I had to remove today’s post because it became corrupted by
some sort of commercial spam. I am instead posting on another subject entirely. Before you
read this, let me absolutely declare that I am not an occultist of any
sort. I reject the practice of
magic. I am not speaking about stage magic, which is a form of entertainment
based on sleight of hand and visual deception. That is clearly not real and does not claim to be real.
What I am talking about is Magic (or more properly Magick).
Magick is based on the belief that there is an underlying basis to reality
which is not apparent to the normal human senses. Magick believes that with knowledge of the correct
words, phrases, or actions, one may influence, or even force, the universe to
produce particular intended results. In other words, spells and curses. The
traditional Christian understanding is that we should have nothing to do with
any of this. Of course, some Christians, even some very learned Christians,
have not abided by this understanding. Knowing about Magick and understanding
how it crept into Christian use is not a violation of the proscription against
it. It is necessary so that we do not do it again. (Sadly, some still do.) [Deuteronomy 18:9-13; Exodus 22:18; Leviticus 19:26, 19:31, 20:6, 20:27; Galatians 5:19-21.]
This will take several days to discuss, so bear with me and
keep on reading. The subject of this series of posts is “Magic Squares” and how
they have been used in Christian symbolism.
The simplest Magic Squares are, of themselves, merely
mathematical constructs which consist of numbers arranged so that the addition
of the numbers in a column in any direction (left to right, right to left, top
to bottom, bottom to top, or diagonally from corner to corner) always add up to
the same sum. Examples are:
2
7 6 All
the columns in any
9
5 1 direction total
to 15.
4
3 8
8 58 59 5 4 62 63 1
49
15 14 52 53 11 10 56
41
23 22 44 45 19 18 48 All
the columns in any
32
34 35 29 28 38 39 25 direction total
to 260.
40
26 27 37 36 30 31 33
17
47 46 20 21 43 42 24
9
55 54 12 13 51 50 16
64 2 3
61 60 6 7 57
These mathematical constructions were known in numerous
cultures around the world from early in the history of mathematics.
The
mathematical process for producing the squares can be expressed in mathematical
formulae. The earliest squares were based on addition, but later squares have
been based on multiplication, complex numbers, shapes other than squares,
hypercubes, primes, and even genetic algorithms. The term “magic square” is also applied to word squares
which read the same in any direction.
The squares became associated with occultism through the practice of numerology. Numerology assigns number values to individual letters of alphabetic writing systems. Every word or name can be assigned a numerical value.
The squares became associated with occultism through the practice of numerology. Numerology assigns number values to individual letters of alphabetic writing systems. Every word or name can be assigned a numerical value.
More in the next post: Magic Squares in Christian Occultism,
Part 2
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