In this article we will finish our number series with two important symbols of the Decad: the Tetraktys and the Tree of Life.
This brings us full circle back to Articles 6 and 7 where we first discussed these concepts.
The Tree of Life
The Kabbalah (Qabbalah in Greek) is an ancient system of mystical Judaism, although there is evidence of it stemming from far more ancient epochs.
Freddy Silva explains, “Qabbalah is an ancient system of theoretical and practical wisdom, a symbolic map of creation, providing the student with paths or insights towards spiritual growth through the uncovering of hidden knowledge. One of the meanings of Qabbalah is found in the Portuguese word cavalo or horse, as maintained by the Knights Templars when they brought the wisdom of the Mysteries to Portugal. It is said that when the student ‘mounts the horse’ he embarks on a quest for knowledge and Universal truth. Interestingly, also derived from cavalo is the verb cavar, to dig below the surface, and cave, symbolic of the womb, of going within.”
The Tree of Life symbol is commonly connected to the Hebrews and the Kabbalah though it originated much earlier.
The Tree of Life symbol was reportedly found on two sets of 3 pillars in Karnak and Luxor in Egypt.
Traditionally students of the Kabbalah begin study after age 40 (4 x 10).
The Kabbalah recognizes two natures of existence just as the ancient Greeks did. We have been designating these two natures of existence as the physical, seen, material world; and the metaphysical, unseen, spiritual world. Kabbalists envision these two natures of existence as the two aspects of God: the Concealed God and the Revealed God.
The Concealed God corresponds to the unseen metaphysical reality. It is God in essence – absolutely transcendent, unknowable, and limitless. Vedic tradition calls this Purusha.
The Revealed God corresponds to the seen physical reality. It is God in manifestation – the revealed persona of God through which it creates, sustains and relates to humankind. The Concealed God is not accessible to normal human perception, but the Revealed God is. The Revealed God is dynamically interacting throughout spiritual and physical existence, revealing the divine emanations which are bound up in the life of humanity. Vedic tradition calls this Prakriti.
[The Kabbalah] “is an intricate system of letters, numbers, and sounds describing the structure of the cosmos, our body, and our inner life.”1
The system of knowledge uses the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet and 10 archetypes (Sefirot) as divine instruments of the cosmic creating process.
Some of these precepts were written in the ‘Sefir Yetzirah’ or ‘Book of Creation’.
It “describes the unfoldment of the universe from the unknowable Ain Soph (without limit), the deity eternally beyond name, form, or description, the mysterious zero from which the creating process emerges.”2
Randall Carlson tells us, “The sefirah in Kabbalah are the “emanations” of force and form originating out of the Ain Soph Aur, the third veil of negative existence. The process of emanation of the sefirah corresponds to the unfolding of form, pattern and proportion through the process of Sacred Geometry, and results in the manifestation of the Tree of Life.”
The 10 archetypes are:
- Crown
- Wisdom,
- Understanding
- Mercy
- Power
- Beauty
- Victory
- Glory
- Foundation
- Kingdom
They are arranged as three vertical columns (10 = 3 + 4 + 3).
Michael Schneider writes, “The Kabbalah teaches that we can only know the Unknowable God by the ten lights in the world, ten vari-colored emanations of divine qualities. Through deep study and meditation students can grow to know both the world and our deeper Self, finding them at one with their Divine source.”3
The Crown is the Monad at the top. It divides into a polarized form (the Dyad), creating the polarity of Wisdom & Understanding (Compassion). These 3 (Crown, Wisdom, & Compassion) reflect as three inverted triangles. This represents the unfolding of the world of ten spheres in 4 triangles, or levels, of increasing density.
There are 32 connections, or paths, along this unfoldment: 32 descending paths plus 32 ascending paths = 64 stages of transformation.
The Tree of Life can be overlaid on the human body. This symbolizes the Universal Man, or Adam Kadmon.
It depicts 3 channels of our nervous system – the central shushumna, flanked by the ida and pingala.
“The ida and pingala nadis spiral around the sushumna nadi like the double helix of our DNA, crossing each other at every chakra.”4
Along the Tree of Life are the 7 chakras, energy centers of spiritual transformation.
When studying the Kabbalah and the Tree of Life, the 10 Sephirot can be explained and defined in various ways depending on the perspective of who is explaining. Here they are explained through the lens of the ancient Greek Decad (See Article 5), as both systems attempt to explain the cosmic creating process of how the Many come from the One.
In the Kabbalistic tradition, the Monad, or Source is called Ain Soph Aur, the Infinite Light. Ain Soph Aur (Infinite Light) retracts itself within itself to a light point which then brings forth the Crown, the 1st emanation, called Kether.
1 – Kether – Unity
The first emanation is Kether, the Crown, meaning Unity. The Crown represents the Divine Will to Create, the Infinite Light of the Creator, Faith, and Pure Consciousness.
The Crown is Absolute Unity & Infinity, as the Monad is. In it rests the primal darkness of the absolute Unity above anything else.
Kether, being the first, is the One in which everything has its origin, its existence, and to which everything will return – the timelessness and eternity of the Monad.
Note that we are specifically referring to Light, when we talk about the 10 Sephirot emanating from the ‘Infinite Light’. These interpenetrating emanations from the Infinite Light of Cosmic Consciousness result in pulsations and vibrations – specific wavelengths, frequencies and harmonics.
In other words, the light point (Kether) moves, and in its harmonic movements it emits light energy (photons). This Kether, the Monad, represents Cosmic Consciousness. This is the primal ocean of subtle Aether used for the building of the Universe. We thoroughly discuss the scientific validation of the Aether, and the qualities and structure of the Aether throughout Cosmic Core.
The subtle Aether (the undifferentiated ocean of consciousness – the metaphysical reality) is polarized into harmonious moving opposites of positive and negative, attraction and repulsion, contraction and expansion. This mirrors the principles of the Dyad – that is the Will being focused and therefore creating a potential out of the unpotentiated Infinite All, a potential that is positive or negative depending on its qualities. In this, there is harmonious equilibrium.
2 – Chochmah – Wisdom
The second emanation, Chochmah, refers to Wisdom. In this sense, wisdom is the first unbounded flash of an idea before it takes on limitations. In other words, it is the Logos – the Word – the power of action – willpower – that creates from nothingness. Chochmah is the power to create multiplicity from Unity. In human experience, all creation is co-creation. It is the merging of human consciousness with the Source of Cosmic Consciousness to manifest something in reality that began with a flash of divine inspiration.
The flash of divine inspiration creates the impetus for the movement of the will (will power). Symbolically this represents the seed of reality (light – that which does the reaching).
This divine inspiration is the seed of creation. Therefore, Chochmah is the seed (male sperm), just as the Vesica Piscis, symbol of the dyad, is the female womb. These are the primal forces of creation that bring forth the physical reality from the metaphysical realm. This is how the Many come from the One.
The Vesica Piscis is the womb of creation. Symbolically this represents love – that which awaits the reaching.
Thus the Greek Decad and the Ten Sephirot of the Kabbalah come from different perspectives, yet support one another in their philosophy.
3 – Binah – Understanding
The third emanation, Binah, refers to Understanding. The Infinite flash of Chochmah creates breadth and depth (the plane) when brought into the vessel of understanding. To truly understand another is to harmonize with that other. Understanding, therefore, means Harmony. Harmony is the principle of the Triad. It is the synthesizing and balancing aspect of creation. To understand and harmonize with another, it requires compassion. Compassion is understanding. Or, to put it another way, understanding is empathy. To empathize requires compassion.
Binah nurtures the seed (Chochmah). In other words, compassion nurtures wisdom and makes it more powerful. Wisdom without compassion destroys and separates (this is the left hand path of individual selfish good). Wisdom balanced with compassion creates and unifies (this is the right-hand path of the greatest good).
4 – Chesed – Kindness
The fourth emanation, Chesed, refers to Kindness. Kindness is the loving grace of free giving. It is love and unlimited benevolence. One way to look at this is to see Nature as a manifestation of divine kindness. Nature always provides and sustains humanity. Regardless of how humanity treats nature or treats one another, Nature always provides. The sun continues to shine. The rain continues to fall. The plants continue to grow and bear fruit. The animals continue to reproduce. All is provided.
Nature is the perfect manifestation of Love or Unlimited Benevolence. Nature is also form and physical materialization – the Tetrad.
One important note is realizing that wisdom (Chochmah) balanced with compassion (Binah) yields Chesed – Kindness. A balancing of wisdom and compassion in our consciousness will bear all the fruits that are needed to sustain us physically, mentally and spiritually.
5 – Geburah – Severity
The fifth emanation, Geburah, refers to Severity. This can be taken many ways, however, we will correspond severity with the idea of strength and focused intention and willpower, or discipline. Through a mystical awe of divinity, discipline can yield power and courage.
In the positive sense, life is a balance of wisdom and compassion through self-awareness and focus of the will. This is the balance of Chochmah, Binah and Chesed.
In the negative sense, if one does not balance wisdom with compassion, then wisdom will destroy. It will lead to an unbalanced state of severity, and rather than using the strength of the focused will power for the greatest good, wisdom alone will be used to heighten power and perfect discipline to be used for the individual selfish good. There we will see the common definitions of severity made manifest – that is, harshness; sternness; unpleasant violence; unnecessarily extreme or strict behavior or punishment; and causing discomfort or distress by extreme character or conditions.
On a deeper level, how we balance the aspects of compassion and wisdom will result in the quality of our lives. Life, the pentad, will be a direct reflection of our ability to balance seeming opposites and unify them in our consciousness.
Manly P Hall uses a metaphor for the Pentad. He writes, “It was customary for the philosophers to conceal the element of earth under the symbol of a dragon, and many of the heroes of antiquity were told to go forth and slay the dragon. Hence, they drove their sword (the monad) into the body of the dragon (the tetrad). This resulted in the formation of the pentad, a symbol of the victory of the spiritual nature over the material nature.”
Here, we will liken the sword to the focused will. The willpower must be used with discipline and strength, then the sword (severity) can be plunged into the body of the dragon (the tetrad – the material reality), and if done in a balanced fashion (right down the center of the tetrad, splitting it in two), then the pentad, the symbol of life and regeneration, will result, symbolizing the victory of the spiritual nature over the material nature.
6 – Tipereth – Beauty
The sixth emanation, Tipereth, refers to Beauty or Mercy. In this sense, beauty refers to symmetry and balance between kindness and severity and between wisdom and compassion. Also, in order to have mercy, but not pity, on another, it requires a fine balance of compassion and wisdom, and to bestow mercy, rather than perpetuate grudges, is a most beautiful and harmonious thing.
It is important to note, regarding all 10 Sephirot, the importance of Balance.
It is common knowledge that our idea of beauty is heavily influenced by symmetry. In this sense, beauty of Tipereth corresponds to symmetry of the hexad – or efficient structure, function and order. Everything fits together perfectly, and moves ahead with ease, when balanced in peace.
7 – Nezach – Eternity/Victory/Confidence
The seventh emanation, Nezach, refers to Eternity, Victory, or Confidence. This heavily corresponds to the idea of the Heptad: Eternity as a 7-step process of transformation to return to Unity.
Just as sure as we live and breathe, we can have confidence in eternity, and in the knowledge that life is never still, but continually urges us on to learn to transcend to higher heights, fulfilling our highest potential for the greatest good. When we recognize the 7-step transformation that is inherent in our spiritual evolution, we can begin to live by it, using the pattern for more efficient growth and for a more joyous and graceful evolutionary process – both individually and globally.
This confidence in eternity, and the knowledge of the 7-step process, will lead to victory – a victory of the spiritual nature unified with the material nature – a victory of unity over separation.
8 – Hod – Splendor/Glory
The eighth emanation, Hod, refers to Splendor and Glory. It also refers to Surrender, Sincerity and Earnestness.
To return to the idea above about Nezach: the confidence in eternity, and the knowledge of the 7-step process, as well as the use of that knowledge in sincerity and earnestness, and the surrender to the 7-step process will lead to splendor and glory – a reunification with the Crown, the Monad.
This implies the limitless growth of the Octad. Surrendering to the process of the 7-step transformation, living by and using the knowledge, will lead to the glory and splendor of the Return – the return of the Octave, the return to unity, but at a higher level.
Splendor and glory also refer to the process of the Octave itself – the glory and splendor of infinite spiraling octaves. Surrendering to this process means having faith and confidence that you will eventually return to unity – but first you must use the knowledge and balance opposing forces in your consciousness in order to do so.
9 – Yesod – Foundation/Truth
The ninth emanation, Yesod, refers to the Foundation and Truth. In this sense we are referring to the Foundation as Truth, and Truth as the Foundation. The knowledge of truth is the foundation upon which spiritual transformation and evolution occurs.
Truth here means ‘wholly remembering’, and ‘coherent knowledge’. Wholly remembering refers to remembering the nature of our Whole Selves – our True Selves that transcend this one body and this lifetime. It is remembering the divine nature of our eternal souls and all that comes along with that.
Coherent knowledge refers to knowledge that is ordered and balanced – the knowledge of the Universe – the order and harmony that is inherent in creation.
This foundation of truth reflects the idea of the Ennead, or the Horizon. In this sense, the horizon is the boundary of becoming whole again – the balance of all emanations. Once we cross the horizon, we become whole again – we reunite with Unity.
10 – Malkuth – Kingship
The tenth and last emanation, Malkuth, refers to Kingship. In this sense it means Accomplishment or the Realization of the Divine Plan. On a universal level, this refers to the creation of the physical reality from the metaphysical reality. On an individual level, this refers to evolving spiritually through the process of transformation to become One with Unity.
Life and spiritual transformation is a journey. The Malkulth, or the Decad, teaches us this journey is a journey into Limitlessness.
The Tree of Knowledge
The Kabbalistic tree represents the Tree of Knowledge – the fundamental principle of creation and the power of choice – the choice of living for the greatest good (acceptance and forgiveness) or living for individual selfish good (manipulation and control). Thus within the Kabbalistic tradition one can choose the right-hand path of unity, compassion and understanding; or one can choose the left-hand path of separation, manipulation and selfishness. This is the choice between “good” and “evil”.
The Tree of Knowledge also shows up in the Christian tradition.
The Garden of Eden, Adam & Eve and Good & Evil
“The Garden of Eden legend represents a distorted version of man’s awakening as a physical creature. He becomes fully operational in his physical body, and while awake can only sense the dream body that had earlier been so real to him. He now encounters his experience from within a body that must be fed, clothed, protected from the elements—a body that is subject to gravity and to earth’s laws.
The Garden of Eden story in its most basic sense refers to man’s sudden realization that now he must act within time.
“The Story says that Eve tempted the male, having him eat of the tree of good and evil, or the tree of knowledge. This represented a state of consciousness, the point at which the species began to think and feel for itself, when it approached a certain state of consciousness in which it dared exert its own creativity.”
“Eve eats the apple because it is the intuitive elements that brought about the initiation of individualized consciousness.
It was a state when the species became aware of its own thoughts as its own thoughts, and became conscious of the self who thinks. That point released man’s creativity.”5
Only after could the ego (Adam) attain its new birth and necessary alienation of individuality.
The tree of knowledge offered both ‘good’ and ‘bad’ fruits.
It offered choices and free will for the first time.
Good and evil represent the birth of choices.
“When the [Biblical] passages were written, the species had come to various states of order, achieving certain powers and organizations, and it wanted to maintain the status quo. No more intuitive visions, no more changes, were wanted. Creativity was to follow certain definite roads, so the woman became the villain.”
“By the time the Garden of Eden tale reached your biblical stories, the entire picture had already been seen in the light of concepts about good and evil that actually appeared, in those terms, a long time later in man’s development.
Satan represents – in this story – the part of All That Is, or God, who stepped outside of Himself, so to speak, and became earthbound with his creatures, offering them free will and choice.
“Good and evil, the desirable and the less so, were invaluable aids then in helping form the basis for such separations.
“While this may seem like the sheerest Pollyanna, nevertheless there is no evil in basic terms. This does not mean that you do not meet with effects that appear evil, but as you each move individually through the dimensions of your own consciousness, you will understand that all seeming opposites are other faces of the one supreme drive toward creativity.”6
Note here that this mythology strongly relates to the awakening of the consciousness into individuality. The Tree of Knowledge stands at the beginning of this journey marking the path. Using the fruits of the Tree of Knowledge in a balanced way, to achieve your highest potential for the greatest good, is to fulfill the journey back towards Unity.
Kabbalistic Tree of Life & the Star Tetrahedron
The following comes from the work of Nassim Haramein.
The Tree of Life comes out of the seed of life and flower of life pattern.
“The Flower of Life is the culmination of a number of outward rotations, and each rotation is a form in itself,” writes Freddy Silva. “The first is the Seed of Life, and within it lies a series of circles connected with pathways, known to disciples of the Qabbalah as the Tree of Life. Hundreds of books have been devoted to explaining this symbol, for in its understanding lies the point of spiritual balance for a human being. The Tree’s ten circles each contained one of the first ten numbers (plus their twenty-two connecting branches are said to constitute the keys to all knowledge, the paths to wisdom.”
The bottom part of the Tree of Life is a tetrahedron (seen in blue above).
The top is an octahedron (seen in red above).
If the bottom is slid into the top it creates the star tetrahedron.
There are four trees mirrored resulting in 8, all attached at the root.
This creates the 64 tetrahedral grid, the Isotropic Vector Matrix. At the center of the IVM sits the cuboctahedron (vector equilibrium).
The tree can spin on top of the Isotropic Vector Matrix and fits perfectly.
The root of the tree becomes the singularity. The cuboctahedron sits in the center.
The Tree of the Sephiroth From Secret Teachings of All Ages by Manly P Hall
Note that the Qabbalah (Kabbalah) is often viewed today as evil, to be shunned, or as a ridiculous superstition.
“The Sephirothic Tree consists of ten globes of luminous splendor arranged in three vertical columns and connected by 22 channels or paths. The ten globes are called the Sephiroth and to them are assigned the numbers 1 to 10. The three columns are called Mercy (on the right), Severity (on the left), and between them, Mildness, as the reconciling power. The columns may also be said to represent Wisdom, Strength, and Beauty, which forms the triune support of the universe, for it is written that the foundation of all things is the Three. The 22 channels are the letters of the Hebrew alphabet and to them are assigned the major trumps of the Tarot deck.
The Hebrew alphabet as parts of the star tetrahedron.
Eliphas Levi declared that by arranging the Tarot cards according to a definite order man could discover all that is knowable concerning his God, his universe, and himself (the archetypal principles of the Universe).”7
The 10 numbers combined with the 22 letters = 32: the number of the Qabbalistic Paths of Wisdom.
This correspond to the 32 nerves that branch out from the Divine Brain.
There are 32 degrees of Freemasonry, then the final 33rd.
In the original Hebrew Scriptures the name of God appeared 32 times in the first chapter of Genesis (in English translations – 33 times).
32 spinal segments lead upward to the Temple of Wisdom – the skull and pineal gland in the center.
Adolph Franck likens the Sephiroth to varicolored, transparent glass bowls filled with pure light, which apparently assumes the color of its containers but whose essential nature remains ever unchanged and unchangeable.
- Kether – The Crown – Priumum Mobile – the Fiery Heavens
- Chochmah – Wisdom – The Zodiac – The First Motion
- Binah – Understanding – Saturn – The Zodiac
- Chesed – Mercy – Jupiter – Saturn
- Geburah – Severity – Mars – Jupiter
- Tiphereth – Beauty – Sun – Mars
- Netsah – Victory – Venus – Sun
- Hod – Glory – Mercury – Venus
- Jesod – the Foundation – Moon – Mercury
- Malchuth – the Kingdom – Elements – Moon
“Wisdom, it will be noticed, is considered as radiant or outpouring, and Understanding (Compassion) as receptive, or something which is filled by the flowing of Wisdom.
The Sephiroth and the properties assigned to them, like the tetractys of the Pythagoreans, are merely symbols of the cosmic system with its multitude of parts. The truer and fuller meaning of these emblems may not be revealed by writing or by word of mouth, but must be divined as the result of study and meditation.”8
Manly Hall tells us that:
The Crown represents the pineal gland.
Chochmah & Binah are the right and left hemispheres of the Great Brain.
Chesed and Geburah are the right and left arms signifying the active creative members of the Grand Man,
Tiphereth is the heart.
Netsah & Hod are the right and left legs or the supports of the world.
Jesod is the generative system, or the foundation of form.
Malchuth is the two feet, or the base of being.
“In the Sepher ha Zohar it is written that there is a garment – the written doctrine – which every man may see. Those with understanding do not look upon the garment but at the body beneath it – the intellectual and philosophical code. The wisest of all, however, look at nothing save the soul – the spiritual doctrine – which is the eternal and ever-springing root of the law.”9
The Tetragrammaton – YHWH
The Tetragrammaton is a parallel symbol of the Pythagorean tetraktys.
The Hebrew Tetragrammaton and the Pythagorean Tetraktys
God = Tetragrammaton – a triangle with the letters of god.
Tetra = Four
Grammaton = grams, gravity or the weight of an object.
Hence, the Tetragrammaton can symbolize the tetrahedral structure of the universe; the tetrahedral shape of the photon the building block of all matter and life; and the balancing of different polarities of tetrahedral geometry that leads to creation of all life and matter.
Two rotating IVM creates a double torus flow field. This flow field is the action of the Aether flowing inwards (gravity) and then back out (electromagnetism). This means that gravity is the inward force that works in tandem with the outward force. Gravity flows inward. Electromagnetism flows outward in the form of photons. Photons form all matter.
Grammaton in this sense means ‘gravity’. Gravity is the inward coalescing of all matter – the force that pulls everything back to the center of itself.
Therefore, Tetragrammaton can refer to the tetrahedral geometry that creates the toroidal flow force that we bring to equilibrium by using our consciousness, which in turn opens the gateway to the metaphysical reality and allows us to access our center or Source. This Source can be called God, Allah, Cosmic Consciousness, our Infinite Natures, Tetragrammaton, or whatever word feels appropriate to you.
This inward flow is gravity. And remember, metaphysical gravity is Love.
The letters of Tetragrammaton add up to 72 by gematria.
This relates to the 72 pronounceable names of God (Shemhamphorasch).
Recall the significance of the number 72 from previous articles and the relationship of 72 to the Platonic solids, Archimedean solids and Catalan solids, as well as the Precession of the Equinoxes and the Yuga cycles of time.
John Michell writes, “The Tetractys, the triangular form of the number 10, had the same significance to the Pythagoreans as the Tree of Life diagram has in Jewish mysticism, both being accounted symbols of the universe, and the numbers 1 to 4 of which it is composed were said to be at the root of all creation.”
The Tetraktys (“The Mystic Tetrad”)
The tetraktys is a “cosmological model based on the completeness of ten points unfolding in four levels to describe the universal creating process”.
Freddy Silva tells us, “Although attributed to Pythagoras, the tetractys can be traced to the Hindus, and prior to them is a matter of conjecture. Like the Flower of Life, what is certain is the association of this figure with the creative process.
Theon of Smyrna, a renowned scholar in antiquity, declared that the ten dots of the tetractys represented the Ten Words of God. To Christians these ‘words’ signified the Ten Commandments; to the Hebrews, the ten spheres of the Tree of Life. However the numeric symbolism of the tetractys also corresponds to the Hindu model of nine cobras around Brahma, the Egyptian Grand Ennead around Atum, and the Qabbalistic nine legions of angles around the Hidden God.”
The tetraktys consists of ten points arranged as an equilateral triangle.
The top three dots Pythagoras saw as the three elements of Supreme white light, or the Godhead; the remaining seven dots to him represented the colors of the visible spectrum as well as the intervals of the diatonic music scale including the musical ratios of 4:1 (double octave), 4:3 (the fourth), 3:2 (the fifth), and 2:1 (the octave) – the harmonics that govern creation.
10 = 1 + 2 + 3 + 4
33 = 1! + 2! + 3! + 4!
The triangle form represents its divine nature.
The 4 levels represent increasing densities of the 4 elements: earth (most dense), water, air, and fire (least dense). This symbol is a metaphor for the way the 10 archetypes unfold and clothe themselves with matter to manifest as nature’s visible patterns.
The 4 levels of ten dots also represents the cyclic re-occurrence of the four Great Ages of ten Yugas. This allows for a vision of the structural and energetic qualities and nature of universal time (the triad of past, present, future).
The 4 levels define the point, line, plane & volume: 1D, 2D, 3D, 4D
It symbolizes the combination of the Monad (Unity), Dyad (Power/Limit), Triad (Harmony), and Tetrad (Cosmos).
It also holds the geometry of all 5 Platonic solids and encapsulates the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 as the fractional lengths of a vibrating string that produces the natural 7-tone musical scale: the octave (½, 2/4); the double octave (¼); the fourth (¾) and the fifth (2/3).
The 3 above : 7 below ratio is found in the Tetraktys with the Three of the Divine Trinity (vibration, light, geometry; or mind, body, spirit) as the top three dots, and the seven sacred levels below (the 7 chakra system or 7 notes of the diatonic musical scale).
Robert Lawlor writes, “The Tetraktys can be divided so that each unit represents the key elements of both the solar system and the human system that are allegorically interrelated and involved in the embodiment of consciousness. The seven-fold lower division is symbolically consistent in that both the atmosphere and geological aspects of the Earth are seven layered systems.”
The 3:7 ratio shows up in other important ways:
- The fertilized egg has a seven-fold membrane within the three-fold structure of shell, albumen and yolk.
- The pattern of 3:7 occurs in the orbital mode of the atom: 3 = proton, neutron, nucleus. 7= the orbiting electron shells.
The four levels also refer to the different perspectives of viewing any subject: the material level, the social-psychological level, the cultural-mythological level and the inspirational level.
The four levels also refer to the four levels of knowing. They are:
- Sense data – ‘a confusing multiplicity of sights, sounds, feelings, smells, tastes and so on, pure difference’.
- Recognition – to acquire information
- Knowledge – the ability to recognize or distinguish and agree shared knowledge in order to establish truth.
- Wisdom – the disciplined fourth stage – the distillation of knowledge that refers to seeking the essential values which offer unifying wholeness.
Michael Schneider writes, “The Pythagoreans realized that the Tetraktys represented an ensemble, a unity, a summing up of the whole, that comprehended the completeness of mathematics and the archetypes that manifested themselves as the visible forms of the world.”
The full message of the Tetraktys is the message of Cosmic Time in the act of self-embodiment.
The Pythagorean Prayer of the Tetractys:
“Bless us, divine number, thou who generated gods and men! O holy, holy Tetractys, thou that containest the root and source of the eternally flowing creation! For the divine number begins with the profound, pure unity until it comes to the holy four; then it begets the mother of all, the all-comprising, all-bounding, the first-born, the never-swerving, the never-tiring holy ten, the keyholder of all.”
From The Language of Science by Tobias Dantzig
Here we are at the end of the Decad. “The step to ten is not so much a leap across a chasm as it is a recognition of the inherent unity and wholeness that have been present all along.
The decad is the recurrence of the Monad, unity at another level. With this new beginning we are back where we began, although the better for having gone through the experience of which the Decad is the summit.” 10
- Schneider, Michael, A Beginner’s Guide to Constructing the Universe, Harper Perennial, 1994′
- ibid.
- ibid.
- https://www.yogajournal.com/yoga-101/balancing-act-2
- Roberts, Jane, Dreams, Evolution and Value Fulfillment, Volume One: A Seth Book, Amber-Allen Publishing, Revised ed. 1997
- ibid.
- Hall, Manly P. The Secret Teachings of All Ages, Philosophical Research Society, 2003
- ibid.
- ibid.
- Schneider, Michael, A Beginner’s Guide to Constructing the Universe, Harper Perennial, 1994
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