Numbers - Their Occult Power And Mystic Virtues E-Book

William Wynn Westcott

• Herausgeber: William Wynn Westcott
• Kategorie: Ratgeber
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Beschreibung

The first edition of this little book has been long out of print, and for several years, I have been asked to enlarge it, but until the present time sufficient leisure has not been found to collect the additional matter which seemed desirable. This essay on Numbers now appears as Volume IX of my Series entitled "Collectanea Hermetica," of which it seem to form a suitable part, and I am hopeful that it maybe as well received by students of mystic philosophy as the previous volumes which treated of Alchemy, in the Hermetic Arcanum, Hermetic Art, Euphrates and Aesch Metzareph; the Dream of Scipio and the Golden verses of the Pythagoreans, the Pymander of Hermes and Egyptian Magic.

Leseprobe

Numbers - Their Occult Power And Mystic Virtues

William Wynn Westcott

First digital edition 2016 by Anna Ruggieri

INDEX

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION, 1890

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION, 1902

PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION, 1911

PART ONE

CHAPTER ONE

PYTHAGORAS, HIS TENETS & HIS FOLLOWERS

PART TWO

CHAPTER TWO

PYTHAGOREAN VIEWS ON NUMBERS

PART THREE

CHAPTER THREE

THE QABALAH ON NUMBERS

TABLE OF GREEK AND HEBREW LETTERS

MAGIC SQUARE OF MARS

PART FOUR

CHAPTER FOUR

THE INDIVIDUAL NUMERALS

THE MONAD, ONE,

CHAPTER FIVE

THE DYAD. TWO, 2

CHAPTER SIX

THE TRIAD. THREE, 3

CHAPTER SEVEN

THREE AND A HALF, 3 1/ 2

CHAPTER EIGHT

THE TETRAD, FOUR, 4

CHAPTER NINE

THE PENTAD, FIVE, 5

CHAPTER TEN

THE HEXAD, SIX, 6

CHAPTER ELEVEN

THE HEPTAD, SEVEN, 7

TABLE OF PLANETS, ANIMALS AND METALS

ANCIENT TABLE OF PLANETS AND NUMBERS

CHAPTER TWELVE

THE OGDOAD, EIGHT, 8

PLANETARY RATIO TABLE OF TONES

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

THE ENNEAD, NINE, 9

TABLE OF PLANETS AND NUMBERS

TABLE OF ZODIACAL SIGNS & NUMBERS

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

THE DECAD, TEN, 10

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

ELEVEN, 11

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

TWELVE, 12

TABLE OF BIRDS, ANIMALS AND FLOWERS

TABLE OF COLORS & ZODIAC SIGNS

TABLE OF ZODIAC WITH SEX, DAY & NIGHT

TABLE OF ZODIAC & DIRECTIONS

TABLE OF ZODIAC AND PLANETS

TABLE OF 12 PERMUTATIONS OF IHVH

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

THIRTEEN, 13

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

SOME HINDU USES OF NUMBERS

CHAPTER NINETEEN

OTHER HIGHER NUMBERS

CHAPTER TWENTY

THE APOCALYPTIC NUMBERS

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION, 1890

Seven years have passed since this essay was written, and the MSS. pages have been lent to many friends and students of mystic lore and occult meanings. It is only at the earnest request of these kindly critics that I have consented to publish this volume. The contents are necessarily of a fragmentary character, and have been collected from an immense number of sources; the original matter has been intentionally reduced to the least possible quantity, so as to obtain space for the inclusion of the utmost amount of ancient, quaint and occult learning. It is impossible to give even an approximate list of works which have been consulted; direct quotations have been acknowledged in numerous instances, and (perhaps naturally) many a statement might have been equally well quoted from the book of a contemporary author, a mediaeval monk, a Roman historian, a Greek poet, or a Hindu Adept. To give the credit to the modern author would not be fair to the ancient sage, to refer the reader to a Sanskrit tome would be in most cases only loss of time and waste of paper. My great difficulty has been to supply information mystic enough to match the ideal of the work, and yet not so esoteric as to convey truths which Adepts have still concealed. I must apologize for the barbarous appearance of foreign words; but it was not found practicable to supply Sanskrit, Coptic, Chaldee and Greek type, so the words have had to be transliterated. Hebrew and Chaldee should of course be read from right to left, and it was at first intended so to print them in their converted form, but the appearance of Hebrew in English letters reversed was too grotesque; ADNI is a representation of the Aleph, Daleth, Nun, Yod, of “Adonai,” but INDA would have been sheer barbarity. In the case of Hebrew words I have often added the pronunciation. The “Secret Doctrine” of H. P. Blavatsky, a work of erudition containing a vast fund of archaic doctrine, has supplied me with valuable quotations. If any readers desire a deeper insight into the analogies between numbers and ideas, I refer them in addition to the works of Eliphas Levi, Athanasius Kircher, Godfrey Higgins, Michael Maier and John Heydon. I have quoted from each of these authorities, and Thomas Taylor’s “Theoretic Arithmetic” has supplied me with a great part of the purely arithmetical notions of the Pythagoreans, the elucidation of which was mainly due to him. I conclusion, I request my readers, --- Aut perlege et recte intellige, Aut abstine a censura.

W. Wynn Westcott P

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION, 1902

The first edition of this little book has been long out of print, and for several years, I have been asked to enlarge it, but until the present time sufficient leisure has not been found to collect the additional matter which seemed desirable. This essay on Numbers now appears as Volume IX of my Series entitled “ Collectanea Hermetica,” of which it seem to form a suitable part, and I am hopeful that it may be as well received by students of mystic philosophy as the previous volumes which treated of Alchemy, in the Hermetic Arcanum, Hermetic Art, Euphrates and Aesch Metzareph; the Dream of Scipio and the Golden verses of the Pythagoreans, the Pymander of Hermes and Egyptian Magic. I have added in this edition many notes on the notions of the Rabbis of Israel, both from those who contributed to the Mishnah and Gemara of the Talmuds of Jerusalem and of Babylon, and from the Rabbis who made a special study of the Kabalah. Only a few Talmudic treatises have as yet appeared in the English language, and hardly any Kabalistic tracts, except three from the Zohar or Book of Splendour, viz., the Siphra Dtzenioutha, the Idra Rabba and the Idra Suta. Many Talmudic and Kabalistic quotations may, however, be found in J. P. Stehelin’s Rabbinical Literature of 1748; in John Allen’s “Modern Judaism,” of 1816, and in works on the Kabalah by Adolph Franck and Christian Ginsburg, while Hershon has published Hebraic lore in his “ Talmudic Miscellany,” and “Genesis, According to the Talmud.” The “Midrash ha Zohar” of D. H. Joel, Leipzig, 1849, narrates the relation between the Kabalah and Platonism, Neo-Platonism, Greek philosophy and the Zoroastrian doctrines of the Parsees. Perhaps the oldest extant Kabalistic Book is the “ Sepher Yetzirah,” or “ Book of Formation,” an English translation of which has appeared in three editions from the Author’s own pen. The fundamentals of the numerical Kabalistic ideas on creation are laid down in that treatise; it has also been printed both in French and German, and there is an American edition. Upon the mathematical aspect of Numbers, readers may consult for further detail in the works of Gauss, "Disquisitiones Arithmeticae,” 1801; Legendre, “ Theorie des Nombres,” 1830; W. G. O. Smith, “ Reports on the Theory of Numbers,” in the “ Transactions of the British Association,” 1859; James Ozanam, “Mathematical Recreations,” 1710, translated by Hutton in 1814; Snart, “ The Power of Numbers;” and Barlow’s “ Investigations of the Theory of Numbers.” For further information on Hindu philosophy, see “ The Theosophical Glossary” of H. P. Blavatsky, the works of Tukaram Tatya, and modern translations of the Vedas, Puranas and Upanishads, also Rama Prasad’s “Nature’s Finer Forces.” “ Lamaism in Tibet,” 1895, by Dr. Laurence Austine Waddell, is a very learned work; it contains a vast store of information on the numerical occult lore of the Lamas and Buddhists. Upon Egyptian Numbers consult the works of E. A. Wallis Budge; Flinders Petrie; Sir John Gardner Wilkinson; “ Life in Ancient Egypt,” by Adolf Erman; and “ Egyptian Belief,” by James Bonwick. Mystics will find much food for thought in the Yi-King, a very curious product of ancient Chinese lore. The Gnostic philosophy has a deep numerical basis, and the works of C. W. King and G. R. S. Mead my be suitably studied. Many volumes of “ Bijou Notes and Queries” have been published by S. C. Gould of Manchester, USA, and these are full of numerical ideas. I am prepared to find that critics will declare this volume to be an undigested collection of heterogeneous information, still I prefer to leave the data in their present form; for there is a scheme of instruction running through it, which will be recognized by students of certain schools, and others will be able to find a basis for a general knowledge of numbers viewed from the standpoint of occult science.

W. Wynn Westcott

PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION, 1911

A few corrections have been made and interesting notes have been added; many of these have been supplied by my pupils and fellow-students of the Rosicrucian Society.

W. Wynn Westcott

PART ONE - CHAPTER ONE. PYTHAGORAS, HIS TENETS & HIS FOLLOWERS

Pythagoras, one of the greatest philosophers of ancient Europe, was the son of Mnesarchus, an engraver. He was born about the year 580 B.C., either at Samos, an island in the Aegean Sea, or, as some say, at Sidon in Phoenicia. Very little is known of his early life, beyond the fact that he won prizes for feats of agility at the Olympic Games. Having attained manhood and feeling dissatisfied with the amount of knowledge to be gained at home, he left his native land and spent many years in travel, visiting in turn most of the great centers of Learning. History narrates that his pilgrimage in search of wisdom extended to Egypt, Hindostan, Persia, Crete and Palestine, and that he gathered from each country fresh stores of information, and succeeded in becoming well acquainted with the Esoteric Wisdom as well as with the popular exoteric knowledge of each. He returned with his mind well stored and his judgment matured, to his home, intending to open there a College of learning, but this he found to be impracticable owing to the opposition of its turbulent ruler Polycrates. Failing in this design, he migrated to Crotona, a noted city in Magna Graecia, which was a colony founded by Dorians on the South coast of Italy. It was here that this ever-famous Philosopher founded his College or Society of Students, which became known all over the civilized world as the central assembly of the learned of Europe; and here it was in secret conclave that Pythagoras taught that occult wisdom which he had gathered from the Gymnosophists and Brahmins of India, from the Hierophants of Egypt, the Oracle of Delphi, the Idaen cave, and from the Kabalah of the Hebrew Rabbis and Chaldean Magi. For nearly forty years he taught his pupils, and exhibited his wonderful powers; but an end was put to his institution, and he himself was forced to flee from the city, owing to a conspiracy and rebellion which arose on account of a quarrel between the people of Crotona and the inhabitants of Sybaris. He succeeded in reaching Metapontum, where he is said to have died about the year of 500 B.C. Among the ancient authors from whom we derive our knowledge of the life and doctrines of Pythagoras and his successors, the following are notable:

1. B.C. 450. Herodotus, who speaks to the mysteries of the Pythagoreans as similar to those of Orpheus.

2 . B.C. 394. Archytas of Tarentum, who left a fragment upon Pythagorean Arithmetic.

3 . B.C. 380. Theon of Smyrna.

4 . B.C. 370. Philolaus. From three books of this author it is believed that Plato compiled his book Timaeus; he was probably the first who committed to writing the doctrines of Pythagoras.

5. B.C. 322. Aristotle. Refer to his “Metaphysica,” “Moralia Magna,” and “Nicomachean Ethics.” Nicomachus of Stagyra was his father.

6 . B.C. 276. Eratosthenes, author of work entitled “Kokkinon” or “Cribrum,” a “ Sieve to separate Prime from Composite Numbers.”

7. B.C. 40. Cicero. Refer to his works “De Finibus” and “De Natura Deorum. 13.

8 . 50 A.D. Nicomachus of Gerasa; Treatises on Arithmetic and Harmony.

9. 300 A.D. Porphry of Tyre, a great philosopher, sometimes named in Syriac, Melekh or King, was the pupil of Longinus and Plotinus.

10 . 340 A.D. Jamblicus wrote “De Mysteriis,” “De Vita Pythagorica,” “ The Arithmetic of Nicomachus of Gerasa,” and “ The Theological Properties of Numbers.”

11. 450 A.D. Proclus, in his commentary on the “Works and Days” of Hesiod, gives information concerning the Pythagorean views of numbers.

12 . 560 A.D. Simplicius of Cilicia, a contemporary of Justinian.

13 . 850 A.D. Photius of Constantinople has left a Bibliotheca of the ideas of the older philosophers. Coming down to more recent times, the following authors should be consulted: Meursius, Johannes, 1620; Meibomius, Marcus, 1650; and Kircher, Athanasius, 1660. They collected and epitomized all that was extant of previous authors concerning the doctrines of the Pythagoreans. The first eminent follower of Pythagoras was Aristaeus, who married Theano, the widow of his master: next followed Mnesarchus, the son of Pythagoras; and later Bulagoras, Tidas, and Diodorus the Aspendian. After the original school was dispersed, the chief instructors became Clinias and Philolaus at Heraclea; Theorides and Eurytus at Metapontum; and Archytas, the sage of Tarentum. The school of Pythagoras has several peculiar characteristics. Every new member was obliged to pass a period of five years of contemplation in perfect silence; the members held everything in common, and rejected animal food; they were believers in the doctrine of metempsychosis, and were inspired with an ardent and implicit faith in their founder and teacher. So much did the element of faith enter into their training, that “ autos epha” - “He said it” – was to them complete proof. Intense fraternal affection between the pupils was also a marked feature of the school; hence their saying, “my friend is my other self,” has become a byword to this day. The teaching was in a great measure secret, and certain studNumbers ---Th eir Occu lt Power An d Mys tic Vir tu es ies and knowledge were allotted to each class and grade of instruction; merit and ability alone sufficed to enable anyone to pass to the higher classes and to a knowledge of the more recondite mysteries. No person was permitted to commit to writing any tenet, or secret doctrine, and, so far as is known, no pupil ever broke the rule until after his death and the dispersion of the school. We are thus entirely dependent on the scraps of information, which have been handed down to us from his successors, and from his and their critics. A considerable amount of uncertainty, therefore, is inseparable from any consideration of the real doctrines of Pythagoras himself, but we are on surer grounds when we investigate the opinions of his followers. It is recorded that his instruction to his followers was formulated into two great divisions----the science of numbers and the theory of magnitude. The former division included two branches, arithmetic and musical harmony; the latter was further subdivided into the consideration of magnitude at rest----geometry, and magnitude in motion---astronomy. The most striking peculiarities of his doctrines are dependent on the mathematical conceptions, numerical ideas and impersonations upon which his philosophy was founded. The principles governing Numbers were supposed to be the principles of all Real Existences; and as Numbers are the primary constituents of Mathematical Quantities, and at the same time present many analogies to various realities, it was further inferred that the elements of Numbers were the elements of Realities. To Pythagoras himself it is believed that the natives of Europe owe the first teaching of the properties of Numbers, of the principles of music and of physics; but there is evidence that he had visited Central Asia, and there had acquired the mathematical ideas which form the basis of his doctrine. The modes of thought introduced by Pythagoras, and followed by his successor Jamblicus and others, became known later on by the titles of the “Italian School,” or the “Doric School.” The followers of Pythagoras delivered their knowledge to pupils, fitted by selection and by training to receive it, in secret; but to others by numerical and mathematical names and notions. Hence they called forms, numbers; a point, the monad; a line, the dyad; a superficies, the triad; and a solid, the tetrad.

1. Intuitive knowledge was referred to the Monad type.

2 . Reason and causation was referred to the Dyad type.

3 . Imagination (form or rupa) was referred to the Triad type.

4 . Sensation of material objects was referred to the Tetrad type. Indeed, they referred every object, planet, man, idea and essence to some number or other, in a way, which to most moderns must seem curious and mystical in the highest degree. “ The numerals of Pythagoras,” says Porphyry, who lived about 300 A.D, “were hieroglyphic symbols, by means whereof he explained all ideas concerning the nature of things,” and the same method of explaining the secrets of nature is once again being insisted upon in the new revelation of the “ Secret Doctrine,” by H. P. Blavatsky. “ Numbers are a key to the ancient views of cosmogony— in its broad sense, spiritually as well as physically considered and to the evolution of the present human race; all systems of religious mysticism are based upon numerals. [...]