Meaning of numbers

1 2 Unity & Polarity

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This first session begins with an overall introduction to the language of numbers
and shapes. It introduces participants to the ancient traditions of "philosophical
mathematics" including symbolism of the geometer's tools, the spiritual allegory
of geometric construction, and overview of the Timeless Alphabet. Through
hands-on activities with the compass, straightedge and marker, we're guided to
see geometric construction as a creation myth, a metaphor for the process by
which all the forms of nature are created.

Unity is a fact of nature, and all numbers and shapes unfold from Unity, number
1, symbol of wholeness, completeness cycles and equality (all its points are
equally distant from the center). It is represented by the point, circle and sphere
which are most efficient forms and worldwide symbols of heavenly perfection.
But Unity casts its own shadow pretending to be "two," thus "creating" polarity
God the Geometer, required for any creation. By this method 1 generates all the single digits and the
Bible Moralisee, 1215 Vesica Piscis, the almond opening through which other numbers and shapes are
born:
A star exhales

Notice that the Numbers of Mystery, 7, 9 and 11 are missing because they cannot
be constructed with a compass and straightedge.
 3 Trinity: Tri-Unity
The birth of the number 3 and triangle enables opposites to balance and transcend
to a new wholeness they couldn't achieve by themselves. A third leg makes a
tripod stable, and a third strand of hair allows a braid to knot as one whole, just as
neutral judges balance opposing parties, neutrons balance atoms, and the Supreme
Court plays the role of the balancing, transcendent third force between the
Executive and Legislative branches. The triangle is the strongest and most stable
of shapes and so appears in the constructions of humans and nature. Trinities
appear in nature and as worldwide religious symbols and spiritual art which uses
the unseen triangular frame to convey this archetypal power.

Notice the light triangle in the clover

4 Fair And Square

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This class examines the symbolism and appearances of the number four and its
representative forms, the square, cube and tetrahedron. Fourness is the essence of
volume, underlying the forms of crystals and creatures, and is a symbol of earth,
manifestation and the four states of matter ("mater" or mother) shaping and
clothing the designs of nature, arts, crafts and architecture. Thus it appears
worldwide as a number of directions and migrations, represented everywhere
from goddess art to divinatory board games.

Tungsten atoms form a crystal


Slice of a Celery stalk
Sensitive hairs within the human
ear's cochlea, arranged in hexagonal
pattern, transduce vibrations into
electric impulses and "sounds".
5 The Flag of Life
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In starfish and flowers, corporate logos and flags, the number five and the
amazing regenerative geometry of the pentagon and pentagram star appear in
nature and human affairs as a sign of life (the flower of every edible fruit is five-
petaled). It is a worldwide symbol of humanity, righteous authority, harmony,
beauty and excellence. We can learn to recognize the five-ness of living forms,
and see how artists from Egypt and Greece to Raphael and Dali have applied five-
fold symmetry -- the flag of life -- to create harmony in their compositions.
6 The Joy Of Six
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The principle of sixness is that of structure, function and order, the efficient
properties of space, power and time. It appears as the close-packed crystalline
patterns of snowflakes, diamonds, chicken wire and honeycombs, as well as the
underlying pattern within much spiritual art including the Sphinx and Egyptian
jewelry and painting, Chinese sculpture and the U.S. Great Seal.. Multiples of six
(especially 12, 24, 30, 36, 60 and 360) provide the sacred measures of space,
weight and time, from traditional rulers and protractors to clocks and calendars.
The mystery of the sixfold pattern appears in many universal guises.
 7 The Virgin Number
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The number seven was considered "virgin" by the ancients because no number
goes into it (without remainder), and its geometric construction cannot be
captured by compass and straightedge. Thus it appears to us as objects we cannot
grasp like the colors of the rainbow and tones of the musical scale. The
predominance of seven in religious and mythological symbolism reveals its role
as the number of stages in a whole process, from the number of crystal systems
and endocrine glands to chakras and "heavens" clues to the stages of our spiritual
journey. Participants will learn how to tune a musical instrument to the
The Seven Pleiades
Pythagorean scale used in ancient musical healing therapy.

8 Periodic Renewal: Between Heaven and Earth

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What is it about the number eight and the geometry of the octagon which makes it
so popular in the design of sacred buildings around the world? Eight reveals the
principle of the musical octave, periodic renewal, at work through the universe,
from the mythology of Grandmother Spider and the Siberian Shaman’s eight-
legged horse, the pattern of rhythmic flow symbolized in the I Ching, in computer
chips, the Taoist "Eight Immortals" and Buddhist mandalas which make visible
the "Eightfold Path". We'll look at sacred architecture including mosques, ancient
temples and even the U. S. Capitol Building to discover the principle of "periodic
renewal" at work. As the shape between the circle and square (rotate a square to
produce and octagram) it symbolizes "between Heaven and Earth," observed by
Aztec Sun Calendar both, an admonition to those in religious and government buildings having an
octagonal floorplan.
 9 The Horizon
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In traditional worldwide number lore, nine, or thrice three, was referred to as “the
horizon” symbolizing the ultimate, the maximum, “the whole nine yards”. This
class will look at the ways people have revered the number nine and its principles
through their arts, crafts, architecture, literature, mathematics, mythology, religion
and folk-sayings, from "cloud nine" and a pagoda’s nine levels to a cat’s nine
lives. Casual attire: no need to “dress to the nines”.

Dante and Beatrice gazing at the

thrice three rings of Heaven
aroundtheir divine center.

10 New Unity
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The number ten is a traditional symbol of fulfillment, a return to unity after

having gone through the experience represented by single-digits. Tens, hundreds
and thousands represent greater powers of Unity. A knowledge of the
mathematical principles within “ten” help us to understand its appearances in
nature, as well as the philosophical basis of many cultures’ religious scripture,
architecture and arts. This is the traditional wisdom held in the Tetraktys, symbol
of the Pythagoreans, as well as the hidden map of ourselves in the Kabbalah's
"Tree of Life" diagram.
DNA molecule, seen from above
11 The Passageway
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The number eleven is quite a mystery. References in sacred literature, philosophy,

art and architecture are rare and obscure, but they do exist. It was considered to
tresspass beyond 10, but incomplete approaching 12. Resembling the principles of
the number 2, of which it is a lower form, 11 represents a door, tunnel or
passageway, not only between the great realms represented by numbers 10 and
12, but appears as the number of days of the Babylonian New Year's Festival (the
door between years), as the link between the Chinese Magic Squares of Heaven
and Earth, as Egyptian bread offerings, in many Islamic references. While it
doesn't appear in music, nature or architecture, it's important in metrology as
ratios (e.g., in the traditonal rationalization of pi 22/7). To where does this
passage lead us?

12 Cosmic Dozens and

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The Cosmological Circle

"The universe is simple if you use imagination.
Its pattern is the number Twelve which structures all Creation.
You need not study physics or be versed in numerology
To draw from Threes and Fours the duodecimal cosmology."

--"Twelve Fold Universe" by John Michell

To live in accord with the perceived cosmic order, countless societies mirrored
upon Earth the patterns they saw in the sky and in mathematics, particularly
around the wondrous properties of the number twelve. Twelve is the traditional
"framework number" embracing and interrelating the numbers below and beyond
it. From time immemorial the archetypal "twelve-around-one" pattern of the
zodiac was mirrored in twelve-tribe societies, the mythologies of twelve heroic
ordeals, twelve spiritual disciples, and the designs of monuments, temples and
cultures mediating between Heaven and Earth, from Stonehenge to the U.S.
Government. There are many worldwide traditions of the Duodecimal
(twelvefold) Cosmology.

The "Cosmological Circle" refers to an ancient geometric diagram which appears

throughout the world underlying the designs of temples, kivas, churches,
mandalas and other expressions of sacred arts, crafts and architecture. Its secret is
that it makes visible the harmony of all the numbers 1 through 12 and so
represents a harmonious sacred microcosm. The Cosmological Circle's "squared-
circle" design insures that such temples are properly oriented to the solstices and
equinoxes, and symbolizes that the site occurs at the meeting of Heaven and
Earth.