"Thirty-two paths wonderful of Wisdom engraved Yah, the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, the living God and eternal King, the God merciful and gracious, sublime, and dweller in the heights, whose name is holy." — Sefer Yetzirá, 1:1

The expression appears at the beginning of the Sefer Yetzirá (Book of Formation): God “recorded” the world for thirty-two paths wonderful Wisdom. Since Antiquity, jewish, those 32 are to be understood as 10 sephiroth + 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. This formula is the frame concept with which the text explains the creation: numbers/measures (sephiroth) and letters/sounds like “tools” divine.

Nuclear structure according to the Sefer Yetzirá:
10 sephiroth (hold 1) + 22 letters (on hold 2-6), divided into 3 “mothers” (א מש), 7 “double” (בגדכפרת) and 12 “simple”with its functions cosmological.

2) the Sources and scope textual

• Text-base: Sefer Yetzirá (multiple reviews). The passage programmatic is in 1:1-1:4. Use here the public edition of Sefaria and critical editions/old to the statement of the “32 paths”.
• Reception: Encyclopedias, academic (Britannica, Encyclopedia.com) summary of the classic mode: 32 = 10 sefirot + 22 letters.
• Comments historical: Saadia Gaon (s. X) offers a reading philosophical and systematic (in your comment is clear the partition 10/3/7/12 applied to cosmos, time, and person). School of Safed (Cordoba-Luria, s. XVI) and Vilna Gaon (s. XVIII) set of readings that will influence the diagram below of the “Tree of Life”.

Philological note: “Sephiroth belimá” (ספירות בלימה) in 1:1 is usually translated “sephiroth ‘out of nothing’/‘without support’”, by making them appear as abstract principles of measurement/relationshipnot “emanations”

3) 32: anatomy full

3.1 The 10 sefirot (principles/measures of the divine work)

1. Kéter (Crown): the principle of the Will; root supra-intellectual.
2. Jojmá (Wisdom): a spark of intuition unitary.
3. Biná (Understanding): joint/delimitation of this intuition.
4. Jésed (Mercy): expansion/charity.
5. Gevurah (Rigor): restriction, judgment, measure.
6. Tiféret (Harmony): synthesis of jésed-gevurah; shaft aesthetic-ethical.
7. Nétsaj (Perseverance): impulse, victoria, direction.
8. Hod (Splendor): form, language, system.
9. Yesod (Foundation): channel/mediation towards the concrete.
10. Maljut (Uk): manifestation, world spoken/performed.
    The Sefer Yetzirá devotes chapter 1 the sephiroth as the “measures” of depth (up/down, east/west, north/south, past/future/good/evil) and as the axis of world–year–soul (olam–shaná–néfesh).

3.2 The 22 letters (channels formative)

Classification of the Sefer Yetzirá:

• 3 Mothers: Aleph (א), Mem (מ), Shin (ש) → correlated with Air, Water, Fire.
• 7 Double: Beth, Guímel, Dálet, Kaf, Pe, Résh, Tav (בגדכפרת) → 7 planets and 7 days, along with 7 openings of the face.
• 12 Simple: He, Vav, Zayin, Jet, Tet, Yod, Lámed, Nun, Sámej, Áyin, Tsadé, Qof → The 12 signs of the zodiac, 12 months and 12 “leaders” in the human (functions/organs). These correspondences are explicit in the text itself.

The mapping cosmos (world) – time (year) – person (soul/body) it is a guiding principle of the book and your comment medieval: to each group (3/7/12) will correspond to a triad of natural phenomena, calendrical and psycho-physiological.

4) How to work the trails

Idea operational: God “draws, size, combined, weighed and swap” letters; and by the numbers/measures (sephiroth) set boundaries, addresses, and relationships. The combinatorial (tseruf) and the permutation articulate the creativity of language that enables us to pass from potency to act. The text is illustrated with the “231 gates” (combinations by pairs of 22 letters).

Rule 10/3/7/12 in three scales (according to Saadia):

• Universe (space structures, “ball” and “dragon”/the head node celeste),
• Year (cycles, planets, months),
• Person (heart/mind and faculties).

5) historical Development and representations

• Old tardo-antigua/gaónica: Sefer Yetzirá (prob. s. IV–X) formulates the doctrine 10+22.
• Bahir (s. XII): picks up the symbolization of the “32” (relationship with “lev/heart”, gematria 32) and deepens the imagery of Wisdom.
• Mean age and Safed: Cartographies of the Tree of Life (later) organized the 10 sefirot and placed 22 “roads” between them. Important: the diagram trendy Tree is back the Sefer Yetzirá; the book does not draw that graph, although it inspires.

6) The full list (with classical functions)

A. 10 trails-sephiroth (cap 1)

1. Kéter – Principle of volition/transcendent.
2. Jojmá – Wisdom seminal intuition unitary.
3. Biná – Understanding, articulation/shape.
4. Jésed – Expansion, gift.
5. Gevurah – Restriction, measurement, judgment.
6. Tiféret – Beauty/harmony (synthesis ethics-aesthetics).
7. Nétsaj – Momentum and consistency directional.
8. Hod – Language, system, resonance, formal.
9. Yesod – Foundation, channel, transmission.
10. Maljut – Manifestation sovereign, world made. (General framework according to 1:1-1:10).

B. The 22 paths-lyrics (on hold 2-6)
3 Mothers:

11. Aleph (א) – Air; balance between fire/water; axis breathing-word.
12. Mem (מ) – Water; potentiality, array, fluency.
13. Shin (ש) – Fire, energy, differentiation.
    7 Double (בגדכפרת) – Days and planets, ancient (tradition of the text):
14. Bet (ב); 15) Guímel (ג); 16) Dálet (ד); 17) Kaf (כ); 18) Pe (פ); 19) Résh (ר); 20) Tav (ת) → regulate 7 days and 7 “openings” of the face (eyes-ears-nares-mouth).
    12 Simple (months/signs/internal functions):
15. He (ה); 22) Vav (ו); 23) Zayin (ז); 24) Jet (ח); 25) Tet (ט); 26) Yod (י); 27) Lámed (ל); 28) Nun (נ); 29) Sámej (ס); 30) Áyin (ע); 31) Tsadé (צ); 32) Qof (ק).
    Associations elements/planets/zodiac and openings/organs are stated in the own Sefer Yetzirá. (The exact allocation letter-planet-sign varies between traditions; SY set the categories and its triple projection in world-time-individual).

7) Methodology kabbalistic involved

• Combinatorial literal: “Drew, carved, combined, weighed, and permutó...”: the creation happens by operations on the letters; hence the method meditative of tseruf.
• Size/direction: the sefirot articulate limits (up/down, etc) and balance (well/badly) to stabilize the cosmos.
• Triad interpretative (Saadia): “Universe–Person–Year” as three faithful witnesses of the same sacred geometry.

8) common Questions (and answers clear)

What the 32 paths “are” the diagram of the Tree?
No. The Sefer Yetzirá no draw the Tree modern. The diagram is a systematization medieval-late that organizes the 10 sefirot with 22 connections (roads) in correspondence with the letters; it is a useful way to visualize, but back to the text.

Where does the “32” in addition to the 10+22?
A traditional line relates to the 32 mentions of “Elohim” in Genesis 1. It is a derash (read homiletic) late and non-normative text, useful as a symmetry exegetical, but the foundation textual direct it is 10+22 in the Sefer Yetzirá.

9) Use and care of the methodological

• Studycompare reviews (Saadia, Cordovero, ARI/GRA), because there are minor variants of order and glosses.
• Practice: the jewish tradition of classical avoid syncretism modern (e.g., tarot) that no they belong to the corpus of Hebrew original; if using maps of late, you must plead its historical origin.