Meditation on the Hebrew Letters III: YHV and the Cube of Space

The Sepher Yetzirah posits six directions in space: up, down, east, west, north and south. In terms of human experience (oriented toward the east, the place of the rising sun) these relate to that which is above, that which is below, that which is before us, that which is behind us, that which is to the right and that which is to the left. As long as we've been conscious, we've been aware of these six reference points. The six directions in space are so basic and intrinsic to our nature that we scarcely give them a second thought, yet, according to the Sepher Yetzirah, they reflect six primal aspects of the creator (seven if you count the center).

“Orientation is a primary phenomenon of our presence in the world. A human presence has the property of spacializing a world around it, and this property implies a certain relationship of man with the world."
Henry Corbin, The Man of Light in Iranian Sufism

The cube of space appears in four of the Sepher Yetzirah's six chapters. In the second, third and fourth chapters, the mother, double and single letters all appear on the cube - the mothers as the axes, the doubles as the faces of the cube (including the center) and the singles along the edges. The first chapter relates the six faces of the cube to six primal aspects of the creator as the permutations of the name Yod-Heh-Vau.

The permutation of divine names is key to the structures and practices outlined in the Sepher Yetzirah. If a holy name contains a key to the primal consciousness of the absolute, then the permutations of that name each reveal one aspect of that key. Meditation on the holy names and their permutations allows us to penetrate further and further into our own inner being, leading us into the (relatively) shallow waters of our own subconscious, then further into the vast ocean of the collective unconscious, and further still toward dissolution in the consciousness of the absolute.Of course, before it becomes possible to unlock the mysteries contained within the names of divinity, we must first penetrate to some extent into the essences of the individual letters, as outlined in previous installments of this series.

The three letters Yod Heh Vau reflect the attributes of the three mother letters - Shin Mem Aleph. Yod is fire, active, positive, the archetypal father (attributed to Chokmah); Heh is water, passive, negative, the archetypal mother (attributed to Binah); Vau is air, neutral or mediating between the positive and negative, the archetypal child (attributed to Tiphareth). The archetypal ideas subsume the whole of creation.

The Sepher Yetzirah attributes the permutations of Yod-Heh-Vau to the six directions as follows:

[The creator] looked above, and sealed the Height with Y.H.V.
[The creator] looked below, and sealed the Depth with Y.V.H.
[The creator] looked forward, and sealed the East with H.Y.V.
[The creator] looked backward, and sealed the West with H.V.Y.
[The creator] looked to the right, and sealed the South with V.Y.H.
[The creator] looked to the left, and sealed the North with V.H.Y. 

Meditation on the permutations of Yod-Heh-Vau on the six faces of the cube of space is an excellent way to come to a greater intuitive understanding not only of this particular name, but of the primal essence of each of the six directions. This is not the way to gain intellectual knowledge, but rather understanding of the soul. The meditation is as follows: 

Open with the banishing ritual of the pentagram (and the hexagram if you like). 

Imagine that you sit in an infinity of blackness, with nothingness stretching out infinitely on all sides. 

Visualize the letters Yod, Heh and Vau (right to left), in white light, shining forth in the darkness far, far above you. Vibrate the name: Yod Heh Vau several times. Imagine the essence of the name radiating out as it were the light of the mind of the creator. 

After several minutes, shift your attention to the space far below you. Visualize the letters Yod, Vau and Heh (right to left) far below you in white light. Vibrate the name: Yod Vau Heh several times. Again, imagine the essence of the name radiating forth from below. 

Repeat the same for the name: Heh Yod Vau far in front of you, the name: Heh Vau Yod far behind you, the name: Vau Yod Heh far to the right and the name: Vau Heh Yod far to the left. Meditate on each name for at least five minutes. 

When you're finished, vibrate each name in sequence once: Yod Heh Vau above, Yod Vau Heh below, etc. Repeat this a few times, then sit in silence for as long as you see fit. 

Close with whatever banishing rituals you opened with.

This is a very basic, yet effective, meditation. The real value of the meditation is in the training of the psyche to differentiate between the essences represented by the letters (though persistence with this technique will take you much further than that). Think of it as a workout for the higher intuition, a technique by which the organ of spiritual perception is stirred to a greater state of awakening. This organ is none other than the Neschamah: it is the very means by which the primal archetypes, even the absolute, may be known.