#0. The Letters of the Lord. (Prelude).

Welcome back to my gematria blog.

Today, I’m starting a new series of essays on the letters of the alphabet. The following series of articles is written to accompany my recent mathematical analysis of the first two chapters of the Book of Bereshith (Genesis). I presented the calculations on my calculator site recently (Shematria.com), and the next twenty two articles aim to explain the calculations used in the first two chapters, letter by letter.

Screenshot from my site – copyright Bethsheba Ashe.

For each letter of the alephbet, I’ll discuss each of the functions used in the calculations, and then we’ll move on to a discussion of their correspondences; in the rest of the Tanakh, and Talmud, Kabbalah, and finally in Hermetic Qabalah. Please feel free to present your own thoughts about these in the comments, and mention anything you think I’m missing. Most of the Hermetic Qabalah stuff is going to be related to Aleister Crowley and the Tarot.

As this is simply a prelude to the series, I’m going to present the basic tables of correspondences for these letters.

Abbreviations:
(GO) : genesis order cipher.
(BG) : biblical gematria.
(RC) : reversal cipher.

Table of Correspondences for the Hebrew letters to the verses of Genesis 1-2.

Letter	# BG	Theme	Verses
Beth B ב	2	Creation and the House of God.	1:1-2
Aleph A א	1	The Day and the Night.	1:3-5
Gimel G ג	3	The Sky / The Heavens.	1:6-8
Shin S ש	3	Drying the land and dividing it from the seas.	1:9-10
Daleth D ד	4	First life (plants) come to earth.	1:11-13
Tav Th ת	4	Time and the Calendar.	1:14-16
Heh H ה	5	The light of the stars shining on Earth.	1:16-19
Vav V ו	6	Creation of Birds and other living things.	1:20-22
Zayin Z ז	7	Creation of Beasts and Bugs.	1:24-25
Cheth Ch ח	8	Creation of Adam as God’s overseer.	1:26-28
Teth T ט	9	Food and sustenance.	1:29-31
Yod Y י	10	Work and rest from Work.	2:1-3
Kaph K כ	20	Fertility.	2:4-6
Lamed ל	30	Spirit/soul.	2:7
Mem M מ	40	Pregnancy (the gestation of Adam in the Garden of Eden).	2:8
Nun N נ	50	Life and the Afterlife.	2:9
Samekh S ס	60	The Great River from heaven to earth.	2:10-14
Ayin O ע	70	Temptation and Desire.	2:15-17
Peh P פ	80	Courtship and Mating.	2:18-20
Tsade Ts צ	90	Childbirth (the birth of Eve).	2:21-22
Qoph Q ק	100	Woman/Marriage.	2:24
Resh R ר	200	The Solar journey through life.	2:25

This alphabetic sequence is applied to the tarot as follows:

Correspondences of the letters and the tarot.

#. Trump Card. Hebrew letter. GO. BG. RC. Roman letters. Greek letters. Verses.

0. The Magus. ב. Beth. 1, 2, 200 : Β β Beta. : Gen 1:1-2.
I. The Fool. א. Aleph. 2, 1, 100 : Α α Alpha. : Gen 1:3-5:3.
II. The High Priestess. ג. Gimel. 3, 3, 90 : Γ γ Gamma : Gen 1:6-8.
III. The Aeon. ש. Shin. 3, 3, 90 : Τ τ Tau : Gen 1:9-10.
IV. The Empress. ד. Daleth. 4, 4, 80 : Δ δ Delta : Gen 1:11-13.
V. The Universe. ת. Tav. 4, 4, 80 : Υ υ Upsilon : Gen 1:14-16.
VI. The Star. ה. Heh. 5, 5, 70 : Ε ε Epsilon : Gen 1:17-19.
VII. The Hierophant. ו. Vav. 6, 6, 60 : Ϝ ϝ Digamma : Gen 1:20-23.
VIII. The Lovers. ז. Zayin. 7, 7, 50 : Ζ ζ Zeta : Gen 1:24-25.
IX. The Chariot. ח. Cheth. 8, 8, 40 : Η η Eta : Gen 1:26-28.
X. Lust. ט. Teth. 9, 9, 30 : Θ θ Theta : Gen 1:29-31.
XI. The Hermit. י. Yod. 10, 10, 20 : Ι ι Iota : Gen 2:1-3.
XII. The Wheel of Fortune. כ. Kaph. 11, 20, 10 : Κ κ Kappa Φ φ Phi : Gen 2:4-6.
XIII. Adjustment. ל. Lamed. 12, 30, 9 : Λ λ Lambda : Gen 2:7.
XIV. The Hanged Man. מ. Mem. 13, 40, 8 : Μ μ Mu Χ χ Chi : Gen 2:8.
XV. Death. נ. Nun. 14, 50, 7 : Ν ν Nu Ψ ψ Psi : Gen 2:9.
XVI. Art. ס. Samekh. 15, 60, 6 : Ξ ξ Xi : Gen 2:10-14.
XVII. The Devil. ע. Ayin. 16, 70, 5 : Ο ο Omicron : Gen 2:15-17.
XVIII. The Tower. פ. Peh. 17, 80, 4 : Π π Pi Ω ω Omega : Gen 2:18-20.
XIX. The Emperor. צ. Tsade. 18, 90, 3 : Ϙ ϙ Koppa Ϡ Sampi : Gen 2:21-23.
XX. The Moon. ק. Qoph. 19, 100, 2 : Ρ ρ Rho : Gen 2:24.
XXI. The Sun. ר. Resh. 20, 200, 1 : Σ σ ς Sigma : Gen 2:25.

This is the inbreath. Next up, we dive into Genesis 1:1-2 and the mighty spirit of the letter Beth.

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Bethsheba’s recent author news: In October, my general guide to the subject of Gematria will be published by Aeon Books. ‘Behold! The Art and Practice of Gematria’ is available to pre-order on Amazon.