NUMEROLOGY
Old traditional method based on the Hebrew letters/ numbering system. There is no 9 since the letters that stood for nine have no equivalent in our alphabet, and the letters E and X since they have no true Hebrew equivalent were taken from the Greek alphabet.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 A B C D E U O F I K G M H V Z P Q R L T N W J S X Y Traditional "English" system. The system most books use today, it is also the easiest to recreate.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z While neither of these traditions are "right", you can use either. You could try to use all Greek, or all Hebrew changing the letters E and X to their closest equivalent or using them for nine, or you could use a Latin base or any other alphabet base that uses letters for numbers. The only thing that you really MUST do is to be consistent. While any of the methods will work you devalue the meanings and traditions if you say "well I want to be a 6" and develop your method on being a six, and then you want your friend to be a 3 and change your system to make that person be a three. You really loose the "Magic" of the art.
The Origin Of the Numbers and their Meanings
Fortunately when I was younger I had already had this written, however I lost it, so now I'm going to have to recreate it from memory. So here goes...
0: In the beginning there was nothing, a limitless nothing. A complete void filled with nothing but possibilities, and yet nothing. This is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, and just like our symbol for zero, much like the Wheel of the seasons, we know that it is never ending, and always changing.
1: Out of the void a single point came into existence. Now this is the all, it bears many names. God, Manu, The All, and some may even call it The Force. One represents creation, birth, beginnings, cause, power, purpose, leadership, and the cardinal root of all things. That one point is indefinable, much like our concept of deity. For with only one thing what is there to compare it to, Nothing.
2: In order to give the one point meaning we need another. This give us the concepts of polarity, and duality. Christians may say that this is the creation of Satan. With pagans it's more the concept of The All, the Unknowable, changing it's self into the God and the Goddess. With two, we now have partnerships, balance, harmony. And even in a sense mothering. For with mothering you start out with the mother and she "separates herself" into two to give birth. Two also represents light, courage, charity, memory, sympathy, psychic sensitivity, feminine principals, revolt of "infernal spirits" from the creator, evil, passiveness, unspiritualized matter, and confusion and conflict.
3: Once you have two points you can define them in relationship to each other, but you need a third point to really define them. Because now you have more of a concept of distance, and differences. One could say that point A is closer to point B than C is to point B. Also with three points you can now define a plane. With three there are many different concepts to grasp. You have the "Holy Trinity" of the Father Son and Holy Ghost, Man Mother and Child, and with any trinity you can get a sort of stability. For instance a tripod or a three-legged stool, one has a stability, but as everyone knows that stability isn't the greatest. Like a balanced scale you have two points and a fulcrum, just offset the balance a little and the whole thing comes tumbling down. 3 is the number of perfection and creation, it represents the acting of the intelligent principle upon matter, the act of creation, time (past, present, future), and activity (beginning, middle, end). And also the masculine principle.
4: Now we get to four, four gives us a more solid foundation, like a table or chair. And like 2+2 it shows us that it is the union of two pairs. Two sets of opposites. The Earth, the four directions, the four primal elements (earth, air, water, fire), the four qualities. Wholeness, and completeness to an extant.
5: Five of course is a magick number. It signifies justice, the middle of the road. The union of the Male (3) with the female (2). The five elements (earth, air, water, fire, spirit), the five senses, the number of mankind. Marriage, freedom, curiosity, fire, love, and versatility.
6: The most perfect number, its factors all add or multiply to itself (1+2+3), (1X2X3), also the union of male and female (2X3). Keep in mind that some of these overlap a bit (much like the 9 and 10 of cups signify happiness as well as the Sun), they are all just variations on a theme. The path between vice and virtue, journeys, creation, balance, harmony, family love, and the home life.
7: The dominion of the soul (3) over the body or matter (4). The House (4) that contains the spirit (3) of man. The number of knowledge (often times secret). This is also a curious number because it cannot be multiplied by anything to get any of the first ten numbers. The seven "original" planets, 7 days of the week. Mysticism, and the supernatural.
8: Justice, balance, fullness, (successive division by 2=1). Because it follows 7, mystery of time symbolized by eternity, end of the world. The 8 is also the lemniscate (∞), eternity, and infinity. The material aspects of existence, power, sorrow, and worldly success.
9: Perfection (32), initiation, considered the number of incompleteness because it just falls shy of 10. Experience, and the mastery over life.
10: Completion, your whole life. the number of matter, and the world. Destiny.
11: Transformation, change, justice, strength.
Home