CHAPTER XLII.

p. 239

CONCERNING THE SEPARATION OF THE MASCULINE AND THE FEMININE, AND CONCERNING THEIR CONJUNCTION.

1026. ALSO we have learned in the "Book of Concealed Mystery" ¹ that all the judgments which arise from the Masculine are vehement in the commencement, and relax in the termination; but that those which are found to arise from the Feminine are relax in commencement, and vehement in termination.

1027. And were it not that they could be conjoined, the world could not suffer them; whence the Ancient of the Ancient Ones, the Concealed by all things, separateth the one from the other, and associateth them together so that at once they may be mitigated.

1028. And when He wisheth to separate them He causeth an ecstasy (or trance, cf. Gen. ii. 21) to fall upon Microprosopus, and separateth the Woman from His back.

1029. And He conformeth all Her conformations, and hideth Her even unto Her day, on which She is ready to be brought before the Male.

1030. This is that which is said, Gen. ii. 21: "And Tetragrammaton Elohim caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept."

1031. What is this, "And he slept?" This is that which is written, Ps. xliv. 24: "Awake! wherefore sleepest thou, O Tetragrammaton?"

1032. And He taketh away one of his sides. What is this one? This is the Woman.

1033. And She is taken away and conformed; and in Her place is inserted Mercy and Benignity.

p. 240

1034. Like as it is said: "And he hath shut up flesh before her." Ezek. xxxvi. 26: "And I will take away from you the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh."

1035. And when He wisheth to introduce the Sabbath, then did He create the spirits, and the malignant demons, and the authors of disturbance; neither at first did He finish them, until the Mother could come into Her formation, and could sit before Him.

1036. When She could sit before Him, He ceased from those creatures, and they were not completed because the Mother sat before the King, and they were associated together face to face.

1037. Who shall enter between Them? Who shall stir up war between Them mutually?

1038. Because the Arcanum of the matter is hidden in the time of the disciples of wisdom, who know our Arcanum, from Sabbath unto Sabbath.

1039. And when they are associated together, then are They mutually mitigated in that day on which all things are mitigated. And therefore are the judgments mitigated mutually and restored into order, both superiors and inferiors.

Footnotes

239:1 See "Book of Concealed Mystery," ante, ch. iii. § 27.