PLANETARY NUMBERS
In a section of my work on the Kabala of Numbers I gave the planetary
numbers as they have been handed down to us, and my authority in that
case was John Heydon, who in his _Holy Guide_ has delivered the
traditional values of the planets, showing their correspondence with
certain numbers.
I am now able to cite another authority in the person of Godfridus, who
in the year 1650 published a book called _Things Unknown_. Those who
read the book, should they be fortunate enough to obtain a copy of this
scarce old volume, will probably agree with me that most of the
information he has collected is really not worth knowing, being in many
instances fanciful and misleading.
But among other things he quotes the Numbers of the planets and the
signs of the zodiac. The numbers as given by him are the same as those
given by Heydon, and for convenience may be repeated here—
Sun, 1 or 4; Moon, 7 or 2; Saturn, 8; Jupiter, 3; Mars, 9; Venus, 6;
Mercury, 5.
Godfridus does not distinguish between the numbers 1 and 4 attributed to
the Sun, or those of the Moon 7 and 2. It is important to know that 1 is
the positive number of the Sun, and 7 that of the Moon, while 4 is the
negative number of the Sun as 2 is that of the Moon. That is to say, if
the Sun is in an even sign at any epoch, or enumeration is made
concerning a male entity, whether man or animal, the number 1 must be
used, while if the Sun be in a female sign, or enumeration has respect
to a female, then the number 4 is used. Similarly in regard to the
numbers of the Moon.
These numbers have been exploited in several books recently as if
original with the author, who indeed has gone so far as to claim for
them the authority of a Guru from whom he professes to have received
them. It is a fact, however, that they have no representation in the
East, neither among the Shemitic people nor the Aryans, and they are, as
I have plainly stated elsewhere, traditional among the Kabalists. The
fact that Heydon printed them and Godfridus also, and that these books
are to be found in the British Museum Library, clearly indicates the
source of inspiration, and locates the Guru in this case as residing
solely in the fertile imagination of the author of _The Mysteries_.
Godfridus gives also the numbers attaching to the signs of the zodiac as
follows—
Aries, 7; Taurus, 6; Gemini, 12; Cancer, 5; Leo, 1; Virgo, 10; Libra, 8;
Scorpio, 9; Sagittarius, 4; Capricornus, 3; Aquarius, 2; Pisces, 11.
There is a special significance attaching to the order in which, these
numbers are given, and it will repay the astute reader to give the
matter a little study. I may here say that they were originally attached
to the Twelve Houses, and became associated with the signs of the zodiac
corresponding with these Houses at a later date. They should be studied
in their prime significance.
Leaving this point for the time being, I would point out here that these
numbers have been used in connection with the Signs by the author of
_Natural Law Versus Chance_, who shows considerable faculty for
painstaking research. Without referring to the source of his
information, he clearly shows that the names of competitors may be
enumerated by means of this zodiacal gamut, and brought under the unit
value of one or other of the planets, which, if ruling at the time, is
capable of conferring success.
That which appears to vitiate the scheme presented by him is the fact of
his using the artificial instead of the natural Hours, for if it be
allowed that the planets are associated with the days of the week and
that the quadrants mark the natural divisions of the day, as from
sunrise to noon, noon to sunset, sunset to midnight, and midnight to
sunrise, then the Planetary Hours must be in terms of these natural
divisions, and, irrespective of the season of the year and the
consequent variation of the diurnal and nocturnal arcs, there will be
six such “hours” from sunrise to noon, six from noon to sunset, and six
in each of the other quarters of the circle. In fact, if “natural law”
is to rule in the matter at all, it must be consistently carried out,
and artificial divisions of the day will continue to befog the student
of these arcana and prevent him from getting at the truth of the matter
so long as they are employed. This putting of “new wine into old
bottles” has effectually vitiated both the _Natural Law_ system and that
propounded in _The Mysteries_. If any student cares to work out the
percentages of results derived from a strict following of the rules as
given in either of those works, there will remain no shadow of doubt
that a good thing has just been missed, for lack of a little regard to
traditional usage.
But the climax of inconsistency is reached in the suggestion contained
in _The Mysteries_, where it is said that the planets Mercury and Venus
are misnamed, that Mercury is the antithesis of Mars and Venus that of
Jupiter, and that their numbers are interchangeable! It is, in fact,
calmly suggested that at some remote period of history not named by the
author, the name-plates of Venus and Mercury became detached, and as a
result the one planet was thereafter mistaken for the other! I can
imagine sober astrologers directing the planet Mercury to a conjunction
with the Sun for the event of marriage, or predicting travels from the
conjunction of the Ascendant with Venus. In effect we are asked to
regard the signs Libra and Taurus as the signs of Mercury, while Venus
in exchange takes Gemini and Virgo. This may not appear so terribly
inconsistent to such as are ignorant of the disposition of the signs and
planets as to others, but I think that any one would jib at the idea of
Venus as the significatrix of travel and trade. And when I speak of
Venus in this connection I mean Venus and not Mercury in disguise. Yet
one would have supposed that the very order of the days of the week and
the planetary sequence from which it is derived would have given the
author pause to think. So far from that, however, it seems to be set up
as an unique discovery of the utmost importance. It is time, therefore,
that the matter should be set straight, and the need for this seems the
more urgent since I have actually known persons, intelligent and
conservative of the truth in these matters, but keen to follow up any
new clue, actually transposing the planets Mercury and Venus in their
horoscopes and willing to believe, on the authority of an Occultist of
some distinction who in a weak moment was induced to write a preface to
the book, that the astronomers have all been wrong for many ages, and
that in following the course of the planet Venus they were unwittingly
pursuing that of Mercury! The position would be incredible were it not a
fact in cold print.
Let us proceed with the justification of the old tradition. I have
elsewhere shown that the planetary periods bear a direct relationship to
their sign rulerships as determined by the ancients. It is seen that six
bodies, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, Mercury and the Moon, embrace
between them the circle of 360, each pair being divisors of one-third,
or 120° or years.
The pairs are as follows—
Moon rules for 4 years, which divided into 120 equals 30. Saturn rules
for 30 years, which divided into 120 equals 4. These two are opposites,
Saturn ruling Capricorn and the Moon ruling Cancer.
Jupiter rules for 12 years, which divided into 120 gives 10. Mercury
rules for 10 years, which divided into 120 gives 12. These two are
opposites, for whereas Jupiter rules Sagittarius and Pisces, Mercury
rules Gemini and Virgo, which are the opposite signs.
Venus rules for 8 years, which divided into 120 gives 15. Mars rules for
15 years, which divided into 120 gives 8. Venus rules the signs Taurus
and Libra, whereas Mars rules the opposite signs Scorpio and Aries.
This may be allowed as a basis for what follows. The values and
dominions are those traditionally received through Ptolemy. The periodic
values of all the bodies of the ancient system are twice the square of
seven. The square of seven is 49, and twice this is the value of the
periods, namely 98 years. Students of numerology may pursue the subject
to its legitimate conclusion. I may now proceed to establish this scheme
by a series of numerical tests which have been communicated to me from
India, and which I have remodelled for the purpose of this
demonstration.
The harmony of the allotment of the numbers to the planets and signs is
shown in the following scale, which, as will be seen, bear the numbers
already ascribed to them by Godfridus and others.
[Illustration: Figure 10.]
This arrangement is traditional among astrologers, and in very old works
on the subject of planetary dominions we find the following suggestive
glyph, which indicates that the mystery of the Pyramid may be solved by
reference to the elements of the solar system.
[Illustration: Figure 11.]
It is stated that the perpendicular of the Pyramid is the radius of a
circle whose area exactly equals the area of the square base. If this be
the fact, then we may conclude that the ancients successfully negotiated
the problem of “squaring the circle.”
The cyclic order of the planets according to the ancients was thus:
Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon. This order is not
haphazard, as one might suppose who only knew the order of the days of
the week bearing the Planets’ names, or the apparent order of the
planetary orbits as seen from the Earth. There is nevertheless a very
good reason for this order, and it consists in the orbital periods of
the several bodies, that is, the times in which they appear to traverse
the zodiac. Thus Saturn’s apparent period is about 30 years, Jupiter 12,
Mars 2 years save forty-three days, the Sun one year, Venus about 7½
months, Mercury about 3 months, and the Moon one month. Applying the
numerical test to this order, and retaining as before the same numbers
for each of the planets, we have—
[Illustration: Figure 12.]
If we begin the cycle with the Sun and follow with Venus, Mercury, etc.,
we shall have a resolution in terms of the Moon, thus—
[Illustration: Figure 13.]
Again, if we take the positive Sun number and the negative Moon number,
we have Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, 1295, equals 17 or 8, Jupiter, Venus,
Saturn 368, equals 17 or 8, and 8 plus 8 equals 16, which is of unit
value 7.
But the Kabalism of the numbers attaching to signs of the zodiac clearly
shows that the planets Mars and Venus are natural opposites, and not
Mercury and Mars, as erroneously stated. The following scheme will show
that this is so.
Scorpio 9 opposed to Taurus 6
Libra 8 ” Aries 7
Virgo 10 1 ” Pisces 11 2
Leo 1 ” Aquarius 2
Cancer 5 ” Capricorn 3
Gemini 12 3 ” Sagittary 4
— —
27 24
Equals 9 Mars Equals 6 Venus.
The series begins with the signs of Mars and Venus and concludes under
those of Mercury and Jupiter, the numbers attached to the various signs
being reduced to their unit values and added together, thus yielding the
sum of 27 for Mars and 24 for Venus, which again are reduced to the unit
values of 9 and 6, the numbers of the planets under consideration.
Exactly the same result is produced if we begin the series with the
other signs of Mars and Venus, namely, Aries and Libra.
Libra 8 opposed to Aries 7
Virgo 1 ” Pisces 2
Leo 1 ” Aquarius 2
Cancer 5 ” Capricorn 3
Gemini 3 ” Sagittary 4
Taurus 6 ” Scorpio 9
— —
24 27
Equals 6 Venus Equals 9 Mars.
By making a sum of the values of the signs according to their mutual
oppositions, we have for—
Aries and Scorpio, the signs of Mars, values 7 and 9 equals 16
Sagittarius and Pisces, signs of Jupiter, 4 and 11 ” 15
Capricornus and Aquarius, signs of Saturn, 3 and 2 ” 5
—
Total 36
These are opposed to the signs—
Libra and Taurus, signs of Venus, values 6 and 8 equal 14
Gemini and Virgo, signs of Mercury ” 12 and 10 ” 22
Cancer and Leo, signs of Moon and Sun values 5 and 1 ” 6
—
Total 42
Thus we have again 36, unit value 9, for Mars; and 42, unit value 6, for
Venus. This scheme may be reduced to a diagram, as on the following
page.
Thus we see that 9, the number of Mars, is opposed to 6, the number of
Venus, in whatever direction we look, and the old legends of Venus and
Adonis, of Vulcan and Aphrodite, of Vishnu and Lakshmi, most clearly
point to this association of the planets Venus and Mars in the minds of
the writers of the mythology. As myths or veils they were intended
doubtless to hide something from the popular mind, and initiation into
the Mysteries consisted in the interpretation of these myths in terms of
cosmical laws.
[Illustration: Figure 14.]