Math for Mystics

1. Numbers as Pathways: Ancient Wisdom Unveiled

Yet despite how we personally feel about mathematics, our distant ancestors willingly used numbers as pathways into the great patterns of Nature, avenues to understanding the Universe and their own place in it.

Ancient cultures and math. Our ancestors saw numbers as more than just tools for calculation; they were keys to understanding the universe. Many cultures credited gods and goddesses with inventing mathematical skills, using these skills to explore the patterns of nature and their place within it. This metaphysical motivation drove the development of mathematics, linking the practical and spiritual worlds.

Astrology and timekeeping. Early astrologers needed math to record and describe celestial events, blurring the lines between astrology and astronomy. Timekeeping was crucial for agriculture, navigation, and ritual practices. Mistaking numerical patterns could lead to poisoning, spoiled rituals, or starvation.

Expressing order and intelligence. Ancestors sought a language to express the order they sensed in their surroundings. Music, speech, weaving, architecture, and the movement of stars all required a grasp of space, form, and dimension, which could be expressed numerically. The Mayan glyphs and Pacific Islander chants are examples of creative methods used to record calendars and navigate the open sea.

2. The Circle of Creation: A Portal to Understanding

This circle, this Zero, can be a doorway, a portal.

Human form and experience. The book begins with the concept of the circle, representing the circle of creation and our own form. Our satisfaction in life depends on how well we understand and work with the "equipment" we inhabit, both physically and spiritually. This exploration draws from ancestral attempts to understand the human condition and the world around us.

Beyond logic. The senses and heart are crucial for connecting with reality, but modern culture often prioritizes logic. Intuition, a vital survival tool, has been denounced, leading to a distrust of our instincts. Logic, while valuable, should not be divorced from heart and spirit.

Reassembling the self. Zero, as a circle, symbolizes wholeness and continuity. It serves as a protective space where we can retrain our intuition and reapproach numbers and math with imagination. The real act of magic is the reassembly of self, where intuition and logic become allies.

3. Counting and Time: Rituals of Rhythm and Reason

Our word ritual comes from the Indo-European root ri, which means “to count, to number.”

Sacred connotations of counting. Counting on fingers once had sacred connotations, and knowing the number of things was an act of magic. The word "ritual" itself comes from the Indo-European root "ri," meaning "to count," reflecting the use of rites to mark the seasons. This suggests an inherent aptitude for timekeeping and calculating.

Finger-counting and mudras. Even before written numbers, people enumerated quantities using notches, stones, or fingers. The Sanskrit word for "finger-counting" is mÛdrâ, closely related to mudrâ, the symbolic hand gestures in Hindu religious statuary and dance. Rhythm, as body-knowledge, is a primal form of counting.

Zero and the Arabic numerals. The introduction of Indian numbers, including zero, revolutionized mathematics. The "tenth figure in the shape of a circle" was crucial for decimal numeration. Although initially viewed with suspicion, these numerals eventually spread throughout the Arab world and Europe, transforming mathematics and astrology.

4. Lunar Rhythms: Moon Phases and Metaphysical Correspondences

The Moon's cycle isn't really 28 days.

Lunar cycle and physiology. The Moon's cycle, from New Moon to New Moon, is between 29 and 30 days, averaging 29.53 days. The menstrual cycle is still called the "moon time," but artificial lights in industrialized nations may have disrupted women's harmony with the lunar cycle.

Synodic and sidereal months. The synodic month is the Moon's cycle in relation to the Sun, while the sidereal month is based on the relation to the stars. The Full Moon progresses through the zodiac, happening when the Sun and Moon are in opposite signs.

Tracking the Moon's phases. The New Moon, when the Moon and Sun are conjunct, is not visible. The first visible crescent, "Diana's Bow," marks the beginning of the lunar cycle. Tracking the Moon's phases from right to left, using the right hand for waxing and the left hand for waning, can enhance our connection to its energies.

5. Measurements: Personalizing Space and Form

We can each use our body's own dimensions to delineate space.

Human body as a measuring device. We can use our own body dimensions to measure space, a practice standardized over centuries. These personalized measurements are portable and humanize our environment. Examples include using one's foot-length, hand-span, or cubit.

Examples of personal measurements:

• Foot: Five heel-to-toe steps in each direction create a square with 28 footsteps around the edges.
• Hand: Used to measure the height of a horse, or a "handful" of an ingredient in old recipes.
• Span: The measurement of your hand with thumb and fingers widely extended, used to determine the length of divining sticks.
• Fathom: The distance from fingertip to fingertip, equal to the length of one's own foot multiplied by 7.
• Cubit: The measurement from your elbow to the tip of your middle finger, often equal to two hand spans.

Creative applications. Personal measurements can be incorporated into spellwork, talismans, charms, garments, and tools. Personalizing these items imbues them with powerful ties to our own imaginations, associations, bodies, and beliefs.

6. Days of the Week: Planetary Influences and Practical Magic

Different areas of influence were attributed to each deity and each planet, and because there were seven planets, we have a 7-day week.

Planetary origins of the week. The 7-day week is derived from the seven celestial bodies known to the ancients: Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. Each day is associated with a specific deity and planet, influencing our magical practices and decisions about when to perform certain types of spellwork.

Themes and activities for each day:

• Sunday (Sun): Illumination, success, vitality, new beginnings, leadership, career advancement, physical healing.
• Monday (Moon): Imagination, dreams, psychic knowledge, emotional health, childbirth, female fertility.
• Tuesday (Mars): Action, victory, strength, machinery, vehicles, commercial cooking, blessings for cars and machines.
• Wednesday (Mercury): Communications, divination, eloquence, travel protection, study, creative thinking, business endeavors.
• Thursday (Jupiter): Spiritual growth, material gain, community work, wise decision making, legal cases.
• Friday (Venus): Love, passion, harmony, beauty, fertility, the arts, romance, creativity.
• Saturday (Saturn): Boundaries, protection, stability, closure, understanding karmic issues, healing family wounds.

Trusting intuition. While traditional associations are helpful, it's essential to trust your intuition when choosing a day for spellwork. The Higher Powers respond to honest appeals from the heart, and your personal connection to a day matters more than strict adherence to tradition.

7. Magical Squares: Ancient Grids for Focused Intention

When you draw your own square, use the numbering sequence as a meditation.

Planetary squares and their history. Magical squares, also known as Planetary Squares, Seals, Kamea, or Tables, date back thousands of years. The earliest known square, the 3x3 Square of Saturn, is known in China as Lo Shu. These squares have been used for various purposes, from divination to encoding recipes.

Creating and using the squares. The power of these squares lies in the act of creating them, one number at a time, as a meditation. Each square is associated with a specific planet and can be used to enhance certain qualities or intentions. The numbering sequence should be followed with focused intention.

Steps for using the squares:

1. Choose the planet whose themes align with your intention.
2. Select a key word or short phrase.
3. Convert the letters of the phrase into numbers using an alphabet key.
4. Trace the numbers onto the square, creating a unique line pattern.
5. Inscribe the lines onto the square with focused intention.

8. Knights Templar: Chessboard Codes and Hidden Knowledge

The code is keyed to 128 specific letters in one of the parchments discovered by Bérenger Saunière.

Templar history and Rennes-le-Château. The Knights Templar, a powerful and enigmatic order, are linked to the Merovingian bloodline and the mysteries of Rennes-le-Château. The story involves hidden treasures, coded messages, and a priest named Bérenger Saunière who mysteriously acquired wealth.

The Marie de Nègre d'Arles stele. The stele on the grave of Marie de Nègre d'Arles contains intentional misspellings believed to be part of a code. This code is keyed to 128 specific letters in one of the parchments discovered by Bérenger Saunière.

The Knight's Tour and the code. The cipher is worked using a 1-to-25 letter chart. Slowly, the value of each parchment code-letter is added to the value of a letter from the “MORT épée” phrase, then to the value of a letter from the complete misspelled phrase on Marie's grave, rendered into numbers and written backwards. The alleged result is an alphabet-soup of 128 new letters, which are written onto two chessboards, left to right and top to bottom, on the first board, and left to right, bottom to top on the second. The Knight is put through his paces, first on one board, and then—identically, but as if seen in a horizontal reflection—on the other board, spelling out new words by the order in which each move occurs.

9. Shapes and Numbers Meditation: Visualizing the Divine

In your mind's eye, see a straight, flat line.

Meditation instructions. This meditation involves visualizing simple shapes associated with numbers and elements. The process includes seeing a straight line, curving it into a circle, reshaping it into a crescent moon, and transforming it into triangles and squares.

Symbolism of the shapes:

• Horizontal Line: The horizon, representing earthly reality.
• Circle: Air, the East, and the dawn Sun, symbolizing unity and continuity.
• Crescent: Water, the West, and the new Crescent Moon, representing emotions and intuition.
• Up-pointing Triangle: Fire, the South, and male energies, symbolizing action and will.
• Square: Earth, the North, and stability, representing grounding and manifestation.
• Down-pointing Triangle: Female energies, representing receptivity and nurturing.
• Heart: Connection, love, and compassion.
• Vertical Line: The connection between Earth and Sky, representing spiritual connection.

Kabbalah and the Tree of Life. The Kabbalistic Tree of Life, with its ten sephiroth and twenty-two pathways, is a complex symbol that connects numbers, letters, and Tarot cards. Each sephiroth has its own meaning, representing different aspects of the divine and human experience.

10. Pythagoras: Harmony, Numbers, and the Universe

To the Pythagoreans, this dot-Athene symbolized health, light, and intelligence.

Pythagoras and his teachings. Pythagoras, born around 572 BCE, was a mathematician and philosopher who profoundly influenced metaphysical thought. He traveled widely before settling in Crotona, where he taught his disciples about music, harmony, number symbolism, and geometry.

Dot patterns and the Tetraktys. Pythagorean math can be expressed through groups of dots, forming squares and triangles. The ten-dot triangle, or Tetraktys, was held in particular reverence, representing the sum of uniqueness, polarity, harmony, and space/matter.

The Pythagorean triangle. The 3-4-5-sided Pythagorean triangle was valued as an expression of order and harmony. Its sides and area embody symbolic meanings, and the sum of the squares of its two shorter sides equals the square of its long side.

11. Fibonacci and the Golden Ratio: Nature's Divine Proportion

Any number in the Fibonacci series divided by the one right before it yields approximately 1.618 …

Fibonacci sequence and its properties. The Fibonacci sequence, where each number is the sum of the two preceding numbers (0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, ...), reveals the Golden Ratio. Dividing any number in the series by the one before it yields approximately 1.618, while dividing by the one after it yields approximately 0.618.

The Golden Ratio in nature. The Golden Ratio is found throughout nature, from the arrangement of petals on flowers to the spiral patterns of seashells. It is also present in the human body, influencing proportions and dimensions.

Creating a pentacle with the Golden Ratio. The Golden Ratio is the foundation of the pentacle, repeated throughout the symbol in shifting sizes. By using Pythagorean triangles and extending lines from a pentagon, we can create a pentacle that embodies the underlying harmonies of form and interconnection.

12. Geometric Solids: Building Blocks of Creation

Math can't convey the scent of a flowering apple tree, but we can count five petals on each blossom.

Platonic solids and their elements. The geometric "Platonic solids" are simple but significant shapes: tetrahedron, cube, octahedron, icosahedron, and dodecahedron. Plato associated these shapes with the elements of Fire, Earth, Air, Water, and Æther, viewing them as the building blocks of creation.

Symbolism of the solids:

• Tetrahedron (Fire): Willpower, courage, passion.
• Cube (Earth): Stability, power, manifestation.
• Octahedron (Air): Intellect, inspiration, new beginnings.
• Icosahedron (Water): Emotion, dreams, intuitions.
• Dodecahedron (Spirit/Ether): Divine connection, immanence.

Practical applications. Creating or finding physical representations of these solids can enhance our understanding of their forms and symbolism. These shapes can be made from drinking straws, carved from crystal, or assembled from kits.

Last updated: February 23, 2025