I got intrigued with this subject because of a lively conversation that broke out on one of the semi-private pages of The Boomer Bible Forum. It turned out to be so much fun to play with that I wanted to share it with the audience for this website. I've done my best to compose a little intro to the subject so that more people can doodle with the numbers on their own. If I'm not clear enough, forgive me. I'm not used to this kind of exercise.
The fact of numerological meaning in the pages of TBB has to be demonstrated on a case-by-case basis. Confirming evidence is overwhelmingly voluminous, but as in other matters, TBB plays fair. It almost always provides at least one open hint of important treasures that lie buried in its "empty-headed" verses. In this instance the hint occurs in the book of Jeffrey, Chapter 18. But why should we be interested? Because if there is meaning in the numbers of the book -- that is, in the numbers used in the book's text and structure, as well as in numbers associated with individual words and names -- then there may exist another dimension of commentary as vast as the Intercolumn Reference. To determine if this is possible, we have to explore the realm referenced in Jeff.18.7.
Numerology is an occult practice analogous to astrology and the Tarot,
and it has explicit connections to the Tarot. Every letter in the alphabet
corresponds to a number. The traditional correspondences are shown in this
table:
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In classical numerology, divinatory meanings are associated mostly with
the single digits, 1 through 9. To discover the numerological significance
of a word or a name, the digits associated with individual letters are
added together. If the sum contains more than one digit, these are added
together until the sum can be expressed as a single digit. For example:
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The basic meanings of the digits 1 through 9 have evident connections to the cards of the Tarot's Higher Arcana, translating the deck's images and personae into emotional and intellectual attributes. For example, The Tarot's sixth card is the Lovers, and the list of numerological attributes for the number six is: Responsibility, protection, nurturing, community, balance, sympathy.
The sole exception to the preeminence of single digits in classical numerology is double-digit numbers that repeat the same digit: 11, 22, 33, etc. These are accorded a high significance. Note that the number 22 is extremely important in the Tarot, because it represents the number of Higher Arcana cards there are. Could we expect the meaning of 22 to reflect the overall essence and purpose of the Higher Arcana? Probably so. It signifies: The Master Builder, large endeavors, powerful force, a leader.
Those of you who wish to play with classical numerology can do so at
the website link already shown. The use of numerology in The Boomer Bible
is, not surprisingly, a related but distinctly different enterprise. Why?
Because TBB is just as interested in double-digit numbers as it is in single-digit
numbers. This means that the letter-number correspondences in TBB are handled
differently.
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This looks a lot different, but it isn't. Note that the simpler classical numerology table has achieved its simplicity by adding the double digits of the letters J through Z together. The end result will be the same, even if the sequence of numbers by which the result is achieved differs somewhat.
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Clearly the table used by TBB is a necessary precursor to the classical table. It also seems intuitively more truthful; in our example, the sum of 70 is obviously the real total. What if this total has a meaning of its own? TBB wants us to use the precursor so that we can see and interpret the double-digit intermediary numbers before we reduce them to single digits. Why? Because TBB is evidently interested in The Tarot deck (for authentication, see TBB.Wharts.37 and ST99, The Punk City Papers, Chapter 4), and double-digit numbers do have meaning in both the Higher and Lower Arcana. TBB is also expressly interested in the numbers called out in Pspeciastes.3, which include double-digit numbers (19, 22, 45, 61, 64, 70, 80, 84) as well as single-digit numbers (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9).
And that's not the end of it. Using TBB and ST99, it's possible to build a rich collection of numbers that are significant in TBB. This is the step that opens the door on a vast playground for all of us.
| No. | Classical Tarot* | Harrier Tarot** | Harrier Articles*** | Miscellaneous**** |
| 0 | The Fool | The Zero | Of the Trinity | TBB, Hillites: "Z is for Zero... because that's the number the Most Chosen Zoo on Earth is counting down to..." |
| 1 | The Magus | The Ace | Of Harry | Pspec: One is the number of lonely hearts...
Harry: "I am the One..." Religion: Unity, divinity. Numerology: Initiating action, pioneering, leading, independent, attaining, individual. |
| 2 | The High Priestess | The Crusader | Of Harry's Imprisonment | Pspec: Two is the number of love, which will
become a four letter word...
Numerology: Cooperation, adaptability, consideration of others, partnering, mediating |
| 3 | The Empress | The Hedonist | Of Harry's Escape | Pspec: Three is the number of mice and men...
Christianity: The Trinity, Resurrection on the Third Day. Numerology: Expression, verbalization, socialization, the arts, the joy of living. |
| 4 | The Emperor | The Plutocrat | Of the Silver Ghosts | Pspec: Four is the number of apocalypse...
Antiquity: Completion; 4 seasons, etc. Christianity: 4 gospels, 4 horsemen Numerology: God manifest in the physical. Also: a foundation, order, service, struggle against limits, steady growth. Tarot: Number of Suits. |
| 5 | The Hierophant | The Establishment | Of the Sufficiency of the Harrier Texts for the Attainment of El Dorado | Pspec: Five is the number of the slaughterhouse...
Tarot: Higher Arcana Plus the 4 Suits. Numerology: Expansiveness, visionary, adventure, the constructive use of freedom |
| 6 | The Lovers | The Relationship | Of the Past Testament | Christianity: Mixed message; two 6's holy (no.
of books in Bible), three 6's evil (mark of the Beast)
Numerology: At highest level, God-love. More mundanely: Responsibility, protection, nurturing, community, balance, sympathy. |
| 7 | The Chariot | Power | Of the Creeds | Psayings: Seven is the luckiest number... (see
also Pspec.3.15, Seventy is the number of nothing at all...)
Antiquity: Completion/meaning; 7 days in week. Old Testament: dreams of Joseph, etc. Numerology: Analysis, understanding, knowledge, awareness, studious, meditating. |
| 8 | Strength | Blame | Of the Great Big Joke | TBB: Number of seasons in the Harrier Year.
Numerology: Practical endeavors, status oriented, power-seeking, high-material goals. (Note also that the Strength card in the Tarot includes the eight-like symbol of infinity; the only other card which includes this symbol is The Magus [Number 1].) SEE ALSO: Numerology of Harry |
| 9 | The Hermit | The Self | Of Good and Evil | Pspec: Nine is the number of ultimate ice...
Numerology: Humanitarian, giving nature, selflessness, obligations, creative expression. SEE ALSO: the number of numbers. |
| 10 | Wheel of Fortune | The Game | Of Sin and Guilt | Religion and occult: Number of divinity (e.g., Number of God's commandments; also, 100 (10 x 10) cantos in Dante's Divine Comedy) |
| 11 | Justice | Certainty | Of Thought | Pspec: {implied link to 22)
Numerology: Higher spiritual plane, intuitive, illumination, idealist, a dreamer. |
| 12 | The Hanged Man | The Loser | Of the Parish | Antiquity: Number of completion; 12 months
in yr.
Christianity: 12 disciples. |
| 13 | Death | The Big One | Of the Authority of the Parish | Tradition: Unluckiest number (related to Tarot meaning?) |
| 14 | Temperance | Desire | Of the Rituals | Tarot: Number of cards in a suit. |
| 15 | The Devil | The Winner | Of Harrification | |
| 16 | The Tower | Responsibility | Of Consolation | |
| 17 | The Star | Accountability | Of the Traditions of the Parish | |
| 18 | The Moon | The Setback | Of Exconsolate Persons | |
| 19 | The Sun | Success | Of the Selection of Chosen Ones | Pspec: Nineteen is the number of nervous breakdowns... |
| 20 | Day of Judgment | The Future | Of the the Selection of Number One | |
| 21 | The World | El Dorado | Of the Greater Harrier Parish | |
| 22 | {Summation} | {Summation} | {Summation*****} | Pspec: Twenty-two is the number of the Catcher
in the Rye...
Numerology: The Master Builder, large endeavors, powerful force, a leader. SEE ALSO: Numerology of Harry |
| 23 | King of Swords | Punk Tarot: King of Words | ||
| 24 | King of Cups | Punk Tarot: King of Images | ||
| 25 | King of Pentacles | Punk Tarot: King of Numbers | ||
| 26 | King of Wands | Punk Tarot: King of Voices
Miscellaneous: Number of letters in alphabet. |
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| 27 | The Harrier Hymnal: the number of hymns.
The New Testament: the number of books. Miscellaneous: the Alpha + Omega of the English alphabet (1 + 26) |
* Names given are from the Rider-Waite Tarot deck popularized by the
Golden Dawn during the Victorian Age.
** Arcana list drawn from the topic list in the TBB's Table of Harrier
Days, specifically the season of Trinity, in accordance with guidance provided
in Shuteye Town 1999.
*** Articles drawn from TBB's Book of Harrier Brayer, Articles of the
Pontifical Harrier Parish.
****These are not the only references or uses of the numbers shown;
even a random search through TBB will disclose numerous "coincidental"
correspondences between chapter/verse numbers and the subjects being dealt
with. To cite just one example: Book of Dave, Chapter 10, verse 10, "as
played by Charlton Heston," is used by the ICR in multiple Old Testament
contexts, from Jehovah to Moses. Deliberate numerological significance?
You tell me.
*****Astute readers will discover that the use of
the number Zero does create an interesting complication in the table shown
above; that is, there seems to be a kind of blur between the numbers 21
and 22. The number 21 in the Tarot is actually the 22nd card in the Higher
Arcana, which means that 22 is actually 21 in some sense and vice versa..
The problem is more explicit in the "Articles" column above, because in
the original text these are numbered from one to twenty-two; however, it
can hardly be denied that the correspondence shown here is not only valid,
but quite correct; witness its association of the escape of
Harry with the number three.. (The numbering of the Articles is almost
certainly a function of the use of Roman numerals, consistent with the
list of Articles in the Book of Common Prayer; the Romans did not employ
the number zero.) Yet it is also hard to resist the notion that the blurring
is purposeful and well rooted in tradition, offering us a kind of continuum
between 21 and 22 that starts in our world and ends in the world of the
spirit. If this weren't a deliberate confusion in the spiritual sense,
how else might we explain the fact that exactly the same kind of blurring
occurs with the 21st and 22nd letters of the alphabet? These happen to
be the letters "U" and "V," once indistinguishable from one another in
terms of their appearance in the Roman alphabet and forever since regarded
as interchangeable by anagrammatists. For example, the illustrious pen-name
Voltaire is derived from the author's real surname L'Arouet: the "u" becomes
a "v," an "i" is added to ensure proper pronunciation, and the most famous
wit of the French enlightenment is turned loose upon the page. I mention
this as more than a footnote. The 21/22 and u/v blurs appear to be both
important and deliberate in TBB numerology.
Note also the following 13 additional numbers of significance:
| 33 | Numerology: Is the higher octave of Venus, (6) the goddess of love. The raised love vibration becomes Compassion or God-love. This compassion is expressed (3) and used to uplift others. When 33 appears to us it is saying that there may be a sacrifice to be made. Observe your situation from a Gods-eye view and see where compassion or forgiveness is needed, either towards yourself or towards another. Express a Higher Love. (Reduces to 6) |
| 44 | Numerology: Has to do with the mental mastery and the material world. Great gifts, or lessons about the material world are forthcoming and attention is being called to these matters. There may be a need for re-evaluation of your life and where it's heading. (Reduces to 8.) |
| 45 | Pspeciastes: Is the number of numbers, the dawn of a mellow yellow day, which will enter the limit and go for a ride, helter skelter to strawberry fields ... |
| 52 | Number of weeks in the year. Number of cards in a playing deck. |
| 55 | Numerology: Has to do with accessing Higher Mind (55) and channeling it through your individuality (1). 55 is a direct line to the mind of God or as some call it, the akashic records. It is calling upon you to responsibly harness and direct the knowledge that is attainable now. There are also changes taking place and many choices ahead. Responsible choices must be made and the route to these is through the Higher Mind. As with all Master number influences, meditation is key here. (Reduces to 10 and to 1). |
| 56 | Tarot: Number of cards in the Lower Arcana
(i.e., suit cards)
TBB: Number of chapters in Pnotes. |
| 61 | Pspeciastes: Is the number of the highway, from which a long black limousine will turn, bearing horsemen down a long and winding road, over the river and through the trees, until they reach the darkness at the edge of town... |
| 64 | Pspeciastes: Is the number of pigs on the wing, and kings who will turn into cabbages... |
| 66 | Christianity: Number of books in the Holy Bible
TBB: Number of chapters in Psongs. (Reduces to 12 and to 3) |
| 70 | Pspeciastes: Is the number of nothing at all, the zero that disgorges a man of wealth and taste... |
| 78 | Tarot: The number of cards in the deck.
TBB: The number of chapters in Psomethings, Ed, and Willie. The number of verses in Bands. |
| 80 | Pspeciastes: Is the number of something from nothing, when the balow folk will find the soldiers on the shelf... |
| 84 | Pspeciastes: Is the number of nightmares to come, and screams at the end of the night... |
Now, if you want to see an example of how this numbers game is played,
take a look at the essay Harry's Toys, Miracles
& Mysteries.