The 22 Hebrew Letters · Meanings, Values, and Tarot Paths

The 22 Hebrew letters are the building blocks of Kabbalah · each one is at once a sound, a number, and a picture with a literal meaning. Aleph means "ox," Beth means "house," Gimel means "camel," on through Tav, "mark." Every letter also carries a numeric value used in gematria (Aleph 1 through Tav 400), and the Sefer Yetzirah sorts all 22 into three tiers of creative power · three Mother letters, seven Double letters, and twelve Simple letters. In the Hermetic tradition those same 22 letters are the 22 paths of the Tree of Life and the 22 Major Arcana of the Tarot. This page gives the complete reference table · glyph, meaning, value, class, path, and card for every letter · followed by a plain-language guide to how each layer works. For a printable one-page reference of all 22 paths with their Hebrew letters and Tarot cards side by side, see the free 22 Paths of the Tree of Life chart.

The 22 Hebrew Letters at a Glance

All 22 letters in alphabet order, Aleph to Tav. Each row gives the letter's glyph (with its final form where one exists), its name and literal meaning, its gematria value, its class in the Sefer Yetzirah (Mother, Double, or Simple, with the element, planet, or zodiac sign it governs), its Tree of Life path number, and its Major Arcana card in the Golden Dawn tradition. Each letter name links to its full path guide.

Values are the standard mispar hechrachi gematria. The five final (sofit) forms · Kaph, Mem, Nun, Peh, Tzaddi · carry the extended values 500-900 in the "great number" (mispar gadol) system, continuing the count past 400 to a full run of 1-900. Path numbers run 11-32 because paths 1-10 are the ten Sephirot; the 22 lettered paths are the connectors between them. The Tarot attributions follow the traditional Golden Dawn published order (Tzaddi = The Star, Heh = The Emperor).

For the methods, systems, and worked examples in full, see our complete guide to gematria explained.

The Three Mother Letters

The Sefer Yetzirah · the "Book of Formation," the oldest Kabbalistic text · sorts the 22 letters into three tiers of creative power. At the root are the three Mother letters · Aleph, Mem, and Shin, which correspond to the three primordial elements: Aleph to Air, Mem to Water, and Shin to Fire. The tradition draws out a picturable logic in the very sounds: Aleph is silent, airy breath; Mem hums with closed lips like still water; Shin hisses like fire. They are called "mothers" because the rest of creation is born from these three foundational forces · from them "everything else is sealed." On the Tree of Life they govern Paths 11, 23, and 31 · Aleph joining Kether to Chokmah, Mem descending the Pillar of Severity from Geburah to Hod, and Shin crossing from Hod to Malkuth. The three horizontal (reciprocal) paths that balance the two side pillars belong instead to Daleth, Teth, and Peh.

The Seven Double Letters

The seven Double letters · Beth, Gimel, Daleth, Kaph, Peh, Resh, and Tav · are called "double" because each is sounded two ways, hard and soft (Beth as B or V, Peh as P or Ph, and so on). In the Sefer Yetzirah they govern the seven classical planets · Mercury, Moon, Venus, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Saturn · together with the seven days of the week and seven pairs of opposites: life and death, peace and war, wisdom and folly, wealth and poverty, grace and ugliness, fertility and desolation, dominion and servitude. On the Tree of Life they sit on the vertical and diagonal paths, together with the two horizontal paths (Daleth on Path 14 and Peh on Path 27).

The Twelve Simple Letters

The remaining twelve Simple letters · Heh, Vav, Zayin, Cheth, Teth, Yod, Lamed, Nun, Samekh, Ayin, Tzaddi, and Qoph · each have a single sound. They correspond to the twelve signs of the zodiac in order, Aries through Pisces, along with the twelve months and the twelve "directions of the boundary." On the Tree of Life they run mostly along the diagonal outer paths, with one horizontal path (Teth on Path 19) and one central-pillar vertical (Samekh on Path 25). Add the three Mothers, the seven Doubles, and the twelve Simples and you have the whole alphabet · 3 + 7 + 12 = 22 letters, matching the 22 paths of the Tree exactly.

Gematria · The Numbers Inside the Letters

Because Hebrew has no separate numerals, the letters are the numbers. Aleph through Teth carry the units 1-9; Yod through Tzaddi carry the tens (10, 20, 30 … 90); Qoph, Resh, Shin, and Tav carry the hundreds (100, 200, 300, 400). This is the basis of gematria · the practice of reading the numeric value of words. Words that share a total are held to share a hidden kinship. A few of the ways the values are used:

Equivalence. Two words summing to the same number illuminate each other · a classic device in Kabbalistic commentary. Reduction. Multi-digit totals are often reduced to a single root digit, linking a word to one of the numbers 1-9. Systems. The standard 1-400 values are mispar hechrachi; counting the finals as 500-900 is mispar gadol, the "great" system. For path and Tarot work the standard values are what matter. For Tarot, a card's letter value seeds meditation · The Magician (Beth, 2, "house") is the number of duality and the vessel; The World (Tav, 400, "mark") closes the alphabet at its largest single value, fitting for the card of completion.

Letter Forms · The Five Final Letters

Five letters change shape when they fall at the end of a word · Kaph, Mem, Nun, Peh, and Tzaddi, remembered by the mnemonic MaNTZePaKh (מנצפ״ך). The everyday form is used at the start or middle of a word, and the "sofit" (final) form when the letter closes it. These five final forms are what extend the number line past 400: in the great-number system they carry 500-900 (Kaph 500, Mem 600, Nun 700, Peh 800, Tzaddi 900), giving the alphabet a complete run from 1 to 900. Kabbalists read the final forms as an unfolding or release · the same force now spent outward at the end of the word. One piece of lore: the final Mem (ם) is the only fully closed form, and it famously appears mid-word in a single exception, in Isaiah 9:6.

From Letter to Tarot Card

In the Golden Dawn tradition each of the 22 Major Arcana is assigned one Hebrew letter and one Tree of Life path, in order · so every card can be read through its letter's picture, number, and element or sign. A few examples show how the key turns:

Aleph · Ox · The Fool. The ox is untamed vitality and the beast of burden · the Fool's animal innocence and unlimited (0) potential, Air as the breath before the first step. Daleth · Door · The Empress. The door is the threshold of generation · the Empress as the gateway of Venusian creative fertility. Teth · Serpent · Strength. The serpent is coiled instinctual power · Strength (Leo) as the gentle mastery of the animal self. Ayin · Eye · The Devil. The eye that sees only the material surface · the Devil (Capricorn) as bondage to appearances. Tav · Mark / Cross · The World. The final letter, the "seal" · the World as the completed cross of the four elements and the end of the journey.

Reading each card through its letter · its picture, its number, its class, and its element, planet, or sign · is the Hermetic method the path-and-Tarot correspondence guide and each of the 22 path posts apply in depth. One note on convention: this page follows the traditional Golden Dawn published attribution, in which Tzaddi is The Star and Heh is The Emperor. Aleister Crowley later proposed a "Tzaddi is not the Star" swap (exchanging Heh and Tzaddi, Emperor and Star), a variant worth knowing about · but the standard correspondence used here and across the site keeps Tzaddi → The Star and Heh → The Emperor.

Frequently Asked Questions

A complete reference to the alphabet of creation · return to it whenever you study the Tree, the paths, or the cards.

About this article

Based on the teachings of Evelynne Joffe

Kabbalist, Tarot Counsellor & Dream Therapist · Director, Institute of Esoteric Studies

This article was written by the Global Spiritual Studies editorial team, drawing on Evelynne Joffe's Kabbalah teaching for Global Spiritual Studies. Evelynne directs the Institute of Esoteric Studies in Melbourne, Australia, and has spent more than thirty years teaching students to read the Tree of Life as a practical map for self-realization. In 1992 she co-founded the Tarot Guild of Australia.

Study this with her

Living the Tree of Life · Part 1: The Ten Sephirot
Living the Tree of Life · Part 2: The Twenty-Two Paths
The Complete Tree of Life
More from Evelynne Joffe →