2012 The Astronomy Connection

The following article was written by Roderick Marling and posted on his Kamakala.com website.

Mr Marling gives an excellent explanation of the astronomy behind the Winter Solstice 2012 event, and the possible symbolism behind the mystery of this much-discussed occurance, the Mayan calendar date of 13.0.0.0.0 that corresponds to the winter solstice date of 12-21-12 at 11:11 PM UT (which in itself is an interesting set of numbers!).

Enjoy!

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From the beginning of Time human beings, from the most primitive to the most culturally sophisticated, have followed and recorded the natural rhythms and cycles of the Earth. The intricate dance between the Earth and the other heavenly bodies has been the source of wonder and amazement giving rise to innumerable stories and myths all over the world. Many of these stores are still passed on today.

Ancient people of the Earth were concerned with these natural rhythms and cycles because their lives and livelihood depended on them. In certain times of the year food was plentiful in certain regions and not in others. At certain times the rains would come, at others they could expect the heat and drought. They also observed that fertility was somehow linked with the cycles of the Moon.

According to these various cycles of Nature then, people began to recognize a Cosmos of increasing complexity - repeating patterns and cycles enfolded within even larger cycles of order. The cyclic movements of the Sun, Moon, Planets and Stars indicated a Natural Order to Reality that provided our ancestors with meaning and the reassurance of continuity.

Heaven and Nature touched every aspect of their lives. Not only did their astronomical observations indicate when to plant their crops and when to harvest, but also where to locate their temples, how to design their homes and even how to orientate their cities. These people occupied a living and intelligent Universe that governed their lives. Survival and success then, depended on how well one could read the celestial signs.

As a brief review of the some of the most basic of these natural cycles, we will begin with the rotation of the Earth on its axis. Because the Earth rotates one complete revolution every 24 hours we observe the reoccurring periods of day and night.

Unfortunately there are surprisingly large numbers of people today that still do not understand that this daily cycle is caused by the motion of the Earth and not by anything the Sun is doing. This could somewhat be explained by the fact that our linguistic customs lag centuries behind our scientific understanding, and we continue to speak in terms of sunrise and sunsets.

Be that as it may, the next cycle we will look at is based not on the motion of the Earth but of the Moon. The Moon revolves around the Earth every 29.5 days, giving us the concept of the month as it appears in its different phases from New Moon to Full and once again back to New.

Then there is the observable cycle of the year, as the Earth dances around the Sun in an elliptical orbit taking 365.25 days to complete one revolution.

As people continued to observe the heavenly bodies they also began to notice that some of the bright lights in the sky moved while others stayed relatively stationary. These wandering bodies we have come to know as the planets, and various people all over the world took a special interest in their particular movement and cycles, spawning a huge number of stories, myths and legends.

To those early astronomers who kept records of the movement of the Sun, Moon and Planets one of the greatest mysteries that they observed was the fact that every year they would wait for the Sun to appear on the Spring Equinox or Winter Solstice at a specific place on the horizon signaling the New Year.

Over time they were dismayed to find that the Sun no longer appeared in the same place it did just 70 years before, but had moved one full degree (the equivalent to the diameter of the Sun - times two). This slow movement, called the Precession of the Equinox, causes the Equinox Sun to appear to slip backward against the backdrop of the stars.

Astronomers have now managed to figure out that the Earth is not a perfect sphere by any means. It’s actually a bit flattened at the poles and has a bulge at the equator. As a result, the gravitational pull of the Moon and the Sun exert an uneven influence on the Earth. Their gravitational forces try to pull the equatorial bulge toward them. Because the Earth is spinning these forces make the axis of the Earth wobble, shifting ever so slowly. Gradually the polar axis that was at one time aligned with a particular star begins to shift until it is aligned with another star.

Right now the Earth’s axis at the North Pole points to the star Polaris – which appropriately we call the Pole Star. But 5,000 years ago the north celestial pole aligned to the star called Alpha Draconis. Eight thousand years in the future the pole star will be Vega.

This Precessional movement then is the same motion responsible for the shift of the location of the Equinoxes and the Solstices. The ancient astronomers detected the long term Precessional motion of the Sun through the back drop of the constellations and calculated the length of this Cycle to around 25,600 to 26,000 years.

This means that the Sun that marks the Spring Equinox which now appears in front of the background of stars in the constellation of Pisces, in about 500 years will rise in the constellation of Aquarius. It will continue to shift backwards through the various constellations Capricorn, Sagittarius, etc., until in about 26,000 years it will arrive back to the exact same point in Pisces.

The understanding of this Precession of the Equinox then gave rise to the many myths and legends of the different World Ages. As the Processional movement continued to shift the Equinox into a new constellation, various cultures perceived this as a New Age or New World. As the Spring Equinox Sun appeared to rise in the constellation of Taurus, people perceived this as the Age of the Bull; the Age of the Ram as it rose in the constellation of Aries; the Age of the Fish as it rose in Pisces and so on.

At one time many civilizations on Earth were aware of this natural cycle of the Earth and incorporated it into their cosmologies and concepts of Time in various ways. Each one reflecting a slightly different interpretation and meaning, but in their different ways they all held the Precessional Cycle as involving nothing less than the Cosmic process of Life’s evolution, subtly influencing all of Earth’s Life Forms to move to higher levels of organization and complexity. It came to symbolize the Spiritual Process of Unfolding Consciousness on our planet.

What is important here is that this belief was actually based on an observable astronomical cycle: every 72 years the Solstice and Equinox Sun appeared to move backward through the constellations one degree - as a hand on a clock indicating the hours of the day. In this Cosmic Clock however, the hand or marker in motion is the specific location of the Equinox or Solstice Sunrise, while the face of the clock is represented by the relatively stationary constellations of the stars.

With this in mind then, we will now turn our attention to how this Precessional Cycle became incorporated into the Mayan Cosmology and how it relates to their long count calendar and specifically to the year 2012.

Perhaps more than any ancient culture that we are aware of at this point, the Mayan people were obsessed with Astronomy. Not only were they able to project their astronomical calculations thousands of years forward and backward in Time, but developed a recyclable Venus calendar that was accurate to one day in 500 years and a table of eclipses that still functions today. They also accurately calculated the solar year out to four decimal places. To accomplish these impressive computations they created a sophisticated system of mathematics utilizing place value and the concept of the zero. And all this while Europe was still wandering around in the Dark Ages.

In a complex culture such as we find with the Maya and considering it spanned a period of almost a thousand years, it is important to remember that there arose different belief systems at different times, some of which were coexisting at the same place. Just as if we were to look at the demographics of say modern New York city, we would find Jews perhaps living besides Moslems, Protestants and Catholics - all entertaining different belief systems.

And so it’s appropriate here to limit our considerations of the Mayan culture to only those beliefs that lend meaning and significance to the auspicious date indicated in their long count calendar - Dec.21, 2012.

As we more sharply focus in on this date, we find that one of the indicators to its probable significance is that it specifically designates the Winter Solstice. As this is our starting point in our analysis then, let’s take a closer look as to what this might mean.

First of all it is good to be aware that around the world in various past cultures, each one designated a specific time to mark the beginning of their New Year. In ancient Sumeria and Babylon the New Year began with the Spring Equinox. In Israel the New Year was gradually shifted to the Equinox in the Fall, while in Northern Europe, New Year was celebrated at the time of Winter Solstice. We still observe this particular New Year tradition, but add a few extra days so that now our New Year begins on January 1st.

In the context of this tradition then, the Winter Solstice on December 21 was celebrated as the Sun’s birthday. It is the longest night of the year and therefore the shortest day of the year. It represented the ultimate power of the dark forces of Nature: the long winter night when things appeared to be dead and still. And out of the depths of this longest night the new Sun was born. From this point on, the power of the light grows in strength and the days slowly begin to grow longer.

The Winter Solstice then inaugurated the birth of a new solar year. The Sun appeared to come back from its annual trip to the South and begins its slow return in to the Northern Latitudes. The sunrise on December 21 was believed to be like the first sunrise, and the start of the New Year was in fact a celebration of the beginning of Time.

With this particular context in mind, we are now prepared to examine more closely the reasons why the Winter Solstice in the year 2012 is so important. In the Mayan long count calendar a cycle of 5,200 years ends on this date, and it just so happens that it also points to a rare astronomical alignment. In fact this alignment only happens once every 26,000 years.

The auspicious year of 2012 indicated in the long count calendar illuminates the fact that the Precessional movement of the Winter Solstice Sun will gradually bring its position into alignment with the very center of our Galaxy. For the Maya, this is like the last stroke of Midnight on New Year’s Eve, only in 2012 the New Year is the New Galactic Year of 26,000 solar years. The Galactic Clock will be at zero point and a New Precessional Cycle will begin.

At this point you may be wondering what is so important about the Milky Way and why were the Maya even concerned with it?

Our scientific culture has finally come realize that our planet, the Sun, and the entire solar system had its origins at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. We also have recently found that our Galaxy is 70,000 light years in diameter, with most of its 400 billion stars concentrated in the great central bulge.

Equipped with ultraviolet, x-ray and gamma-ray instruments, plus infrared telescopes most astronomers are now convinced that at the center of our Galaxy is a massive black hole the unimaginable seize of millions of our suns. This is where Science and Mythology truly meet. For what the center of our Galaxy may represent in terms of energy and the properties of time/space, no one has a clue.

But to the ancient Maya the Milky Way Galaxy represented the Great Cosmic Mother from which all Life was birthed. They saw our Galactic Mother stretching out across the night sky and somehow recognize the place where we all had come from. And the great central bulge at Her center they perceived as the Cosmic Womb. Within the central bulge there is what looks like a dark corridor, known as the dark rift. To the Maya it was referred to by many names but the most pertinent here is their reference to this area as the "birthing pace". Are we beginning to get the picture here?

Considering then the significance of the 2012 date in the Mayan calendar, it has been discovered that this year specifically points to a period of time when the December Solstice Sun aligns with and arises out from the backdrop of the dark rift, the "Galactic Birth Canal" in the central bulge. It's as if the Sun is actually being birthed anew from the Galactic Womb.

The Mayan Cosmology was not written in a book, but in the very stars above their heads. The meaning of this story was not revealed through the study of obscure interpretations, but through correspondence of associations assigned to the individual parts in the story. All we need to do is recognize those original associations and the story unfolds all by itself. Just as in our culture we have built up associations between the Winter Solstice, the New Year and the birth of Jesus Christ "the Son of God" who came into this world as "a savior of mankind".

With the Maya we have discovered another story associated with the Winter Solstice, the New Year and the fate of people on Earth. The astronomical alignment of the Precessional Cycle of the Winter Solstice and Galactic Center represents the "Zero Point" on the Cosmic Clock, thus marking the beginning of the New Age in our evolutionary journey in consciousness. It tells us that a New Sun is born, a New Year has dawned, a New Galactic Cycle has begun, and the transformation of our World is well underway.

The big secret in this particular story is that we need not wait for the Winter Solstice in the year 2012 to recognize that we are entering into this time of profound transition. For according to the most recent astronomical calculations the Solstice Meridian actually coincided most precisely with the Galactic Equator between 1998 and 1999.

Just as the Earth’s equator divides the planet into two hemispheres of North and South, the Galactic Equator is the astronomical term for the dividing line of the Milky Way, separating the Galaxy into two halves. Similar to the time of the Equinox when the Sun appears to cross the Earth’s Equator and thus enters into a new hemisphere, so too in 1998 the Winter Solstice Sun began to cross over the Galactic Equator. Considering that the Sun is so large (about one half a degree wide) and the motion is so slow, our Sun will not be completely across the Equator and fully into the new Galactic Hemisphere until 2018.

So we need to understand then that the Mayan 2012 date is simply an indicator to this 20-year period of transition – the birthing process of the New Age and the beginning point of the New Precessional Cycle of 26,000 years.

I find it almost the height of irony that the descendants of those white Europeans who came to the "New World" to bring enlightenment and salvation to the indigenous population, would now find buried here in some remote jungle a stone calendar/clock telling them what Time it is. A calendar or clock not foreign to their own cultural background, but one that actually incorporates and fulfills their most expansive vision of cyclic Time, the Precessional Cycle. This "Great Year" was long known to the Sumerians, Babylonians, Egyptians and the ancient Greeks but lacked a point at which it began or ended. Somehow down through the Ages that knowledge had been lost.

Perhaps the greatest gift the Mayan culture has given our world is the Zero Point to the Precessional Cycle of 26,000 years. Through the 2012 date in their calendar, they have indicated the importance of the Galactic Equator and it relevance to the Precessional Cycle, thus giving us the ability to now pinpoint the exact Time on our Galactic Clock.

Over the span of the 20 year transitional period as the Solstice Sun crosses the Galactic Equator and moves in to a new hemisphere, we will indeed witness the falling away of the old structures and the birthing of the new. For those who have eyes to see we are actually witnessing the birth of a planetary civilization. And the very logistics involved in this process will determine that the old values of the Nation States which was primarily based on competition and exploitation will have to eventually give way to a collaborative effort, where cooperation will be the dominate social value. This will arise not out of some new political, social or economic theory but the very desire of the human species to continue to survive and be successful.

Reference Material

Maya Cosmos, Three Thousand Years On The Shaman's Path. David Feidel, Linda Schele, Joy Parker. William Morrow and Company, New York. 1993.

Maya Cosmogenesis 2012. John Major Jenkins. Bear & Company, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1998.

Beyond The Blue Horizon – Myths & Legends of the Sun, Moon, Stars, & Planets. Dr. E.C. Krupp. Oxford University Press, New York, 1991.

Stairways to The Stars – Skywatching in Three Great Ancient Cultures. Anthony Aveni. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. New York. 1997

Astronomy in the Hindu Tantric Diagram Sri Yantra

This should come as no surprise, but one of the world's oldest, most sacred designs has astronomical associations as its foundation. The Hindu Sri Yantra takes the practitioner from an outward journey (the square) to the center of spiritual Be-ing (the dot in the center of the diagram.

Yantra: Hindu Tantric Diagrams

by Patrick A George

Translation

[Shri Shankaracarya], Saundaryalahari, prathamo bhagah, Anandalahari:

The angles of your feet are transformed into four [angles] related to Shiva and five [angles] related to Shakti, which are distinct from those of Shiva, and thus into the nine primary forms of matter, as well as into forty-three [angles], eight-petals, sixteen-sides, three-folds and three-lines. || 11 ||

Kaivalyashrama, Saubhagyavardhani:

One should make a circle according to one's desire
[i.e. as large as one wants].
One should draw a line from east to west
and divide it into forty-eight parts. || 1 ||

One should make nine marks on this:
on the sixth, on the sixth and on the fifth,
on the third and again on the third,
on the fourth and then on the third,
on the sixth, and on the sixth again.
One should extend nine lines on both sides of these marks,
from south to north. || 2-3 ||

One who is skilled in this

[i.e. who knows the technical terms and drawing process]
should remove fractional parts [from these lines] in order:
on the first, second, and fourth,
then on the fifth and sixth,
and on the eighth and last
agni [three], bana [five], kala [sixteen], purana [eighteen],
sixteen, veda [four], and agni [three]. || 4-5b ||

One who is learned should then join these lines in order:
the ends of ravi [Sun] in the middle of shani [Saturn],

the ends of candra [Moon] in the middle of ketu [descending node],

the ends of mangala [Mars] in the middle of the circle,

the ends of budha [Mercury] in the middle of rahu [desc.(s/b ascending) n.],

the ends of guru [Jupiter] in the middle of bhauma [Mars],

the ends of shukra [Venus] in the middle of soma [Moon],

the ends of shani [Saturn] in the middle of the circle,

the ends of rahu [ascending node] in the middle of ravi [Sun],

the ends of ketu [desc. n.] in the middle of budha [Mercury]. || 5c-7 ||

[Thus] the best shri cakra is formed,
with its center having the form of trembling fire,
with eight and twelve and fourteen lights of fire. || 8 ||
Apart from the cakra there are vasu [eight] lotus petals and sixteen leaves;
it is adorned with a triad of circles
and has an earthly house distinguished by three lines.
The dwelling consists of a three-fold road
and is beautifully adorned with four-fold doors;
the cakra is divine, completely splendorous,
consisting of the nature of moon, sun and fire. || 9-10 ||

This dimensional variability utilized in the construction of Vedic altars is further developed in the proportional systems of yantras, the ritual diagrams of Tantric initiation and empowerment. As in the case of the tradition of Vedic altars mentioned above, there are many types of yantras. All yantras share the same basic scheme of enclosure, or "walls," although the representation within these walls varies depending upon the purpose of the yantra. In the case of the Shri Yantra, perhaps the most well known yantra, the central area is occupied by a pattern of nine interlocking triangles representing the goddess Shri.

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Phoenix here.......I thought it would be helpful to add color to the diagram so that the trianges for the various planets and lunar nodes could be clearly identified. Here is what I came up with:

Resurrection, Rebirth, and Other Symbolism in the Number Three 3

As I demonstrated in my last post, Symbolism of Orion's Belt, some things based on the number three that are of spiritual and cultural importance are derived from astronomical sources other than the three popular lunar phases. For instance, the three stars of Orion's Belt have held great significance in many societies over the centuries.

However, many people believe that the philosophical and/or spiritual significance of the number three is connected to the visible phases of the moon, First Quarter, Full, and Last Quarter.

No doubt many things do correspond with moon phases, for example the Maiden, Mother, Crone of the modern pagan and Wiccan traditions which is a variation of the Birth-Life-Death trio of goddesses in the Greek and Roman mythologies.

The one "three" that is often overlooked is the three days of the New Moon. I believe that the period of three days during which the moon is invisible, dark, or "dead," is the astronomical event behind the concept of rebirth or resurrection, and frankly wonder why the Resurrection of Christ and the date of Easter is based on a Full Moon event when "rebirth" occurs following a New Moon.

Many death-defying or resurrection journeys to Under- or Other-worlds are accomplished through a pattern of three, or a multiple of three.

There is the ancient Egyptian journey of the soul to the Otherworld of Osiris which accomplished by passing through twenty-one gates (7 X 3). Plato's resurrection/rebirth "Myth of Er" in which the warrior who died in battle was returned to earth after 12 days (4 X 3).

In the original Sumerian myth of Inanna (known to the Assyrians and Babylonians as Ishtar), she disappeared for three days and nights in her journey to the Underworld looking for her sister. Before she left, she also sends a message to three gods, Enlil, Nanna, and Enki, asking them to save her if anything goes amiss. It's interesting to note that she also passes through seven gates on her way.

In some Sumerian myths, there are only three steps to the Underworld. (This is later expanded to seven.) Also, there are three guards of the underworld; the first holds the key, the second controls the river, and the third is the ferryman. Source: Inanna New Moon Goddess.

Since most of these journeys to and through death include the symbolism of darkness, I believe they are rooted in the three dark nights of a New Moon. The rebirth of the participant on the third day in those journeys is the symbolism of the appearance of the crescent moon, the lunar equivalent of resurrection or return to life.

Below is a list of threes in mythology and religion from Wikipedia. I've added a couple things which you'll find enclosed in brackets [ ]. Notice how many are on the theme of life and death!

Wikipedia on the significance of Three

In Mythology

• Georges Dumezil developed the idea of a Tripartite Ideology (Trifunctional Hypothesis) with respect to the Indo-European peoples consisting of three class divisions: Priestly~ Warrior~ Farmers/Craftsmen.

• 3 Greek gods: Zeus~ Poseidon~ Hades (Heaven~ Earth~ Underworld)
• 3 Roman gods: Jupiter~ Neptune~ Apollo (Heaven~ Earth~ Underworld)
• Ancient Egypt Theban Triad: Amun~ Mut~ and their son Khans
• 3 ancient Egypt central religious figures: Horus~ Isis~ Osiris

• The Maya believed 3 stars in the Orion Constellation (Alnitak~ Saiph~ Rigel) were arranged by the gods as a triangular hearth, enclosing the smoke of the fire creation - the nebula.

• 3 Greek Fates (Moirai, Moires): Clotho~ Lachesis~ Atropos (sometimes referred to as the 3 spinners).

• 3 Roman Fates: Decima~ Nona (goddesses of birth)~ Morta (goddess of death)
• 3 Roman Graces- (in Greek mythology called the charities and according to the Spartans, Cleta was the third): Aglaia~ Euphrosyne~ Thalia.

• 3 monstrous offspring by Loki and Angroboda: Fenrir~ Hel~ Jormungund
• 3 hags possessing immense power in Norse Myth: Urdr~ Verdandi~ Skuld
• 3 Gorgons-(snake-haired sisters in Greek mythology): Stheno, Euryale, Medusa are sometimes depicted as having wings of gold, brazen claws, and the tusks of boars. Medusa is the only one of the gorgons that is mortal.

• 3 different beings made up the different qualities of death according to ancient Greek belief: Thantos (male)~ Ker (female)~ Gorgo (female).

• 3 Roman Furies (female personifications of vengence) that were called the Erinyes (the Angry Ones) or Eumenides by the Ancient Greeks (Orestes called them the Solemn Ones, or the Kindly Ones): Alecto ("unceasing")~ Megaera ("grudging")~ Tisiphone ("avenging murder").

In religion

Abrahamic religions

• There are three main Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
• The Holy Trinity in Christian doctrine (or trinity in general), is God both as a single being and three persons: the Father, the Son and the Spirit. This is also known as Tripartite division.
• Jesus rose from the dead on the third day.
• The Wise Men who visited Jesus after His birth left Him three gifts.
• A devout Muslim tries to make a pilgrimage to all three holy cities in Islam: Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem
• King Solomon states in Ecclesiastes 4:12: "A three-ply cord is not easily severed." Examples of this concept of three-ness in Judaism are:
• The three Patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
• The three pilgrim festivals (Sheloshet HaRegalim): Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot
• Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel taught: "The world continues to exist because of three things: justice, truth, and peace" (ibid. 1:18) [If only that were true!!!]
• The three Theological virtues referred to 1 Corinthians 13.
• In Roman Catholicism, three groups of martyrs, collectively known as Faith, Hope, and Charity (named after the Theological Virtues).
• Heaven, Hell and Purgatory (or Limbo).

Other religions

• The Wiccan Rule of Three claiming that whatever energy a person puts out into the world, be it positive or negative, will be returned to that person three times.
• The Triple Goddess: Maiden, Mother, Crone.
• In Taoism, the Three Pure Ones.
• [In the I Ching (Yijing), often considered a book of sacred philosophy to some Asian spiritual traditions, the lines of the trigrams and hexagrams from top to bottom represent heaven, man, and earth.]
• The three Gunas underlie action, in the Vedic system of knowledge. There is also the concept of Trimurti in Hindu tradition. The Buddha has three bodies. The three Vedas are called trayi i.e triad. Lord Shiva is Trinetra-Three-eyed. The confluence of the Ganga, Yamuna and hidden Sarasvati is the famous Triveni-confluence of three rivers. Buddhism's three refuges are Trisharana- Buddhan sharanam gacchami, Dhammam sharanam gacchami, Sangham sharanam gacchami.
• In Greek mythology, the Three Graces or Charites. Also the number of heads of Cerberus, the monstrous dog that guards the gate to Hades
• Various Triple deities.

In esoteric tradition

• The Theosophical Society has three conditions of membership.
• Gurdjieff's Three Centers [intellectual, emotional, physical] and the Law of Three [every whole phenomenon is composed of three separate sources: active, passive, and reconciling or neutral]
• Feri Tradition teaches of the existence of three souls in each individual person.
• [Ancient Egyptians also believed a person had three souls, the Ba that roamed the earth as a human-headed bird, the tomb-bound Ka, and the Akh which journeyed to the Otherworld.]

The Magical, Mystical Number 7 Seven

Why is the number seven so special?

These things are never as simple as they look, and it is unlikely that there is one reason above all others that makes seven a particularly potent number and symbol. It is often a series of things that convince people that something holds power just as today we need more than a coincidence or two to believe in the power of things like prayer, the Law of Attraction, or numerology.

I believe there are four major reasons that, cumulatively, made Seven stand out as a special, mystical and magical number to ancient peoples.

First are the stars, specifically the heavenly "wandering"* bodies visible to the naked eye, the planets Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. They were pretty special since all the other visible twinkling lights moved through a standard and predictable course.

* The word "planet" is derived from the Greek planetai which means "wandering."

Second is another astronomical explanation: there are seven stars in the Big Dipper portion of the constellation of Ursa Major. The Dipper has been an important part of cosmologies from China to Mexico because it is always in the night sky, and the direction in which the handle points is a seasonal marker. This is most noticeable on the solstices and equinoxes: In the evening of the day of the Summer Solstice, the handle points toward the southern horizon; on the Autumnal Equinox, it points toward the western horizon; on the Winter Solstice, it points toward the north, and on the Spring Equinox, the handle of the Big Dipper points toward the eastern horizon.

Third, seven is the only one of the first 10 digits (1 through 10) that does not divide evenly into the 360 degrees of a circle! Since circles can represent both heavenly and earthly powers and influences, not to mention being symbols of The Eternal, imagine how seven was considered an Otherworldly number with Otherworldly symbolism since it was so unique that it set itself above inclusion in the symbol of wholeness, the circle.

Fourth, the Ancient Greeks considered seven to be a potent number due to the chanting of the seven vowels of their alphabet as magical sounds. There are several spells and incantations revealed in The Greek Magical Papyri In Translation: Including the Demotic Spells edited by Hans Dieter Betz that include the chanting of A, E, E with a line on top, I, O, U (written Y), and O in various orders for various reasons. (Alpha, Epsilon, Eta, Iota, Omicron, Upsilon, and Omega.) It is possible that chanting the vowels in a particular pattern or order caused a shift in consciousness much like the chanting of "Om." In one spell which seeks the attention of the god, the vowels and sounds each also corresponded to a direction; the priest was to chant or sing each sound while pointing his palms into the directions of east, west, north, south, up (sky/heaven), down (earth), and the final vowel was sung while holding one's hands over one's heart for Center.

Here is an interesting and fun list of Special 7 stuff from Wikipedia:

In science

• The number of spots on a common ladybug.
• With very few exceptions, all mammals' necks have seven bones.

Astronomy

• The number of stellar objects in the solar system visible to the naked eye — the Sun, the Moon and the five classical naked eye planets: Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn.
• The number of daughters of Atlas in the Pleiades (also called the "seven sisters").
• The number of saints appearing in a constellation called "Saptharishi Mandalam" in Indian astronomy.
• The number of stars in the constellation of Ursa major.

In the classical world

In classical antiquity:

• Seven against Thebes
• Seven hills of Rome
• Seven Liberal Arts
• Seven Sages
• Seven Wonders of the ancient world
• Seven emperors (and period; Rome, history):
• Julius Caesar, Augustus, Galba, Hadrian, Nerva, Sallust, Vespasian

In religion

• In Islam:
• The number of ayat in surat al-Fatiha.
• The number of heavens in Islamic tradition.
• The number of Earths in Islamic tradition.

• In Judaism:
• A highly symbolic number in the Torah, alluding to the infusion of spirituality and Godliness into the Creation. For example:

2. God rested on and sanctified the seventh day (Shabbat).

3. A seven-day purification period is required for one who has become tamei to become tahor.

4. The Shemittah (Sabbatical) year arrives every seventh year.

5. The Jubilee (Yovel) year comes after 7 times 7 years.

• The weekly Torah portion is divided into seven aliyahs, and seven men or boys over the age of 13 are called up for the reading of these aliyahs during Shabbat morning services.
• David was the seventh son of Jesse.
• The number of Ushpizzin (also known as the "Seven Shepherds") who visit the sukkah during the holiday of Sukkot: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Aaron, and David.
• The number of nations God told the Israelites they would displace when they entered the land of Israel (Deut. 7:1): the Hittite, the Girgashite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.
• In Breslov tradition, the seven orifices of the face (2 eyes, 2 nostrils, 2 ears, and the mouth) are called "The Seven Candles."
• The menorah (Hebrew: מנורה), is a seven branched candelabrum lit by olive oil in the Tabernacle and the Temple in Jerusalem.

• In Christianity:
• The number of churches of Asia to which the "Book of Revelation" is addressed.
• The number of the Seven Virtues: Chastity, Moderation, Liberality, Charity, Meekness, Zeal, and Humility, corresponding to the seven deadly sins.
• The seven terraces of Mount Purgatory (one per deadly sin).
• The number of sacraments in the Roman Catholic faith, and most reformed traditions.
• In the New Testament, the Gospel of Matthew 18:21, Jesus says to Peter to forgive seventy times seven times.^[1]
• The number seven is considered by many Christians to be a perfect number because of the amount of importance the Bible puts on it specifically, whereas the number six is considered imperfect.
• In Roman Catholicism, and some reformed traditions, the Blessed Virgin Mary has Seven Joys: The Incarnation, the Visitation, the Nativity, the Visit of the Magi, the Finding of Jesus in the Temple of Jerusalem, the Resurrection of Christ, and The Assumption of Mary into Heaven.
• In Roman Catholicism, and some reformed traditions, the Blessed Virgin Mary has Seven Sorrows: The Prophecy of Simeon, the Flight into Egypt, the Three Day Loss of the Christ Child in the Temple of Jerusalem, the Carrying of the Cross, the Crucifixion of Christ, the Pieta, and the Closing of the Holy Sepulchre.

• In Eternalism:
• The number of deities
• The years Godzimir was exiled to Turin, in Savoy
• 1/7 of each of the Deities powers was taken to create the Eternal
• There are seven verses in each of the Septrains of the Prognostications of Godzimir and Invomandus
• Seven universe in each phase toward Edication

• Others:
• The number of Archangels according to some systems.
• The minor symbol number of yang from the Taoist yin-yang.
• The number of palms in an Egyptian Sacred Cubit.
• The number of ranks in Mithraism.
• The number seven is of particular significance within Cherokee cosmology.
• In Buddhism, Buddha walked 7 steps at his birth.

In mythology

• In Khasi mythology, the seven divine women who were left behind on earth and became the ancestresses of all humankind.
• The number of gateways traversed by Inanna during her descent into the underworld.
• The number of sages in Hindu mythology; their wives are the goddesses referred to as the "Seven Mothers."
• In Guaraní mythology, the number of prominent legendary monsters.
• Seven Lucky Gods exist in Japanese mythology.
• In British Folk lore, every 7 years the Farie Queen pays a tithe to Hell (or possably Hel) in the tale of Tam Lin.

In other fields

· In Galician folklore, a seventh son will be a werewolf. In other folklores, after six daughters, the seventh child is to be a son and a werewolf. In other European folklores, the Seventh son of a seventh son will be a child with special powers of healing and clairvoyant seeing.

· Seven candles are lit in the kinara during the African-American celebration of Kwanzaa, which is a seven-day holiday.

· The Kulin people of Australia living near the Dandenong Ranges traditionally have seven seasons. Some of the Native Americans of Montana also have seven seasons: chinook season, muddy spring, green summer, gold summer (or dry summer), 'Indian' Summer, late fall, and cold winter.

Seven is also:

• The largest number of sticks (or other cylindrical objects) that can be tied into a bundle such that the shape of the bundle remains fixed.
• The number of openings into the human head (mouth, two eyes, two ears, two nostrils).
• The number of spheres in the Ptolemaic system
• The traditional number of Wonders of the Ancient World. There were seven, though only the Great Pyramid of Egypt still stands today.
• Viewed as a lucky number in Japanese Culture as well as many Western cultures.
• The number of days in a week.
• The number of the ages of man into which William Shakespeare divided a lifetime.
• The figurative number of seas.
• The number of colors of the rainbow (the asteroid 7 Iris is named after the rainbow goddess Iris).
• The number of chakras.
• The number of basic principles of the bushido.
• The number of points on a sheriff's star.
• When rolling two standard six-sided dice, seven is the number most likely to occur. It is the sum of any two opposite sides on a standard six-sided die
• The Seven Sages of Greece: Solon, Chilon, Thales, Bias, Cleobulus, Pittacus, and Periander.

The numbers 63 and 64, the I Ching, and fractions of the Eye of Horus.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_of_Horus

The Eye of Horus (originally, The Eye of Ra) is an ancient Egyptian symbol of protection and power, from the deity Horus or Ra. In the Egyptian language the word for this symbol was "wadjet" (according to M. Stokstad "Art History").

The Eye of Horus, originally the Eye of Ra, symbolized royal power. The ancients believed this symbol of indestructibility would assist in rebirth. The Eye of Horus was found under the 12th layer of bandages on Tutankhamun's mummy. Horus was an ancient Egyptian sky god; one of his eyes was the sun and the other the moon. The eye represents a peregrine falcon's eye and the markings around it, including the "teardrop" marking sometimes found below the eye.

In arithmetic

In the Ancient Egyptian measurement system, the Eye Of Horus defined an Old Kingdom rounded off number limited by: one(1)= 1/2 + 1/4 + 1/8 + 1/16 + 1/32 + 1/64. The Eye of Horus statements created 6-term rounded off numbers. The Old Kingdom definition had dropped a 7th term, a remainder 1/64, that was needed to report exact series. During the Middle Kingdom exact series definitions and applications were written by creating 7-terms, or more, written as Egyptian fraction series, often scaled to 1/320 hekat. For example, the Akhmim Wooden Tablet wrote quotients in the Eye of Horus 6-terms, while writing 7th term remainders as Egyptian fractions, scaled to 1/320 of a hekat. The metaphorical side of this information linked the Old Kingdom six fractions, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, 1/32, and 1/64 to separate parts of the eye, as noted by:

· 1/2 was represented by smell, symbolized by the right side of the eye in a form of the nose. The pyramid text says: "Behold [the fire] rises in Abydos and it comes; I cause it to come, the Eye of Horus. It is set in order upon thy brow, O Osiris Khenti-Amenti; it is set in the shrine and rises on thy brow."

· 1/4 was represented by sight or the sensation of light, symbolized by the pupil. The pyramid text says: "Perfect is the Eye of Horus. I have delivered the Eye of Horus, the shining one, the ornament of the Eye of Ra, the Father of the Gods."

· 1/8 was represented by thought, symbolized by the eyebrow. The pyramid text says: "...the Eye of Horus hath made me holy...I will hide myself among you, O ye stars which are imperishable. My brow is the brow of Ra."

· 1/16 was represented by hearing, symbolized by the left side of the eye in the form of an arrow pointing towards the ear. The pyramid text says: "That which has been shut fast/dead hath been opened by the command of the Eye of Horus, which hath delivered me. Established are the beauties on the forehead of Ra."

Headline text

· 1/32 was represented by taste, by the sprouting of wheat or grain from the planted stalk, symbolized by a curved tail. The pyramid text says: "Come, the Eye of Horus hath delivered for me my soul, my ornaments are established on the brow of Ra. Light is on the faces of those who are in the members of Osiris."

· 1/64 was represented by touch, symbolized by a leg touching the ground, or what can also be thought of as a strong plant growing into the surface of the earth. The pyramid text says: "I shall see the Gods and the Eye of Horus burning with fire before my eyes!"

In the Middle Kingdom the 1/64 symbol denoted 'rest' and 'healing' as connected to the hekat, with the word dja being attached.

*** End Quote ***

What I find so amazing about this is that the numbers 63 and 64 have a very special significance in the Yijing (I Ching) also.

Hexagram 63 is called "After Completion." This is the only hexagram in the I Ching in which all six lines are in their proper places. There is an energetic law in the I Ching that favors the "weak" yin/broken lines resting on the "strong" yang/whole lines, so it is usually favorable that when comparing pairs of lines, the lower line be yang, the upper line be yin.

In observance of this energetic law or rule, yang lines in places (counting from the bottom to the top) 1, 3, and 5; yin lines in places 2, 4, and 6 constitute energetic perfection and balance. The pairs of lines are all in complete harmony: the yang and yin pairs of lines are 1/2, 3/4, and 5/6. They also are compared in pairs of lines 1/4, 2/5, 3/6.

So, in the I Ching as in the Eye of Horus, the number 63 appears to be the end. After all everything has been completed, all the lines of the hexagram are in harmony and in the right places. The trigram for water is above the trigram for fire, indicating that the energetic movement of each is toward the other….water moves down to combine with fire, and fire moves upward to combine with water. With its parts that add up to 63, the Eye of Horus appears to be whole and complete as well

So, what is the next step? Why is the Eye not a complete 64/64? Why does the final hexagram, hexagram 64, contain all the line comparison harmonies of hexagram 63, but have all the lines are in the wrong places, all the yang lines are "resting" on yin lines? That just won't do!

The next step after completing something is starting something else. A new life perhaps?

The final hexagram is named "Before Completion." The Image (referring to the upper and lower trigrams of three lines each) says: "Fire over water. The image of the condition before transition." Perhaps it means before the transition to immortality!

In Daoist philosophy, there is the concept of immortality. Each person is born with multiple souls. Some of these are heavenly souls (fire) and some are earthly (water). Through a practice called the Kan and Li Qigong (Water and Fire Energy Practice), a person can attain immortality by melding together his heavenly and earthly energies, his water and fire energies.

Some believe the I Ching is a map of how a person should work with their energies and souls to attain immortality. If they manage to complete the process, they reach the perfection of hexagram 63. If not, their energies move apart as they do in hexagram 64, the energies of fire rising skyward, and the energies of water flowing earthward, and immortality is not attained.

Some believe the Eye of Ra is a symbol of immortality also, especially the immortality of Ra of course, but there is something missing, here, too. The eye has everything it needs except a pupil….that part of the eye through which a person can see. An eye without a pupil is as good as no eye at all, for one cannot see with it. Is it possible that the missing 1/64 of the eye is the pupil, that part of the eye that would grant Vision, perhaps of an immortal or enlightened type?

Possibly this is so. The number 64 is the square of 8, and squares of numbers tend to have special significance, such as 3X3, and especially 7X7 (which we see in the saying "the seventh son of a seventh son").

The number 8 can represent two different ideas of wholeness or completeness. First, on a two-dimensional level, it can represent the eight directions; in time, it can represent the eight special days of the year, the two solstices and equinoxes as well as the cross-quarter days, the days that fall between the solstices and equinoxes. Second, on a three-dimensional level, the number 8 can represent the corners that form the earth (shades of the ancient "square earth" theory), and the four corners that hold up the sky! Without four heavenly corners, the sky would just fall and there would be no earth.

So, it seems very reasonable that the number 63 would symbolize a life well lived and well spent, and that 64 would be an indication of a life just starting over again!

In hexagram 64 we have balance and harmony, just in the wrong order, and if you give the Eye a pupil, that last little 1/64 of its weight, it will surely see it's way clear to return from the Otherworld of Osiris and make a new life here on Earth again.

Whether that new life is a rebirth or a resurrection is a topic for another post. :-)