I started talking through what the sefirah are in the strict terms of the Sefer Yetzirah because it makes clear their visionary dimension. When you call forth the sefirah and place yourself in the midst of them, you are calling forth for a vision. The alphabetic work is part of that vision. Quite literally, it is the means by which the vision presents itself. You work them in order to have a vision and it is the vision that animates the work.

This ought not be anything like a guided meditation; such visualizations take the worker away from the two basic avenues for having a vision amidst the sefirah—the pleading and silence that cultivates the receptivity for it or the cultivation of the chariot through which you can rise up to receive it.

Study forms a key element of receptive visionary work. Through study of both the letter and what has been composed of letter, you prepare yourself with the alphabet, the narrative sensibility through which a vision can express itself, and a receptive temperament. This study is thoughtful examination and includes comparative breadth as well as analytic depth, but the vision-seeking student needs to avoid telling too many stories with the material they study. Dwell in the valley of dry bones.

Until the thunder of Gimel.

Until the lightning of Gimel.

Until the fruitful birth of the stars in the earthly vessels Mem so tenderly holds.