A particularly relevant and subtle set of instructions for meditation on the Hebrew letters is contained within the Sepher Yetzirah:
Chapter II:2
"Twenty-two Foundation Letters: He engraved them, carved them out, refined them, weighed them, and transformed them. He formed by them all that is formed and all that is ready to be formed."
This is a description of the creation of the universe from the 22 primal essences represented by the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The 22 essences are combined in every conceivable way in order to give form to the infinity of potential thoughts in the mind of the creator. (Incidentally, let's just ignore the patriarchal "He" in the quote above - I like to imagine that God is a wise old African woman who sits in a rocking chair on a porch somewhere drinking whiskey from a cup and dispensing infinite Wisdom. Not that I cling to the notion of an anthropomorphic God, mind you, I just like to imagine that).
Now, before the 22 essences can be combined in any way in order to create more complex essences and patterns, they must first be engraved into the very substance of the Divine Mind. Once carved out of the absolute perfection that is Ain Soph (thus giving rise to imperfection, dualism, and the like), the are then refined, weighed one against the other, and transformed.
Now, first of all it bears mentioning that the creation of the letters is essentially a reductive act. There is perfection, and the letters are carved out of that perfection. They are removed. The first creation is essentially an act of destruction. It has to be - perfection can't be added to, it can't be made more perfect, it can only be reduced to greater and greater degrees of imperfection. This description of creation is similar to Isaac Luria's creation myth, in which the Divine Perfection contracted itself out to the circumference of the circle of being, leaving emptiness within the circle in order to make room for creation.
The creator then refined the 22 essential building blocks, bringing them to a greater state of purity, further developing the essential nature of each.
After that, the essences were weighed, one against the other. The letters can be compared to the elements in the periodic table. An element is ultimately defined by its atomic weight, that is the essential characteristic that differentiates it from all of the other elements. Thus, each of the essences was given its essential characteristic, its name so to speak, in order to differentiate each essence from all of the others and establish an order among them (from the least to the most). In the Hebrew letters, this is reflected in the numerical value of each letter.
Finally, the 22 essences were transformed. In other words, they were made to exist in the phenomenal realm, they were given form. Before that point, they existed only in the non-manifest world of potential.
All of this can be taken as a personal instruction in working with the letters. "Engrave them, carve them out, refine them, weight them and transform them."
Engrave them, carve them out
First, the letters must be established within your psyche, imprinted onto the subtle substance of the subconscious mind (which mirrors the infinitely subtle substance of Divine Mind, the very matrix of creation, associated with the High Priestess in the Tarot). They must be, each of them, made to be a part of you.
The first step is to learn to write them. It's amazing how deeply something sinks into you when you write it. There is a tremendous amount of muscle memory involved in writing, all the more so in learning to write in an unfamiliar alphabet. Once you have memorized the forms of the letters and learned to write them with some degree of eloquence, proceed to meditation.
The method of meditation given in the first part of this essay will suffice. This must be done again and again and again and again and again, day in and day out, through periods of disinterest, doubt and intense boredom. When the hour of cloud and of night has passed and you find that each of the 22 letter essences can be contacted in all of their numinosity at will (you will know when this has happened), then you will have established them firmly within, and the next stage of development will begin.
Refine them
Once the letters have been established within your psyche, continued meditation begins to refine them. The forces associated with the letters - the elemental, planetary and zodiacal forces - already exist within each of us. Before we develop and refine them, they exist in a rough state, intermingled, out of balance with each other, some are scarcely discernible while others are exaggerated. Through meditation, we first separate them out from each other and bring them into a greater state of balance, then we refine them.
The letter Tau, for example, in its rough state, might appear in the personality as self-limitation, negativity, rigidity, sloth, inertia, short sightedness and depression. Perhaps it's all mixed up in the psyche in a complex involving the essences of Nun and Aleph, resulting in a tendency toward fatalism and an inability to commit to anything. In a more refined state, Tau would be more likely to appear as great strength, stability, a tendency to complete any project undertaken, great responsibility, integrity and honor. The fatalism of an unbalanced Nun might be refined into a willingness to enter readily into new and foreign experiences, along with an ability to completely transform the outer personality when needed. Aleph unrefined might appear as flightiness and instability, where a refined Aleph would tend more towards a calm detachment. As we refine the essences within us through meditation, we better ourselves in every conceivable way. This also opens the door for the experience of higher consciousness.
Weigh them
Simply, learn to discern the properties of each letter from those of the others. What makes Aleph different from Beth? From Gimel? How is Beth different from Gimel? Also, learn and internalize the numerical values of the letters.
Transform them
One way that this can be read is "transform with them". Meditation on the letters can be married to conscious intent in order to bring about changes in the personality or outer life. Another thing that this might point to is the simple fact that prolonged meditation on the Hebrew letters will naturally bring about transformations in the meditator. This also points back to the instruction to refine the letters, transforming them from a rough state into a more refined state. Various things happen when the essences are refined. Early stages of refinement separate the letter essences from each other, bringing out each letter's particular qualities and highlighting the contrasts between them. Later stages of refinement bring the essences back together, allowing them to intermingle in a more balanced and harmonious way. Each letter, given a sufficient state of refinement, will itself lead straight to the crown (ie: transcendence, union with the source), though this level of refinement may not be possible unless every one of the letters is so refined.
Permute them
Permutation is not included in the quote above, but it shows up in some translations of the Sepher Yetzirah. This refers to the act of meditating on the letters in combination, and of taking the letters in a particular word (typically a name of God) and meditating on them in every possible order (ie: for YHV, there are six permutations: YHV, YVH, HYV, HVY, VYH, VHY), which reveals the subtle and hidden nature of the word. More will be written on this technique (and several varieties of the technique) later.
The Sepher Yetzirah is an invaluable text for anybody who wishes to penetrate into the nature of the essential building blocks of creation in the form of the Hebrew alphabet. I highly recommend Aryeh Kaplan's exposition on the text (titled, simply, 'Sefer Yetzirah'), though James Eshelman has provided my personal favorite translation (http://heruraha.net/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=2896, along with the forward: http://heruraha.net/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=2816). Several others exist. Seek them out. Read one of the six chapters every day before meditation. This document is the very cornerstone and root of modern Qabalah, and contains several valuable instructions each of which are as pure gold.
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