A cycle connecting sky, year and person
Chapter 5 of Sefer Yetzirah’s Gra version arranges twelve simple Hebrew letters alongside zodiacal constellations, months and human faculties or body parts. The text builds relationships across world, year and person. Learning this structure helps you read its correspondences as parts of a whole, rather than as isolated horoscope keywords.
This guide uses the Gra version as displayed on Sefaria, with Aryeh Kaplan’s English translation. “Gra” identifies the Vilna Gaon tradition of the text; it does not mean that the Vilna Gaon wrote the original book. Keep the version name beside every correspondence you copy.
Source notes: Sefer Yetzirah · Gra version, chapter 5; example 5:7
Read the twelve month–sign pairings
In this version the sequence is Nisan–Aries, Iyar–Taurus, Sivan–Gemini, Tammuz–Cancer, Av–Leo, Elul–Virgo, Tishrei–Libra, Cheshvan–Scorpio, Kislev–Sagittarius, Tevet–Capricorn, Shevat–Aquarius and Adar–Pisces. Read them as the text’s month–sign associations, not fixed Gregorian date ranges.
For a manageable example, read 5:7: the letter Heh, ה, is connected with speech, Aries and Nisan. Copy four headings—letter, faculty, sign, month—and fill each from that passage. Notice that the unit says more than “Nisan is Aries.” Its interest is a network of correspondences, which includes the human body.
| Hebrew month | Zodiac sign |
|---|---|
| Nisan | Aries |
| Iyar | Taurus |
| Sivan | Gemini |
| Tammuz | Cancer |
| Av | Leo |
| Elul | Virgo |
| Tishrei | Libra |
| Cheshvan | Scorpio |
| Kislev | Sagittarius |
| Tevet | Capricorn |
| Shevat | Aquarius |
| Adar | Pisces |
Source notes: Sefer Yetzirah · Gra version, chapter 5; example 5:7
Keep versions and calendars visible
Other versions arrange some associations differently. Compare the faculty list in the linked Sefer Yetzirah 5:1–2 with the Gra chapter: the first begins with seeing, while the Gra list begins with speech. Record the difference instead of combining the two into an unnamed chart. A changed ordering can matter to an interpretation.
Hebrew months follow a lunisolar calendar, with an extra month in leap years. They do not share the boundaries of Western sun-sign dates, which concern the Sun’s position. A Hebrew-month correspondence therefore does not establish someone’s solar sign. If working with Adar I or Adar II, identify the later convention used; this twelve-month list alone does not resolve that application.
Source notes: Sefer Yetzirah · Another version, 5:1–2 · Chabad · Introduction to the Jewish Calendar · NASA · Zodiac, astronomy and astrology
Turn one correspondence into a question
Return to the Heh–speech–Nisan example. As an original reflection, ask: “What conversation would I like to begin with more care?” Choose one achievable action, such as listening before replying. You can practice it in any month. The prompt borrows a theme from the reading without claiming that a birth month fixes character or predicts events.
Keep a short source note with the version, passage, correspondence and your own question on separate lines. Then explore our introduction to mazal and Jewish astrology to meet differing Jewish views of celestial influence. Studying the symbolic system and understanding debates about it are complementary parts of learning.
Source notes: Sefer Yetzirah · Gra version, chapter 5; example 5:7 · Sefer Yetzirah · Another version, 5:1–2