The Sefer Yetzirah's map: twelve months, twelve letters, twelve tribes, twelve senses and limbs.
The Sefer Yetzirah, the Book of Formation, is among the oldest Hebrew mystical texts. It assigns the twenty two letters of the alphabet to the elements of creation: three mother letters, seven doubles for the planets, and twelve simple letters for the twelve months of the Hebrew year. Each of those twelve carries a tribe of Israel, a sense and a limb of the body, so a month is not only a time but a faculty.
Your Hebrew birth date gives the month, and the month gives the letter and everything the letter carries. The Hebrew day begins at sunset, so a birth in the evening belongs to the following day, and the app takes that seriously. Where you give a name, its gematria is calculated too, letter by letter, right to left.
How it is computed
The month of the Hebrew year the birthday falls in, with the letter, sign, sense and limb the Sefer Yetzirah gives it and the tribe of the camp order. A second Adar reads as Adar.
The twelve months and their letters
Twelve months, twelve letters, and the tribe, sense and limb each one governs.
Nisan
Nisan, the letter Heh, the month of going out: speech, and the tribe of Judah. Born here you free with words; your right hand leads.
Iyar
Iyar, the letter Vav, the month of counting: thought, and Issachar. You heal what was hurried by thinking it through; the left hand steadies.
Sivan
Sivan, the letter Zayin, the month of the giving: motion, and Zebulun. You walk toward what is offered; the right leg goes first.
Tammuz
Tammuz, the letter Chet, the month of the breach: sight, and Reuben. Your eye must learn to see rightly; the left leg holds the ground.
Av
Av, the letter Tet, the month of the fall and the comfort: hearing, and Simeon. You hold grief and consolation in one ear.
Elul
Elul, the letter Yud, the month of return: action, and Gad. Your deeds turn a life; small and exact, like the letter.
Tishrei
Tishrei, the letter Lamed, the month of the scales: touch, and Ephraim. You weigh by closeness; the liver, the seat of judgement.
Cheshvan
Cheshvan, the letter Nun, the bitter month: smell, and Manasseh. You remember by scent, and you wait for the rain.
Kislev
Kislev, the letter Samekh, the month of the lights: sleep, and Benjamin. You trust enough to let go; the dream does the work.
Tevet
Tevet, the letter Ayin, the month of the siege: temper, and Dan. Your anger is real and must be governed; then it is a strength.
Shevat
Shevat, the letter Tzadi, the month of the trees' new year: taste, and Asher. You know what nourishes; the stomach, the discerner.
Adar
Adar, the letter Kuf, the month of the lots: joy, and Naphtali. Fortune turns to laughter around you; the pancreas, the sweetener.
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The gematria values
The value of your Hebrew name by the standard count, mispar hechrechi, with finals counted as their letters; then the digits summed to one, whose letter names the whole.
Value 1
A name that reduces to one: the unit, the beginning, the self that stands alone. Alef's number.
Value 2
Two: the pair, the house, the door. Bet's number; a name that opens onto another.
Value 3
Three: the camel, the bridge, giving. Gimel's number; a name that carries.
Value 4
Four: the door, the poor man's hand, the four directions. Dalet's number; a name that receives.
Value 5
Five: the breath, the window, the open hand. Heh's number; a name that breathes out.
Value 6
Six: the hook, the joining, the and. Vav's number; a name that connects.
Value 7
Seven: the sword, the week, the sabbath. Zayin's number; a name that cuts and rests.
Value 8
Eight: the fence, the life beyond nature. Chet's number, and chai is eighteen; a name that guards life.
Value 9
Nine: the serpent, the hidden good, the womb. Tet's number; a name that holds what is not yet shown.
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