Silence Dictionary

Silence Dictionary: Spiritual - Theosophy Dictionary on Devanagari

Devanagari (Sanskrit) "Divine city writing," the alphabetic script of Aryan India, in which the Sanskrit language is usually written. The Devanagari alphabet and the art of writing it were kept secret for ages, and the dvijas (twice-born) and the dikshitas (initiates) alone were originally permitted to use this literary art.

In India, as in many other countries which have been the seat of archaic civilizations, sacred and secret records were committed to the tablets of the mind, rather than to material tablets. Alone the priesthood invariably had, in addition to the mnemonic records, an ideographic or syllabic script which was used when considered convenient or necessary, mainly for intercommunication between themselves and brother-initiates speaking other tongues.

This applied to ideographic characters which can be read with equal facility by those acquainted with them, whatever their spoken mother-tongue may be, and to written characters imbodying an archaic or sacred language, as was the case with the ancient Sanskrit. This is the main reason why these ancient peoples have so few allusions -- and sometimes no allusions at all -- to writing; in the civilizations of those far past times writing was not found to be a need and was kept as a sacred art for the temple scribes.

"Devanagari is as old as the Vedas, and held so sacred that the Brahmans, first under penalty of death, and later on, of eternal ostracism, were not even allowed to mention it to profane ears, much less to make known the existence of their secret temple libraries" (Five Years of Theosophy 360).

"Real Devanagari -- non-phonetic characters -- meant formerly the outward symbols, so to say, the signs used in the inter-communication between gods and initiated mortals. Hence their great sacredness and the silence maintained throughout the Vedic and the Brahmanical periods about any object concerned with, or referring to, reading and writing. It was the language of the gods" (ibid. 423).

The Devanagari characters as first used among initiates and privileged men were symbolic and ideographic in form. But these outlines by use gradually lost their mere picture-form, or idea-suggesting power, and through constant use and rapid writing continuously lost more and more of the details of the picture, until they finally became merely conventional signs or letters of the alphabet. The word devanagari is synonymous with the Hermetic and Hieratic Neter-Khari (divine speech) of the Egyptians.

Silence Dictionary: Mysticism Magick Dictionary on MYSTERY

MYSTERY

From Gk. myein, "to keep the mouth shut". Mysteries are occult truths to be deliberately kept from the uninitiated. "Swine" is a metaphor for the uninitiated. And we are warned not to "cast pearls" before them or at least not to manifest the unmanifest idly. To Keep Silent is perhaps the most important of the tetramorphic commands.

There is a practical reason for keeping silent about private or creative projects, especially while they're still in the planning stage. Any talking about a plan will be a talking out of it, because talking is an action of it own and automatically substitutes for physical action. Those poets and novelists who hang out in coffee shops engaging one another in endless serious discussions should hardly be surprised when they return to their silent rooms only to find they have nothing left over to put on paper!

Plans must also be hidden until the moment comes to act or others will interfere with them.

It has been said that the wise man speaks in riddles as much as possible. Enlightenment is best expressed through ritual, works of art, joking and exotic behavior, rather than through actual messages in so many explicit terms. Esoteric words are used to ensure that the seeker can understand only if he has reached a certain level on his own. For example, to convince an ignorant person that he is a God would be to unleash not merely an intolerable egotism but could even trigger overt psychopathic behavior. The greatest truths are multi-dimensional life-long fonts of revelation, disclosing themselves to successive stages of understanding, little by little, in keeping with one's experiences.

But throughout all of this, notice that the command is "Silence" and not isolation. It is permissible to read and write books at any level, because the reader can exercise selectivity and can stop and start wherever he chooses at the writer's "silent" words on paper (or vidscreen). One is always a captive audience of the spoken word, whereas to read is an outgoing, positive activity taking place in total freedom. Therefore, the reader has proved, by virtue of his persistence and attentionality that he is entitled to instruction - having found the tree he is allowed to extract its fruit. Then, having tasted, he will discover for himself whether or not it is life-sustaining.

(See also: MYSTERY, Magick, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul, )

Silence Dictionary: Wiccan Pagan Dictionary on MOTHER GODDESS

MOTHER GODDESS -

1. natural mother of all things or mistress and governess of all the elements, the initial progeny of worlds, chief of the powers divine, the principle of them that dwell in heaven, manifested alone and under one form of all the gods and goddesses, at whose will the planets of the sky, the wholesome winds of the seas and the lamentable silences of hell are dispersed. (Isis)

2. archetypal feminine aspect of the Godhead.

3. mediatrix, creator of forms, the celestial energy that gives birth to the world and all beings.

4. Mother Earth, Mother Nature.

5. space, the void field of consciousness.

6. time, who devours all her children.

7. Tao, way of gentle turning back (Lao-Tzu).

Ala - Ibo Amaterasu-ami-kami-Shinto Anoba-Gaelic
Aphrodite-Cypriot Asasa Ya-Yoruba Astarte-Phoenician
Athena-Greek Bellona-Roman Benten-Japanese
Brigid-Celtic Ceres-Eleusinian Ceridwain-Celtic
Coatlicue-Nahuatl Chicomecoatl-Nahuatl Chom Lhari-Bhutanese
Cybele-Phrygian Danu-Druidic Demeter-Greek
Devi Sri-Balance Diana-Cretan Estanalehi-Navajo
Fortuna-Roman Freya-Scandinavian Frigg-Scandinavian
Gaia-Greek Hathor-Egyptian Hecate-Greek
Hel-Norse Illamatecuhtli-Aztec Isis-Egyptian
Ishtar-Babylonian Ixchel-Mayan Jord-Norse
Juno-Roman Kali-Indian Kuan Yin-Chinese
Lakshmi-Indian Lilith-Hebrew Luna-Roman
Magan Mater-Latin Mary-Christian Mawu-Dahomean
Mayahuel-Nahuatl Minerva-Greek Morgan Le Fay-Irish
Nut-Egyptian Ostara-Germanic Pachamama-Incan
Persephone-Greek Pi-hsia Yuan-chun-Taoist Rangda-Balinese
Saraswati-Indian Sagarmathe-Himalayain Sophua-Gnostic
Tara-Tibetan Venus of Menten-Neolithic Venus of Lespugue-Neolithic
White Goddess-Druidic

(See also: MOTHER GODDESS, Wiccan Pagan, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

Silence Dictionary: Spiritual Theosophical Dictionary on Apollonius of Tyana

Apollonius of Tyana (Ancient Greek). A wonderful philosopher born in Cappadocia about the beginning of the first century; an ardent Pythagorean, who studied the Phœnician sciences under Euthydemus; and Pythagorean philosophy and other studies under Euxenus of Heraclea.

According to the tenets of this school he remained a vegetarian the whole of his long life, fed only on fruit and herbs, drank no wine, wore vestments made only of plant-fibres, walked barefooted, and let his hair grow to its full length, as all the Initiates before and after him.

He was initiated by the priests of the temple of Esculapius (Asciepios) at Egae, and learnt many of the "miracles" for healing the sick wrought by the god of medicine. Having prepared himself for a higher initiation by a silence of five years, and by travel, visiting Antioch, Ephesus, Pamphylia and other parts, he journeyed via Babylon to India, all his intimate disciples having abandoned him, as they feared to go to the "land of enchantments".

A casual disciple, Damis, however, whom he met on his way, accompanied him in his travels. At Babylon he was initiated by the Chaldees and Magi, according to Damis, whose narrative was copied by one named Philostratus a hundred years later. After his return from India, he showed himself a true Initiate, in that the pestilences and earthquakes, deaths of kings and other events, which he prophesied duly happened. At Lesbos, the priests of Orpheus, being jealous of him, refused to initiate him into their peculiar mysteries, though they did so several years later.

He preached to the people of Athens and other cities the purest and noblest ethics, and the phenomena he produced were as wonderful as they were numerous and well attested. "How is it", enquires Justin Martyr in dismay - " how is it that the talismans (telesmata) of Apollonius have power, for they prevent, as we see, the fury of the waves and the violence of the winds, and the attacks of the wild beasts; and whilst our Lord’s miracles are preserved by tradition alone, those of Apollonius are most numerous and actually manifested in present facts?"

. (Quaest, XXIV.). But an answer is easily found to this in the fact that after crossing the Hindu Kush, Apollonius had been directed by a king to the abode of the Sages, whose abode it may be to this day, by whom he was taught unsurpassed knowledge. His dialogues with the Corinthian Menippus indeed give us the esoteric catechism and disclose (when understood) many an important mystery of nature. Apollonius was the friend, correspondent and guest of kings and queens, and no marvellous or "magic" powers are better attested than his. At the end of his long and wonderful life he opened an esoteric school at Ephesus, and died aged almost one hundred years.

Silence Dictionary: Spiritual Theosophical Dictionary on Nirmanakaya

Nirmanakaya (Sanskrit). Something entirely different in esoteric philosophy from the popular meaning attached to it, and from the fancies of the Orientalists.

Some call the Nirmanakaya body "Nirvana with remains" (Schlagintweit, etc.) on the supposition, probably, that it is a kind of Nirvanic condition during which consciousness and form are retained. Others say that it is one of the Trikaya (three bodies), with the "power of assuming any form of appearance in order to propagate Buddhism" (Eitel’s idea); again, that "it is the incarnate avatara of a deity" (ibid.), and so on.

Occultism, on the other hand, says:that Nirmanakaya, although meaning literally a transformed "body", is a state. The form is that of the adept or yogi who enters, or chooses, that post mortem condition in preference to the Dharmakaya or absolute Nirvanic state. He does this because the latter kaya separates him for ever from the world of form, conferring upon him a state of selfish bliss, in which no other living being can participate, the adept being thus precluded from the possibility of helping humanity, or even devas.

As a Nirmanakaya, however, the man leaves behind him only his physical body, and retains every other "principle" save the Kamic - for he has crushed this out for ever from his nature, during life, and it can never resurrect in his post mortem state. Thus, instead of going into selfish bliss, he chooses a life of self-sacrifice, an existence which ends only with the life-cycle, in order to be enabled to help mankind in an invisible yet most effective manner. (See The Voice of the Silence, third treatise, "The Seven Portals".) Thus a Nirmanakaya is not, as popularly believed, the body "in which a Buddha or a Bodhisattva appears on earth", but verily one, who whether a Chutuktu or a Khubilkhan, an adept or a yogi during life, has since become a member of that invisible Host which ever protects and watches over Humanity within Karmic limits.

Mistaken often for a "Spirit", a Deva, God himself, &c., a Nirmanakaya is ever a protecting, compassionate, verily a guardian angel, to him who becomes worthy of his help. Whatever objection may be brought forward against this doctrine; however much it is denied, because, forsooth, it has never been hitherto made public in Europe and therefore since it is unknown to Orientalists, it must needs be "a myth of modern invention" - no one will be bold enough to say that this idea of helping suffering mankind at the price of one’s own almost interminable self-sacrifice, is not one of the grandest and noblest that was ever evolved from human brain.

Silence Dictionary: Spiritual - Theosophy Dictionary on Ten

Ten One of the most sacred fundamental numbers in occultism, for ten -- or more accurately perhaps twelve, as Plato pointed out -- is the key of the numerical structure upon which the universe is laid and built. Where seven represents the manifested universe or brahmanda, ten or twelve includes the unmanifested aspects as well. Ten is the foundation of the decimal system and because of this is universal in its relations. With the Pythagoreans ten was the most sacred number, the mystical dekad involving and expressing the mysteries of the entire kosmos, "the absolute All manifesting itself in the Word or generative Power of Creation" (SD 2:553); and among certain other schools, as in the Orient, ten was symbolically synthesized by the vertical line traversing the circle.

The early Gnostics also considered ten to contain the knowledge of the universe, both metaphysical and material. The Pythagorean dekad "representing the Universe and its evolution out of Silence and the unknown Depths of the Spiritual Soul, or anima mundi, presented two sides or aspects to the student. It could be, and was at first so used and applied to the Macrocosm, after which it descended to the Microcosm, or Man. There was, then, the purely intellectual and metaphysical, or the 'inner Science,' and the as purely materialistic or 'surface science,' both of which could be expounded by and contained in the Decade. It could be studied, in short, from the Universals of Plato, and the inductive method of Aristotle. The former started from a divine comprehension, when the plurality proceeded from unity, or the digits of the decade appeared, but to be finally re-absorbed, lost in the infinite Circle. The latter depended on sensuous perception alone, when the Decade could be regarded either as the unity that multiplies, or matter which differentiates, its study being limited to the plane surface; to the Cross, or the Seven which proceeds from the ten -- or the perfect number, on Earth as in heaven" (SD 2:573).

A great deal of the highly mystical and occult meanings of the dekad were symbolized by the Pythagoreans in their sacred tetraktys, which was considered by them so holy that their most binding oath was made upon it. Other symbols of the number ten are two interlaced triangles -- for the septenary and the triad are there present at the same time -- and the line within the circle , unity within zero (cf SD 2:581).

"Every Cosmogony began with a circle, a point, a triangle, and a cube, up to number 9, when it was synthesized by the first line and a circle -- the Pythagorean mystic Decade, the sum of all, involving and expressing the mysteries of the entire Kosmos; recorded a hundred times more fully in the Hindu system, for him who can understand its mystic language. The numbers 3 and 4, in their blending of 7, as those of 5, 6, 9, and 10, are the very corner-stones of Occult Cosmogonies. This decade and its thousand combinations are found in every portion of the globe" (SD 2:321).

Silence Dictionary: Mysticism Magick Dictionary on AETHYRS, Aires

AETHYRS (or Aires)

Each of us stands at the center of the Universe, within a four-part series of tablets, cornered by the elemental Watchtowers. Beyond the aethyric dimensions is the Astral, the mental circle, the Abyss, the spiritual circle and the divine. The aethyrs themselves are Dr. Dee's thirty otherworldly dimensions of consciousness, which he describes as "angelic" (or Enochian). They can be reached, however, only through the 19 "Keyes" or "Calls", the first 18 of which summon the Angels of the magic squares. The 19th call lifts the magician's mind to the æthyrs and can be used to summon any one of the Aires. Actually there are 49 Calls (Zero being the first), but only the latter 30 are the æthyrs themselves. There are also 92 Governors, whose names can be found in the Watchtowers. At least 3 Governors are assigned to each aethyr. There are also 24 Seniors, 4 Kings, 192 Angels and 128 Demons in the 4 Watchtowers.

It is in his writings about the aethyrs (The Vision and the Voice) that Crowley hides the most important of his teachings. From my own meditations it occurs to me that had Dee received tablets from different angels, such as the fiery, watery or material universes, he might have had real power and not merely airy or "mental" power (not to disparage the power accruing to Knowledge, it being the strongest known to man!). He'd have had Will, Daring and Silence as well. Just so, of Water we cannot speak and of Fire we have not prepared. But of Earth, who has endured preparation and initiation, can venture a call for materialization of a universe. Such possibilities should cause the magus to feel a strong shudder of fear, for according to Babylon, to create a world is to destroy a God.

Thus for "materialization" we'd need new vocabularies to correspond to the hooks (vavs) of the æthyrs. The build-up would be similar, but the "Aires" would now be "Earthes". For instance, PAZ (In Enochian, "Be as they"), might be PAGZ ("Be NOT as they").

Since the Aires are all 3-lettered, presumably Earthes would be 4-lettered, Waters 2-lettered and Fyres 1-lettered. However, if the Ayres all have 3-lettered names, there is a reason for that. The other elementals might have different numbered names only if we think of them as separate and perhaps the 4th is simply the "understood" rest of the quaternity. At any rate, now we see why there are only Aires. We'd better learn their meanings before we attempt any materializations.

(See also: AETHYRS, Aires, Magick, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul, )

Silence Dictionary: Spiritual - Theosophy Dictionary on Space

Space Usually the universe as perceived by our physical senses. It is disputed whether space exists apart from objects or is a property of objects, and also whether it is objective or subjective. Such difficulties arise from our attempt to abstract extension from the reality of which it is an aspect, just as we attempt to abstract matter and energy. The physical basis of our universe appears under these three aspects, and the attempt to conceive each of the three as separate existences and to construct the universe out of them is to court contradiction and to proceed in the inverse order.

In most arguments about the nature of space, space is unconsciously assumed at the outset of the inquiry, so that the reasoning becomes viciously circular. Is space the ultimate residue left after we have removed everything conceivable? In that case how can we define it in terms of anything which is supposed to be derived from it? We must either leave it undefined, as a primary postulate, or else define it in terms of something which lies beyond the physical plane altogether.

Again, the question whether the dimensions belong to space or to material objects arises from a false separation between these two, so that we speak of objects being in space, just as we speak of life as being in matter. We think of space as an absence of matter, as we think of darkness as an absence of light, and silence as absence of sound; and having thus created vacuums we proceed to fill them. In the view of occultism it would be nearer the truth to say that light is the absence of darkness, sound the absence of silence, and matter a form of the presence of space; and this is true in the sense that those things which appear to us most real are derived from those which seem to us most unreal, because not immediately physically perceivable. In theosophy, space is the infinite, eternal background of Being, Being itself, the ever-lasting substratum of, as well as the presence of, the universe; its apparent vacuity is due only to its lack of physical qualities to which our senses respond, and also to its perfect unity and uniformity. Space is living, incomprehensibly conscious, and hence a divinity; it is the only real world, while our manifested world born from and in it is a mayavi (illusory) one.

Theosophy, regarding the physical universe as merely one of many planes of kosmos, applies the term space to a much larger range. Yet it has the same characteristic meaning in all its applications: it figures, for instance, as one aspect of the trinity of space, energy, matter which is equivalent to the primordial unity. The fundamental hypostases are all derivative from ever-enduring, frontierless space, and Be-ness is symbolized by space, which no mind can either exclude nor conceive, and motion. In this conception are combined abstract space, motion, and duration.

Space is symbolized by the circle; a central point denotes spiritual monadic activity arising within abstract space. It is equivalent to akasa or aether, water or the waters; Chaos as the spatial deeps. Sometimes space in its manifestation is represented as a serpent with seven heads or as the great sea or deep. Occasionally called aupapaduka (parentless), because it is primary and the source of all, it is spoken of both as mulaprakriti and as parabrahman. In its manifested aspect it is bright space, son of dark space, the former being the ray dropped into cosmic depths. Parent space is the eternal ever-present cause of all -- the incomprehensible divinity, whose invisible robes are the mystic root of all matter and of the universe. Space is called Mother before its cosmic activity, and Father-Mother at the first stage of reawakening of manifestation.

In this connection a very clear distinction is drawn between abstract space, the limitless, frontierless, beginningless, and endless encompasser, container of all the various manifested spaces, which as individuals appear from and in its fathomless womb; and these latter spaces which are its offspring and which are collectively and individually the spatial ranges comprised within the boundaries of any manifested universe, such as a galaxy or solar system. Thus, we have the boundless spatial All or abstract space, and the innumerable universe or limited spaces arising within it. The former is absolute infinity and eternity; the later are the innumerable, relative spaces or universe scattered over the fields of the Boundless, called the spawn of the Great Mother.

Physical space is said to have six directions, the four cardinal points plus the zenith and nadir; or eight directions given by the axes joining the opposite corners of a cube. The six and the eight combine in the cube and octahedron. Nothing in the definition of geometrical space excludes the possibility of other spatial constructions, coexistent with our space and interblended with it and with each other. This helps in understanding such matters as chains of globes -- which, when we attempt to represent them by drawn diagrams, seem so confusing and contradictory -- and the manner in which other planes of consciousness and of objectivity may be related to the physical.

(See also: Space, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Silence Dictionary: Spiritual Theosophical Dictionary on Buddha Siddharta

Buddha Siddharta (Sanskrit) The name given to Gautama, the Prince of Kapilavastu, at his birth. It is an abbreviation of sarvartthasiddha and means, the "realization of all desires".

Gautama, which means, on earth (gau) the most victorious (tama) "was the sacerdotal name of the Sakya family, the kingly patronymic of the dynasty to which the father of Gautama, the King Suddhodhana of Kapilavastu, belonged. Kapilavastu was an ancient city, the birth-place of the Great Reformer and was destroyed during his life time. In the title Sakyamuni, the last component, muni, is rendered as meaning one mighty in charity, isolation and silence", and the former Sakya is the family name.

Every Orientalist or Pundit knows by heart the story of Gautama, the Buddha, the most perfect of mortal men that the world has ever seen, but none of them seem to suspect the esoteric meaning underlying his prenatal biography, i.e., the significance of the popular story. The Lalitavistura tells the tale, but abstains from hinting at the truth. The 5,000 jatakas, or the events of former births (re-incarnations) are taken literally instead of esoterically.

Gautama, the Buddha, would not have been a mortal man, had he not passed through hundreds and thousands of births previous to his last. Yet the detailed account of these, and the statement that during them he worked his way up through every stage of transmigration from the lowest animate and inanimate atom and insect, up to the highest - or man, contains simply the well-known occult aphorism: "a stone becomes a plant, a plant an animal, and an animal a man". Every human being who has ever existed, has passed through the same evolution. But the hidden symbolism in the sequence of these re-births (jataka) contains a perfect history of the evolution on this earth, pre and post human, and is a scientific exposition of natural facts. One truth not veiled but bare and open is found in their nomenclature, viz., that as soon as Gautama had reached the human form he began exhibiting in every personality the utmost unselfishness, self-sacrifice and charity.

Buddha Gautama, the fourth of the Sapta (Seven) Buddhas and Sapta Tathagatas was born according to Chinese Chronology in 1024 B.C; but according to the Singhalese chronicles, on the 8th day of the second (or fourth) moon in the year 621 before our era. He fled from his father’s palace to become an ascetic on the night of the 8th day of the second moon, 597 BC., and having passed six years in ascetic meditation at Gaya, and perceiving that physical self-torture was useless to bring enlightenment, be decided upon striking out a new path, until he reached the state of Bodhi. He became a full Buddha on the night of the 8th day of the twelfth moon, in the year 592, and finally entered Nirvana in the year 543 according to Southern Buddhism. The Orientalists, however, have decided upon several other dates. All the rest is allegorical. He attained the state of Bodhisattva on earth when in the personality called Prabhapala. Tushita stands for a place on this globe, not for a paradise in the invisible regions. The selection of the Sakya family and his mother Maya, as "the purest on earth," is in accordance with the model of the nativity of every Saviour, God or deified Reformer.

The tale about his entering his mother’s bosom in the shape of a white elephant is an allusion to his innate wisdom, the elephant of that colour being a symbol of every Bodhisattva. The statements that at Gautama’s birth, the newly born babe walked seven steps in four directions, that an Udumbara flower bloomed in all its rare beauty and that the Naga kings forthwith proceeded ‘‘to baptise him ", are all so many allegories in the phraseology of the Initiates and well-understood by every Eastern Occultist. The whole events of his noble life are given in occult numbers, and every so-called miraculous event - so deplored by Orientalists as confusing the narrative and making it impossible to extricate truth from fiction - is simply the allegorical veiling of the truth, it is as comprehensible to an Occultist learned in symbolism, as it is difficult to understand for a European scholar ignorant of Occultism.

Every detail of the narrative after his death and before cremation is a chapter of facts written in a language which must be studied before it is understood, otherwise its dead letter will lead one into absurd contradictions. For instance, having reminded his disciples of the immortality of Dharmakaya Buddha is said to have passed into Samadhi, and lost himself in Nirvana - from which none can return., and yet, notwithstanding this, the Buddha is shown bursting open the lid of the coffin, and stepping out of it ; saluting with folded hands his mother Maya who had suddenly appeared in the air, though she had died seven (days after his birth, &c., &c.

As Buddha. was a Chakravartti (he who turns the wheel of the Law), his body at its cremation could not be consumed by common fire. What happens Suddenly a jet of flame burst out of the Swastica on his breast, and reduced his body to ashes. Space prevents giving more instances. As to his being one of the true and undeniable Saviours of the World, suffice it to say that the most rabid orthodox missionary, unless he is hopelessly insane, or has not the least regard even for historical truth, cannot find one smallest accusation against the life and personal character of Gautama, the "Buddha".

Without any claim to divinity, allowing his followers to fall into atheism, rather than into the degrading superstition of deva or idol-worship, his walk in life is from the beginning to the end, holy and divine. During the years of his mission it is blameless and pure as that of a god - or as the latter should be. He is a perfect example of a divine, godly man. He reached Buddhaship - i.e., complete enlightenment - entirely by his own merit and owing to his own individual exertions, no god being supposed to have any personal merit in the exercise of goodness and holiness. Esoteric teachings claim that he renounced Nirvana and gave up the Dharmakaya vesture to remain a "Buddha of compassion" within the reach of the miseries of this world.

And the religious philosophy he left to it has produced for over 2,000 years generations of good and unselfish men. His is the only absolutely bloodless religion among all the existing religions tolerant and liberal, teaching universal compassion and charity, love and self-sacrifice, poverty and contentment with one’s lot, whatever it may he.

No persecutions, and enforcement of faith by fire and sword, have ever disgraced it. No thunder-and-lightning-vomiting god has interfered with its chaste commandments; and if the simple, humane and philosophical code of daily life left to us by the greatest Man-Reformer ever known, should ever come to he adopted by mankind at large, then indeed an era of bliss and peace would dawn on Humanity.

Silence Dictionary: Mysticism Magick Dictionary on NUMEROLOGY

NUMEROLOGY

The first thing to remember about numbers is that each number, far from being just an accretion of previous numbers, really is unique. Numbers are the quintessence of symbology, and numerology appeals mostly to the abstract metaphysician, just as, in science, mathematics appeals to the abstract-minded scientist. Numerology, like astrology and palmistry, has a bad reputation because it's so easily misunderstood and misused. Since we can all recognize synchronicity, it's only natural to rush from there to the assumption that coincidence is the same thing as divination. But, synchronicity is nothing more than evidence that there are patterns of many kinds. It would be better if we could de-emphasize the practical side of everything and concentrate on the esthetics. The Egyptians used to teach that the most valuable things are the most useless: the arts, for example, or philosophy, or gold.

Finally, we should remember that it was through the indolent adoption of the easy decimal system (rather than the more perfect and exacting duodecimal system) that Atlantis finally brought itself down. This mathematically lazy way out is exactly the same path for which we have settled.

So numerology is simply the metaphysical side to numbers. One and one, for instance, are two, not because arithmetic says so, but because being equally "unique" they can't be reconciled as one, or "united," and are therefore at odds and in conflict with each other, as opposites in a mutual duality or "duel." Three, on the other hand, is a collection based on some kind of agreement, four a quaternity based on crossed oppositions in perfect balance, and so one.

There are also different ways of dealing with numerology -- theoria and praxis. In gematria, however, the idea is to add up the value of a word and then find other words that add up to the same number. They would thus be equivalents. This works rather well in Hebrew (to a lesser extent in Greek) but rather poorly in English -- simply because of the intrinsic differences between languages. Example: Jehovah has the same value as Chozeh ("seer" or "prophet"). Therefore, to the ancient Jews, God and Prophesy would be practically synonymous.

Numerological reduction is a convenience. It's easier to deal with numbers from 1 to 10 than with great blobs like 847 or 9,556,431. But numerologists also add before reducing. If a room contains 8 people, the numerology lecturer might perhaps decide to deliver his "octave" message. If 3 more people arrived, he'd change that to 11 which has an entirely different meaning from its reduction to 1 + 1 = 2. The higher the number, the more unstable its meaning becomes. For example, 11 stands symbolically for all the higher numbers (above 10), which is why 11 is the number of Sorcery.

The values of the Hebrew letters are: 1-ALEPH, 2-BETH, 3-GIMEL, 4-DALED, 5-HE, 6-VAU, 7-ZAYIN, 8-CHETH, 9-TETH, 10-YOD, 20-KAPH, 30-LAMED, 40-MEM, 50-NUN, 60-SAMECH, 70-AYIN, 80-PE, 90-TZADDE, 100-QOPH, 200-RESH, 300-SHIN, 400-TAV, 500-FINAL K, 600-FINAL M; 700-FINAL N, 800-FINAL P, 900-TZ, 1000-ALEPH (writ large).

In both Arab esoteric studies and in Judaic Cabal, such numbers form anagrams and extend the power of words: e.g., 93=Greek Agape, 398=Neshek, the serpent, and also Messiah.

The meanings of some of the numbers (my own attributions, plus some of Crowley's gematria from Liber 777):

000 Void of Voids, without possibility of Being.

00 the Double Void

0 Zero, the Void, The Goddess, Infinite Nuit, the Unmanifest. The "number" out of which everything comes. In the Tarot it's called "The Fool" because it obey its own mysterious, unknowable rules and is not subject to analysis. (Although we can and do theorize about it). It's the Great Mother, the Void, that which lies beyond Alpha and Omega; Original Mind.

1 Every Creation; Ultimate Power, God, Hadit the point, Uniqueness; the Manifest (Set, Sirius B), Pluto; the gods; Kether; Cosmic Consciousness; Yod-Atziluth; Archetypal world; Aleph; Reason. Egyptian ankh. Fire. The most powerful of all magical numbers. Number of the individual and the unique. All miracles are possible once. One is the impossible beginning of everything coming out of the void. As in music, it bears the stress: ONE-two-three...

2 Matter; The Fall; Opposition; Good & Evil; Neptune; Chokmah (subject), Moons of Mars, Neptune; Heh-Briah; Dissention. Egyptian uas; the number of division and opposition, analysis and separation; Darkness and light; Good and Evil. Mystery.

3 Evolution; Space; Unanimity, Unity, the ALL, multiplication, Saturn; Binah (object); vav-Yetzirah. Egyptian djed. (Grant assigns 3 to Set and Satan.) Synthesis, construction. Abundance, fruitfulness. The apparent "difference" of things in the Gurdjieffian sense -- the template in the mind. 3 also is the emblem of infinity.

4 Manifestation: the Elements, etc; Jupiter; Chesed; heh-Assiah. Egyptian nebet. Earth. Number of physical reality, completing the foundations of things. Practicality. The Authority to be. Command. Mercy.

5 Consciousness; the hand, pentagram, man; Mars; Geburah. Moons of Uranus. Chinese elements (Earth, Fire, Water, Wood, Metal) -- Earth is the fifth element, yellow and central. The number of mediation, hence: Humanity . Sin, error, but also progress and knowledge. Without 5 there is no human evolution or purpose. Courage. Achievement.

6 The Work of Creation; The Sun; Solar-Phallic energy; Spatial Directions, Harmony; Tiphareth. In the I Ching, 6 is the number of Yin, i.e., Completion. Time, space and astronomy. Number of beauty and the power of love.

7 The Totality of Creation; Earth's escape velocity (M. P. S.); Will; Classical Planets; tones; the inferior power zones; The Dragon's head; Scorpion; Swastika; Hyena; Serpent, Lion, Ape, Typhon; Colors in the spectrum; Opportunity (because man develops by 7 year periods). Number of overcoming, victory, accomplishment. Perfect harmony. The Virgin, symbol of eternal rather than created things.

8 Infinity (the Lemniscate); Octagon, heaven on earth or lower sephiroth plus Daath (or 7 planets plus Sothis); Mercury; Hod, Ogoad, the Buddhist & other 8 path. Perfection. Strength, fortitude, everlastingness. It is the first cubic number, hence it stands for the cube itself, or earth. Splendor of endurance. The octagon is the symbol of the meeting of heaven & earth because it is a compromise halfway between the square (earth) and the circle (heaven).

9 Number of the Moon; Container of all numbers; Number of known astronomical planets. Eternity; Yesod; Endings, echatology; Moons of Saturn; Number of Muses; In the I Ching, 9 is the number of Yang. Arabic Ta (Secret Knowledge ). Number of absolute completion, perfection and wisdom. Since the ennead is the final limitation, it is the acceptance of solitude and the beginning of the inward journey to the Infinite.

10 Earth, Samsara; Reincarnation; (1 + 2 + 3 + 4) The Tetractys; Yod; number of Sephiroth; Commandments; planes; Malkuth. This is the number of new beginnings based on harmonious conclusions to previous activities. It is the lower exponent of the Monad, the created world. It is the individual, unique power as it appears in harmonious context with the many other uniquenesses of the world. It is great fortune.

11 Number of the years of the sunspot cycle. The general number of magic or sorcery and magicians -- or energy tending to change. Uranus. Daath (or Egyptian Duat, Tuat). This is the individual in confrontation with the world. Hence it is the number of Justice and Balance. It is also the number of war and the battle with the demonic element.

12 Baptism; Sacrifice; Solar zodiac. The number of the hanged man, i.e., sacrifice. This is the individual as he is plunged into the world and at the same time apart from it.

13 Arachne, the spider. The scale of the highest feminine unity; easily transformed to secondary masculine ideas by any male component; or, the unity resulting from love. Death; Lunar Zodiac; beginning of adolescence; Moons of Jupiter. Orbits in solar system (including Vulcan, Isis and Osiris). Thirteen is also the basic Mayan unit of change (13 days to a week) and the number of months in the Newtime calendar. Number of Death and Metamorphosis -- as the old life completes, a new life must begin. This is the practical side or physics of metaphysics. From 13 to 20 may be likened to the stages of an LSD experience in which the Ego dies and must be totally disintegrated. Then at 20 is reborn and at 21, the Ego is deliberately re-shaped into a new individual that fits ideally into the world.

14 Number of pieces into which Osiris's body was cut by Set; Gematria of Zahav. Temperance or Art, it is, the physical means by which one is able to manipulate and balance the world.

15 Kamea sum of Saturn; Illusion; The Devil. The number of illusion -- it's the shadow cast by beauty and love. Since it has to do with darkness as an illusion, the Devil is called Lucifer, the light-bearer. (The holder of the torch is himself in the darkness.)

16 Number of Eve; Number of human kalas (bodily secretions). In Egyptian hieroglyphs, 16 symbolized delight because this is the age when a young man has his first sexual experience. Coitus, thus, is 16 next to 16 = 1616. The Tower of Babel. This is the struggle for Heaven as it erupts in words -- that is, the understanding of oneself is not always able to communicate to others.

17 Tantric number of kalas! The masculine unity. (Trinity of Aleph, Vau, Yod). Star of the magi. The Star is all those striving things -- hope, ambition, faith, longing, etc. It feeds on itself and re-invigorates all that it touches. It accomplishes what The Tower cannot.

18 Percentage of the Moon's surface varying from visible to invisible. The Moon (twice 9). This is the solitary path itself, leading back into the inner being and one's own enlightenment.

19 Number of the year of the lunar cycle; Xtian "Golden Number"; The feminine glyph. The Sun. This is the ultimate, true enlightenment itself; the quest of all our strivings.

20 Number of days in the Maya month. Kaph. Resurrection. Rebirth.

21 Mystic number of Tiphareth; Age of majority; 3 x 7. The World (as it is built back up in a better way).

22 Letters in Hebrew alphabet; Major Arcana; Tunnel Sentinels.

23 The "glyph of (nascent) life"; Coincidence and Synchronicity.

24 Path of Scorpio (Scarlet Woman) or of the Water Demon. Letters in Greek alphabet.

26 Tetragrammaton; Numbers of the Sephiroth of the Middle Pillar (without Maat); Letters in English alphabet.

28 Lunar cycle of days. Solar cycle of years (1st day of week restored to same day of week). Letters of Arabic alphabet. The numbers from 1 - 7 add up to 28 (1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7).

29 The magic force itself, the masculine current. Days in moon cycle, feminine current. 29 = 2 + 9 = 1 = 2.

30 Number of degrees in a sign. Ass; Lamedh.

31 Gematria of AL (God) also means "Not," key number of the New Aeon; The highest feminine trinity -- zero through the glyph of the circle. (Great Modulus of Zero.)

32 Number of gravity increase acceleration (32 feet per second per second); Paths of the Qabalah.

33 Age of Christ; magical age in general.

34 Jupiter Kamea sum.

36 Star sapphire; the Sun; curses. Platonic duodecimal.

37 111/3; A prime number; sum of Daath (11) and the 4 Sephiroth of the Middle Pillar (10 + 9 + 6 + 11 + 1). The unity itself in its balanced trinitarian manifestation.

40 Mem; Babylonian rain period -- 40 days before festival of New Year, when Pleiades visible. (Thus Jewish 40 days.) 40 days is the philosophical month and 40 the number of preparation, waiting, the wisdom of darkness and the natural processes of solution and disintegration.

41 Percent of the Moon's surface hidden from earth; the yoni as a vampire force, sterile. Hispanic number of homosexuality.

42 The completion of the elements experienced via darkness.

43 A number of orgasm -- especially the male.

44 Cabal; sand; blood/water; flame; Aquarius.

45 Adam.

47 The yoni as dynamic, prehensile, spasmodic, etc. Esprit de travail.

49 7 x 7. In Tibetan Bsm. 49 is the number of days spent in the Afterworld between incarnations.

50 Number of minutes later the moon rises every night.

53 The yoni as instrument of pleasure (Hedonogenous.)

55 Phallos.

56 Word of Nu or Nuit (Abrahadabra as the union of 5 & 6.)

59 The yoni calling for the lingam as ovum, menstruum and desire.

60 Second and minute units; Machine cycles; Samekh; Greek X.

61 Nia; Ain; the negative positively knowing self.

64 I Ching patterns.

65 Mars Kamea sum.

66 Mystic number of the Opus Magnum and the Qlipoth.

67 The Womb containing the twins.

70 Biblical "Age" of Death; Ayin; Omicron.

71 A number of Binah, silence and nothingess.

72 The mystical Platonic duodecimal number whose powers and multiples produce the distances between planets, diameters of orbits, etc. 72 is the Average human life-span today.

73 The feminine aspect of Chokmah in his phallic function.

76 Halley's comet orbit in years.

78 Mezla, influence from above; total number of Tarots, Ego, Ape of Thoth, Aiwass, the Oza (giants or monsters of creation).

80 Peh; pi.

81 Number of Tetragrams in the T'ai Hsan Ching; Talam; Moon; Witchcraft; Hecate.

82 Compound number; Angel of Venus, beloved object.

83 Consecration; highest form of love. Energy, freedom, amrita, aspiration.

87 Number of Lebenah (Frankincense), Aossic; chalice.

88 Khabs, "The Star."

89 A number of sin and taboo. Silence, of Black Magic.

90 Tzaddi.

91 Number of hairs (paths) in the Supernal Beard.

93 Thelema, Agape, Aiwass.

97 A number of Chesed as water and as father.

99 Ending of endings. Tithiane; Geburah's infernal abode.

100 Kephalos; Qoph; Rho.

108 A Platonic duodecimal number.

111 "Ain Sof Aur"; Kamea sum of the Sun; Number of Abra-Melin Servitors.

123 War, plague, pleasure, violation.

131 Samael, Satan, Pan, Baphomet.

156 Zion; Babalon; number of letters for Enochian tablet.

160 Ipo (name of the sun in a lower hemisphere); the number of Tonal in Castaneda's world of phenomena (Nagual is to Tonal as Sirius to Ipo).

164 A compound number; Cleaving; profane, as opposed to sacred.

177 The Garden of Eden.

200 Resh, Sigma.

210 The Return; Joining to the Void's original 3 stages; 000.

216 Platonic duodecimal number.

217 Sigma-eta-theta, Seth; Star of Babalon (Scarlet Woman); Sirius; Deborah, "the Bee" (Sekhet, goddess of intoxication and sexual passion).

222 Beyond Good and Evil; Whiteness.

256 Number of poisonous methods of astral projection.

260 The Mayan Tzolkin cycle of change. 260 = 13 x 20 (the mystic numbers); Kamea sum of Mercury; Tiriel, the Intelligence of Mercury.

261 Meher Baba; Hriliu; Word of the Dove; "The Abomination of Desolation" (Stele of Reveling).

280 RP, "Terror"; number of squares on the side of the vault containing the body of Christian Rosenkreutz.

289 PTR, hole, void.

292 The "drug of death"; the raven (black bird of Set); Chozzar.

300 Shin, Greek tau.

305 Number of Yetzirah.

325 Bartzabel (spirit of Mars).

330 SOR (revolution); hurricane; tempest; circles of time.

333 "Connection to the Infinite"; Chaos: Shugal-Set, the front half of the beast, which together with Choronzon or Chozzar, the back, makes 666.

342 Bsm.; Perfume; ambrosia.

353 Hermes.

360 Degrees in a circle (or zodiac).

365 Days in a year; number of Abraxas (Greek letters); number also of Mithras.

369 Kamea of Luna.

370 Left hand; Sabbatic Goat; Creation (as matter and spirit); Foundation.

389 Aossic (ancient extraterrestrial entity).

393 Blends the twin forces of Set and Horus (lightside and nightside of the Tree of Life).

400 Tav.

406 Tav spelled out; also "Thou."

412 Romulus.

418 Abrahadabra.

442 Ends of the Earth.

444 "The Limits of Manifestation"; Al-Azif, Alhazred.

474 Gematria of Daath.

500 Phoenix; Kaph final; psi.

504 Figures in the formation of circles.

505 Kamea sum of 10 x 10.

511 Head.

535 Kteis.

555 Enlightenment.

600 Mem final; Chi.

612 Zeus.

640 Shamash; realm of the Sun; Mpitzth (horrible idol); Gematria of Cup of Consolation; menstrual blood.

666 Number of Hatkariel; sum of the square of The Sun (i.e. the Antichrist). Splendors of Being; Number of the Beast; Beast with two backs; Satanic Trinity (Typhon, Apophis, Besz), opponent of Michael, Sorath..

671 Thora/Athor/Tharo.

700 Nun final; Upsilon.

733 "The White Head."

777 Magic, Creation. Dagon; Stauros.

789 Link between Aeon of Horus and Maat.

800 Peh final, Omega.

801 The sum of "Alpha and Omega"; also peristera, "a dove."

823 Sahasra; graven idol.

864 Platonic duodecimal number.

888 Metamorphosis, Iesous.

900 Tzaddi final.

999 Eternal Evolution (past, present, future); End of the World; Number of the true Trinity; "Nymphe" or creatures such as the Dols or Dholes; Romulus Hespaeria; Triple 9 Society; 999 C.E. is the year that Kukulkan (Quetzalcoatl) died. The final resolution of 333 and 666.

1000 The Millenium; Rab-Aleph.

1060 The Tabernacle (Meshken).

1061 Sunset.

1296 Platonic duodecimal number.

1461 Sirius Cycle.

1728 Platonic duodecimal number.

1999 Date of Nostradamus' prediction of the Eschaton.

2000 Precessional Change; Year of the Dragon.

2012 Mayan date of "end of the world."

2167 Corrected precessional number.

3168 Important ancient mystical number used in construction.

5040 Another important ancient number.

12358 Fibonacci series.

26000 Great Year of the Egyptians.

36000 Ancient Chaldean Saros Cycle.

114048 Platonic number thought to have the best factors for making it the number of the world-soul.

187740489 Nine to the ninth power.

(See also: NUMEROLOGY, Magick, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul, )