Remerciez-le!

Remerciez @Admin pour avoir partagé cet document gratuitement, de la manière la plus simple, en partageant sur les réseaux sociaux.

Skeptics SA Numerology Page 1 The Skeptics SA guide to Numerology Numerology, (

Skeptics SA Numerology Page 1 The Skeptics SA guide to Numerology Numerology, (from the Latin ‘numerus’, num- ber, plus the Greek ‘logos’, word), also known as Arithmancy or Numeromancy, is essentially a form of divination using numbers in vari- ous ways. It is based upon the primitive belief that ‘there is an occult relationship existing between numbers and letters and the whole fabric and machinery of the cosmos’ (Rakoczi, 1970, p 108). Numerology claims to be the study of the alleged magical properties of numbers, espe- cially one to nine, each of which, like musical notes, is claimed to possess a unique vibration- al frequency. According to this belief system, since an individual’s birth date and name, as well as all letters and words, can be expressed as numbers between one and nine, these reveal their essential nature, and their metaphysical relationship to the numerical principles that underpin the cosmos. The need to use mathematics to calculate an individual’s secret numerical value appears to convince many that Numerology is a special art, a superior form of divination. However, despite this pretentious pseudo-scientific nonsense, Numerology is nothing more than an elaborate form of deception, which relies on human gullibility and self-delusion. Numerology has three principal forms: Chaldean: This system used the sounds, vi- brations, of the numbers one to eight Kabbalah or Cabbala: This system devel- oped out of a stream of Hebrew mystical teaching, and was based upon the Hebrew al- phabet of 22 letters. It was used to interpret the mystical meanings of names only Pythagorean or Modern Western Numerology: Although claimed to origi- nate with Pythagoras, this system is probably much older. Few details of the Pythagorean system survived, but modern Numerologists make the dubious claim that it was based on a belief that a relationship existed between a cosmic system of numbers and the events in a person’s life. The modern system, which claims to be based on these principles, has two basic forms: – Names: this technique assigns each letter of the alphabet a numerical value from one to nine; the letters of a person’s name are added together and, if the final number is more than one digit, these were added together until ultimately a single digit is reached – Birth Date: the numbers in a person’s birthdate are added together, if the fi- nal number is more than one digit, these are added together until a single digit is reached. Numbering originated in very ancient times as a means of keeping an independent tally of possessions. At first it probably involved counting on the fingers, or using ‘counting sticks’ or stones, to record tallies, however as societies became more complex they needed more sophisticated systems to keep track of the movement of the Sun, the Moon and the stars, not only for agriculture needs, but also for determining the exact dates for religious festivals so that they could be celebrated at the same time each year. Over time individual numbers began to take on special significance. One came to represent the number of the supreme deity, while Two represented the dualistic nature of the uni- verse, light and darkness, good and evil, day and night, the male-female principles, the yin and yang. The number Three was an unusually mysti- cal number, filled with spiritual essence. The cosmos was believed to comprise three parts, the heavens, the Earth and the waters, or the abyss. Three was an important part in the Ve- dic, Greek, Roman, Celtic, Teutonic and Chris- tian religious traditions. Deities with a triune nature became a common feature of many reli- gious traditions including the Egyptian. Baby- lonian, Persian, Hindu and Christian. Thus we Skeptics SA Numerology Page 2 find that the Egyptians represented the su- preme deity, the Sun, in three separate forms, while in Christianity we find the concept of the divine Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Three became part of everyday usage, ex- pressed in such forms as high, medium and low; up, down and middle, and even became a basic part of language structure, so that to emphasize a particular point it was repeated three times, e.g. Churchill’s first speech in par- liament ‘What is our aim? I can answer in one word. It is victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be.’ To the ancients numbers had a fundamentally mystical significance, thought to possess a metaphysical, creative principle from which all things in the cosmos were formed. Others believed that during the creation, their partic- ular deity had used mystical numerically based principles; as Barrett (1801) observed, “All things, which were first made by the nature of things in its first age, seem to be formed by the proportion of numbers; for this was the principal pattern in the mind of the Creator.” (p 101) Early humans noted the heavens followed a regular cycle, rising and setting after a precise number of hours, or days. In an imprecise and insecure world the regular movement of the heavens provided a sense of security, for even during the harshest Winter it was understood that after a certain period of time the warmth of the sun would return and, once again life would return to normal. This heavenly sequence appears to have been the basis of the Macrocosm-Microcosm con- cept, the ancient belief that the Macrocosm, the ‘great cosmos’ and Earth — the Microcosm or ‘small cosmos’ — were inexorably intercon- nected, so that everything that occurred on Earth, was a reflection of heavenly events. Since the Macrocosm operated according to mystical numerical principles, it was assumed the same principles had a profound influence on everyday human life. The ancients did not believe in a random uni- verse, for them, everything that happened was for a reason. Thus, such important and signifi- cant events, such as the time of birth and the names they were given, were perceived as the subtle reflections of the mystical and universal power of numbers, whose influences would persist throughout their entire life. It is not known precisely when Numerology evolved, but it appears that certain mystics and scholars, believing that the mystical lore of numbers contained the secrets of the powers of nature, began quite early to use the magical arts in an attempt to uncover these secret pow- ers. Thus, although Numerology is commonly attributed to the Greek philosopher Pythago- ras, it seems more likely that it evolved much earlier, possibly in Mesopotamia. However, it was amongst the Greek philosophers and mathematicians that a form of Numerology reached its zenith, in particular with Pythago- ras and his followers, who believed the entire nature and purpose of the cosmos could be explained in the ratios between the first ten numbers. The Pythagoreans were preoccupied with determining the mystical principles underly- ing numbers that influenced the operation of the cosmos. They understood that there was a natural numerical cycle of heavenly phenome- na and, on the Earth, they found evidence that many natural forms had a numerical basis, e.g. the natural spiral patterns of certain shells. They made a series of discoveries concerning the properties of whole numbers and were particularly interested in the numerical rela- tionships of harmonics. They noted that the sound made by a vibrating string was related to its length, and that by varying the length of the string, the notes could be changed in ac- cordance with a strict mathematical formula. Eventually they linked mathematics with a grand esoteric numerical design that pervaded the whole of nature. This use of numbers to deal with philosophical concepts is now con- sidered to be a form of pseudo-mathematics, and has long been discarded by legitimate mathematicians. Given the natural insecurity of humans, the idea that relationships existed between physi- cal objects, events and human beings, and that it might be possible to use such information to determine what events lay in their future, must have been very appealing. It was this need that led to the development of hundreds of forms of divination, of which Numerology was but one. Because the principles underlying the Numer- ology taught by Pythagoras and his followers were considered to be so sacred, they were never written down, and, as a result, details Skeptics SA Numerology Page 3 of their numerological techniques were lost. However other numerological techniques existed and in one form, the process of attrib- uting numerical values to strings of letters was reintroduced in the Cabbalistic texts of me- dieval times. Then, in the twentieth century, American author L Dow Balliett introduced in a series of books comprising a great deal of metaphysical hot-air, what is often referred to as ‘the modern phase of Numerology’. She stressed the importance of cosmic ‘vibra- tions’, no doubt based upon the Pythagorean concept of the music of the spheres, to which had been added more modern ideas. Ac- cording to Cavendish (1967), ‘Numerology is simply an extended study of vibration’ (p 75), and uploads/Geographie/ guide-to-numerology.pdf