Great Kabbalistic Art — Hartmann Schopper, 1564-1569

is said to be unknown if your mind did not recognize it. However, those most mysterious letters change when considering the various sounds of the Voice, for example:
יהוה The Tetragrammaton, the four-letter Name of God, for although this Word is read as Silmod an phonetic substitution or coded reading for the Name original: "Silmod"; this may be a specific Kabbalistic substitution or a phonetic rendering used in this tradition to avoid pronouncing the divine name, it is nevertheless expressed in its being by that letter Silmod. Therefore, as was said regarding each of the ingenious matters, where they are noted, then inscribe them; there is no wider table for their varied expression, and so it is with the others.

Similarly, I want you to know here that nothing other than the proper Hebrew Alphabet original: "Hebraico Alphabeto" must be used for a query formed in Hebrew, so that a response similar to it may be obtained. It would be superfluous to set down that Alphabet here, as I noted it among the pages of the Preface, to which I refer the reader, so that they may follow the truth unhindered.

Furthermore, for any other idiom not explicitly mentioned here, you shall use the same rules and exceptions enunciated up to this point. In all of these, however, a most general rule for Alphabets must be stated: if the query is written in the characters of our Latin Alphabet, the same Alphabet must be used. But if those letters are noted with characters different from the Latin, then, having taken the Alphabet of that language, you will recognize that it is noted with numbered letters in the same form as was done by me above for Hebrew, Greek, and German.

Regarding the Italian Language original: "Italica Lingua", it finally remains to be noted that since it lacks diphthongs, and since no special letter is placed in either writing or reading words, no variety of sound is seen there. Therefore, we exempt this language from the above rules. But (to tell the truth) although the labor there is more mixed, the Response is also rendered weaker, and experience has proven it is not always correct and clear; you may take it for certain that this arises from this imperfect Language. For since words there signify things but do not uphold the whole rule—indeed, the explanation varies according to the diversity of both places and persons, and the verbal sound thus conceived shines through—therefore, Italian Responses very often wander away from the natural goodness of the Art. For this reason, I thought the Reader should be warned to avoid this language in their petitions for the sake of clarity. However, when one desires to operate with it (whether out of ignorance of other languages or a wandering desire), let them use no other Alphabet than the one written above for the Latin idiom, which I do not wish to repeat here.

Having now completed the Dissertation on Languages for Queries, Diphthongs, and Voices—which we deemed necessary lest you proceed like Ishmael an outsider or uninitiated person to the Feast in the Practical Kabbalah original: "Cabala practica"—it now remains to speak of what the Operator must do after obtaining the sums of the words written at the beginning of this chapter. For the understanding of this, you shall know the following noted Rules.

Having completed the sums of the words in the made petition, write them according to their proper order in a single, unbroken line. But beware that the sums are not placed there confusedly, yet without any division between them, because errors easily occur in the Work. Therefore, do not be reluctant to separate word from word with dots, whether the notes be larger or smaller, as the examples inscribed below demonstrate more clearly.

Next, take the number of the first sum and compare it with the following and nearest one, eliciting the Difference original: "Differentiam" by subtracting the Smaller from the Larger. Then, if the sum consists of more than two numbers—for example, if it consists of three—then you take the second again and compare it with the third as above. But if that sum is composed of four numbers, then take the difference of the first and second, and of the third and fourth, omitting the middle difference. But if the sum is composed of only two numbers, you shall compare only those two. Finally, if that sum is denoted by a single number, then, having discarded the comparison (because a comparison is impossible where a companion is not given), you shall note down that same number in place of the difference. All this is better brought out by example. The total sum of the word An Whether is 42, whence the difference elicited between the two component numbers is 2; then you shall place the number 2 below, between the two sums, like this:

Likewise, the second sum of the word Antonius is 530, as was shown above, which sum consists of three numbers. Therefore, you observe the Difference between the first and second, which is 2; and you inscribe this 2 between the numbers 5 and 3. Then inspect the second and third number of the same sum, whose Difference I understand to be 3, which shall be described near the one just elicited between them, like this:

But if that sum is formed of four numbers, such as in the position 3 0 9 6, then take the difference of the first and second, which is 3. Then compare the third and fourth (omitting the difference of the second and third, as the Rules teach, because you will see that the third and fourth are also differing by units); therefore you place 3 again in the place of the difference beneath them, like this:

But if the sum is written with a single number, such as this word—ed—whose sum is 9; then you place that same number below in the place of the difference. It seems to me that I have sufficiently explained and demonstrated all this with examples. And in this manner of operating, you will finish the first line of this first Operation.

But before anything is said regarding the second line, it must be noted that every comparison (whether it be of this line and Operation, or another) which must be made between numbers, does not always generate a similar number, although from similar...