“Three Fathers and their generations, Seven conquerors and their armies, and Twelve boundaries of the Universe.
See now, of these words, the faithful witnesses are the Universe, the Year and the Man.”
-Sepher Yetzirah
In the Jewish book called the Sepher Yetzirah, the Hebrew letters are broken down into three categories: the three mothers (a.k.a. fathers), the seven doubles, and the twelve simple letters. The twelve simple letters are associated with the zodiac, the seven double letters are associated with the sun, moon and five visible planets, and the mysterious three mother letters are associated with Fire, Air and Water. The three mother letters also have a double nature since they are also referred to as three fathers depending on the context they’re being used. The letters do have numeric associations, however in the Sepher Yetzirah the numbers are considered before and distinctly separate from the twenty-two letters, which is why there are thirty-two paths of wisdom and not just twenty-two pathways. The letters are more closely associated with the astrological considerations: cycles of time, the cube of space, and the natures of man.
The Tree of Life seen on the right-hand images’ path arrangement are based on a combination of the tarot numbers and strives for the most harmonious arrangement of all the path numbers that when combined with each spheres’ number are reducible to the number six. While the Tree of Life on the lefts’ path arrangements are based on a geometric configuration of the astrological attributes, which can also be seen in the Cube of Space section. Both configurations reveal different possible manifestations of the paths with this particular spherical numerical and planetary arrangement.
The ten Ideal Numbers 0-9 in this system correspond to the first ten cards of the Tarot representing character types: 0- The Fool (Sun), 1- The Magician (Mercury), 2- The High Priestess (Venus), 3- The Empress (Earth), 4- The Emperor (Mars), 5- The Hierophant (Jupiter), 6- The Lover (Saturn), 7- The Charioteer (Uranus), 8- The Courageous (Pluto), and 9- The Hermit (Neptune). Whereas the twelve double numbered Tarot cards correspond with the twelve Zodiac signs which represent twelve different types of experiences: 10-The Wheel of Fortune (Taurus), 11- Justice (Libra), 12- The Hanged Man (Pisces}, 13- Death (Scorpio), 14- Temperance (Sagittarius), 15- The Devil (Capricorn), 16- The Lightning Struck Tower (Aries), 17- The Star (Aquarius), 18- The Moon (Cancer), 19- The Sun (Leo), 20- Judgement (Gemini), and 21- The World (Virgo).