40

Forty is the numerical value of Mem (מ), the thirteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The letter’s name means “water,” and its glyph is traditionally drawn as a wave or flowing stream. In the Sefer Yetzirah, Mem is one of the three “mother letters” (with Aleph and Shin), governing the element of Water—the primordial substance of flux, gestation, and the unconscious depths.

Position on the Tree of Life

The number 40 corresponds to Path 23, which connects Hod (Splendor) to Malkuth (Kingdom) on the Tree of Life. This is the path of Mem, the Water letter. As a planetary or elemental path, it carries the influence of the fluid, receptive, and dissolving quality of water that bridges the structured intellect of Hod with the physical, material foundation of Malkuth.

Astrological and Planetary Correspondence

While the number 40 does not directly name a planet, its letter Mem is the elemental sign of Water. In the geomantic and alchemical correspondences of Liber 777, this number therefore aligns with the aqueous principles: dissolution, purification, intuition, and the passive, receiving aspect of nature. In the zodiac, Mem is sometimes correlated with the fixed water sign Scorpio (house of death and regeneration) or the general elemental triplicity of water, depending on the tradition.

Historical Context

The number 40 appears throughout Jewish and Western esoteric tradition as a period of trial, purification, and transition. The forty days of the Flood (Genesis 7:12), the forty years of Israel in the wilderness, and the forty days of Jesus’ temptation are all layers of the same symbol: a necessary immersion in the watery state to effect transformation. In the Sefer Yetzirah, Mem is the silent mother letter, the source of all sound in its depths, corresponding to the sphere of the belly and the flow of water. The gematria of Mem (40) connects it to the word mayim (מים, water) whose own letters total 90, a multiple of 40, reinforcing the elemental identity.

In the Kabbalistic tradition of Crowley’s Liber 777, the number 40 appears in Column LI as the numeration for Path 23, the Path of Mem (Water). The path is assigned the astrological correspondence of Saturn in Libra (depending on the version of the table), tempering the dissolving water with the balanced, structuring influence of Saturn. This pairing reflects the practical function of Path 23: to channel the formless potential of water into the ordered realm of Malkuth.

In Liber 777

At the intersection of the row for LI.2 (Numeration of Col. LI) and the sub-row for Path 23, the entry is simply 40 — the numeral value of the letter Mem and the key to the elemental and transformative correspondences of this path.