r u nein elven bro?

 

 

as michael bay is to 9/11 twin towers,

quentin tarantino is to 9/10 charlie kirk.

 

 

atttention every kash kontrolled opposition konspiracy agent,

it’s not the ‘mud flood’,

it’s the ‘talmud blood flood’.

it’s not the jews,

it’s the jaws.

and jawas.

 

 

schools = (s)ghouls

(step.hen) king char(l)ie = k.harri(s) = carrie = (prin)ce harry

 

 

who said ‘bloodbath’ best?

nobody says bloodbath better than donnie darko,

dark hohos and dark whores-sees.

 

 

c.k. = captain kirk = 11,9,9,11

stardate = captain churck kirk logged in for 9/11.

 

 

orem kirk guard = so-wren kierkegaard

 

 

guy = 7, 21(777), 25(7) = 77777

p.rice tag. g.un = 777,  on g.lasses = 7

otto = 6226 = 88 = 16 = 7, 26 + 26 = 52 weeks = 7, week = 7

y.ellow = 7, p.eaches = 7, p.ik ‘n p.a.y. = 777, de.lm.on.te = 77, p.eas = 77, p.asta = 7, p.otato chips = 7

p.aper towels = 7, p.op. corn = 77, g.uard = 7, p.aying attn = 7, t.alking t.o y.ou = 22/7, fuck y.ou = 7, g.un = 7, p.endejo = 7, g.et outta here = 7

 

 

l.ies w.e t.ell = 352 = 3 x 7 = 777, 7 = sept., w.t. = ’25 = 7

donald is the kamala harris camel hair coat ‘driver’.

MTO6 YGF = MT = D.T. = 4+2 = 6, 66 776 = 6666(24/7), 77(7×11),

6+7=13,

7/13th d.t. sassy-nation is the reverse of 31 yrs charlie kirk pulp fiction.

 

 

k vs. h

 

 

ka(ma)l(a) (ha)r(r)is = karlis = charlie

‘donald’ = c.k. = charlie kirk

 

 

this is yer donnie darko duck ‘drain, the swamp’,

on b.reign washing-tones, programming kamala with duckin’ dawn.

goal: pro-fits/phets from women talking about ‘dawn™’

integration: install prez don talkin’ ’bout drainin’ (=trainin’) the swamp(=pms.ma=pawns=dawns)

 

 

don + dish washer reign = i.d., sh, brain washington

 

 

vs.

 

2025 isn’t real
byu/Roids-in-my-vains inCringeTikToks

 

 

corona-nay-zion

2020 = 22,

2022 = ’22

 

 

resurrection kult real leige jinn, for real leechins, lee.

 

Video of the M6.9 earthquake hitting Bantayan, Philippines…😱

📹 Photoholic Island/fb pic.twitter.com/Nm2K2tJ2wz

— Volcaholic 🌋 (@volcaholic1) September 30, 2025

 

Minerva, goddess of wisdom and the arts of civilization, with helmet and spear,

points to an electric generator creating power stored in batteries, next to a printing press, demonstrates the use of dividers.

Minerva (/mɪˈnɜːrvə/; Latin: [mɪˈnɛru̯ä]; Etruscan: Menrva) is the

Roman goddess of wisdom, st.ice, law, victory, and the sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy.

She is also a goddess of warfare, though with a focus on strategic warfare.

my nirvana – sponsored by minerva, the goddess of battery powered strategic warfare media, painted on arc of the cap-it-all bildung.

sell it.

cell it.

incel it.

 

‘after you embed it, we censor it.’ – goo-gull(ible) – ‘be a weevil’

 

this connects to justine bieber/true-doe-dough/taylor swift-banking/etc./brigitte macron/melania/michelle obama/etc.

hyper trans/pedo/gay social engineering from infanthood,

sorry charlie kirk kobain (ck) and antisevenite foo'(=666) fighters (47) davey & g(oliath)ro(thh)ole = k.c. & 47th = k.c. & d.t. inverted because

dav.id grow a hole is the trans-ill-vain-aeon pop vampyre reflecting the king charles character actor characteristic heuristic hue-bris-tictoc-racy.

cymbal = symbol = separating jaws = speech of divi.zions

 

 

brain washington d.c.’s comic book donnie dark-o is kurtains like the charlie kirk kurt cocaine co-vain, also curt church of co-brain washington.

kurt + co(bain) = court(ney) = court-knee = courting money

Minerva is one of the three Roman deities in the Capital-line Tard, along with ju-pi-ter and ju-know.

 

hoffs = hofjude = hoyf i.d. = branch davidian hassle hoff and jimmy hoffa

bangles = bank elves concerned with monday money clockwork,

like nirvana babies and dollars on hooks for hookers walkin’ for like, an egyptian/mason pyramid.

 

 

nirvana = near ivana zelníčková zelenskyy = courtney michelle ‘grow a hole’ love (née harrison) =

harri-son george went to india = nirvana = military pop kulture generators, generals, and productions

prince harry, orange like trump, and hairy kristmass krishnas kultz,

kamala harrison ford = indian indiana jones

 

 

canada = kannada = dravidian = davidian

 

 

golden ticket = charlie = trump,

 

 

pentagonal peace makers = j.c.(13) & e.h.(13) emilia har-court actress born 9/11

@27:36 = charlie kirk

 

 

knox = whore vs. christian saint vs. pop whore madonna vs. pop courtney love whore vs. zombie stripper harcourt vs. onlyfans scamopoly

a.manda k.nox = a.k. = ak 47th donnie = russia = alaska = kama.la kommanda

 

and then…

ka.mala won = won.ka = wore purple at zelectshin eggnog-yer-asian™

oompa loompa = loomer

 

 

charlie + golden retriever = donald golden dawn darko

9/10/25 charlie kirk release date = release date (3+)6/10/22(+3) =

3+3 = 777>21>3, and 3 = c.harlie ∴ 33 = charlie 3 corona czars close caption climate change…

 

 

∇+Δ + 777 = antisevenites

 

 

= loch jaws and spy-der mensa.i.

 

 

e.b. white = he.be white

 

 

r.l. stine = is.r.el pale.stine + trumpkin

 

 

 

gosling = jaws+sling(shot) starfighter by kabuki ka.th(=’28ka.mala) kennedy john.ra

g.osling + k.athleen k.ennedy = gkk = 7,11,11 = 22/7 = π = 47th = 4×7 = ’28

starfighter release in 2027 = 22/7

so the important number of pi will double in 2027 added to the 47th pre-zelected, g-d, golden-dawn, etc.

and triple with mia goth = 47th

etc., etc….

 

’28 = 28 days later = 10 = say ten, 2 = b, k, t, 8 = h, q, z, 10 = a, j, s

 

maybe sayten’s bloodbaths are simply monthly menstruations, mens-true-a-zion, zygotically psychotically

 

’25 = 2+5 = 7 of the 47th = 7/11 = sept. 11 = donnie darkowitz, 2 = b, k, t, 5 = e, n, w, 7 = g, p, y,

2025 = 2+2, 5 = 45th pre-zelected

’26 = year of the alphabet agencies 2 = b, k, t, 6 = f, o, x, 8 = h, q, z

’29 = 11+9 = 9/11 echoing events, 2 = b, k, t, 9 = i, r

’30 = thirty = dirty bomb, 3 = c, l, u

’31 = echoic events of the 7/13th and the 31 year old in sept., 1313, 3 = c, l, u, 1 = a, j, s, a.c.l.u., 4 = d, m, v

’32 = election of the 32°, i.c.e. age, 3 = c, l, u, 2 = b, k, t, 5 = e, n, w

’33 = masonic, trinity, jesus, .3333…, double triangle fauxcahauntus flagz, 3 = c, l, u, 6 = f, o, x

’36 = 3 x 6 = year of the 666 = 18 = chai life, jewish sell-a-inebriation, 3 = c, l, u, 6 = f, o, x, 9 = i, r

’37 = EL = year of the godlike hoaxathons, 3 = c, l, u, 7 = g, p, y, 10 = a, j, s

’40 = quarantine = 2020, 4 = d, m, v

 

megalo don = mr. megalomania(character act whore) = maga low melania = mania

shark tank = sha.t (shot) in the ol’ eary,

t=b, tank = bank, shark = ark, shhh = loan sharks

 

 

shark = char(lie)k. = sha(tner)k.irk =  kimmillion king jimmy jamie gamy

 

 

jokerz whiled and the charliequintettes (quin=pentagon, q=p reverse mirror) = jimmy kimmel = j.k. = st kidding = jo.hn ke.nnedy the catalytic saint

j.k. = 10,11 = 21 = 777 = sept., = -lie,

m.m.m.m. = 13,13,13,13 = 13th -lie = donnie fakeass assin’ nay zion,

and (7)sept. debt at @31 = charlie kirk(32)

initials (ck=32) + age(31) = jfk ’63 = jo.ke

 

https://www.bitchute.com/video/k7yYbiYCpKbP

 

@:48 = 48th = don pedro kali

 

 

double endtendre-timing of transfers = trans + furries

 

 

q = san quentin = harlequin = trump

u.t. = 32° = c.harlie k.irk = UT-ah = u.ma th.u.r.man = kali ma = kamala = you math, u r man.

queen ten toes tehran teen knows = q.t. = ’28 = k.h. = t.h. = th.x 1138  =  th = 28,   x(6)+11=17,  3+8=11,  17+11 = ’28

∴ thx 1138 = ’28, ’28 = 10, 10 = ’20

 

 

suicide squad by public messaging the quad.

speech = death. – google

 

 

⇓ deadly right hand free speech (ala covidian tucker trucksters) had their bank accounts wiped out by charley

cbdc = (jesus is king) charlie kirk + king charlie + charlotte decarlos + utah + u.ma t. = mamdani = mom donnie

 

 

loose-eel(=lucille N(V)egan) = currency

d.onald t.rump = d.(ex) t.(er)

deter x, red tex(as), rex de(b)t, ted x e.r., ex tred, ex terd

 

 

⇑ utah-uma = charley = communist(red) = kills bauer rothschild(red-shield),

joe bauer documents the currently scripted rothschild scripted future.

 

 

a.i. + russ vought = russia bought = russia fought = red(dit) bot

reddit bots = vlad the impaler charlie, vlad the put in on the ritz, vlad ukrainian comedian jokester jesters

it’s so fake read(red/conz), botz, it has to be blue(libz). – felonious munsk asked about freddit™

 

is your(not yours, the govs) id-real?

 

 

mr. prater = mp = 47th, mp = pm = night, = harley quinn’s good night bat

prater = pray(er=charlie) + ter(rorism)

double kills = 7/13 trump = sept./31 yrs

don t. ressurected from, a stage, as the miraculous,

and charlie bled out and dead in two minutes in tu.ha utah uma hawk tuah girl, hawk 2A:

 

 

charley resurrection = k.harrlis resurrlection

brown = brown, CA = ka

j-err-is = will-lie

 

 

m-h=48th, m.f. = 46th, mofo

deth = d-h = d8 = date,

e-t = elul > tishrei = e.t. = date = e.t. + da = 14(7+7), 25(7)

 

 

don t. = dante manifolds:

 

 

 

 

 

Friedman, Friedmann, and Freedman are surnames of German origin, and from the 17th century were also adopted by Ashkenazi Jews (see Jewish surnames). It is the 9th most common surname in Israel (8th among Jews) and most common exclusively Ashkenazi name.[1] Notable people with these surnames include:

Artists

Businesspeople

Economists, lawyers and politicians

Musicians

Philosophers

Photographers

  • Glen E. Friedman (born 1962), American photographer
  • Robert Capa (1913–1954), 20th century war photographer, born Endré Ernő Friedmann

In religion

Scientists and mathematicians

Academic scholars

Sportspeople

In television and film

Writers

Other

 

 

••Edited 

Simply following the methods laid out in kabbalah. Here’s the source to the 1928 book which is on the CIA website – The Secret Teachings of all Ages – If you go to p. 172 of popular esoteric scholar and author freemason Manly P Hall’s book, it states:

“p. 172 … The most simple numerical cipher is that in which the letters of the alphabet are exchanged for numbers in ordinary sequence. Thus A becomes 1, B 2, C 3, and so on, counting both I and J as 9 and both U and V as 20. The word yes by this system would be written 23-5-18.

This cipher can be made more difficult by reversing the alphabet so that Z becomes 1, Y 2, X 3, and so on. By inserting a non-significant, or uncounted, number after each of the significant numbers the cipher is still more effectively concealed, thus: 23-16-5-9-18. The word yes is found by eliminating the second and fourth numbers. By adding 23, 5, and 18 together the sum 46 results. Therefore 46 is the numerical equivalent of the word yes.

According to the simple numerical cipher, the sum 138 is equal to the words Note carefully. Therefore in a book using this method, line 138, page 138, or paragraph 138 may contain the concealed message. In addition to this simple numerical cipher there are scores of others so complicated that no one without the key can hope to solve them.”

One other book I’ll link to here as its referenced in Manly P Hall’s book multiple times and happens to also talk about the Jesuits and Kabbalah: The History of Magic by Jesuit esotericist and writer, Eliphas Levi.

Another book referenced multiple times and also talks about Gematria, is The Kabbalah Unveiled written by freemason/occultist S L MacGregor Mathers.

You can ctrl+F / find in page on all of those books linked for the words you want to look up, to quickly navigate to those paragraphs. See for yourself!

 

Written by
Ian Stewart

Fact-checked by

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Last Updated:  •Article History

The earliest known systematic cult based on the rule of numbers was that of the Pythagoreans. Pythagoras was a Greek who thrived in the 6th century BCE. Little is known of his life, and in fact he may be a composite figure to whom the discoveries of many different people have been attributed by his followers. It is not even known whether the Pythagorean theorem in geometry was actually discovered by him.

The Pythagoreans invested specific numbers with mystical properties. The number 1 symbolized unity and the origin of all things, since all other numbers can be created from 1 by adding enough copies of it. For example, 7 = 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1. The number 2 was symbolic of the female principle, 3 of the male; they come together in 2 + 3 = 5 as marriage. All even numbers were female, all odd numbers male. The number 4 represented justice. The most perfect number was 10, because 10 = 1 + 2 + 3 + 4. This number symbolized unity arising from multiplicity. Moreover, it was related to space. A single point corresponds to 1, a line to 2 (because a line has two extremities), a triangle to 3, and space to 4. Thus 10 also symbolized all possible spaces.

The Pythagoreans recognized the existence of nine heavenly bodies: Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and the so-called Central Fire. So important was the number 10 in their view of cosmology that they believed there was a tenth body, Counter-Earth, perpetually hidden from us by the Sun.

Polygonal numbers
Polygonal numbersThe ancient Greeks generally thought of numbers in concrete terms, particularly as measurements and geometric dimensions. Thus, they often arranged pebbles in various patterns to discern arithmetical, as well as mystical, relationships between numbers. A few such patterns are indicated in the figure.

Some Pythagorean speculations were mathematical. They represented numbers by arrangements of dots. The square numbers (1, 4, 9, 16,…) were arranged in squares, and the triangular numbers (1, 3, 6, 10,…) were arranged in triangles (see figure). This terminology remains in use to the present day.

The Pythagoreans were especially fascinated by the presence of numbers in the natural world. Perhaps their most spectacular discovery was that musical harmony is related to simple whole-number ratios. A string (such as that on a violin) produces a note with a particular pitch; a string one-half as long produces an extremely harmonious note to the first, now called the octave. A string two-thirds as long produces the next most harmonious note, now called the fifth. And one three-fourths as long produces the fourth, also very harmonious. The Pythagoreans discovered these facts empirically by experimenting with strings of different lengths. Today these harmonies are traced to the physics of vibrating strings, which move in patterns of waves. The number of waves that can fit into a given length of string is a whole number, and these whole numbers determine the simple numerical ratios. When the numbers do not form a simple ratio, the corresponding notes interfere with each other and form discordant “beats” that are unpleasant to the ear. The full story is more complex, involving what the brain becomes accustomed to, but there is a definite rationale behind the Pythagorean discovery. This later led the German astronomer Johannes Kepler to the concept of the “music of the spheres,” a kind of heavenly harmony in which the planets effectively produced tunes as they moved across the heavens. Some of Kepler’s theories about the planets, such as the elliptical shape of their orbits, became solid science—but not this one. Nonetheless, it was influential in establishing the view that there is some kind of order in the cosmos, an idea that culminated in Isaac Newton’s law of gravity.

Cultural associations of some numbers

The enormous range of symbolic roles that numbers have played in various cultures, religions, and other systems of human thought can be gauged from a brief sample.

1

Not surprisingly, the number 1 is generally treated as a symbol of unity. Therefore, in monotheistic religions, it often symbolizes God or the universe. The Pythagoreans did not consider 1 to be a number at all because number means plurality and 1 is singular. However, they considered it to be the source of all numbers because adding many 1s together can create any other (positive whole) number. In their system, where odd numbers were male and even numbers female, the number 1 was neither; instead, it changed each to the other. If 1 is added to an even number, it becomes odd; similarly, if 1 is added to an odd number, it becomes even.

2

Yin and yang symbol
Yin and yang symbolThe yin and yang symbol suggests the two opposite principles or forces that make up all the aspects of life.

The number 2 symbolizes many of the basic dualities: me/you, male/female, yes/no, alive/dead, left/right, yin/yang, and so on. Dualities are common in human approaches to the world, probably because of our preference for two-valued logic—yet another duality, true/false. Although 2 was female to the Pythagoreans, other numerological schemes viewed it as male. In Agrippa von Nettesheim’s De occulta philosophia (1533; “On the Philosophy of the Occult”), 2 is the symbol for man, sex, and evil. One reason that some have associated 2 with evil is that the biblical book of Genesis does not use the formula “and it was good” when referring to the second day of Creation.

Some religions are dualistic, with two gods in place of the one God of monotheism. Examples include Zoroastrianism, where Ahura Mazdā (the god of light and goodness) battles with Ahriman (the god of darkness and evil). The number 2 is often associated with negatives, as in the words duplicity and two-faced. Northwest Coast Indians required the parents of twins to observe various taboos because they believed that supernatural powers would bring the wishes of twins to fruition.

3

The number 3 is a very mystical and spiritual number featured in many folktales (three wishes, three guesses, three little pigs, three bears, three billy goats gruff). In ancient Babylon the three primary gods were Anu, Bel (Baal), and Ea, representing Heaven, Earth, and the Abyss. Similarly, there were three aspects to the Egyptian sun god: Khepri (rising), Re (midday), and Atum (setting). In Christianity there is the Trinity of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Plato saw 3 as being symbolic of the triangle, the simplest spatial shape, and considered the world to have been built from triangles. In German folklore a paper triangle with a cross in each corner and a prayer in the middle was thought to act as protection against gout, as well as protecting a cradle from witches. Three black animals were often sacrificed when attempting to conjure up demons. On the other hand, a three-colored cat was a protective spirit. In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth (1606–07) there are three witches, and their spell begins, “Thrice the brindled cat hath mewed,” reflecting such superstitions. Also, 3 is the dimension of the smallest magic square in which every row, column, and diagonal sums to 15.

4

The number of order in the universe is 4—the four elements of earth, air, fire, and water; the four seasons; the four points of the compass; the four phases of the Moon (new, half-moon waxing, full, half-moon waning). The Four Noble Truths epitomize Buddhism. To the Pythagoreans 4 was the source of the tetractys 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 = 10, the most perfect number. In medieval times there were thought to be four humors (phlegm, blood, choler, and black bile—hence the adjectives phlegmatic, sanguine, choleric, and melancholic), and the body was bled at various places to bring these humors into balance.

The number 4 is central in the world view of the Sioux, with four groups of gods (superior, ally, subordinate, and spirit), four types of animal (creeping, flying, four-legged, and two-legged), and four ages of humans (infant, child, mature, and elderly). Their medicine men instructed them to carry out all activities in groups of four.

Albrecht Dürer: The Four Horsemen
Albrecht Dürer: The Four HorsemenThe Four Horsemen, woodcut by Albrecht Dürer, from the Apocalypse series, c. 1498.

Because 4 is generally a practical, material number, few superstitions are associated with it. An exception is in China, where 4 is unlucky because she (“four”) and shi (“death”) sound similar. In the biblical Revelation to John the four horsemen of the apocalypse wreak destruction upon humanity.

5

The sum of the first even and odd numbers (2 + 3) is 5. (To the Pythagoreans 1 was not a number and was not odd.) It therefore symbolizes human life and—in the Platonic and Pythagorean traditions—marriage, as the sum of the female 2 and the male 3. The Pythagoreans discovered the five regular solids (tetrahedron, cube, octahedron, dodecahedron, and icosahedron; now known as the Platonic solids). Early Pythagoreanism acknowledged only four of these, so the discovery of the fifth (the dodecahedron, with 12 pentagonal faces) was something of an embarrassment. Perhaps for this reason 5 was often considered exotic and rebellious.

The number 5 was associated with the Babylonian goddess Ishtar and her Roman parallel, Venus, and the symbol for both was the five-pointed star, or pentagram. In England a knot tied in the form of the pentagram is called a lover’s knot because of this association with the goddess of love. In Manichaeism 5 has a central position: the first man had five sons; there are five elements of light (ether, wind, water, light, and fire) and a further five of darkness. The body has five parts; there are five virtues and five vices.

The number 5 was also important to the Maya, who placed a fifth point at the centre of the four points of the compass. The five fingers of the human hand lent a certain mystery to 5, as did the five extremities of the body (two arms, two legs, head). A human placed in a circle with outspread arms and legs approximates the five points of a pentagon, and if each point is joined to its second nearest neighbour, a pentagram results. This geometric figure is central to occultism, and it plays a prominent role in summoning spells whereby it is supposed to trap a demon, or devil, who can then be compelled to do the sorcerer’s bidding. The belief that 5 was sacred led to an extra element, augmenting the traditional four that made a human being. This fifth essence, or quintessence, is the origin of the word quintessential.

In Islam 5 is a sacred number. Foremost are the five Pillars of Islam: declaration of faith (shahādah), prayer (ṣalāt), fasting during Ramadan, giving alms (zakāt), and making the pilgrimage to Mecca (the hajj). Prayers are said five times every day. There are five categories of Islamic law and five law-giving prophets (Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad).

6

Creation of Adam
Creation of AdamDetail of a miniature of the creation of Adam in the Book of Genesis from the Bible historiale by Guyart des Moulins, French, between 1403 and 1404; in the British Library.

By a wonderful conjunction of mathematical coincidences, 6 is both the sum (1 + 2 + 3) and the product (1 × 2 × 3) of the first three numbers. It is therefore considered “perfect.” In mathematics, a perfect number is one that equals the sum of its divisors (excluding itself), and 6 is the first perfect number in this sense because its divisors are 1, 2, and 3. The next perfect number is 28. No odd perfect numbers are known, but it has not been proved that none exists. The perfection of 6 shows up in the six days of Creation in Genesis, with God resting on the seventh day. The structure of the Creation parallels the sum 1 + 2 + 3: on day 1 light is created; on days 2 and 3 heaven and earth appear; finally, on days 4, 5, and 6 all living creatures are created.

7

The sum of the spiritual 3 and the material 4 is 7. In medieval education, students pursued the trivium (grammar, rhetoric, and logic) and the quadrivium (music, arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy), a total of seven subjects, collectively known as the liberal arts. Pythagorean interest in the mathematical patterns in music gives 7 a privileged role, for there are seven distinct notes in the musical scale—corresponding roughly to the white notes on a piano. Counting from 1, the eighth note up the scale is the exceedingly harmonious octave, which is how the name arose.

The number 7 is often considered lucky, and it has a definite mystique, perhaps because it is a prime number—that is, it cannot be obtained by multiplying two smaller numbers together. There are seven days of the week, named after various ancient gods and planets (Sun-day, Moon-day, Tiw’s-day, Woden’s-day, Thor’s-day, Frigg’s-day, Saturn-day). Tiw was a Norse god of war, parallel to Mars in role but to Zeus in etymology, and Frigg was the Old English version of Frea (or Freya), wife of Woden (= Odin).

Geocentric system
Geocentric systemPtolemaic diagram of a geocentric system, from the star atlas Harmonia Macrocosmica by the cartographer Andreas Cellarius, 1660.

Shakespeare wrote of the seven ages of man, an idea that goes back much earlier. In China 7 determines the stages of female life: a girl gets her “milk teeth” at seven months, loses them at seven years, reaches puberty at 2 × 7 = 14 years, and reaches menopause at 7 × 7 = 49. The phases of the Moon last approximately seven days, with 4 × 7 = 28 days in a month and also in a female menstrual period. Many cultures recognized seven planets (Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn) in the sense of “wandering bodies,” unlike the “fixed stars,” which retain the same relative position in the night sky. The seven candles of the Jewish menorah that burned in the Tabernacle symbolized the Creation and, according to the English scholar Robert Graves, may be connected to the seven planets of antiquity.

In ancient Egypt there were seven paths to heaven and seven heavenly cows; Osiris led his father through seven halls of the underworld. The seven deadly sins are well-known in Christian tradition. The number 7 was the fundamental number of the Rosicrucians, who used it as an organizational basis for their text Chymische Hochzeit Christiani Rosenkreutz (1459; Alchemical Wedding of Christian Rosycross). The number was also central to the cult of Mithra, which believed the soul rose to paradise through seven planetary spheres. The Christian idea of seven layers of purgatory may be related.

The number 7 features prominently in folk sayings. Breaking a mirror leads to seven years of bad luck. In Iran a cat has seven lives, not the nine of Western myth.

The most common numbers in the Indian Vedas are 3 and 7. Agni, the god of fire, has seven wives, mothers, or sisters and can produce seven flames. The sun god has seven horses to pull his heavenly chariot. In the Rigveda there are seven parts of the world, seven seasons, and seven heavenly fortresses. The cow has 21 = 3 × 7 names.

In the Hippocratic tradition of medicine, 7 rules the illnesses of the body, with painful illnesses lasting 7, 14, or 21 days. In Germany it was believed that pigs would not contract hog cholera if they were treated for seven days with water containing asphodel. In Jewish magic a fever can be cured by taking seven prickles from seven palm trees, seven chips from seven beams, seven nails from seven bridges, seven ashes from seven ovens…terminating in seven hairs from the beard of an old dog.

8

The number 8 is generally considered to be an auspicious number by numerologists. The square of any odd number, less one, is always a multiple of 8 (for example, 9 − 1 = 8, 25 − 1 = 8 × 3, 49 − 1 = 8 × 6), a fact that can be proved mathematically. In Babylonian myth there were seven spheres plus an eighth realm, the fixed stars, where the gods lived. As a result, 8 is often associated with paradise. Muslims believe that there are seven hells but eight paradises, signifying God’s mercy. In Buddhism 8 is a lucky number, possibly because of the eight petals of the lotus, a plant associated with luck in India and a favorite Buddhist symbol.

In China, just as the number 7 determines the life of a woman, 8 determines that of a man. A boy gets his milk teeth at eight months, loses them at eight years, reaches puberty at 2 × 8 = 16, and loses sexual virility at 8 × 8 = 64. The Yijing, which describes a system of divination using yarrow stalks, involves 64 = 8 × 8 configurations.

9

In contrast to 8, the number 9 often represents pain or sadness. The 16th-century Catholic theologian Peter Bungus arguedthat the ninth Psalm predicts the coming of the Antichrist. In Islamic cosmology the universe is made from nine spheres—the traditional eight of Ptolemy, plus a ninth added by the Arab astronomer Thābit ibn Qurrah about 900 CE to explain the precession of the equinoxes.

In Anglo-Saxon cultures 9 crops up frequently. The early inhabitants of Wales used nine steps to measure distance in legal contexts; for example, a dog that has bitten someone can be killed if it is nine steps away from its owner’s house, and nine people assaulting one constituted a genuine attack. In German law the ownership of land terminated after the ninth generation. Many folk sayings involve the number 9. A stitch in time saves nine. Cloud nine is the ultimate in happiness. A cat has nine lives. In Greek mythology the River Styx, across which souls were ferried to the underworld, is described as having nine twists.

10

Ravana
RavanaRavana, the 10-headed demon-king, detail from a Guler painting of the Ramayana, c. 1720; in the Cleveland Museum of Art.

As already stated, 10 was the Pythagorean symbol of perfection or completeness. Humans have ten fingers and ten toes. Counting on fingers probably led to the decimal number system, with its symbols 0–9 and its place values whereby the 7 in 703 counts as 7 hundreds, but in 173 it is 7 tens and in 507 it is 7 units. We consider powers of 10, such as 100 or 1,000, to be “round numbers.” However, there is nothing special about 10, and any other number from 2 onward can be used as a number base. Indeed, computers use base 2, or the binary number system, written using only the symbols 0 and 1. Mathematicians distinguish “genuine” properties of numbers, which are true independent of any notational base, with “accidental” ones that arise only because of the notational system—for example, that 153 (the number of fish in the Gospel According to John) is the sum of the cubes of its digits, 13 + 53 + 33 = 1 + 125 + 27 = 153.

Occurrences of 10 and its powers are so common that there is no point in listing them here. However, the Ten Commandments of the Bible deserve mention, especially given that Buddhism too has its own ten commandments—five for monks and five for the laity.

11

Sandwiched between the two auspicious and important numbers 10 and 12, the number 11 generally has negative connotations. Bungus stated that 11 has no connection with the divine, and medieval theology refers to the “11 heads of error.” Because at any time one of the 12 zodiacal signs is hidden behind the Sun, the number 11 is often associated with the zodiac. In the Babylonian creation myth Enuma Elish Tiamat, the god of chaos, is supported by 11 monsters. The ancient Roman equivalent of a police force comprised 11 men whose job was to hunt down criminals. Several sports involve teams with 11 members (American football, football [soccer], cricket).

12

The number 12 is strongly associated with the heavens—the 12 months, the 12 signs of the zodiac, and the 12 stations of the Moon and of the Sun. The ancients recognized 12 main northern stars and 12 main southern stars. There are 24 = 2 × 12 hours in the day, of which 12 are daytime and the other 12 nighttime. The number 12 is the product of the sacred and the secular (3 × 4); it is the sum of the numbers of life and good fortune (5 + 7). It thus incorporates many distinct virtues. In Christianity it is the number of Christ’s disciples, and it occurs many other times in the Bible—for example, the Twelve Tribes of Israel. Several cultures have used numbers based on 12 (duodecimal); the 12 inches in a foot are one familiar relic of such a system.

13

Apollo 13
Apollo 13The severely damaged Apollo 13 service module (SM) as photographed from the lunar module/command module. An entire panel on the SM was blown away by the explosion of an oxygen tank.

Triskaidekaphobes believe 13 to be unlucky, especially when the 13th day of the month is a Friday, a fear that was reinforced by the explosion that almost wrecked the Apollo 13 lunar spacecraft in 1970. Skeptics note that it returned to Earth safely, unlike any other manned spacecraft that has exploded, making its crew some of the luckiest people on the planet. The fear of 13 may relate to Judas Iscariot’s having been the 13th person to arrive at the Last Supper, but its negative undertones go back much earlier, probably because an extra 13th item spoils the auspicious 12. There are 13 lunar months in the year (with a small error), which led the Maya and the Hebrews to consider 13 as auspicious. In medieval theology 13 = 10 + 3 (Commandments plus Trinity), and therefore the number had some positive aspects.

14

The number 14 is an even number with attributes similar to those of 7. A period of 14 days is half of the Moon’s 28-day cycle, so it takes 14 days (one fortnight, short for fourteen-night) for the Moon to wax from new to full or to wane from full to new. In ancient Egypt Osiris was cut into 14 parts. The number is important in Islam; the Arabic alphabet contains 14 Sun letters and 14 Moon letters. In medieval Germany 14 innocent beings gave legal protection to whomever they accompanied.

15

As the product of two sacred numbers (3 × 5), 15 naturally has religious significance. In ancient Nineveh the goddess Ishtar was served by 15 priests, and the city had 15 gates. The 3 × 3 magic square has 15 as its magic constant, and in Babylon this square was associated with Ishtar.

16

Because 16 is the square of 4, it inherits favorable attributes. It was popular in ancient India; the Vedas talk of 16-fold incantations, and the Chinese-Indian goddess Pussa has 16 arms. The Rosicrucians believed that nature consisted of 16 elements.

17

In ancient times, in the region of Urartu, near Mount Ararat, the local deity was offered 17-fold sacrifices. The biblical Flood began on the 17th day of the second month and ended on the 17th day of the seventh month. Greek superstition holds the 17th day of the month to be the best day to cut wood to build a boat. Some followers of Sufism believe that the most sacred name of God has 17 letters. Mathematicians find 17 unusual because a regular 17-sided polygon can be constructed using the Euclidean tools of ruler and compass, a fact discovered by the German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss at the age of 19.

18

Whirling dervishes
Whirling dervishesDervishes performing a ritual dance, Konya, Turkey.

Because 18 is twice 9, it has some significance by association with 9. In Norse mythology Haldan has 18 sons and Odin knows 18 things. The number is sacred to the Sufi mystics who were known in the West as the whirling dervishes, and their custom was for a guest to bring gifts in multiples of 18. The Hindu Mahabharata has 18 books, and the Jewish prayer shemone ʿesre (Hebrew: “eighteen”) originally consisted of 18 blessings.

19

Solar eclipse
Solar eclipseTotal solar eclipse as seen from Hopkinsville, Kentucky, August 21, 2017.

Eclipses of the Sun tend to recur in periods of 19 years. The Babylonians considered the 19th day of the month to be unlucky because it was 49 days from the beginning of the previous month (add 30), and, since 49 = 7 × 7, it was a day of great portent for good or evil. In Islamic numerology 19 is the value of the word Wāḥid (Arabic: “One”), an important name for God.

20

The number 20 has little mystical significance, but it is historically interesting because the Mayan number system used base 20. When counting time the Maya replaced 20 × 20 = 400 by 20 × 18 = 360 to approximate the number of days in the year. Many old units of measurement involve 20 (a score)—for example, 20 shillings to the pound in predecimal British money.

100

Because our notational system for numbers is decimal (base 10), the number 100 takes on a significance that it would probably not possess if we employed other systems of notation. It is a round number and holds hints of perfection. The Western calendar is divided into the decade (10 years), century (100 years), and millennium (1,000 years), with the century as the most important unit. Thus, one refers to the 20th or 21st century as a way to establish a broad historical period. In the game of cricket, scoring 100 runs (a century) is a major feat for a batsman, but to be out at 99 is a significant failure. A half-century (50) is also a sign of good play, whereas falling short at 49 is undesirable. (If we had seven fingers and counted in base 7, we would write 49 as 100, so presumably 49 would be considered an excellent score in such a culture.) The dollar is divided into 100 cents, and many other currencies (pound sterling, euro) involve a similar subdivision of the main unit of currency. The Celsius temperature scale has 100 degrees as the boiling point of water. “A hundred” often just means “a lot”; for example, the Roman centurion did not always command exactly 100 men.

By the same token, 101 often means “a lot” too, but it is manifestly bigger than 100, and its lack of roundness makes it sound more precise, such as in the Disney-Company-produced 101 Dalmatians (1961).

Number and reality

Nature’s numbers

Many aspects of the natural world display strong numerical patterns, and these may have been the source of some number mysticism. For example, crystals can have rotational symmetries that are twofold, threefold, fourfold, and sixfold but not fivefold—a curious exception that was recognized empirically by the ancient Greeks and proved mathematically in the 19th century.

An especially significant number is the golden ratio, usually symbolized by the Greek letter ϕ. It goes back to early Greek mathematics under the name “extreme and mean ratio” and refers to a division of a line segment in such a manner that the ratio of the whole to the larger part is the same as that of the larger part to the smaller. This ratio is precisely (1 + Square root of√5)/2, or approximately 1.618034. The popular name golden ratio, or golden number, appears to have been introduced by the German mathematician Martin Ohm in Die reine Elementarmathematik (1835; “Pure Elementary Mathematics”). If not, the term is not much older and certainly does not go back to ancient Greece as is often claimed.

In art and architecture the golden number is often said to be associated with elegance of proportion; some claim that it was used by the Greeks in the design of the Parthenon. There is little evidence for these claims. Any building has so many different lengths that some ratios are bound to be close to the golden number or for that matter to any other ratio that is not too large or small. The golden number is also often cited in connection with the shell of the nautilus, but this too is a misunderstanding. The nautilus shell has a beautiful mathematical form, a so-called logarithmic (or equiangular) spiral. In such a spiral each successive turn is magnified in size by a fixed amount. There is a logarithmic spiral associated with the golden number, and in this case the fixed amount is precisely ϕ. However, the spiral of the nautilus does not have the ratio ϕ. Logarithmic spirals exist with any given number as their ratio, and the nautilus ratio has no special significance in mathematics.

The golden number is, however, legitimately associated with plants. This connection involves the Fibonacci numbers (1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144,…), in which each number, starting with 2, is the sum of the previous two numbers. These numbers were first discussed in 1202 by the Italian mathematician Leonardo Pisano, who seems to have been given the nickname Fibonacci (son of Bonaccio) in the 19th century. The ratio of successive Fibonacci numbers, such as 34/21 or 55/34, gets closer and closer to ϕ as the size of the numbers increases. As a result, Fibonacci numbers and ϕ enjoy an intimate mathematical connection.

Fibonacci numbers are very common in the plant kingdom. Many flowers have 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, or 34 petals. Other numbers occur less commonly; typically they are twice a Fibonacci number, or they belong to the “anomalous series” 1, 3, 4, 7, 11, 18, 29,…, with the same rule of formation as the Fibonacci numbers but different initial values. Moreover, Fibonacci numbers occur in the seed heads of sunflowers and daisies. These are arranged as two families of interpenetrating spirals, and they typically contain, say, 55 clockwise spirals and 89 counterclockwise ones or some other pair of Fibonacci numbers.

This numerology is genuine, and it is related to the growth pattern of the plants. As the growing tip sprouts, new primordia—clumps of cells that will become special features such as seeds—arise along a generative spiral at successive multiples of a fixed angle. This angle is the one that produces the closest packing of primordia, and for sound mathematical reasons it is the golden angle: a fraction (1 − 1/ϕ) of a full circle, or roughly 137.5 degrees.

 

 

Number’s nature

What exactly is a number? It is easy to see what two sheep or two apples are; you can find them in the real world. But what is 2? You never meet 2 in a field or a fruit bowl. The symbol 2 is not a number but a symbol for a number. Until the 19th century, numbers were considered to be given by God—they simply were. No one had to define the concept. Even in the 19th century the German mathematician Leopold Kronecker said, “God made the integers, all else is the work of man.”

The 19th-century German logician Gottlob Frege attempted to define a number as “the class of all classes that can be put into one-to-one correspondence with a given class.” Basically, what he had in mind was that the abstract number 2 can be considered as the class of all pairs of objects: two sheep, two apples, two whatever. Lump all the pairs together, and the result is a single well-defined object that captures the essence of 2. Mathematicians would have been entirely happy with this definition, save for one problem. The English philosopher Bertrand Russell pointed out that the phrase “class of all classes that…” may not always have a sensible meaning. He stated his famous paradox about “the class of all classes that do not contain themselves.” Equivalently, it is the paradox of the barber who shaves everyone who does not shave himself. So who shaves the barber? Or imagine a catalog of all catalogs that do not list themselves. Does this supercatalog list itself or not?

Today, numbers are viewed as logical constructs, and their existence holds good only in a rather abstract mathematical sense in which something exists if it is not logically self-contradictory. Numbers are defined in terms of conceptually simpler objects, sets, through a kind of counting procedure. The Russell paradox is no longer a problem, but it has been replaced by the far deeper paradox of the Austrian-born American logician Kurt Gödel. Gödel’s theorem states that if arithmetic is not self-contradictory—that is, if numbers exist in the mathematical sense—then that fact can never be proved mathematically. So perhaps numbers really are as mystical as many people believe.

Ian Stewart

 

 

nosferatu = nose for a two = uta(h)-fer-(robin)son, atu = 82 = 8200 = ’28