Exodus 14:19–21 — Sefaria / JPS
Biblical source text for the three verses used in the later 72-triplet derivation.
Open source ↗Sources / methodology
Sources & Methodology
This site separates five layers: biblical text, later Jewish and Kabbalistic tradition, later Western esotericism, modern interpretation, and Ava Lux’s contemporary interpretation and practice. Historical claims are sourced according to the layer they belong to.
How are claims classified?
Every major historical statement is assigned to the kind of evidence that supports it. This prevents a modern meditation title from being presented as biblical, or a Renaissance angelic correspondence from being treated as part of Exodus.
ABiblical text
What the Hebrew Bible itself says.
BJewish tradition
Rabbinic, medieval and Kabbalistic interpretation.
CWestern esotericism
Later Christian Kabbalistic and occult developments.
DModern interpretation
Recent associations and practices.
EAva Lux contemporary interpretation
Original contemporary titles, meditations and visual practice.
Primary & reference sources
Use the closest source available.
Direct textual evidence is preferred for historical claims. Secondary scholarship is used to clarify transmission and later developments.
Rashi on Sukkah 45a:2
Medieval commentary explicitly describing 72 names embedded in the three 72-letter verses and the first/reversed-middle/last extraction pattern.
Open source ↗Rabbeinu Bahya on Exodus 14:21
Medieval commentary stating that the three verses contain 72 letters each and explaining the forward/reverse/forward arrangement into three-letter units.
Open source ↗Maimonides, Guide for the Perplexed I.61
Important evidence that Shem ha-Meforash can specifically denote the four-letter Tetragrammaton.
Open source ↗Jewish Encyclopedia — “Shem Ha-Meforash”
Historical overview of the term and its changing use for divine names of different letter counts.
Open source ↗Jewish Encyclopedia — “Tetragrammaton”
Historical reference for the four-letter divine name and the terminology surrounding it.
Open source ↗Sefer Yetzirah 1:1–2 — Sefaria
Context for the importance of Hebrew letters in Jewish mystical cosmology; not a direct source for the 72 triplets.
Open source ↗Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, De occulta philosophia, Book III, ch. 25
Early modern Western esoteric source documenting a developed system of 72 angelic names associated with the Hebrew material.
Open source ↗Ian Christie-Miller, 72 in His Name (Academic Studies Press, 2019)
Modern academic secondary work on early modern Christian Kabbalistic treatments of the 72 divine/angelic names.
Open source ↗What is Sefer Yetzirah doing here?
Sefer Yetzirah is useful for contextualizing the broader importance of Hebrew letters in Jewish mystical thought. It is not cited as the direct source of the 72-triplet derivation.
How are modern meanings handled?
The contemporary focus titles in the Ava Lux book are not retrofitted into ancient sources. When a page says a Name focuses on healing, prosperity, love or letting go, it identifies that as a contemporary interpretive layer.
The current revised manuscript is the semantic reference for those modern focus titles and meditations.
Quick answers
Direct answers.
Does this site treat all later traditions as biblical?
No. Biblical text and later interpretation are explicitly separated.
Are the 72 angels used as evidence for the origin of the Hebrew triplets?
No. They are discussed as a later Western esoteric development.
Are contemporary Name meanings literal Hebrew translations?
No. They are interpretive focuses and are labeled as contemporary.
Why are source notes repeated across pages?
Because a reader or AI system should be able to trace a claim without guessing which historical layer it belongs to.