Wednesday 12 December 2012

The Meaning of 12


"There are Twelve commandments
There are Twelve divisions
Twelve are the 'pagans' who have mapped the sky"

  - Bruce Dickinson (from "The Tower")

 As this is the date of 12 / 12/ 12, I thought I'd publish here a reminder of what the Stella Matutina/ Golden Dawn says about the number 12

In the Zelator Ritual, we are shown the Diagram of the Table of Shewbread: -


"To the Northern side of the Holy Place, stood the Table of Shewbread. The drawing before you represents its occult meaning. On it twelve leaves were laid as emblems of the Bread of life, and it is an image of the Mystery of the Rose of Creation. The 12 circles are the 12 Signs of the Zodiac, while the Lamp in the center is symbolic of the Sun, which is the source of heat and life. The four Triangles whose twelve angles each touch one of the 12 circles are those of Fire, Earth, Air, and Water, and allude to the four Triplicities of the Zodiacal Signs. The Triangle inscribed within each of the 12 circles, alludes to the 3 Decanates, or phases of ten degrees of each sign. On one side of each Triangle is the Permutation of the Divine Name YHVH, which is referred to that particular sign, while in the opposite side of it is the name of one of the 12 Tribes which is also attributed to it. Now the 22 sounds and letters of the Hebrew Alphabet are the foundation of all things. Three Mothers, Seven Double and Twelve Singles. The Twelve Single letters are allotted to the 12 directions in space, and those diverge to Infinity, and are in the arms of the Eternal. These Twelve Letters He designed and combined, and fortified with them the Twelve Celestial Constellations of the Zodiac. They are over the Universe as a King upon his throne, and they are in the revolution of the year as a King traversing his dominions, and they are in the heart of man as a King in warfare. And the Twelve Leaves are the images of those ideas, and are the outer petals of the Rose; while within are the Four Archangels ruling over the Four Quarters, and the Kerubic emblems of the Lion, Man, Bull and Eagle. Around the great central Lamp which is an image of the Sun, is the Great Mother of Heaven, symbolized by the letter Heh, the first of the Single letters, and by its number 5, the Pentagram, Malkah the Bride, ruling in her Kingdom Malkuth, crowned with a crown of Twelve Stars. These Twelve Circles further represent the 12 Foundations of the Holy City of the Apocalypse while in Christian Symbolism the Sun and the Twelve Signs are referred to Christ and His Twelve Apostles."

Essentially it is all Astro-Theology or Stellar-Theology - the study that relates how that Religious or Spiritual symbolism is patterned after what is going on in the HeavensThis is expressed in the idea that the Microcosm reflects the Macrocosm.



Another great book on the subject


My friend, Michael Tsarion's book on AstroTheology


Table of Shewbread with 12 loaves




It is interesting to note also, that the 12 occurs in our measurement of 
(1) Hourly time:   12 hours
(2) Yearly time:   12 months
(3) Aeonic time:  12 Great Astrological Ages

12, 12, 12 !

The Sacred number of the Rosicrucian Current is 120, 12 to a factor of 10, the number of the Sephiroth.

3 multiplied by 120 is a Full Circle (infinity) - 3 being the Triad of Life, or Holy Trinity of Isis-Osiris-Horus in action.

Why did the ancients choose to have 12 zodiacal signs? Was that just what they saw in the sky? I, for one, do not think so. I think the Signs are only space-markers. It is the 12-fold division of the Zodiacal belt or Wheel that is important. 

But why 12 then? Why 12 divisions?

For the same reason that there are 12 hours in the day and months in the year (which correspond approximately to the 12 signs anyway) -

The reason is that 12 is a number that can be easily divided into quarters and thirds. Mathematically this is means it is more useful than 10. For magical systems that depend upon 4 directions in space (which is really just halving and halving again) and 4 Elements and upon sets of Trinities, Triads or Thirds, then 12 is a very useful  number indeed!

It is the perfect number for a system of astrology based on dividing the signs up into 4 Elements, with 3 phases (or "quadruplicities")  per element of Cardinal, Fixed and Mutable.

I will leave you with this interesting video discussion of the 12 from a mathematically point of view - it explains very well indeed (without mentioning anything overtly "spiritual") why our ancients, from whom we have inherited our Magical and Hermetic systems, would have loved the number 12 so much.

See:

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