Symbolism Dictionary: Numbers
Numbers: See
UMS Divination Systems course to learn about divination with numbers.
0: An abstract concept, Zero represented the “complete
cycle and circle of all that is” and nothing at the same time (Shepherd,
2002). The Ancient Hindus and Mayans originally conceptualized zero (although
at two different ends of the planet), and the Hindus brought it to the
Arabs and Europe. It was important to the Kabbalah, where zero “represented
what existed before creation; it is therefore allied with divinity, yet
represents no-thing and infinity,” according to Rowena and Rupert
Shepherd in their book 1000 Symbols: What Shapes Mean In Art And
Myth (2002).
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1: One represents unity, totality, and the supreme deity of monotheistic religions. Rowena and Rupert Shepherd in their book 1000 Symbols: What Shapes Mean In Art And Myth (2002), explain, “the beginning and the first being, one represents primal beginnings and creation.” The Chinese character for one, a horizontal line also represents unity and “the source of everything” (Shepherd, 2002). It represents fire, Grandfather Sun, and creation in the Native American Earth Count. See Circle. |
2: Having obvious connections to duality, polarity, binary, and pairs, twos have been important in spirituality as twins and opposites such as God/Devil, earth/sky, male/female, good/evil, left/right. However, binary systems are a product of the linear mind and nature rarely abides by them. There is usually more than two options, and even the binaries that we think are the most fundamental like male/female do not pan out as natural laws (many cultures recognize more than two genders and sexes). None-the-less, the logical brain tends to categorize in religion and elsewhere. According to Rowena and Rupert Shepherd in their book 1000 Symbols: What Shapes Mean In Art And Myth (2002), “In Pythagorean theory, two represents the female principle.” Two represents the body, introspection, earth, death, and Grandmother Earth in the Native American Earth Count. See Twins.
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3: The number three, represented by the triangle, represents the trinity: God-Christ-Holy Spirit (Christian trinity); Maiden-Mother-Crone (the Triple Goddess); Creator-Preserver-Destroyer (the Triple Goddess); Brahma/creator-Vishnu/preserver-Shiva/destroyer (the Hindu Trimurti); Isis-Osiris-Horus (Egyptian); heaven-earth-humanity (Chinese philosophy); and more. Rowena and Rupert Shepherd in their book 1000 Symbols: What Shapes Mean In Art And Myth (2002), state, “In many cultures it represents divine triumvirates.” Pythagorean theory believes three represents harmony and the union of unity and diversity. The right-side up triangle represents masculinity and virility and the up-side down triangle represents femininity and fertility. In Islam it represents the soul, and it represents emotions and water in the Native American Earth Count. See Triangle. |
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4: Represented by the square (left), four represents perfection in Pythagorean theory. According to Rowena and Rupert Shepherd in their book 1000 Symbols: What Shapes Mean In Art And Myth (2002), “Related to the square, four represents matter, solidity and stability.” There are four seasons: winter, spring, summer, fall, marked by two equinoxes and two solstices in the Wiccan tradition; there are four elements: fire, water, earth, air, in the Greco-Roman tradition; four Humours in Islam; four Evangelists in Christianity. For Some Japanese and Chinese it is a homonym for “death” and a taboo number. Four symbolizes balance and harmony in the Native American Earth Count. See Seasons. |
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5: Represented by the pentagram (five-pointed star) or pentagon (left), five represents the “perfect number of man,” in the Pythagorean theory (Shepherd, 2002). Humans have five senses, five fingers and toes, and, spread out like DaVinci’s Viturian Man, humans fit within a pentagram with four limbs and a head. Christ received five wounds at his crucifixion; there are five pillars of Islamic piety; both India, China, and Islamic mysteries recognize five elements (fire, air, earth, water, and ether); the Quintessence of the hermetic mysteries likewise recognizes a fifth essence or element of spirit. |
The number five was sacred to the Marians “because it was the number of petals in the rose, and also in the apple blossom—another virginity-symbol—giving rise to the five lobes of the mature apple, the corresponding symbol of [virginity], motherhood, fruition, regeneration, and eternal life,” according to Barbara Walker in her book The Woman’s Encyclopedia Of Myths And Secrets (1983). A significant aspect of the apple to witches and gypsies is the five-pointed “star” of apple seeds in the core of the apple when cut transversely, and relates to mythology about the Virgin Kore (Core) within her Earth Mother Demeter. Walker (1983) explains, “The five-pointed star in a circle was the Egyptian hieroglyph for the underworld womb, where resurrection was brought about by the mother-heart of ‘transformations.’” Thus, among gypsies and pagans the apple symbolized a sacred union. Five represents “sacred human who makes the bridge between earth and sky, past and future, and the material and spirit worlds” in the Native American Earth Count, according to Rowena and Rupert Shepherd in their book 1000 Symbols: What Shapes Mean In Art And Myth (2002). The pentagon symbolizes the fifth sephira on the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, Geburah, which represents severity, justice, war and the planet Mars. See Pentagram.
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6: Represented by the hexagram, six represents harmony and balance, associated with the Cabala’s sixth sefirah, Tifereth, and the harmonizing sphere of the Tree of Life. According to Rowena and Rupert Shepherd in their book 1000 Symbols: What Shapes Mean In Art And Myth (2002), in relation to the cube it represents matter and three-dimensionality and “in Pythagorean theory it represents justice.” Barbara Walker in her book, The Woman’s Encyclopedia Of Myths And Secrets (1983) explains, “Six was everywhere the number of sex, representing the union between the Triple Goddess and her trident-bearing consort, which is why Christian authorities called six ‘the number of sin.’” |
The name of a witch’s
spell, the Hex is associated with the number six, from the Greek hex
and the symbol for a hex is hexagonal. The hexagram represents the union
of male and female, the philosophers stone of fire and water, and God’s
protection of the Jewish people. Judeo-Christian mythology states that
it took six days to create the earth; 666 is the number of the beast
of the apocalypse; in Buddhism there are six perfections and realms of
existence. Six represents the ancestors in the Native American Earth
Count.
7: Seven is a universally significant number. In Judeo-Christian
mythology it is the number of days in a week, the seventh being the
day of rest, and according to Rowena and Rupert Shepherd in their book 1000
Symbols: What Shapes Mean In Art And Myth (2002), “For Christians
it is the number of Virtues, of deadly sins, sacraments, joys and sorrows
of the Virgin, among others.” There are seven chakras; the Egyptians
believed that the Sevenfold Hathor endowed each person with seven souls;
there are seven heavens in the Malayan Semai tradition; their was seven
planets in the original astrology (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn,
Moon, and Sun); the seven branches of the Jewish Menorah (the sacred
candelabrum) represent creation, the planets, and the seven heavens;
there are seven stars in Ursa Major (important to the Chinese and others).
Seven represents the Dream of Life in the Native American Earth Count.
See Menorah.
8: Eight is the number of petals of the lotus and
the spokes of the dharmachakra wheel, both important to Buddhism,
symbolizing the path of spiritual perfection. In Chinese tradition
there are eight directions, Eight Immortals and Eight Precious Things;
Jesus in his Sermon on the Mount gave eight Beatitudes (blessings);
there are eight rays on the star that represents the Babylonian Goddess
of love and war Innana and the Greek Goddess of love Aphrodite (Shepherd,
2002). Eight represents Natural Law in the Native American Earth Count.
9: Rowena and Rupert Shepherd in their book 1000
Symbols: What Shapes Mean In Art And Myth (2002) states, “The
tripling of the triple, nine represents the powerful multiplication
of the symbolism of three.” Nine represents yang in Chinese tradition
and is the number of the directions (eight) plus the center. It represents
the moon, rhythms, cycles, changes, and movement in the Native American
Earth Count.
10: Another abstract number, ten is the basis of the
decimal system. Rowena and Rupert Shepherd in their book 1000 Symbols:
What Shapes Mean In Art And Myth (2002) state, “ten represents
completion and the return to unity. As it is the sum of one, two, three
and four, Pythagoreans considered ten to be a numerical version of
the quintessence, with divine power, it was sometimes represented as
a triangle of dots (four to each side and one in the middle) called
the Tetrakys.” God gave Moses Ten Commandments and ten
represents the collective mind in the Native American Earth Count.
11: There were 11 faithful apostles to Christ and
in the Native American Earth Count it represents the “Stars,
or ‘Star Nations,’ and the ability to travel to them; by
extension, it means altered states of consciousness,” according
to Rowena and Rupert Shepherd in their book 1000 Symbols: What
Shapes Mean In Art And Myth (2002).
12/13: The number 12 pops up in often in religious
and spiritual tradition. The 12 apostles of Christ; the 12 tribes of
Israel; the 12 signs of the zodiac; 12 months of the sun calendar;
the Mayan calendar predicts the year 2012 will be the pivotal year
for colossal world change. Twelve represents the twelve planets and
twelve winds in the Native American Earth Count. However, the number
13 is also significant and many of these famous 12’s are speculated
to be 13’s, such as the missing 13th tribe of Israel; it is the
traditional number of witches in a coven; Mary Magdalene as the 13th
Apostle of Christ, there were 13 present at the last supper (making
13 unlucky to Christians); when the Gregorian calendar was being created
their were originally 13 months, like most moon calendars, including
the Mayan (13 months of 28 days) but one was taken out. Christian’s
feared the number thirteen and prize the number 12. Barbara Walker,
author of The Woman’s Encyclopedia Of Myths And Secrets (1983),
states, “In general, the symbols of ancient matriarchy came to
be known as night, the moon, and the number 13, while those of patriarchy
were day, the sun, and the number 12.” Thirteen represents the
Goddess Mother in the Native American Earth Count (Shepherd, 2002).
40: Significant to Ancient Mesopotamia, “the
new year was celebrated forty days after the Pleiades had disappeared
under the horizon,” according to Rowena and Rupert Shepherd in
their book 1000 Symbols: What Shapes Mean In Art And Myth (2002).
The significance of forty carried into the bible, first with the forty
nights and days of the flood, Moses received the Ten Commandments after
forty nights and days waiting on Mount Sinai, similarly Christ fasted
for forty nights and days in the desert, Exodus lasted forty years,
and Christ resurrected and appeared to his disciples forty days after
his death.
52: The number of weeks in a year (including the Mayan
calendar).
108: The number of beads on Hindu and Buddhist Prayer
Beads, it ensures that the prayer is spoken at least 100 times (Shepherd,
2002).
360: As the number of degrees in a circle, 360 represents
perfection and completion of a cycle.
Ten Thousand: Japanese wish the emperor a long life
with the affirmation “banzai” which means “ten thousand
years.” Rowena and Rupert Shepherd in their book 1000 Symbols:
What Shapes Mean In Art And Myth (2002) explains, “In the Dao
De Jing, ten thousand means ‘all.’”
One Hundred Thousand: As a number too huge to conceptualize,
One Hundred Thousand represents infinity. Rowena and Rupert Shepherd
in their book 1000 Symbols: What Shapes Mean In Art And Myth (2002)
explains, “in early cultures this symbolized a high number, considered
beyond reckoning: it became a standard term for infinity.” In
todays culture, perhaps 1 trillion would be similar in its effectiveness
to convey the idea of infinity.