ו (Vav) is the sixth letter of the Hebrew alphabet, numerically 6, and is the third single letter in the Tetragrammaton Yod‑He‑Vav‑He. Its name means ‘hook’ or ‘nail’; the glyph itself depicts a vertical peg, a form that in Paleo‑Hebrew represented a tent‑peg or a hooked metal implement used for joining beams or hanging curtains in the Tabernacle.

Position on the Tree of Life

Path 31, the shortest route on the Tree, links the Sephirah Hod (Splendour) with Malkuth (Kingdom). Bridging the last sphere of the Yetziratic world with the final physical sphere, this path governs the transmission of intellectual structure into tangible, formed existence. In the 32‑path schema, Path 31 is the conduit whereby the patterned forces of the astral directly imprint matter.

Astrological and planetary correspondence

Vav corresponds to the zodiac sign Taurus (Aleph‑Tav‑Shin‑Qoph to Beth‑Vav‑He), a fixed Earth sign ruled by Venus. Taurean symbolism—bull, earthy steadfastness, procreative force—mirrors Vav’s role as the ‘nail’ that binds together (Yod‑He to the final He). The letter is also traditionally linked to the synthesis of the three‑fold paternal and maternal powers in the Name.

Historical context

In the Sefer Yetzirah, Vav is called the ‘nail that holds the structure together’, the connector between the transcendent and the immanent. By the medieval Kabbalistic period, the Zohar elaborates that Vav represents the Son, the sixth Sephirah Tiphereth, and the phallus—the direct line of transmission from the Father (Chokmah) into creation. In the Tetragrammaton, Vav bridges the primordial He (Binah) and the final He (Malkuth), signifying the six directions of space. Christian Kabbalists read Vav as the Holy Spirit or as the ‘nail’ that pierces the cross, while Jewish tradition stresses its function as the ‘Vav haChibur’ (the conjunctive Vav that joins sentences). Culpeper and Agrippa assign Vav to the magical images of a heavy‑eared wheat‑sheaf (Taurus) and to the stone emerald.

Vav appears in Liber 777 at step 31 as the letter of the Name under the heading ‘The Letters of the Name’, representing the synthesising, connective power that anchors the divine Name into the material world.