Anibis
11-15-2006, 01:27 PM
I have moved this post in from the Gateway to Abrahadabra (http://forums.abrahadabra.com/showthread.php?t=481) thread, since it involves what I consider a more advanced technique with Abrahadabra (or at least, intermediate). So here is the thread, where those who are comfortable with the basic procedures can detail the higher level operations which Abrahadabra allows.
Learning to weave energy patterns via numbers is very important. It trains your concentration away from characters and more towards energy itself, where a deeper insight into character is typically revealed. Numbers has the advantage of not being caked in any kind of archetypal debris of any kind, or is at the very least minimalized as much as it can be. Numbers also provides a kind of psychological fall-back point, since you are still free to integrate names and phrases at will but whenever these become muddled or problematic (as they sometimes do) you can always return to the numbers method as a way of reorienting things.
We have sort of lost track of the "intelligence" of numbers over time, in part because many modern languages no longer emphasize this aspect of number itself. We have, rather, adopted a purely utilitarian attitude towards numbers which can make it difficult to really appreciate the wisdom of antiquity which more often than not regarded numbers in a much more personal sort of way. Working with numbers as a tantric (or magickal) weaving technique helps greatly to reorient ourselves to these lost relationships...this "forgotten" knowledge and conversation... And you never lose the more utilitarian aspects of numbers in doing this...this is just an integral part of who and what they are. But it allows you to kick the whole language system up a few notches to where you are able to commune with numbers on a much wider range of frequencies.
Did you know that 6 has a wicked sense of humor? Well it does...and really ALL numbers bear certain personality characteristics. Why that is exactly is a matter for much discussion, but understanding that there is much more to numbers than their "clinical" applications is very important to the practising mystic/mage etc...
m1thr0s
Yes, it seems that Math itself is much more that culturally overlayed system of aesthetics. You can at the very least rely on it to sort out what is a clean application of a formula like the Tree of Life, and what applications may have structural flaws. Not all systems are created equal. I get flack for saying that but it is true. Not all ships are well designed. When it comes to this sort of semiotic engineering we are basically building vehicles. It is important to keep structural concerns in mind. As such, the numbers are a very good place to turn in order to properly sort stuff out. A good example of this, which I mention alot, and which often gets a rather negative or null response is with the Tarot trumps labelled Strength and Justice. In some Tarots, Strength is numbered XI and Justice VIII, and in some cases, vice versa. So which is right, or are they both equally valid?
I would say that the correct attribution in this case is Strength as VIII and Justice as XI. Why? Well, because of chronology, and because of a whole class of elegant structures that emerge when this is the case, but do not emerge in other arrangements.
I'll give you the short version of this. There is a lovely symmetry which comes up when you take the Hebrew alphabet, lay it out in order and match each letter up with it's opposite (first with last second with penultimate, etc...). THis is a procedure known as AThBSh (Where Aleph and Tau, Beth and Shin and so on are all paired; if anyone has any gematrics with this, please share, I seem to recall one involving the term 'Baphomet'). Okay.
What comes about is that if you check the card assigned each letter and look at it's trump number, you'll have a number from 0-XXI. By comparing this to the opposite letter, you will get another Trump Number. (Eg: Aleph/Tau=0/XXI, Mem/Yod=XII/IX) In every case the two paired letters/trumps give the number XXI! There is one exception. If Atu XI is Strength (or Lust), and Atu VIII is Justice, then this symmetry never happens. SO what? Why do you need that symmetry anyways. Well, I won't tell anone else what they have to do but I will say that there is a profound mystery in the fact that the entire Tarot can be summed up as Eleven instances of the number XXI. First of all it places the entire tarot FIRMLY in 'The Universe', with no excess of deficiency. This grounds the Tarot nicely.
Secondly, if anyone has read 777 they may remember a little clue that Crowley tossed out: 'The Universe is the Hexagram'. Well, what does this mean, and can we demonstrate it. Well, it means what it says, and it is demonstrable as follows. 1+2+3+4+5+6=21! Simple. We can actually locate a blazing little hexagram at the heart of 21 (not to mention 3 'sevens' spinning about it as per the famous 'flaming sword!'). So NOW, we have Eleven such hexagrams, each with an upwards and a downwards triad. Well. if you recall each of these 21's was formed by two trumps? well now we see them fused together into an atomic unit (two letters each). VERY powerful. VERY clean. This whole array of hexagrams are also attributable to the letters of ABRAHADABRA, which brings us to the number eleven. This little beauty doesn't come out at all except if Strength and Justice are VIII and XI respectively. Try REsonating ABRAHADABRA both ways and compare. I personally find math more convincing than dogma, an appeals to Mystery. For that reason, I'd say that we have a situation in which a rigorous return to numbers lets us choose the better of two options in regards to a symbolic array. So it goes. Try this logic elswhere, if you would like, on Crowleys Star/Emperor switch for example, and see what you find.
If this is too difficult, please ask, and I will elaborate. I have assumed you know A) the Hebrew Alphabet B) the Trumps of the Tarot, and C) are familiar with some of the various debates as to arrangement of said figures...
-Ibisis
-Ibisis
Learning to weave energy patterns via numbers is very important. It trains your concentration away from characters and more towards energy itself, where a deeper insight into character is typically revealed. Numbers has the advantage of not being caked in any kind of archetypal debris of any kind, or is at the very least minimalized as much as it can be. Numbers also provides a kind of psychological fall-back point, since you are still free to integrate names and phrases at will but whenever these become muddled or problematic (as they sometimes do) you can always return to the numbers method as a way of reorienting things.
We have sort of lost track of the "intelligence" of numbers over time, in part because many modern languages no longer emphasize this aspect of number itself. We have, rather, adopted a purely utilitarian attitude towards numbers which can make it difficult to really appreciate the wisdom of antiquity which more often than not regarded numbers in a much more personal sort of way. Working with numbers as a tantric (or magickal) weaving technique helps greatly to reorient ourselves to these lost relationships...this "forgotten" knowledge and conversation... And you never lose the more utilitarian aspects of numbers in doing this...this is just an integral part of who and what they are. But it allows you to kick the whole language system up a few notches to where you are able to commune with numbers on a much wider range of frequencies.
Did you know that 6 has a wicked sense of humor? Well it does...and really ALL numbers bear certain personality characteristics. Why that is exactly is a matter for much discussion, but understanding that there is much more to numbers than their "clinical" applications is very important to the practising mystic/mage etc...
m1thr0s
Yes, it seems that Math itself is much more that culturally overlayed system of aesthetics. You can at the very least rely on it to sort out what is a clean application of a formula like the Tree of Life, and what applications may have structural flaws. Not all systems are created equal. I get flack for saying that but it is true. Not all ships are well designed. When it comes to this sort of semiotic engineering we are basically building vehicles. It is important to keep structural concerns in mind. As such, the numbers are a very good place to turn in order to properly sort stuff out. A good example of this, which I mention alot, and which often gets a rather negative or null response is with the Tarot trumps labelled Strength and Justice. In some Tarots, Strength is numbered XI and Justice VIII, and in some cases, vice versa. So which is right, or are they both equally valid?
I would say that the correct attribution in this case is Strength as VIII and Justice as XI. Why? Well, because of chronology, and because of a whole class of elegant structures that emerge when this is the case, but do not emerge in other arrangements.
I'll give you the short version of this. There is a lovely symmetry which comes up when you take the Hebrew alphabet, lay it out in order and match each letter up with it's opposite (first with last second with penultimate, etc...). THis is a procedure known as AThBSh (Where Aleph and Tau, Beth and Shin and so on are all paired; if anyone has any gematrics with this, please share, I seem to recall one involving the term 'Baphomet'). Okay.
What comes about is that if you check the card assigned each letter and look at it's trump number, you'll have a number from 0-XXI. By comparing this to the opposite letter, you will get another Trump Number. (Eg: Aleph/Tau=0/XXI, Mem/Yod=XII/IX) In every case the two paired letters/trumps give the number XXI! There is one exception. If Atu XI is Strength (or Lust), and Atu VIII is Justice, then this symmetry never happens. SO what? Why do you need that symmetry anyways. Well, I won't tell anone else what they have to do but I will say that there is a profound mystery in the fact that the entire Tarot can be summed up as Eleven instances of the number XXI. First of all it places the entire tarot FIRMLY in 'The Universe', with no excess of deficiency. This grounds the Tarot nicely.
Secondly, if anyone has read 777 they may remember a little clue that Crowley tossed out: 'The Universe is the Hexagram'. Well, what does this mean, and can we demonstrate it. Well, it means what it says, and it is demonstrable as follows. 1+2+3+4+5+6=21! Simple. We can actually locate a blazing little hexagram at the heart of 21 (not to mention 3 'sevens' spinning about it as per the famous 'flaming sword!'). So NOW, we have Eleven such hexagrams, each with an upwards and a downwards triad. Well. if you recall each of these 21's was formed by two trumps? well now we see them fused together into an atomic unit (two letters each). VERY powerful. VERY clean. This whole array of hexagrams are also attributable to the letters of ABRAHADABRA, which brings us to the number eleven. This little beauty doesn't come out at all except if Strength and Justice are VIII and XI respectively. Try REsonating ABRAHADABRA both ways and compare. I personally find math more convincing than dogma, an appeals to Mystery. For that reason, I'd say that we have a situation in which a rigorous return to numbers lets us choose the better of two options in regards to a symbolic array. So it goes. Try this logic elswhere, if you would like, on Crowleys Star/Emperor switch for example, and see what you find.
If this is too difficult, please ask, and I will elaborate. I have assumed you know A) the Hebrew Alphabet B) the Trumps of the Tarot, and C) are familiar with some of the various debates as to arrangement of said figures...
-Ibisis
-Ibisis