The Mazzaroth (Zodiac)

The Mazzaroth (Zodiac)

By Hillel ben David (Greg Killian)

excerpts:

Midrash Rabbah - Esther VII:11 With Kislev came the merit of Hanukah,[127] with Tebeth the merit of Ezra-Nechemiah (Nehemiah), as it says, And the children of the captivity did so. And Ezra-Nechemiah (Nehemiah) the priest... were separated... in the first day of the tenth month... and they were finished with all the men that had married foreign women, etc. (Ezra-Nechemiah (Nehemiah) X, 16 f.). With Shebat came up the merit of the Men of the Great Synagogue; for on the twenty-third of that month all Israel gathered together to take counsel about the concubine of Gibeah and the graven image of Micah.[128] When the month of Adar came up, he found no merit in it and he began to rejoice. He then turned to examining the signs of the Zodiac. In the sign of the Lamb[129] he found the merit of Passover, as it says, Every man a lamb, according to their fathers’ houses (Ex. XII, 3). In that of Taurus (ox) was found the merit of Joseph who was called ox, as it says, His firstling bullock, majesty is his (Deut. XXXIII, 17); and also the merit of the offering, as it says, When a bullock, or a sheep, or a goat is brought forth, etc. (Lev. XXII, 27). In Gemini (twins) was found the merit of Peretz and Zerach[130] who were called twins, as it says, Behold, twins were in her womb (Gen. XXXVIII, 27). In Leo (lion) was found the merit of Daniel who was from the tribe of Judah which is called lion, as it says, Judah is a lion's whelp (ib. XLIX, 9). In Virgo (virgin) there was the merit of Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, who were like a maiden that knows no man except her husband; so they did not change their God or their law and clung to their Judaism. Libra (scales) is Iyov (Job), as it says, O that my vexation we weighed, and my calamity laid in the balances (Iyov (Job) VI, 2). Scorpio is Yechezkel (Ezekiel), as it says, Thou dost dwell among scorpions (Ezek., 6).[131] Sagittarius (bowman) is Joseph, as it says, But his bow abode firm (Gen. XLIX, 24). Capricornus (kid) is Jacob, as it says, And she put the skins of the kids of the goats upon his hands (ib. XXVII, 16). Aquarius (water-carrier) is Moses, as it says, And moreover he drew water for us (Ex. II, 19).[132] On reaching the sign of Pisces (fishes) which shines in the month of Adar, he found no merit in it and rejoiced saying, ‘Adar has no merit, its sign has no merit, and what is more, in Adar Moses their master died.’ He, however, did not know that on the first[133] of Adar Moses died and on the first of Adar he was born. He said: ‘Just as fishes swallow one another, so I will swallow them.’ Said the Holy One, blessed be He, to him: ' Wretch! Fishes sometimes swallow and sometimes are swallowed, and now it is you who will be swallowed.’ Said R. Hanan: The same thing is intimated by the verse, Whereas it was turned to the contrary, that the Jews had rule over them that hated them (Est. IX, 1). R. Tanhuma said: And the Lord said not that He would blot out the name of Israel (II Melakim (Kings) XIV, 27), but what He said was, For I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek (Ex. XVII, 14)

XII. Miscellaneous Thoughts

The word Mazal does not literally mean "luck."

The Hebrew word Mazal, which literally means the astrological zodiac sign or the luck which comes from the stars, has been said to really be composed of three words: makom, z'man, limmud, being in the right place at the right time and knowing how to utilize opportunities.

"Mazal" is literally associated with the 12 signs of the Zodiac, which are called the "Mazalot," but we use the word in a way which means more than just the Zodiac. Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzatto explains that there is a multi-leveled conceptual system through which HaShem interacts with the physical Creation. In other words, "energy" which originates with HaShem travels through this system and eventually reaches us. At some point along the way, this energy is said to pass through the Mazalot, the stars and the planets, which then transfer it to the rest of Creation. This explains how people trained in astrology may know what will happen to an individual in the future. They are "reading," through the configuration of the Mazalot, the energy that is yet to be delivered. However, we are actually forbidden to engage in the prediction of the future via astrology even though it may work. The source of this prohibition is, "You shall be tamim (pure, perfect, simple) with the HaShem your G-d."

Mazal ("sign," pl. mazalot):

1. a spiritual conduit of Divine beneficence (from the Hebrew root "to flow" [nozel]).

2. specifically, the thirteen tufts of the "beard" of Arich Arpin.

3. a physical embodiment of such a spiritual conduit, such as a star, planet, constellation, etc.

4. specifically, the twelve constellations of the zodiac.

5. According to our sages, the Jewish People are not under the influence of the mazalot (Shabbat 156a).

God chose not to give the Torah in Nisan or Iyar, for the mazal of Nisan is a lamb and the mazal of Iyar is a bull and neither is capable of singing praise. Rather, He gave the Torah in Sivan, for the mazal of Sivan is twins, who have hands with which to clap and legs with which to dance.[140]

In Kabbala and Chasidut, it is explained that the thirteenth mazal transforms the entire set of mazalot into attributes of mercy. This is because numerically, twelve is a closed, rigid, perfect system; reflected in the physical world by the twelve lunar months and the twelve signs of the zodiac; in the Jewish people, by the twelve tribes; in the spiritual realm, by the twelve permutations of the letters of the Divine Name Havaya, and so on. In each of these sets, however, there is a (sometimes hidden) thirteenth element that adds the flexibility and adaptive quality that makes the set alive, pliable and viable. This is perhaps most clearly evident with regard to the twelve lunar months. In the Jewish calendar, a thirteenth month is added in 7 out of every 19 years in order to align the lunar year with the solar year. Here, the thirteenth lunar month makes the twelve original ones into an empathic system that can coexist with its solar “mate.” Similarly, the thirteenth tribe, Levi, officiates at the Temple, reconciling the twelve tribes of the Jewish people with their “mate,” HaShem.

What do we mean when we say "Mazel Tov"? We are saying a brief prayer at this time which is strongly influenced by the Mazalot, that Hashem will ensure that the "energy" that is sent will be only for good.

Chodshei Hashanah (Part Fifteen)

Adar Sheni -- The Second Month of Adar (Based on the work Chodesh B'chodsho, p. 116)

The Jewish Leap Year has thirteen months, while an ordinary year has twelve months. There is a hidden connection between the twelve months, and the twelve tribes -- the twelve sons of Yaakov/Yisrael (Jacob/Israel). If so, what is the significance of thirteen months?

Yoseif (Joseph) was of such vital importance to the family that he is sometimes thought of as a tribe, sometimes as one of the Fathers. The word "Yoseif" comes from the root "to add," "to be extra." Yaakov's blessing to Yoseif was that Yoseif's own sons would be counted as Yaakov's sons, as tribes themselves (Beraishis [Bereshit (Genesis)] 48:5). Yoseif is the one who has added to the tribes, and he himself disappears, converting into a patriarch -- a father of tribes.

The two tribes emanating from Yoseif make thirteen. Thus, an ordinary year corresponds to the twelve original sons; the leap year, to thirteen tribes, counting the added sons of Yoseif. (Sefas Emes, Beis Yisrael).

Good fortune comes to the Jewish People during Adar (Talmud, Ta'anis 29b). Evil forces have no effect on someone born during the Second Month of Adar, for no sign of the zodiac corresponds to the thirteenth month. Thus, the Second of Adar is essential to Israel and its faith, for it is said: Ein Mazal B'yisrael -- Israel is not bound by the astrological signs (or by scientific laws of determinism). (Chidah)

The miracle of Purim occurred during the Second Adar (Talmud Yerushalmi Megilah, chapter 1, halachah five).

The encyclopedia Judaica also indicates that there is a relationship between the mazzaroth and the tribes that is detailed in:

Yal., Ex.418; Yal., I Melakim (Kings) 185

The Encyclopedia Judaica indicates that "mazalot" in 2 Melakim (Kings) 23:5 indicates "planets".

II Melakim (Kings) 23:5 He did away with the pagan priests appointed by the kings of Judah to burn incense on the high places of the towns of Judah and on those around Jerusalem--those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun and moon, to the constellations and to all the starry hosts.

The planets as mentioned in scripture:

Saturn (ht,ca - Shabtai - Kevan) is found in:

Amos 5:26. But you shall carry Sikuth your king, and iyun, your images, your star-god, which you made for ourselves.

The planet that influences Tevet, Shabbtai (Saturn), symbolizes the power of contemplation which characterizes the Shabbat experience: Refraining from the mundane, the world of the transcendent is revealed... (Seasons of the Moon - Tevet)

Venus - (vdub - Nogah, Meleket haShamayim, the queen of heaven). This is understood from from the fact that cakes are baked for her. Among the Assyro-Babylonians the cake-offerings were called “the bread of Ishtar” (Venus).[143] This usage is found in:

Yirimiyah (Jeremiah) 7:18. The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.

Jupiter (esm - tzedek - Gad “fortune”). This is a supposition. It is found in:

Yeshayah (Isaiah) 65:11 "But as for you who forsake HaShem and forget my holy mountain, who spread a table for Fortune and fill bowls of mixed wine for Destiny,

There is some speculation that “Destiny”, in the above verse refers to Venus.

Mars, Madim, is not to be found in the Bible. The root, though, is found[144]. The root is Edom:

123 'Edom, ed-ome'; or (fully) 'Edowm, edome'; from 122; red [see Gen. 25:25]; Edom, the elder twin-brother of Jacob; hence the region (Idumaea) occupied by him:-Edom, Edomites, Idumea.

This word means: (very) red or (very) mad. The red connection with Mars is obvious. The use of this root in the understanding of “mars” is in:

Yeshayah (Isaiah) 63:1-6 Who [is] this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this [that is] glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. Wherefore [art thou] red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat? I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people [there was] none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment. For the day of vengeance [is] in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come. And I looked, and [there was] none to help; and I wondered that [there was] none to uphold: therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me; and my fury, it upheld me. And I will tread down the people in mine anger, and make them drunk in my fury, and I will bring down their strength to the earth.

Dobin says: “Mars is the planet of intense energy, and the word takes it’s meaning from astrological understanding of the nature of the planet, Mars. Both intensity of action and redness are implied in the Hebrew name of the planet. Mars was known to be the planet which causes strife and war...”

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Bereshit (Genesis) 11:27-32 This is the account of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot. While his father Terah was still alive, Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans, in the land of his birth. Abram and Nahor both married. The name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife was Milcah; she was the daughter of Haran, the father of both Milcah and Iscah. Now Sarai was barren; she had no children. Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there. Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Haran.

"Ur of the Chaldeans" literally means "Light of the Astrologers".

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The Encyclopedia Judaica indicates that 1 Divrei HaYamim (Chronicles) 12:33 indicates that the tribe of Issachar were the astronomers of Israel:

1 Divrei HaYamim (Chronicles) 12:33 of the Issacharites, men who knew how to interpret the signs of the times, to determine how Israel should act; their chiefs were 200, and all their kinsmen followed them;[145]

The blesssing of Bereshit (Genesis) 24:1 is interpreted as the gift of astronomy - Tosefta Kid. 5:17.

Bereshit (Genesis) 24:1 Abraham was now old and well advanced in years, and HaShem had blessed him in every way.

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"Twelve constellations have I created in the firmament, and for each constellation I have created thirty hosts, and for each host I have created thirty legions, and for each legion I have created thirty cohorts, and for each cohort I have created thirty maniples, and for each maniple I have created thirty camps, and to each camp I have attached three hundred and sixty five thousands of myriads of stars ..." (Tractate Berachos 32a) This passage of the Talmud is mysterious. Is this the number of stars in the Universe? The number of stars stated in the Talmud is 1.06434 X 10^18. The number of stars in the Universe estimated by modern science in somewhere between 10^18 and 10^20.

Mazzaroth (The Constellations)

The very first place in the Torah that we find the word mazzaroth, it is spelled out every seven letters in Bereshit (Genesis) 4:26 through Bereshit (Genesis) 5:1. What did Josephus say about Seth and his offspring? (Jospehus, attributes the origin of astrology to Seth, the offspring of Adam. (Antiquties of the Jews, Chapter 2:3).

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The astrological sign for the month of Shevat is Aquarius, the water bearer, or as it is called in Hebrew, "D'li," "the pail." The pail draws water from its source, and brings the water to where it is used. We find the comparison between water and Torah often in the writings of our Sages. In Shevat, we are supposed to recognize that our task is to act as the "Torah bearer" and to draw from the Torah so that the Torah is properly used. The fact the New Year for Trees falls under this sign is of course no coincidence. Most obviously, trees need water for their survival, and the needed delivery of water to the trees so that fruit forms is a focus on the New Year for Trees. The deeper significance arises from the comparison made in the Torah (Devarim 20:19) of "for the trees of the field are like man." Man, like trees, needs "water" for sustenance. Just as physical water enables a tree to bring forth fruit, so too does the Torah, spiritual water, enable man to bring forth fruit. As we mentioned before, this requires work and toil. So that we remember that we have help in our task, we celebrate the New Year for Trees on the 15th day of the month. Until the 15th day, the moon has been growing in light. The 15th day is typically the day of the full moon. It signifies the completeness and fullness that we have right when we are born - we have been taught the entire Torah. We start our toil realizing that G-d was there to help us, to plant a seed within us.

The 15th day of Shevat is a day on which we pray that growth should begin. Trees should get the water they sorely need so that they bear fruit. Man should properly immerse himself in Torah so that he reaches his full potential. The 15th day of Shevat is a day on which we recognize that G-d is there to help us with our endeavors. He provides us with what we need to be successful, although our success depends on our efforts as well. Tu B'Shvat should be the start of a truly fruitful year for all of us.

(Based on Sefer B'nai Yesaschar)

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The Validity of Astrology

The discussion regarding the validity of astrology is found in the Talmud Shabbat 156a as follows:

It was recorded in Rabbi Joshua ben Levi’s notebook: He who [is born] on the first day of the week [Sunday] shall be a man without one [thing] in him - What does ‘without one [thing] in him’ mean? Shall we say, without one virtue? Surely Rabbi Ashi said: I was born on the first day of the week! Hence it must surely mean, one vice. But Surely Rabbi Ashi said: I and Dimi ben Kakuzta were born on the first day of the week: I am a king (head of the academy) and he is the captain of thieves! Rather it means either completely virtuous or completely wicked. [What is the reason? Because light and darkness were created on that day.] He who is born on the second day of the week will be bad-tempered. What is the reason? Because the waters were divided thereon. (Division or disunity is caused by bad temper, Rashi) so will he be estranged from other people through his temper). He who is born on the third day of the week will be wealthy and unchaste. What is the reason? Because herbs were created thereon. (Herbs multiply very rapidly and also continually intermingle with other herbs.) He who is born on the fourth day of the week will be wise and of a retentive memory. What is the reason? Because the luminaries were suspended [thereon]. He who is born on the fifth day of the week will be generous. What is the reason? Because the fish and birds were created thereon. (Which are fed by G-d’s loving kindness.) He who is born on the eve of the Sabbath will be a seeker. Rabbi Nahman ben Isaac commented: A seeker after good deeds. He who is born on the Sabbath will die on the Sabbath, because the great day of the Sabbath was desecrated on his account. Raba son of Rabbi Shila observed: And he shall be called a great and holy man. (Maharsha: Not all born on the Sabbath die on the Sabbath, but only those who are very holy.)

Rabbi Hanina said to them, [his disciples]: Go out and tell the son of Levi, Not the constellation of the day but that of the hour is the determining influence. He who is born under the constellation of the sun will be a distinguished (bright and handsome) man: he will eat and drink of his own and his secrets will lie uncovered; if a thief, he will have no success. He who is born under Venus will be wealthy and unchaste [immoral]. What is the reason? Because fire was created therein. He who is born under Mercury will be of a retentive memory and wise. What is the reason? Because it [Mercury] is the sun’s scribe. He who is born under the Moon will be a man to suffer evil, building and demolishing, demolishing and building. eating and drinking that which is not his and his secrets will remain hidden: if a thief, he will be successful. He who is born under Saturn will be a man whose plans will be frustrated. Others say: All [nefarious] designs against him will be frustrated. He who is born under Tzedek [Jupiter] will be a right-doing man [tzaddik] Rabbi Nahman ben Isaac observed: ‘He who is born under Mars will be a shedder of blood. Rabbi Ashi observed: Either a surgeon, a thief, a slaughterer, or a ‘mohel’ (a performer of ritual circumcision). Rabbah said: I was born under Mars. Abaye retorted: You too inflict punishment and kill.

It was stated. Rabbi Hanina said: The planetary influence gives wisdom, the planetary influence gives wealth, and Israel stands under planetary influence, (yesh mazal leyisrael). Rabbi Johanan maintained: Israel is immune from planetary influence, (eyn mazal leyisrael).

The Talmud goes on to bring many proofs that Israel is immune from planetary influence:

Now, Rabbi Johanan is consistent with his view, for Rabbi Johanan said: How do we know that Israel is immune from planetary influence? Because it is said, Thus says the L-rd, Learn not the way of the nations, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven, for the nations are dismayed at them: they are dismayed but not Israel.

Rab too is of the opinion that Israel is immune from planetary influence. For Rab Judah said in Rab’s name: How do we know that Israel is immune from planetary influence? Because it is said, and he brought him forth from abroad.(Genesis 15:5) Abraham pleaded before the Holy One, blessed be He, ‘Sovereign of the Universe! one born in mine house is mine heir.’ ‘Not so,’ He replied, ‘but he that shall come forth out of your own bowels.’ ‘Sovereign of the Universe!’ cried he, ‘I have looked at my constellation and find that I am not fated to beget child.’ ‘Go forth from [i.e., cease] thy planet [gazing], for Israel is free from planetary influence...

From Samuel too [we learn that] Israel is immune from planetary influence. For Samuel and Ablat were sitting, while certain people were going to a lake. Said Ablat to Samuel: ‘That man is going but will not return, [for] a snake will bite him and he will die.’ ‘If he is an Israelite,’ replied Samuel. ‘he will go and return.’ While they were sitting he went and returned. [Thereupon] Ablat arose and threw off his [the man’s] knapsack, [and] found a snake therein cut up and lying in two pieces. Samuel said to him, ‘What did you do (to be saved)?’ ‘Every day we pooled our bread and ate it; but to-day one of us had no bread, and he was ashamed. I told them that "I will go and collect [the bread]". When I came to him, I pretended to take [bread] from him, so that he should not be ashamed.’ ‘You have done a good deed,’ said Samuel to him. Then Samuel went out and lectured: But charity (righteousness) delivers from death;(Proverbs 10:2) and [this does not mean] from an unnatural death, but from death itself.

From Rabbi Akiba too [we learn that] Israel is free from planetary influence. For Rabbi Akiba had a daughter. Now, astrologers told him, On the day she enters the bridal chamber a snake will bite her and she will die. He was very worried about this. On that day [of her marriage] she took a brooch [and] stuck it into the wall and by chance it penetrated [sank] into the eye of a serpent. The following morning, when she took it out, the snake came trailing after it. ‘What did you do?’ her father asked her. ‘A poor man came to our door in the evening.’ she replied, ‘and everybody was busy at the banquet, and there was none to attend to him. So I took the portion which was given to me and gave it to him. ‘You have done a good deed,’ said he to her. Thereupon Rabbi Akiba went out and lectured: ‘But charity delivers from death’: and not [merely] from an unnatural death, but from death itself.

From Rabbi Nahman ben Isaac too [we learn that] Israel is free from planetary influence. For Rabbi Nahman ben Isaac’s mother was told by astrologers, Your son will be a thief. [So] she did not let him [be] bareheaded, saying to him, ‘Cover your head so that the fear of heaven may be upon you, and pray [for mercy]’. Now, he did not know why she spoke that to him. One day he was sitting and studying under a palm tree; temptation overcame him, he climbed up and bit off a cluster [of dates] with his teeth. (The tree did not belong to him. - This story shows that head-covering was not so common, though regarded as conducive to piety. - From these stories we see that belief in planetary influence was not entirely rejected, but that these Rabbis held that it might be counteracted by good deeds.)

In his famous Letter on Astrology, Rambam vigorously denounced belief in any astrological influence over human life. He described the philosophical opposition to astrology as a thoroughly naturalistic one which did not allow for the influence of the stars. The correct Jewish belief, in his view, agreed with this and also accepted the notion of G-d’s Providence, thereby utterly rejecting any astrological influences. Rambam declared that he had read all the extant astrological books, and decried the fact that people naturally give credence to any doctrine that is recorded in a text, even if it is nonsense. Yet most medieval philosophers, including Rabbi Abraham Ibn Ezra, believed in astrological influences and even went so far as to claim that empirical evidence supported this belief. No less a radical thinker than Rabbi Levi ben Gershon (Ralbag), was a firm believer in the effects of the stars upon human life, and based his position on empirical evidence.

Ramban (Responsum 282) and Nimukei Yosef (Sanhedrin, Chapter 7) explain that the study of astrology is not forbidden. They note that though the Talmud above (Shabbat 156a) states: "There is no mazal (celestial, source of influence) for Israel," there were sages who did not share that view. Thus, even though the latter was a minority opinion, the fact that it exists demonstrates that astrology is not nonsense, nor is involvement in its study forbidden.

[In that context (see also the Ra'avad, Hilchot Teshuvah 5:5), the statement from Shabbat can be explained as follows: The mazalot (stars and signs of the zodiac)exert influence on the world. A Jew, however, can rise above these influences and exercise total free will.]

The Mazzaroth (Zodiac) web page

The Watchman home page

Chaos and the Psychological Symbolism of the Tarot 1

Chaos and the Psychological Symbolism of the Tarot

by Gerald Schueler, Ph.D. © 1997

Abstract.

The Tarot deck contains archetypal symbols that can be related to the analytical psychology of the Swiss psychologist, Carl Jung. The Tarot deck, especially the major arcana or trump cards, can be used effectively in therapy. The client, with the assistance of the therapist, conducts a reading or uses several cards to tell a story and then discusses possible meanings of the symbols in his or her own words. The therapist then relates the symbolic meanings given by the client to the client's problem in much the same manner as in Jungian dream analysis. This therapeutic process can be explained by using a chaos model. Using a chaos model of therapy, a period of psychic instability is deliberately induced by the therapist through stimulation of the imagination via the Tarot symbols. Concentration on the Tarot symbols induces bifurcation points that the therapist then uses to direct change toward desired attractors. This is similar to the well-known techniques of paradoxical communication, paradoxical intervention, and prescribing the symptom, all of which induce a temporary condition of psychic instability that is required for a bifurcation.

Introduction

Loye and Eisler (1987) see the roots of modern chaos theory, as it pertains to social science, extending all the way back to the ancient Chinese Book of Changes or I Ching. The I Ching, the oldest oracle still in use today, (Bannister, 1988) was used to make predictions by casting stalks, straws, or sticks. Today, this is usually done by throwing coins (Cleary, 1986). In the West, the oldest oracle still in use today is the Tarot card deck.

The Tarot is a deck of cards which can be used for meditation, psychic stimulation, or divination. It also can be used as a psychological tool to look inside the unconscious (Bannister, 1988; Nichols, 1984). The Tarot is medieval man's equivalent of today's highly respected Rorschach and Thematic Apperception tests (Schueler & Schueler, 1994). Wang (1978) describes the Tarot as "a system accepted by many respectable sources such as the school of Carl Jung, which views the Tarot images as agreeing perfectly with the archetypes of the collective unconsciousness" (p. 8).

The Swiss psychologist, Carl Jung, saw all of the Tarot images as "descended from the archetypes of transformation" (Jung, 1959/1990, p. 38). These archetypes include several of the primary archetypes that are encountered during Jung's individuation process, a process of psychological maturation similar in nature to the aging of the physical body (Jacobi, 1942/1973). These include the shadow, the anima and animus, and the wise old man. The Tarot also contains symbols representing other important archetypes of transformative processes such as the hero, the sacrifice, rebirth, the mother, and the Self. In Jung's analytical psychology, these archetypes comprise the major dynamical components of the unconscious which affect the human psyche in many different ways.

Modern chaos theory addresses complex systems, which are systems with a large number of interrelated parts. It also addresses dynamic systems. Every complex system, and especially every living system (living systems are usually referred to as self-organizing systems), is also a dissipative structure. Ilya Prigogine won the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1977 for his work on dissipative structures, which he defined as any structure that takes on and dissipates energy as it interacts with its environment. A dissipative system, unlike one that conserves energy, gives rise to irreversible processes such as the growth of organisms (Nicolis & Prigogine, 1989). All systems that exhibit disequilibrium and self-organization are dissipative and have a dissipative structure (Briggs & Peat, 1989, p. 138). Dissipative systems are those which are able to maintain identity only because they are open to flows of energy, matter, or information from their environments (Prigogine & Stengers, 1984).

Not only is our body a dissipative system, but our psyche as well. Jung designated the ego as an ego-complex, because of the numerous components and processes with which it is comprised, and taught that the ego was one of many complexes that exist in the psyche. "The psyche is a self-regulating system that maintains its equilibrium just as the body does" (Jung, 1954/1985, p. 152). Designating the psyche to be a self-regulating system, Jung (1968) states that "Dreams are the natural reaction of the self-regulating psychic system" ( p. 124). By assuming the psyche to be a complex dynamic system, as well as a dissipative system, we can look at it through the lens of modern chaos theory.

Chaos, as an archetype, is well known in the Tarot where it is depicted fully in card 16, a trump card titled the Lightening Struck Tower. According to Wanless (1986), this card represents transformation. Jung taught that we can become conscious of the unconscious contents in our psyche by examining the symbols that come to us in our dreams. He details many of these archetypal symbols in his Symbols of Transformation (1956).

Chaos and the Psychological Symbolism of the Tarot 2

The Tarot

The traditional Tarot is a deck of 78 cards which are divided into two main sections: a major arcana and a minor arcana. The major arcana is a set of 22 picture cards which are also called the greater arcana, trumps, atouts (from the Egyptian atennu (Wallis Budge, 1920) meaning a book or part of a book), or triumphs. These cards are pictorial representations of various cosmic forces such as Death, Justice, Strength, and so on, and contain archetypal symbolism. Fifty-six cards of the minor arcana are divided into court and suit cards. The sixteen court cards are comprised of a King, a Queen, a Knight, and a Knave (or Page) for each of the four suits of the deck. The remaining forty cards are divided into the four suits called: Pentacles (also known as deniers, coins, or disks), Cups (coupes), Swords (epees), and Wands (batons or scepters). The French terminology stems from the famous Marseilles deck which originated in the late fifteenth century (Giles, 1992). The suit cards are numbered from 1 (ace) to 10 for each of the four suits. The suit cards represent specific opportunities and lessons (Wanless, 1986). The minor arcana cards are used to represent people, relationships, finances, action, energies, and forces (Schueler & Schueler, 1987).

The Tarot has been called the oldest book known to man (Papus, 1970). According to legend, (Schueler & Schueler, 1994) the original cards comprised "chapters" in a book known as The Book of Thoth. Thoth was the ibis-headed god of wisdom and knowledge of the ancient Egyptians. At the founding of Egypt, unknown centuries ago, he is said to have given man the knowledge of medicine, astrology, language, art, and various sciences such as mathematics and engineering. The original chapters of The Book of the Dead are said to have been written by Thoth.

After several thousands of years, the Egyptian empire began to crumble. As things began to fall apart, the god Thoth again intervened. He desired to keep alive the knowledge and wisdom that he had provided his people. To save his contribution to mankind, he summarized all of the accumulated wisdom of the Egyptian empire onto a series of 22 tablets. He did this by using symbols and pictures instead of words. These tablets became known as The Book of Thoth. As the empire decayed into ignorance, the tablets found their way into a band of roving people later known as gypsies. The gypsies copied the symbols of the tablets onto cards which became the major arcana of the Tarot deck (Crowley, 1944; Papus, 1970; Schueler & Schueler, 1989).

Although several colorful theories exist today, there is no historical evidence to support any of them, and the true history of the Tarot is largely unknown. Whatever the actual origin of the Tarot deck may be, it is known that a deck of fortune telling cards were mentioned by a Swiss monk in 1377 AD (Giles, 1992). It is also known that Girilamo Gargagli wrote in 1572 about tarochhi cards being used to designate psychological types (Giles, 1992).

The Tarot later found its way into the Hebrew Kabbalah, probably because the 22 cards of the major arcana could be shown to correspond with the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. During the nineteenth century, many occultists tried to demonstrate a higher use for the cards than divination (Papus, 1970; Levi, 1896). Eliphas Levi (1896) tried to show that the cards of the major arcana were connected to the Qabalistic Tree of Life. This idea was further carried out by a secret occult group in England known as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (Wang, 1978; Crowley, 1944; Regardie, 1937).

Aleister Crowley was initiated as a member of the Golden Dawn in 1898. He left it in 1907 to form his own magical organization. In 1944 his Tarot deck, illustrated by Frieda Harris, together with his explanatory book titled The Book of Thoth were published.

According to Wanless, (1986) a well-known expert on the Tarot deck, "The Thoth Deck by Aleister Crowley is a classic tarot symbology ... Its symbolism is Egyptian, Greek, Christian, and Eastern. It is more useful than many contemporary decks which represent a particular cultural or philosophical point of view" (p. 1). He also points out the multi-dimensionality of the deck's symbolism, which has associations with the Hebrew Kabbalah as well as astrology, and credits the 22 major arcana or trump cards as representing "universal principles of life and 'archetypal' personality types" (p. 2). Giles (1994) says that the Thoth deck has "swirling backgrounds and haunting images" which "create a unique impression; those drawn to the deck find it a very powerful reading instrument" (p. 191). She points out that while many decks exist, with a myriad of minor variations, the Tarot has "core images" that are part of a "mental structure" that is fairly consistent across the different deck designs. Wanless (1986) notes that "The strength of tarot is that its symbolism is subject to constant redefinition and evolution" (p. 1). In short, the Tarot images can change or evolve over time, but otherwise they are quite consistent. This is in agreement with Jung's (1959/1990) concept of the archetypes of the collective unconscious which are consistent across humanity while slowly evolving with the body over time. ...

Chaos and the Psychological Symbolism of the Tarot web page

Schueler's Online home page

Ennead Mentation: The Nine Visitations of God 1

The noosphere can be seen as the "sphere of human thought" being derived from the Greek ("nous") meaning "mind" in the style of "atmosphere" and "biosphere" [Reclamation of Mind 1-6: Atmosphere and Biosphere metaphors (here and again here and here)]. In the original theory of Vernadsky, the noosphere is the third in a succession of phases of development of the Earth, after the geosphere (inanimate matter) and the biosphere (biological life). Just as the emergence of life fundamentally transformed the geosphere, the emergence of human cognition fundamentally transforms the biosphere. In contrast to the conceptions of the Gaia theorists, or the promoters of cyberspace, Vernadsky's noosphere is not something that is just now coming into being, or will emerge in the future; it arrived with the birth of the first cognitive human being, and is manifested throughout the geosphere and biosphere in the form of human intervention, which principally takes the form of physical economic development of the planet.

The word is also sometimes used to refer to a transhuman consciousness emerging from the interactions of human minds. This is the view proposed by the theologian Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, who added that the noosphere is evolving towards an ever greater integration, culminating in the Omega Point-which he saw as the ultimate goal of history.

A somewhat different approach focuses on "sustainability," and begins to look at this concept in terms of "co-evolution" [Norgaard, 1994].

History of this expression:

E. LeRoy's Les origines humaines et l'evolution de l'intelligence (1928)

Vladimir I. Vernadsky (1863-1945)

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955)

Omega point is a term invented by French Jesuit Pierre Teilhard de Chardin to describe the ultimate maximum level of complexity-consciousness, considered by him the aim towards which consciousness evolves. Rather than divinity being found "in the heavens" he held that evolution was a process converging toward a "final unity", identical with the Eschaton and with God. According to Chardin and the Russian scholar and biologist Vladimir Vernadsky (author of The Geosphere 1924 and The Biosphere 1926), the planet is in a transformative process, metamorphosing from the biosphere into the noosphere.

In philosophy and religion, the word noetic, from the Greek (nous) is usually translated as "mind", "understanding", "intellect", or "reason". Most dictionaries define the term noetic as a synonym of "mental" or "intellectual." From the nous emerges the world soul, which gives rise to the manifest realm. [Mammon's mass psychosis(-sys)]

The ancient Pythagoreans and Platonists used the term to mean "the cosmic soul". According to Neo-Platonic cosmology, the nous emanates from the One. Anaxagoras wrote:

All other things partake in a portion of everything, while Nous is infinite and self-ruled, and is mixed with nothing, but is alone, itself by itself. For if it were not by itself, but were mixed with anything else, it would partake in all things if it were mixed with any; for in everything there is a portion of everything, as has been said by me in what goes before, and the things mixed with it would hinder it, so that it would have power over nothing in the same way that it has now being alone by itself. For it is the thinnest of all things and the purest, and it has all knowledge about everything and the greatest strength; and Nous has power over all things, both greater and smaller, that have soul. (Translation by J. Burnet)

In recent decades, the term has taken on new usages. Edmund Husserl used noetic (from noesis) to refer to the intentional act of consciousness (believing, willing, hating and loving ...)[1]. Walter J. Ong and James A. Berlin used the term noetic to describe a "noetic economy", "noetic processes" and "noetic field." Cultural historian William Irwin Thompson refers to a "noetic polity." The Institute of Noetic Sciences defines noetic as, roughly, 'relating to consciousness or intuition'. The mystical, cosmic and holistic connotations of the term are why the New Age movement has embraced the term noetic and used it to refer to the exploration of individual or cosmic consciousness.

Ennead Mentation: The Nine Visitations of God 2

EMERGENCE/Complex Emergent Intelligence as ONE Order (bottom-up/anarchic) - Mentation Envelope (enveloped within);

Emergent Complexity arising out of Rules (Interaction Dynamics); operation in concert (symphony of Mind);

Learning (complexity of connection(s) determinant)); sequence of emergent steps -- the Emergent, the Minders.

Mind = Sentient Being, Sentience (the faculty of God-level perception; ea. Human Being an extension of God's very Being);

Mind = the Universe within, the Empyrean (spiritual universe extending into/creating space-time (physical embodiment));

Mind = a Singularity Point ((SP) fig. a White Hole) into the Empyreal Consciousness of God, God's very Mind (10C the very Character of God, the Lord's Prayer the actuation / actuality(reality) of that character): Empyrean, EMPYRE'AN, a. Empyreal. EMPYRE'AN, n. The highest heaven, where the pure element of fire has been supposed to subsist [the spiritual core-sphere of the physical curved universe; dendriformic extension; trees of righteousness]; Empyreal, EMPYR'EAL, a. [L. empyroeus; from Gr. fire.] Formed of pure fire or light; pertaining to the highest and purest region of heaven [the "crystal ball" spiritual universe; surface singularity extension into the physical].

According to the Sefer Yezira, the spiritual world consisted of ten spheres, the sefirot. (Sefirot is a term related to the Hebrew word Sappir, loosely translated as 'sapphire' [the Ten "Blue Stones" (apples/grapes) etched by the Hand of God; the Star Gates; the Blue Pearl (the Divine Light of Consciousness within us all)] and interpreted as the radiance of God [the conveyance, the spiritual Logos]). Each of the sefirot represented a different force or aspect of God, such as love, power, and understanding. These aspects were said to have emanated, or unfolded from God, and as the sefirot embodied all aspects of creation, generation, and decay, they represented the universe itself unfolding. [Blue Stones; imparted, enveloped within the Terrene-sphere blue-sky envelope, the visible archetype, the eleventh covering, Rahab/Da'ath, "the Prince of the Power of the Air" - the evil veil]

[Singularity Point Spiritual Aspect-Spheres emanated/paired with the 0-9 Mentation Shells = Sentience; spiritual spheres in correspondence with the physical sun/planetary sphere archetypes] [... the unconscious' absolute knowledge, where the potential unity of the universe lies ... the awareness of such permits a dialogue with the contradictions arising from the non-integrated aspects of our personalities-potentialities leading to an awareness of the essential wholeness of our psyche ... numeric-ontology provides the conceptual knowledge - the spiritual-astrologic "blue"-print - the archetypal structure of our very Being; the print-activation "first breath" stamp, the cosmic rhythm and pattern]

The ten circles are known as sephiroth, the plural of sephira, meaning a number. They are interconnected in various ways. Each connection is identified with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and with one of the twenty-two trumps major of the Tarot. It is believed that the sephiroth exercise a mystical influence on one another via these connections.

Ennead Mentation: The Nine Visitations of God 3

The ten sephirot were arranged in a rigid hierarchy, and each lower sephirah grew out of the one immediately above; that is, the second ranking sephirah grew out of the first, the third out of the second, etc. Thus the first sephirah had all the powers of the sephirot under him; the second had its own power plus all the powers of the succeeding eight, and so on. They were:

- Thought, Intellect (spiritual sphere/essence gender married/matched with physical shell/energy gender = one flesh union)

0Sun-m/1. Kether (Crown), also called the Simple Point [Singularity Point; Event Horizon; Edge; Interface], because this initial and paramount sephirah was unknown and all-embracing. Kether was known as the Old One, the Ancient of Days (Daniel 7:9), the White head, or the Long Face [I AM THAT I AM (I Am What I Will Become)] [SUM + ennead emanation/gifts-mentation].

1Moon-f/2. Hochmah (Wisdom) was also known as Aba (Father) and was the masculine outgrowth of the Ancient One.

2Mercury-fm/3. Binah (Understanding or Intelligence), the highest feminine emanation in the order of sephirot, also known as Ima (Mother).

- Emotions, Morals

3Venus-fm/4. Hesed (Kindness, Love, Mercy) is also called Gedulah (Greatness) and is masculine. [1st Heaven Araboth]

4Mars-m/5. Geburah (Power, Strength, Discipline) is also called Din (Justice) and is feminine. [2nd Heaven Makhon]*Rahab Da'ath (Knowledge; not a sephira, a hole (abyss))

5Jupiter-fm/6. Tipheret (Glory or Beauty, Adornment, Compassion) is both masculine and feminine because it is a combination of Hesed and Geburah. [3rd Heaven Ma'on]

- Nature

6Saturn-f/7. Netzah (Firmness, Might, Victory) is masculine. [4th Heaven Zebhul]

7Uranus-m/8. Hod (Splendor, Majesty) is feminine. [5th Heaven Shekhakim]

8Neptune-fm/9. Yesod (Foundation) combines Netzah and Hod. [6th Heaven Rakiya]

- Spirit

9Pluto-f/10. Malkut (Kingdom, Presence, KOG/COG Bride) has no special attributes but is a kind of funnel through which the qualities of the upper nine sephirot are transmitted to the physical world. It is therefore also called Shechinah, the Spirit of God." [7th Heaven Vilon]

The first nine sephirot were grouped in threes, each triad including a masculine element, a feminine element, and a combining element. The first three sephirot represented the world of thought; the second, the world of emotions and morals; the third, the world of nature. The tenth sephirah, Malkut, existed alone as the harmony of the other nine.

This triune was paralleled by the Kaballists' version of the three-part soul - an idea expressed earlier by Plato, Aristotle, the Bible, and the Talmud. The soul called Neshamah represented the intellect and corresponded to the first three sephirot. The soul called Ruah represented the emotion and corresponded to the Hesed-Geburah-Tipheret triad. The soul called Nefesh represented man's animal nature and corresponded to the lowest triad of sephirot.

Ennead Mentation: The Nine Visitations of God 4

Nine Gifts of the Spirit (KJV/God's Word)

1 Cor 12:7 But the [Ennead] manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.

1 Cor 12:8 For to one is given by the Spirit [1] the word of wisdom; to another [2] the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;

1 Cor 12:9 To another [3] faith by the same Spirit; to another [4] the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;

1 Cor 12:10 To another [5] the working of miracles; to another [6] prophecy; to another [7] discerning of spirits; to another [8] [divers] kinds of tongues; to another [9] the interpretation of tongues:

1 Cor 12:11 But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.

1Co 12:12 For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also [is] Christ.

1Co 12:7 The evidence of the Spirit's presence is given to each person for the common good of everyone.

1Co 12:8 The Spirit gives one person the ability to speak with wisdom. The same Spirit gives another person the ability to speak with knowledge.

1Co 12:9 To another person the same Spirit gives courageous faith. To another person the same Spirit gives the ability to heal.

1Co 12:10 Another can work miracles. Another can speak what God has revealed. Another can tell the difference between spirits. Another can speak in different kinds of languages. Another can interpret languages.

1Co 12:11 There is only one Spirit who does all these things by giving what God wants to give to each person.

1Co 12:12 For example, the body is one unit and yet has many parts. As all the parts form one body, so it is with Christ.

The names of the Sephirot are:

* Kether Elyon (Crown)

* Chokhmah (Wisdom)

* Binah (Intelligence)

* Chesed or Gedulah (Love or Mercy)

* Din or Gevurah (Power or Judgement)

* Tifereth or Rakhamim (Compassion)

* Netzach (Lasting Endurance)

* Hod (Majesty)

* Yesod (Basis or Foundation)

* Malkuth or Shekinah (Kingdom)

Occasionally another is enumerated:

* Daath ("Knowledge," "Order," or "Law")

Traditionally, Daath (Da'at) is not a Sephira itself. It is the absence of a Sephira. It is alternately called “the Abyss” (it is metaphorically interpreted as the dead child of Chochmah and Binah in the system explained by mediaeval kabbalist (mekubal in Hebrew) Issac Luria, also known as the Ari).

Da'ath has a dual aspect; on one hand it is our knowledge of the world of appearance, the body of facts which constitute our beliefs and prop up the illusion of identity and ego and separateness. On the other hand it is revelation, objective knowledge, what is often referred to as gnosis. The transition between the knowledge of the world of appearance and revelation entails the experience of the abyss, the abolition of the sense of ego, the negation of identity. From within the abyss any identity is possible. It is chaos, unformed. It contains, as it were, the seeds of identity. It is from this point that an infinity of gates open, each one a gateway to a mode of being.

Ennead Mentation: The Nine Visitations of God 5

The Mystic Vision

To the dimensions of height, width, length and time the Kabbalists have added the dimension of spirituality. In the positive spiritual direction are the seven heavens.

Farthest from Earth is Araboth, which contains uncreated objects and is the permanent residence of men's souls. It is associated with the emanation Greatness (Kindness). Makhon, the second heaven, contains the precipitants rain, snow, hail, fog, and dew. Makhon is presided over by Moses the Law Giver and the emanation Law, and emits a lightning bolt into Ma'on, the third heaven, presided over by Father Abraham who alters the bolt into four 'rays of foundation' corresponding to the four spheres of emanations along the central axis and are colored black, white, red and green. The third heaven is filled with harmonizing lights and sounds that sing praises to God, and is symbolized by the emanation Beauty. Above this is Zebhul, a spiritual Jerusalem corresponding to the emanation Victory which is the positive aspect of cosmic power. In this city is a tabernacle, personified by Metatron, with Michael as high priest, surrounded by the souls of martyrs. There is also a heavenly tribunal of seven lights. The fifth heaven is called Shekhakim and is associated with Glory. It contains millstones which grind manna for the righteous and is presided over by Jacob and the twelve heads of the Israelite tribes. It is surrounded by a river of fire wherein reside the angels of destruction, and this river is held back by a colorless light of monotheism, which is fueled by prayers from below and projected out from Shekhakim as an archetypal alphabet of 22 colors (the Rings of Uranus; every 42 years positioned to be viewed edge-on from Earth (2007)). Next is Rakiya, the firmament. Symbolized by the emanation Foundation, this heaven supports the heavenly bodies, which are endowed with divine knowledge. The lowest heaven is called Vilon (lit. veil), which shields the heavens during the day and 'rolls' down each night. It is associated with the Kingdom, is the main source [of] prophetic visions, and is presided over by Joseph, the interpreter of dreams.

Below the Earth spiritually are seven abysses, known as Gehenna, Death's Shadow, Death's Gate, Filth, Destructive Whirlpools, Place of Perdition and Sheol. Interpretations on these vary considerably; however, it is generally held that they are made up of tohu (impure earth), bohu (impure water), and darkness (opposite of fire). Associated with the heavens, and perhaps above them, are the seven hekhalot (palaces) in the merkavah (Divine Chariot). The seventh palace leads to the Throne of God, symbolized by sapphire and emerald. Here the souls of mystics travel outside of their bodies and rise up to the Veil of God. The veil is not physical, for God has no physical form; it is a symbol for the limitations of Man's comprehension of God.

Ennead Mentation: The Nine Visitations of God 6

Ten Sefirot as Process of Creation

According to Kabbalistic cosmology, Ten Sefirot (literally, Ten Numerations) correspond to ten levels of creation. These levels of creation must not be understood as ten different "gods" but as ten different ways of revealing God, one per level. It is not God who changes but the ability to perceive God that changes. While God may seem to exhibit dual natures (masculine-feminine, compassionate-judgmental, creator-creation), all adherents of Kabbalah have consistently stressed the ultimate unity of God. For example, in all discussions of Male and Female, the hidden nature of God exists above it all without limit, being called the Infinite or the "No End" (Ein Sof) - neither one nor the other, transcending any definition. The ability of God to become hidden from perception is called "Restriction" (Tsimtsum). Hiddenness makes creation possible because God can then become "revealed" in a diversity of limited ways, which then form the building blocks of creation.

Ten Sefirot and Physical Sciences

The Ten Sefirot mediate the interaction of the ultimate unknowable God with the physical and spiritual world. Some students of Kabbalah suggest that the Sefirot may be thought of as analogous to fundamental laws of physics. God's "Restriction" (Tsimtsum) within the spritual levels is often compared with the Big Bang in the lowest physical level. Just as the resulting gravity, electro-magnetism, strong nuclear force, and weak nuclear force allow for interactions between energy and matter, the Ten Sefirot allow for interactions between God and creation (Theory of Everything).

The Ten Sefirot are sometimes mentioned in the context of the Ten Dimensions that some physicists suspect the Superstring Theory may require.

Notable is the similarity between the concept in Kabbalah that the physical universe is made of divine light and the concept in Physics that it is made of energy.

Ten Sefirot as Process of Ethics

Divine creation by means of the Ten Sefirot is an ethical process. Examples: The Sefirah of "Compassion" (Chesed) being part of the Right Column corresponds to how God reveals more blessings when humans use previous blessings compassionately, whereas the Sefirah of "Overpowering" (Gevurah) being part of the Left Column corresponds to how God hides these blessings when humans abuse them selfishly without compassion. Thus human behavior determines if God seems present or absent. "Righteous" humans (Tzadikim) ascend these ethical qualities of the Ten Sefirot by doing righteous actions. If there were no "Righteous" humans, the blessings of God would become completely hidden, and creation would cease to exist. While real human actions are the "Foundation" (Yesod) of this universe (Malchut), these actions must accompany the conscious intention of compassion. Compassionate actions are often impossible without "Faith" (Emunah), meaning to trust that God always supports compassionate actions even when God seems hidden. Ultimately, it is necessary to show compassion toward oneself too in order to share compassion toward others. This "selfish" enjoyment of God's blessings but only if in order to empower oneself to assist others, is an important aspect of "Restriction", and is considered a kind of "golden mean" in Kabbalah, corresponding to the Sefirah of "Adornment" (Tiferet) being part of the "Middle Column".

Numerology

In a numerological sense, the Tree of Sephiroth also has significance. Between the 10 Sephiroth run 22 channels or paths which connect them, a number which can be associated with the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. In addition to each of this channels being assigned a letter of this alphabet, each path is also identified with one of the major trumps of the Tarot deck of symbolic cards [Minor Arcana: Stone(Pentacles), Sword(Swords), Cup(Cups), and Staff/Spear(Wands) of Destiny]. When combined with the 10 Sephiroth, these 22 paths make the number 32 which makes reference to the 32 Qabbalistic Paths of Wisdom and also the 32 degrees of Freemasonry.

To envision the tree, consider each of these ten spheres as being concentric circles with Malkuth being the innermost and all others encompassed by the latter. None of these are separate from the other, and all simply help to form a more complete view of the perfected whole. To speak simply, Malcuth is the Kingdom which is the physical world upon which we live and exist, while Kether, also call Kaether and Kaether Elyson is the Crown of this universe, representing the highest attainable understanding of God that men can understand.

Hypothetically there also exists an Eleventh Sephirah called Daath. It should be noted, however, that the first Qabbalists did not include any such sphere, making Daath a contested point of philosophical discussion. The Jewish Kabbalists that do accept this entity state that it is not a Sephirah, but rather that absence of one. In the Jewish tradition, the idea of an eleventh Sephirah is tantamount to blasphemy, as stated in the Sefer Yetzirah: "Ten Sephirot of Nothingness, ten and not nine, ten and not eleven.” [Ennead Mentation: The Nine Visitations of God 1-6 multiple sources, incl., Wikipedia]

Ennead Mentation: The Nine Visitations of God 1-6 Summary: web page

What's the Story on Numerology?

The Straight Dope article link

What's the Story on Numerology?

15-Nov-2005

First we need to define numerology. At a broad level, numerology is the idea that numbers are important to understanding the universe. This can take a variety of forms even today:

Science obviously believes numbers are important. The ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter, pi, shows up in an astounding variety of scientific formulae and situations. Other important numbers include the speed of light c, the gravitational constant g, and so forth.

Religion and superstition often assign importance to numbers. People play their "lucky numbers" in lotteries, or avoid unlucky numbers (like 13.) Three, seven, and ten are often viewed as "good luck" numbers in Western culture, while six, eight, and nine are viewed as lucky in China. Some find conspiracy or end-of-the-world theories are based on numeric coincidences (more later). Literature tends to use numbers from religion and superstition, to add levels of meaning. For example, the number three (an oft-repeated number from the Bible) appears often in Western literature, everywhere from the three little pigs to Macbeth's three witches.

Let's start with the ancient Babylonians, source of many number traditions. The Babylonians revered certain numbers--for example, 12 has many divisors and there are twelve new moons each year (usually), so they devised a calendar based on the number 12. That's why today we have 12 months in our calendar, 12 zodiac signs, 12 inches in a foot, etc.

The Babylonians used a sexagesimal (based on 60) system for numbers. Five and 12 were important, as exact divisors of 60. That's why we have 360 degrees in a circle. Seven was important, because 12 - 5 = 7, hence seven days in our week.. The Babylonian gods were represented by numbers and sacred figures -- Marduk was 11, Shamash was 20, Mu was 60, and so forth. In the 8th century BC, Sardon says that the perimeter of his palace (16,283 cubits) was equal to his name, implying that the Babylonians were drawing some sort of connection between numbers and names.

From Babylon we move to ancient Greece, roughly the 6th century BC, and a chap named Pythagoras. You know Pythagoras from the famous mathematical theorem about triangles, of course. He was born around 590 BC, possibly in Phoenicia, and seems to have traveled widely. He settled in southern Italy where he founded a religious/philosophical/mystical society around 520 BC, later called the Pythagorean School. He died around 500 BC.

The doctrines of the Pythagoreans were secret. Generally, they adhered to a strict ritualistic lifestyle wearing white clothing, eating a primarily vegetarian diet, and so forth. The purpose of the school was to understand the universe in terms of numbers. They thought that the world is built on the power of numbers, and that some of that power (magical, if you will) is inherent in the numbers themselves. They believed the universe is a harmonious whole, and that numbers (and geometry) are the keys to understanding the workings of the world.

To the Pythagoreans, the first ten digits were critical. One is the monad, the symbol of unity, stability, and wisdom. Two is the symbol of duality, polarity, and darkness. Three is peace and piety. Four is the base root of all life, the fountain of nature. Five is health. And so on.

The circle is the perfect form. Odd numbers are imperfect, and unity is the number that adds to even numbers to make them odd, or to odd numbers to make them even.

The Pythagoreans tied numbers (and geometry) into their life style and philosophy. To the Pythagoreans, anything (whether tangible or intangible) could be ultimately reduced to numbers and geometry. We can look down smugly on their simplistic notions, but think for a minute: all of modern science develops from the concept that mathematics can be used to describe the physical universe. That was the contribution of the Pythagorean school.

By the way, the Pythagoreans also developed the musical octave, tying numbers to music. (If you pluck a taut string, you get a musical note; if you double the length of the string, you get a note exactly one octave lower.) The ancient Greek alphabet had 27 letters, but there were no separate symbols for numbers. Thus, numbers were assigned to each letter: 1-9, 10-90, 100-900. That is, the first nine letters (an ennead) represented numbers 1 through 9; the next represented 10, 20, 30, etc., up to 90; and the last nine letters represented 100, 200, etc., up to 900. Archaeologists have found Greek coins and scrolls that use this system, dating back to the end of the fourth century BC.

If letters of the alphabet were used for numbers, then any name or word could be converted to numbers by adding the values of the separate letters. The Greeks called that process isopsephia.

Now we turn southward, from Greece to ancient Judea. Certainly by 1000 BC, Jewish storytellers and the earliest books of the Hebrew bible imparted meaning to numbers. For example, the number 40 appears often in the bible, to reflect generational change (or a change in the world). The number seven occurs over 500 times in the Hebrew Bible, to denote perfection. Ten is a number of completion, and so on.

Jewish scholars either borrowed or independently invented the Greek concept of isopsephia, which they called gematria. We don't know for sure the origin of the name--probably from the Greek geometria (earth-measures or geometry) or perhaps grammateia (letter-play).

The ancient Hebrew alphabet had 22 letters (depends on how and when you count, since some "final letters" were added later). The first nine letters represent numbers 1-9, the second nine letters represent 10-90, and the last four letters give 100, 200, 300, and 400. Higher numbers must be made from combinations of earlier amounts, so 800 = 400 repeated twice, etc. (One argument that the Hebrews did not invent gematria is that their alphabet runs out at 400, whereas the Greek alphabet gets us to 900.) The earliest Hebrew coins we have that use letters as numbers are dated a bit before 100 BC. Prior to that time, the Jews used Egyptian, Assyrian, and Babylonian numeric systems. But starting around around 100 BC and through around 600 AD, the use of Hebrew alphabetic numeration became increasingly common.

Jewish gematria starts with the observation that in the Bible, God creates the universe using words (a radical departure from other creation mythologies.) Consequently, words have power. There's the obvious power of words used in conversation, that can injure or heal feelings in human relationships. But the biblical creation story implied an inherent power of words to mold or change the physical universe.

The idea of converting words to numbers began as a tool for what we might call analysis of the biblical text: to decode hidden messages, to gain deeper insight into God's message, and perhaps to gain mystical insights.

Two quick examples of gematria and the variety of uses:

Textual interpretation: In Genesis 28:12, Jacob dreams of a ladder reaching from earth to heaven; the numerical value of "ladder" is the same as the numerical value of "Sinai"; hence the Ten Commandments revealed at Sinai are like a ladder leading from earth to heaven.

Medical: The word for "pregnancy" in Hebrew has numerical value 271, which is the number of days in a normal pregnancy. (Cool, eh?) Numerology soon moved from simply understanding biblical texts to mysticism and the use of words/numbers to achieve higher spiritualism or to work magic. The writings of Philo of Alexander (roughly 25 BC to 40 AD) are the earliest known that use numerology as a path to the occult, with a spattering of ordinary mystification.

From those beginnings, Jewish mysticism (usually called Kabala, sometimes spelled Cabala or Qabala or other variants) flourished primarily in the 11th-13th centuries AD. The word Kabala itself means "hidden wisdom." Kabalists rearranged the letters of biblical texts into squares and other geometric forms to read vertically, backwards, upside down, etc., to find hidden meanings in God's words. (Aside: The most recent incarnation of this concept is the book The Bible Code. There's little new under the sun.) The Kabalists enjoyed "magic squares," invented in ancient China, and brought to the Arabic world in the 10th century and thence to Europe.

For the Kabalist, one is unity and the symbol of God. Reversing the Pythagorean notions, Jewish mysticism teaches that two is dangerous, reflecting duality; and even inviting demons. Three is the number of perfection. So, don't do something twice, do it three times. The magic properties of three came from Judaism through Christianity (the Trinity) to suffuse Western culture. To the Kabalists, the number 5 can heal illness (by performing some ritual or drinking some potion or whatever five times, for instance.) The number 7 protects against evil magic, and so on. Thus, tying numbers to the physical universe was viewed as a means of changing or dealing with both natural and magical forces.

By the 14th and 15th centuries, Christian Kabalah arose. Christian Kabalists studied Hebrew literature and used the Hebrew text of the Old Testament to find clues or evidence that support Christian theology. Thus, the already noted frequent use of the number three in the Hebrew Bible as a prelude to the Trinity. Another quick example: the Hebrew word for "He created," the second word of the book of Genesis, is B-R-A, which can be read letter-by-letter: B stands for Bayn meaning Son, R stands for Ruakh, meaning Spirit; and A for aba meaning Father. Get it? This type of reasoning was ultimately dropped around the 1700s as not compatible with Christian dogma.

However, the fascination with numbers continued through the centuries. As fewer people learned Hebrew or Greek, there were efforts to use English in numerology. There's the basic problem that by the time English was developed, there were already separate symbols for numbers, borrowed from Arabic. There is therefore no generally agreed scheme for converting words to numbers. Modern numerologists have several different interpretations of how to convert the English alphabet to numbers, but usually some matrix such as:

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

This is very different from the ancient Greek and Hebrew approach, of course. Some Christian systems omit 9 from the tables, since 9 = 3 x 3 and is thus the Name of God.

From a cynical point of view, when everything stays in the realm of numbers from 1 to 9, it's a lot easier to set up astounding numerical correlations.

In modern times, numerologists are no longer so concerned with the magic that can be done by converting words to numbers. However, the belief in the mystic importance of numbers can still be found. For example, one reader told Cecil about a website that notes that the Supreme Court decision to remove the Ten Commandments from the Alabama courthouse was made on August 27, 2003. The sum of the digits of 8-27-2003 is 22 which is 2 x 11, and of course September 11, 2001 has an 11 in it, and was the date of the tragic attacks against the United States. The mystic connection between 11s proves conclusively that the United States Government has declared war on God.

OK, so there are a lot of loons out there.

Bottom line: there are only so many numbers in practical use. No, don't tell me about the infinite cardinality of the integers. We're usually dealing with numbers less than 1000, say; if your numerological result is more than 1000, you tend to add the digits to get a nice small number. And some systems only use numbers from 1 to 20. So, when you convert everything to one or two-digit numbers, lots of coincidences are bound to arise.

Did people actually take this sort of thing seriously? Do they still? Well, obviously, there are a few who still do. However, even going back many centuries, the play of numbers and words was often seen as an amusement, even in biblical interpretation, rather than as something dreadfully serious.

Nowadays, most people playing with numbers this way have their tongues firmly in cheeks. One of the books by Dr I J Matrix (a nom de plume of Martin Gardner) contains the following gem, which seems as good a place to end this report as any: The King James translation of the bible was published in the year 1611, when Shakespeare was 46. In the 46th psalm, the 46th word from the top is "Shake" and the 46th word from the bottom (discounting the liturgical instruction "selah") is "spear." What more proof could you need that Shakespeare wrote the KJV?

Partial bibliography:

Ifrah, Georges. From One to Zero: A Universal History of Numbers, 1985.

Diringer, David: The Alphabet: A Key to the History of Mankind, 1968.

Menninger, Karl. Number Words and Number Symbols: A Cultural History of Numbers, 1969.

--SDSTAFF, Dex

Straight Dope Science Advisory Board

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Numeric Ontology 2

Tarot, Astrology, Kabala and Numerology [TAKN] are sister disciplines. Under no conditions are they meant to be considered, studied, taught, or practiced separately as they, unfortunately, are today. ... Those who would practice esoterically must combine, and use, all four Arts together. ... the zodiac is not an external phenomenon but is, rather, an inner psychic apparatus. It is an inherent attribute of the individual and collective psyche, an encodation in our very genetic structure, an eidetic image within our Memory, an archetype indelibly embedded within the core of human minds. ... Of the four great Divination Arts, the Tarot is the most important and dynamic. It alone makes use of a rich palate of archetypal images, which resonate strongly with the deeper layers and dimensions of consciousness, and which, like mandalas or sacred yantras, serve as iconic guides on the road to self-realization and personal empowerment. ... The Gnostics knew and taught that we are each our own priests and priestesses. “When the 2 and 2 equal 1,” said the Pythagorean's, it is then that the true "Christ" will be born within you. Now, interestingly, the first card in the Major Arcana of the Tarot - the Magician, happens to depict a Hermetic Magi (Initiator) who is in the very process of uniting fourness into oneness. The four are represented by a Wand, a Cup, a Sword and a Disk, which sit upon his strange three-legged table. These objects represent the four elements (Fire, Water, Air and Earth), the four suits of the Tarot, and the four modalities of consciousness (Intellect, Emotion, Sensation and Intuition) - yes - but they also represent the four sister Divination disciplines which also require unification. In fact, one may argue that if the tools are not unified, how can the developing consciousness, which depends upon them for its "individuation", have a chance of actualizing that rare state? ... The Tarot can be considered to be one chapter, so to speak, of the greater book of symbolism. Its 78 pages of composite images, together with their geometrical, numerological, sabean and Astro-Theological motifs, open direct access to the inner Wisdom Body, to the “Living Oracle” within the Mind. ... the esoteric secrets of each (of the sister arts) remain concealed until they are used together [they are COMPREHENSION and DIAGNOSTIC (Gnosis) TOOLS (esoteric-holistic vs. exoteric application)]. The four great Arts of Divination, when correctly applied, provide the pertinent information we need to predict [acknowledge as indicants] and comprehend the variables, intensity and impact of what we will inevitably experience. Our own responses and reactions can be foretold, and as a result of the insight [in-sight, the sight within] afforded us, we can minimize the chance for wrong decisions and choices. [sourced from: The Inner Zodiac, with [inserts]]

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