These twelve letters correspond to the twelve diagonal paths of the Kabbalistic Tree of Life. Whereas the seven doubles represent actions which can elevate us directly, the twelve elementals correspond to those more mundane actions which tend to sometimes elevate us, sometimes take us to a lower level, and generally move us from one side of our being to the other.
A cube has twelve edges. From a point in the center of a cube we may draw twelve diagonal lines to the edges. If we take the first triad (the east upper, east northern, and east lower boundaries), then the edges trace out the letter Bet. Bet, of course stands for a house (Bayit), and thus, we see how the letter Bet symbolically forms the cube of space that "houses" the universe. These edges form the boundaries of the universe, and yet since they extend forever and ever, there really is no boundary. Boundaries are a creation of the mind in order to give us structure, and these boundaries must continually be transcended.
"By wisdom a house is built. -Proverbs 24:3"
"Wisdom has built her house, she has hewn out her seven pillars. -Proverbs 9:1"
"The letter Bet then entered and said: O Lord of the world, may it please Thee to put me first in the creation of the world, since I represent the benedictions (Berakhoth) offered to Thee on high and below. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to her: Assuredly, with thee I will create the world, and thou shalt form the beginning (Bereshit, 'In the beginning') in the creation of the world. -Zohar I, 3a"
"It is written: And the intelligent shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness like the stars for ever and ever (Dan. XII, 3). There was indeed a "brightness" (Zohar). The Most Mysterious struck its void, and caused this point to shine. This "beginning" then extended, and made for itself a palace for its honour and glory. There it sowed a sacred seed which was to generate for the benefit of the universe, and to which may be applied the Scriptural words "the holy seed is the stock thereof" (Is. VI, 13). Again there was Zohar, in that it sowed a seed for its glory, just as the silkworm encloses itself, as it were, in a palace of its own production which is both useful and beautiful. Thus by means of this "beginning" the Mysterious Unknown made this palace. This palace is called Elohim, and this doctrine is contained in the words, "By means of a beginning (it) created Elohim." The Zohar is that from which were created all the creative utterances through the extension of the point of this mysterious brightness. -Zohar, Vol I, p. 15a"
