Magic Squares in Christian Occultism, Part 2

Magic squares became associated with occultism through the practice of numerology. Numerology assigns number values to individual letters of alphabetic writing systems. Individual words or names can be assigned a numerical value by adding the values of their component letters. Numerologists often consider names and words with the same numerical value to be telated to one another in some way.

 Gematria, a form of numerology, began among the Assyro-Babylonians and was later adopted as a practice by the Jews. Words with identical numerical values were considered to be related to one another or to a person whose name could be assigned the same number. Remember that for the first few years, all Christians were Jews. The number of the Antichrist. 666, was recognized to also be the number of the Roman Emperor Nero, Nero Qasr (Nero Caesar).

The Hebrew word, gematria, probably comes from the Greek word, geometria (“geometry”).  Numerology is closely associated with the Jewish Qabbalah tradition, but there are examples within the Bible, where numbers such as 3 or 666 carry special meanings. The primary language for gematria has always been Hebrew. There is a Jewish tradition that God manipulated the letters of the Torah in order to create the universe; in effect, God’s creation of the universe was through the use of numbers; mathematics. The universe does indeed have a highly mathematical structure as attested to by modern physics.

The ancient Hebrews, and later the Jews, were very careful with names because the name of a person carried characteristics associated with that person. An example is Isaac, which means “he laughed” because old Abraham (he was over 100 years old) laughed when he was told that he and the aged Sarah (she was over 90 years old) would have a son. God said Sarah also laughed in secret but she denied it. Their laughter became that of joy and wonderment.

This is where the magic squares and the occultists come in. Because every word can be written as a number, words and even phrases can be embedded into number sequences. Sending a coded message to a fellow occultist, or placing a blessing or  a curse upon a person, could be accomplished by handing them a talisman upon which a magic square of numbers was inscribed. 

This is an attempt to use the power of words, phrases, and names to influence or to alter reality. Occultists believe that if the correct words (spells) are known, the practitioner can force the universe to create good health, wealth, love, and/or personal power. It is also true that malicious persons felt that they could cause disease, economic trouble, sadness, family conflict, and even death.

Even with the biblical proscriptions against involvement with magic, some Christians were fascinated by this.

Next: Magic Squares in Christian Occultism, Part 3