Vav

V
Color your Vav red-orange. The surrounding color, if used, is blue-green.

Vav V is the 6th letter of the Hebrew alphabet. In Hebrew, the letter Vav is used as we
use the word, “and”. And connects words in a sentence such as you and me. And is
also used grammatically to attach dependent clauses and this is an example.

The letter name Vav VV means hook or nail. A nail attaches and fastens things together.
A hook allows you to hang one thing on another such as a jacket on the wall. Both
create a kind of union between two things. Hanging together has the auxiliary meanings
of support, comradeship, attend to, assist, sustain, minister and these meanings also
relate to Vav.

Since the goal of the Great Work is divine union, the meaning of Vav as that which
unites things is very relevant here. Union is the literal meaning of Yoga which, in
Sanskrit, is the root of our word, yoke, the device that links the ox to the cart – the
motive power to the working tool. Some scholars of the roots of the Hebrew language
believe that the form of the letter Vav once was the shape of a yoke.

The goal of Yoga, like that of the Great Work, is to link the personal to the universal, the
individual to the divine. The result of such union is the direct perception of the unity of all
things and the direct experience of immortality. This is the promise of the Mysteries, that
through specific training, one can experience and know firsthand, beyond the shadow of
a doubt, that one is an immortal being. What Vav represents is the means whereby one
may obtain and enter into this realization.

Vav is the number 6 and so the meanings of Vav can give us insights into the meanings
of the 6th sphere of the Tree of Life.

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On the Tree of Life, Vav is the pathway that connects the 2nd sphere, Chokmah, Wisdom
to the 4th sphere, Chesed, Mercy. An attribute of Chesed is loving-kindness, the quality
ascribed to Abraham, the caring that leads us to partake of union with the divine in all
we perceive. If we don’t care for and about something, we will never experience it as a
part of our greater selfhood. Why would we want to enter into union with that which we
don’t like? Since the goal of the Great Work is divine union with all, it is our homework to
develop tender loving-kindness for all.

Loving-kindness does not mean we condone all behavior. A wise mother knows how to
instruct and discipline her children without withholding her love for them. Loving-
kindness means that we love everything and everyone uninterruptedly as “these My
works, unfinished”. When you condemn anyone or anything, you are defining yourself
as separate from and better than them. This will automatically invoke Peh type
experiences of destruction that will eventually remove all belief in the reality of personal,
separate existence.

The sensory function ascribed to Vav is hearing. Hearing another speak is a kind of
uniting with them. It unites us in thought expressed in word or just in emotional grunts. “I
hear you” also means “I am with you. I feel you. I understand you.” Our desired union
with the divine arrives via a kind of interior hearing. When we enter into divine union, the
divine speaks in our heads.

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The brain centers that transform the input from our physical ears into the sounds we
hear are stimulated from interior sources. You may have heard an inner voice telling you
what to do to survive in an emergency situation. This is both the modus operandi of
telepathy and of union with our Higher Self. Prophets in the Old Testament often
conclude their prophecies with, “Thus saith the Lord” as if they heard His words. Highly
evolved humans, inner teachers transmit inspiration to you in this way already. The
question is, are you listening and hearing?

Vav is the 16th path of wisdom. This path is called the Triumphant and Eternal
Intelligence. We already spoke of the eternal part of Vav via personally experiencing our
immortality. Also, the voice of the inner teacher reveals timeless principles of truth that
we can utilize to resolve difficulties in our personal situation. Vav is the Triumphant
Intelligence because inherent in the life process is the unavoidable, eventual complete
successful reunion of all with the divine.

The astrological correspondence of Vav V is the sign of Taurus b, the bull. Aleph A is
the bull or ox. By its association with the bull, Vav is related to the superconscious
awareness of unity that is Aleph. If Aleph is the vision of the divine, Vav is the voice of
the divine. Aleph as the ox, a castrated bull, indicates that the life force is modified and
domesticated to serve humanity. Vav as the bull but not an ox, indicates a vital force
that hasn’t been tamed. An Aleph vision may be dissolve into a pleasant memory. Like a
vision in a dream, it is easy to fall back asleep. Being called awake by the voice of Vav
can be more powerful, transformative and lasting in its effect.

The sign of Taurus b is ruled by Venus D - Daleth D. Taurus in the body is the area of
the lower portion of the head including the ears and the neck. The neck is the area of
the Venus chakra, which has to do with communication. It is the physical area where the
vocal apparatus is located. The neck and lower head/face are the areas where we
produce sound. The ears are where we hear it. Both are in the domain of Taurus.

In Taurus, the Moon B is exalted. The Moon corresponds to Gimel G and thus to the
powers of memory. The Moon is like a mirror, reflecting sunlight. Similarly, the function
of memory reflects prior events up into conscious awareness. The highest function of
memory is in becoming aware of our link and union with superconsciousness – with the
divine.

On the Cube of Space, Vav is “across” from the position of Heh. Both are on the edges
of the Eastern face. Heh is the North-East edge of the Cube. Vav is the South-East
edge.

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Both are vertical lines that connect the above and the below. Heh travels downwards
from above to below. Heh is the mental function of reason which gathers the sensory
input from above and reasons out what must be below – laws of nature and such. Just
the opposite, Vav travels from below to above. Vav brings subconscious principles of
truth up into conscious awareness. This is the function of intuition, literally “interior
teaching” which is precisely what the voice of Vav accomplishes. The secrets and
treasures of the Moon are exalted and brought up to consciousness through the agency
of Vav V – Taurus b.

On the Cube of Space, Vav is the edge that connects Resh R – the Sun A – South

with Daleth D – Venus D – East. Vav combines the individuality, the central self, the

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“son of God in man” with the Venusian power to generate mental imagery. It helps you
to create more or less accurate images of your true divine self.

Kabbalah teaches that the letter Vav V looks like and represents a man standing upright

with his head in Heaven. Both Daleth D and Resh R, the two faces that meet along the
edge that is Vav, look like a man bowing over. Both Daleth and Resh are said to
represent a poor man. The poor man, humbled and bent over in respect and reverence,
is the one who knows that his sense of being a separate person is a temporary illusion.
He is the one who knows that his personal self is generated and sustained solely by the
divine for its purposes. It takes this kind of humility and reverence to become one who
stands tall without a sense of personal importance; with his head in Heaven. Through
making images (Daleth – Venus) that are in harmony with the truth about the self (Resh
– Sun), he contacts the inner teacher who instructs him concerning his divine nature.

Before creation, the Limitless Light was equally spaced throughout infinity. In order to
make a place for limited existence, the divine contracted to create a hollow space. This
necessary contraction for the sake of creation is Tzimtzum, EVZMZ. It is similar in
concept to the brilliant teacher having to contract what he knows down into simpler,
separate parts for the sake of his students’ limited capacity to understand.

Into this vacuum of space, the divine sends down a single line of light, the long upright
of the letter Vav V. The Yod I at the top represents the divine creative power. The
descending line extends the creative power into the created reality. The line is as
external to the divine and generates the ability to separate one aspect of creation from
another. The Yod on top unites all creations into one organic whole and provides the
pathway back to unity.

:*RªA¶H¶ XA∞Vπ ,EI®M§W¶h§ xa∞ ,Eic¢lA£ AR¶B¶@ ,xiµ¢AR∞B@º A

In Genesis 1:1, Vav first appears connecting Heaven and Earth. “In the beginning, the
Elohim created Heaven and Earth.” This is the job of Vav – connection. Note that Vav in
Genesus 1:1 is at the beginning of the sixth word. Vav as a numeral is the number 6.
There are six Alephs in this verse. And there are six letters in the first word. And note
that Vav is the twenty-second letter of the verse. There are 22 letters in the Hebrew
alphabet. Vav connects and interrelates all the potencies of creation depicted in the
letters of the Hebrew alphabet from Aleph A to Tav X. The word XA appears twice
in this first verse and is considered to imply all the letters from Aleph to Tav.

Modern Hebrew varies from the old Biblical Hebrew. A man who knew only Biblical
Hebrew visited Israel and was told that he sounded like a prophet when he spoke

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Hebrew. In Biblical Hebrew, Vav as a prefix to a verb reverses the tense from future to
past or from past to future. There is an example of this in the first word, the first letter of
Genesis 1:3

:RV‘A-IH¢Iπv¥ ,rv‘a ih¢iπ ,eih¢la£ RMªai!‘v G

Vayomer Elohim Yehi Aur va-Yehi Aur. Said the Elohim, “Let there be light” and there
was light. The Vav as a prefix to the first word of the sentence RMAIV reverses the
tense from future to past. This special word is, interestingly enough, the twenty-second
word in Genesis. Also in this verse, note that the same verb, yehi appears twice. The
first time IHI is in the future tense, let there be. The second time, Vav appears as a

prefix IHIV and the verb becomes “was”. Also very interesting – this second vav-verb
prefix is the twenty-sixth word in Genesis, the number of the most holy name of God,
HVHI. This name is so holy that pious Jews refrain from attempting to pronounce it
and instead say “Lord” INDA Adonai or HIVH “Havayah”, a rearrangement of the

same four letters. Many just say in reverence and love, ha-Shem, EW-H, the name.

When the Elohim said, “Let there be light”, light broke through and into the Tzimtzum,
the darkness of the primordial contraction. This great secret of Vav is the secret of the
future entering into the past, of time entering space.

The future, the ultimate destiny of all, is the return to the divine. The secret of teshuvah,
of repentence and returning to God, is bringing power from the future to resolve the sins
of the past. If this is motivated by fear, progress is made but not enough. When the
motivation becomes love of God, then past sins blatantly remind one of the painful
distance between oneself and God. Love transforms mistakes, even deliberate ones,
into the drive to achieve union with God. Then past mistakes give one greater
dedication and faster progress than if one had not erred at all. HBVWX, teshubah,
“returning” can transform all your past into good. This is the mystery of Vav that brings
the future into the past and thereby transforms the past into the future.

Vav corresponds to the middle pillar of the Tree of Life. When the name HVHI is placed
upon the Tree, the top tip of Yod is Kether, the body of Yod is Chokmah. The first Heh is
Binah. The next six spheres are Vav, and the last Heh is Malkuth. The six spheres of
Vav correspond by name to the six emotive powers of the heart: lovingkindness, might,
beauty, victory, thanksgiving and fulfillment (foundation).

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Everything that is created has a central, middle point of truth. Vav runs through and
connects all these center points. And Vav, in time, will reunite us in consciousness with
the One who is all this.

Vav is the path between Chesed (lovingkindness) and Chokmah (the Father). When we
cultivate lovingkindness toward all, the path of Vav opens to us and connects us in
union with the Father.

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Correspondences

Vav V
English equivalent: V, U, W
Number: 6
Letter Name: VV, Vav-Vav
Letter Name Meaning: Nail, hook
Color: Red-Orange
Note: C#
Tarot Key: Number 5, Hierophant
Astrology: The sign Taurus b, ruled by Venus D, in which the Moon B is exalted.
Taurus rules the lower part of the head and neck including the ears and throat.
32 Paths of Wisdom: Vav is the 16th Path of Wisdom.
Intelligence: Vav is the Triumphant and Eternal Intelligence.
Path of the Tree of Life: Vav is the pathway connecting the 2nd sphere, Chokmah,
Wisdom to the 4th sphere, Chesed, Mercy.
Sphere of the Tree of Life: Heh is the number 6 and is thus related to the sixth sphere,
Tiphareth, Beauty.
Cube of Space: Vav is the South-East edge. The flow of energy is from below to above.
Mythology: Taurus is the bull
Psychology: Intuition
Sense: Hearing

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