The Secret of all Spiritual Activities

"My secret wisdom is hid in number, 

And in the sign of the Tally

Is concealed the building of the whole creation.

Number veileth the power of the Elohim, 

For number is that thick darkness whereof it is written,

"And Moses drew near unto the thick darkness 

Where God was"; and again,

"Tetragrammaton said that he would dwell In the thick darkness."

Ye shall know that this darkness is Egypt, 

And by the wisdom hidden in that darkness 

Did Moses lead Israel forth.

In the darkness which is Egypt

Is the darkness of number, 

Concealing the One in the cloud of the Many. 

Of that darkness the Serpent is a sign, 

That Great Serpent, the royal snake of Egypt.

This is the Serpent of temptation, Yet from it cometh forth redemption.

For the Serpent is the first appearance of the Anointed One,

And that which casteth Adam out from the garden of the East,

Even that shall bring him back once more to Paradise.

Thus in TETH is shown the secret

Of the going forth and the return, 

For TETH is the serpent coiled around the Tau.

This is the sign of the Name of Names, 

Which none may utter.

Again, it is the symbol of the Tree of Divine Perfections, 

Encircled by the power of the letters 

Wherewith is formed the whole creation.

And because the Tally referreth to counting, 

And so to all the works of number,

By this letter do I show— 

First, that all things are brought forth through number, 

And second, that all works of power accomplished by

the wise 

Have number for their foundation.

For the circle of the Tally 

Is the coiled fiery power

Which cometh from the sun, 

And to rule this, thou must learn to count.

Count aright, 

And thou shalt have oil for thy lamps, 

For the oil for lighting. 

Containeth the secret of the letter TETH. 

This is the oil which riseth like a serpent, 

The oil which thy father Jacob 

Poured upon the Stone in the House of Strength.

Verily, he who knoweth the secret of that Stone, 

Knoweth also the secret of the Serpent, 

And in him shall be fulfilled the saying:

"When Israel was a child, 

Then I loved him, 

And called my Son out of Egypt."

And he who knoweth this shall be a Measurer of Mercy, 

And all his works shall be rooted

In the strength of my Law."

~ Paul Foster Case in The Book of Tokens (Meditation on Teth)