@Willi:
Albert Pike in Morals and Dogma Seite: 636-638 schrieb:The novary, or triple ternary. If the number three was celebrated among
the ancient sages, that of three times three had no less celebrity;
because, according to them, each of the three elements which constitute
our bodies is ternary: the water containing earth and fire; the earth
containing igneous and aqueous particles; and the fire being tempered by
globules of water and terrestrial corpuscles which serve to feed it. No
one of the three elements being entirely separated from the others, all
material beings composed of these three elements, whereof each is
triple, may be designated by the figurative number of three times three,
which has become the symbol of all formations of bodies. Hence the name
of ninth envelope, given to matter. Every material extension, every
circular line, has for representative sign the number nine, among the
Pythagoreans; who had observed the property which this number possesses,
of reproducing itself incessantly and entire, in every multiplication;
thus offering to the mind a very striking emblem of matter which is
incessantly composed before our eyes, after having undergone a thousand
decompositions.
The number nine was consecrated to the Spheres and the Muses. It is the
sign of every circumference; because a circle of 360 degrees is equal to
9, that is to say, 3+6+0=9. Nevertheless, the ancients regarded this
number with a sort of terror: they considered it a bad presage; as the
symbol of versatility, of change, and the emblem of the frailty of human
affairs. Wherefore they avoided all numbers where nine appears, and
chiefly 81, the product of 9 multiplied by itself, and the addition
whereof, 8+1, again presents the number 9.
As the figure of the number 6 was the symbol of the terrestrial globe,
animated by a divine spirit, the figure of the number 9 symbolized the
earth, under the influence of the Evil Principle; and thence the terror
it inspired. Nevertheless, according to the Kabalists, the figure 9
symbolizes the generative egg, or the image of a little globular being,
from whose lower side seems to flow its spirit of life.
The E_n_nead, signifying an aggregate of 9 things or persons, is the
first square of unequal numbers.
Every one is aware of the singular properties of the number 9, which,
multiplied by itself or any other number whatever, gives a result whose
final sum is always 9, or always divisible by 9.
Nine, multiplied by each of the ordinary numbers, produces an
arithmetical progression, each member whereof, composed of two figures,
presents a remarkable fact; for example:
1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9..10
9..18..27..36..45..54..63..72..81..90
The first line of figures gives the regular series, from 1 to 10.
The second reproduces this line doubly; first ascending, from the first
figure of 18, and then returning from the second figure of 81.
It follows, from the curious fact, that the half of the numbers which
compose this progression represents, in inverse order, the figures of
the second half:
9...18..27..36..45 = 135 = 9.._and_ 1 + 3 + 5 = 45 = 9
90..81..72..63..54 = 360 = 9.
-- -- -- -- -- --- --
99 99 99 99 99 495 = 18 = 9.
So 9² = 81 ...81² = 6561 = 19 = 9 ...9x2 = 18 ...18² = 324 = 9.
9x3=27 ...27² = 729 = 18 = 9. 9x4 = 36 ...36² = 1296 = 18 = 9.
_And so with every multiple of_ 9--_say_ 45, 54, 63, 72, etc.
Thus 9x8 = 72 ...72² = 5184 = 18 = 9.
And further:
18 27 36 72
18 27 36 72
--- --- --- ---
144 = 9 189 = 18 = 9 216 = 9 144 = 9
18 = 9 54 = 9 = 108 = 9 504 = 9
324 = 9...18 = 9 729 = 18= 9 1296 = 18 = 9 5184 = 18 = 9
108
108
----
864 = 18
108 = 9
-----
11664 = 18 = 9.
_And so the cubes:_
27²=729x729=18=9 18²=324=9 9²=81 81²=6561=18=9
729 324 6561
---- ---- ----
6561=18=9 1296=18=9 6561=18=9
1458 =18=9 648 =18=9 39366 =27=9
5103 =9 972 =18=9 32805 =18=9
39366 =27=9
------ ------ ------
531441=18=9 104976=27=9 43,046,721=27=9.
The number 10, or the Denary, is the measure of everything; and reduces
multiplied numbers to unity. Containing all the numerical and harmonic
relations, and all the properties of the numbers which precede it, it
concludes the Abacus or Table of Pythagoras. To the Mysterious
Societies, this number typified the assemblage of all the wonders of the
Universe. They wrote it thus Θ[Greek: THETA], that is to say, Unity in
the middle of Zero, as the centre of a circle, or symbol of Deity. They
saw in this figure everything that should lead to reflection: the
centre, the ray, and the circumference, represented to them God, Man,
and the Universe.
This number was, among the Sages, a sign of concord, love, and peace. To
Masons it is a sign of union and good faith; because it is expressed by
joining two hands, or the Master's grip, when the number of fingers
gives 10: and it was represented by the Tetractys of Pythagoras.
The number 12, like the number 7, is celebrated in the worship of
nature. The two most famous divisions of the heavens, that by 7, which
is that of the planets, and that by 12, which is that of the Signs of
the Zodiac, are found upon the religious monuments of all the peoples of
the Ancient World, even to the remote extremes of the East. Although
Pythagoras does not speak of the number 12, it is none the less a sacred
number. It is the image of the Zodiac; and consequently that of the Sun,
which rules over it.
Such are the ancient ideas in regard to those numbers which so often
appear in Masonry; and rightly understood, as the old Sages understood
them, they contain many a pregnant lesson.
Before we enter upon the final lesson of Masonic Philosophy, we will
delay a few moments to repeat to you the Christian interpretations of
the Blue Degrees.