The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah—Appendix

Pereq III

Mishnah 1. Three mothers—mtheir foundation, the scale of guilt and the scale of merit, and the tongue of the statue trembling (deciding) between them. LTJMBA 68.2

Mishnah 2. Three mothers—m—a great mystery, marvellous and hidden, and sealed with six signets, and from them go forth fire and water, and divide themselves into male and female. Three mothers, mtheir foundation, and from them were born the fathers (rerum naturae semina), from which everything is created (fire is regarded as the male principle, water as the female principle, and air as combining the two:is the first letter of the Hebrew word for air, m for that of water,the last for that of fire). LTJMBA 68.3

Mishnah 3. Three letters, m—in the world: air, water, fire; the heavens were created in the beginning from fire, and the earth was created from water, and the air trembles (the same word as that in regard to the tongue between the scales of the balance, indicating the intermediate, inclining to the one or the other) between the fire and the water. LTJMBA 68.4

Mishnah 4. Three mothers, m—in the year: fire, and water, and wind. Heat is created from fire, cold from water, and moderate from the wind (air) that is intermediate between them. Three mothers, m—in the nephesh: fire, water, and wind. The head was created from fire, and the belly from water, and the body from wind that is intermediate between them. LTJMBA 68.5

Mishnah 5. Three mothers, m)—He drew them, and hewed them, and melted them together, and sealed with them the three mothers in the world, the three mothers in the year, and three mothers in the nephesh—male and female. LTJMBA 68.6

(Now follows a further mystical development and application.) The letter א He made King in the Spirit, and bound upon him the crown (this refers to farther mystical signs indicated in the Kabbalistic figure drawn on p. 438 of the History of the Jewish Nation), and melted them one with the other, and sealed with them: in the world the air, in the soul life, and in the nephesh (living thing) body—the male with אמש, the female with אשם.‎ מ He made King in the waters, and bound on it the crown, and melted them one with the other, and sealed: in the world earth, and in the year cold, and in the nephesh the belly—male and female, male in מאש, and female in משא.‎ ש He made King in the fire, and bound on it the crown, and melted them one with the other, and sealed with it: in the upper world the heavens, in the year heat, in the nephesh the head—male and female. LTJMBA 68.7