suph, adds th ree m ore id e a s . In Hebrew, itm eans "end" o r " c lo se ," and in the Chaldee (A ram aic) signifies "to be fu lfilled ." These nouns a re derived from a verb m eaning "to e r a s e ," o r "to p e r is h .” Thus the s tr ic t m eaning of Ain Suph is "not p e rish ab le ," o r "never ending."

T h is, of co u rse , is a logical n ecess ity . W hatever is free from every qualification can have neither beginning nor e n d .

The f ir s t le tte r of ^10, Suph, is , Sam ekh. To the ideas im plied by the th ree le tte rs of Ain it adds that of support o r su sta in m en t. T his is connected with Samekh b e ­cause the name of that le tte r m eans "a p rop , a support, a ten t-p eg ." Our Second Veil of the Absolute in tim ates, th e re fo re , that the Absolute is the sustain ing pow er, the support and basis fo r all m odes of m anifestation, the foundation of ex istence .

The noun Samekh is derived from a verb meaning: (1) to lean on; (2) to support, to uphold, to sustain; (3) to be firm , to confide; and (4) to draw n e a r . All these ideas a re conveyed by the sym bolism of T aro t Key 14 which illu s tra te s the various m eanings of Sam ekh.

The idea of drawing n ear is one of the m ost im portan t fo r students of occu ltism . It runs through a ll e so te ric teaching, and the purpose of occult tra in ing is to enable those who follow the Path to draw near in consciousness to the Supporting Power of the u n iv erse .

To beginners, and to those who have not yet approached the p o rta l of the Ancient Way, the Supporting Power seem s to be very fa r away - - rem ote in tim e and d istan t in space .To such m inds, the Absolute is m ere ly an abstrac tion , and so it does appear to the g re a t­e r num ber of p e rso n s who give superfic ia l a ssen t to th is o r that form of exo teric relig ion (including the inverted fo rm s of relig ion called atheism and ag n o stic ism .)

A geless Wisdom says the Supporting Power is n e a re r to us than anything e ls e . It m akes th is declaration as a w itness to som ething experienced, not as a g u ess . T h is is the experience of men and women who have discovered th is tru th fo r th em se lv es . A geless Wisdom offers instruction in a technique of personal tra in ing whereby we may verify th is tru th by our own e x p e rim en ts . The support it o ffers m an is not the authority of church, book, o r c re ed . It com es to us with the definite challenge, "F ind out fo r y o u rse lf ," and te lls us exactly what to d o . It gives us a m ark at which to shoot, and shows us how to a im . T herefo re the le tte r Samekh is connected in Qabalah with the sign of the A rcher, S ag itta rius, suggesting hunting, investigation, re s e a rc h .

The second le tte r of Suph, is Vav. In Lesson 4 you have learned thatth is le tte r is associated with T iphareth , the Son, and with h earing . Besides these m ean ­ings, the le tte r-n am e m eans "hook, o r n a il ," a n d in Hebrew g ram m ar, Vav is a conjunc­tion, like "and" in English . Thus it sym bolizes connection and co -ord ination .

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To the ideas concerning the Absolute we have already enum erated c rea tion (K), form ation ( ' ) and m aintenance ( 0 ) . Vav adds the notion of linkage, o r connection of p a r t s . The Absolute holds things together, and is itse lf the connecting link among a ll seem ingly separa ted p a r ts of cosm ic m anifestation . T h is co-ord inating power unites the many "things” in the M anifest into one g rea t W hole.

The th ird le tte r of *|1D Suph, is 2. (*l» the final form of th is le tte r , is usedalways when it is the la s t le t te r of a w ord). T h is le t te r Peh m eans "the mouth of man as the organ of speech ." To Peh, Q abalists a ttribu te the planet M ars, thus indicating the idea of the energy which finds expression in ac tio n .

To the sam e le tte r is assigned also the d irection North; and since the Hebrew noun fo r North, ] 125, Tzaphon, m eans a lso "hidden, d a rk ,” the le tte r Peh is a Q abalistic symbol fo r the occult o r hidden fo rces we seek to in v estig a te .

The Q abalistic com m ent on th is is , "Gold com eth from the N orth ." In sym bolism , gold is a type of tru th , and also of pow er. Thus what is m eant h e re is that illum ination is a d irec t consequence of investigating and of exp ressing in thought, speech and action, the hidden potencies of n a tu re .

As the organ of speech, the mouth re p re se n ts exp ression , and is th e re fo re connected with the form ative W ord. M ars, fu rth e rm o re , is the ru le r of Scorpio, the sign which is a ttribu ted to the le tte r Nun. Thus the final le tte r of *|1D, Suph, is re la ted to the final le tte r of T'Jt, Ain, and re fe rs to the generative and reproductive potency of the W ord.

In T a ro t, Peh is sym bolized by Key 16, the T ow er. T his Key re p re se n ts the o v e r­throw of the fa lse s tru c tu re of human opinion by the descent of the Word from above. Thus the Tow er is built of twenty-two co u rses of b rick , and is surrounded by twenty-two flam ing Yods, corresponding to the lightning-flash which is one of the Q abalistic sym bols of the de ­scending influence of the form ative W ord through the Thirty-tw o Paths of Wisdom con - stitu ting the T ree of L ife.

Ain Suph, the Second Veil of the Absolute, in tim ates, th e re fo re , that the Absolute has within itse lf the potencies of c reation , form ation, reproduction, m aintenance, co ­ordination and ex p ress io n . T hese a re the key ideas rep resen ted by the six le tte rs *110 ] 'K.

The G em atria of *110 | 'f t , Ain Suph, the Second V eil of the Absolute, is as follows:

The Second Veil is form ed by adding *1^ to Since *110 has the num eralvalue of 146, the d ifference between Ain and Suph, o r the difference between 61 and 146, which is 85, re p re se n ts the w ords designating the m eans whereby ]'K , the No-Thing, e stab lishes *110, o r lim ita tio n . T hese words corresponding to the num ber 85 are:

H2R (Keys 0, 16, 3), aphad, to bind about, to g ird ; stead fastness, constancy. The N o-Thing estab lish es apparent lim itation within itse lf by c ircu m scrib in g a field of m an i­festation in which to ex p ress its infinite po tencies .

Because th is field of apparent lim itation is the expression of the e te rn a l, unchanging nature of the No-Thing, it is dependable. We m ay not com prehend it, but we can a p p re ­

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hend it, and when we do so, we find it steadfast and constant.

(Keys 2, 1, 9, 15), gobiya, a goblet; the calyx of a flow er. T his is what is sym bolized by the cup on the M agician’s tab le , and by the flow ers in h is garden . The "cup" is the c rea tiv e p a tte rn in the U niversal M ind.

CCn (Keys 4 and 12, with em phasis on 12, indicated by the repetition of Mem), ham am , to put into strong action; to d rive , to disturb; to b ring into confusion, to confound. The No-Thing d istu rbs its own p erfec t re s t in o rd e r to m anifest its potencies, and sets up intense ac tiv ities within the field of seem ing lim itation it e stab lishes in i ts e lf . The p rim ary m anifestations a re chaotic, d istu rbed and confused, yet o rd e r eventually evolves out of the p rim ary c h ao s .

miD» (Keys 9, 14, 5, 3, 4), yesodah, basis o r foundation. T his is the fem inine form of the noun m ore frequently used in the m asculine form , *110', Y esod. It shows that the estab lishm ent of seem ing lim itation is the re su lt of the operation of the fem inine aspect of R eality , the fem inine Foundation. (Com pare JB3, the womb, and 1DK, thy m other, in the correspondences to ] 'X ).

i"B (Keys 16, 4), Peh, the mouth as organ of speech . The u tterance of the W ord, the C reative Thought, is h e re im plied . F u rth e rm o re , in Qabalah the le tte r Peh r e p re ­sen ts the M ars fo rce , o r the p rincip le of action . The No-Thing estab lishes apparent l i ­m itation by the u tterance of its C reative Thought, and th is u tterance is the active p r in ­cip le of m anifestation .

In Latin G em atria , 85 corresponds to the following:

Dominus, L ord . T h is is the usual Latin word fo r God a s the ru le r of the u n iv e rse . What it in tim ates, in the p re sen t connection, is that what the human m ind fo rm ulates in its idea of God the Lord is no m ore than the idea of the Agency whereby the Absolute se ts up the conditions of name and form which a re the logical n ecessitie s fo r any m an ifesta ­tion w hatever.

V eritas, tru th . H ere, again, we a re in the p resence of an idea which many confuse with the Absolute i ts e lf . Yet its connection with 85 (especially with Peh, the mouth) is sufficient indication that the occult m eaning of "tru th" has to do with som ething we m ust reg a rd as being in term ediate between the Absolute No-Thing and the field of seem ing lim itation which em braces a ll things having fo rm , quality, m ass , and other definable c h a ra c te r is t ic s .

The word ^lD, Suph, as 146, corresponds to the following:

NDp K33 (Key 1, em phasized by the repetition of 3, and Keys 0, 18, 12 and 0), baba qam ah, the F ir s t G ate. The p rim ary activity which begins the c rea tiv e p ro cess is the estab lishm ent of the field of apparent lim ita tion . The en trance of the No-Thing into the Something is through the fixation of a field in which to m anifest i ts e lf .

(Keys 15, 5, 11, 12), o lahm , som ething hidden; tim e im m em orial; antiquity; e tern ity ; the w orld . The true nature of th is field is a m yste ry , but one which is somehow re la ted to our conceptions of tim e and duration . The field is the field of e te rn ity , and

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th is e te rn a l arena of the L ife-pow er's se lf-exp ression is the tru e "w orld ."

The two w ords constituting the Second Veil of the Absolute, RID PR , Ain Suph, have a combined value of 207. T his is the num ber of:

DfrlJ? P*TR (Keys 0, 3, 5, 13: Keys 15, 5, 11, 12), A don olahm , Lord of the Hidden M ystery; Lord of E tern ity ; Lord of the U n iverse . The N o-L im it, o r Boundless, *110 PR 1, is the M aste r Principle of the U niverse, the Lord of T im e and E tern ity , the Hidden R uler of the M ystery of Absolute Being.

"HR (Keys 0, 5, 19), a u r, light; a lso the d irec tion , E a s t. The Lord of the U niverse, the Boundless, is the One Light we all seek, the One E as t, o r O rient, tow ard which we tu rn our m ental gaze, and tow ard which we "travel" as we m ake our way along the Path of R eturn . It is the One Source of our ex istence, and of a ll o ther ex istences, p a s t, p r e ­sen t, and to co m e .

YTJ (Keys 2, 3, 19), g ad a r, to enclose; a w all, a boundary. The L im itless Being, Lord of the U niverse, Source of all ex istence, encloses o r su rrounds the en tire field of the m anifest, which field is contained within the L im itless Being of the Boundless One.

POl (Keys 19, 1, 4), rabah , to grow, to be in abundance, to m ultip ly . T his One Reality, the L im itle ss , is the cosm ic p rincip le of growth, in c rease and developm ent. Growth is a fundam ental law of m anifestation .

TR (Keys 19, 6), r a z , a m y ste ry . The L im itless is the essence of a ll m y s te ry . It is beyond in tellectual com prehension. T herefo re we need not try to g rasp i t . It is to be known a fte r another m anner.

Lesson Six will give you the Q abalistic m eaning of H R RID PR» Ain Suph Aur, the T h ird Veil of the A bsolute.