KEY

When the puzzle box opens up, youll see what I mean, but the for the time being use the
following attributes as a guide, if necessary. I found them by looking at the symbols
themselves as each embodying a distinctive meaning manifest in a type of motion, action,
or intelligence. As if the shape of the glyphs were each designed to show their intent.

The partitioning of the Tarot deck by digital root was the method of connecting them
together into sets. These in turn fit together in a kind of narrative describing the journey
through a geometric lattice known as the Tree of Life. This method is outlined in further
detail in Ring Two below.

It may be helpful to bear in mind that these astrological glyphs were also used by the
alchemists.

12
Let the glyphs of the zodiac represent different types of motion or action.
In this sense, the imagery associated with each sign complements the function of the glyph.
 ARIES (the Ram): Pressing - Pushing
TAURUS (the Bull): Grounding
GEMINI (the Twins): Cleaving - Twinning
CANCER (the Crab): Cycling
LEO (the Lion): Ignition - the Creative spark
VIRGO (the Virgin): Bringing to Fruition
LIBRA (the Scales): Balancing
SCORPIO (Fish - Serpent - Scorpion - Eagle): Metamorphosis
SAGITTARIUS (the Archer): Penetration
CAPRICORN (the Goat-Fish): Progression - Evolution
AQUARIUS: (the Cup-bearer): Reflection
PISCES (Two Fish going opposite ways): Expansion - Return

7
Let the Planets serve as forms of intelligence, personified in their densest form as metals,
or in purer form as the archetypal gods & goddesses.
SATURN (Lead): Measure - Mortality - Understanding
JUPITER (Tin): Harmonizing - Ruling - Orchestrating
MARS (Iron): Enforcing - Activating - Conflicting
SUN (Gold): Illuminates - Enlightens
VENUS (Copper): Attraction - Embodying
MERCURY (Mercury): Integration - Synthesis - Communication
MOON (Silver): Tides - Phases

3
Let the Elements represent different faculties of Being.

As the Matter, or Body, from which we undertake this work, EARTH need not be represented
among the Elements of the major arcana.

There are, of course, volumes of lore written on the interpretation of these symbols.

The present thesis maintains a self-initiation defense, predicated on the basic proposition
that, given the context provided by the integration of Tarot & Qabalah, they form a unified
whole that is self-explanatory by virtue of its architecture being founded on a simple
geometric diagram.

But, like any puzzle, its solution requires Play.

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W EDNES DAY, JUNE 9 , 2 010

BORROMEAN RINGS (2/3)

RING TWO:
an elixir of memory & wisdom
Socrates
I can tell something I have heard of the ancients; but whether it is true, they only know. But if we
ourselves should find it out, should we care any longer for human opinions?

Phaedrus
A ridiculous question! But tell me what you say you have heard.

Socrates
I heard, then, that at Naucratis, in Egypt, was one of the ancient gods of that country, the one whose
sacred bird is called the ibis, and the name of the god himself was Thoth. He it was who invented numbers
and arithmetic and geometry and astronomy, also draughts and dice, and, most important of all, letters.
Now the king of all Egypt at that time was the god Thamus, who lived in the great city of the upper region,
which the Greeks call the Egyptian Thebes, and they call the god himself Ammon. To him came Thoth to
show his inventions, saying that they ought to be imparted to the other Egyptians. But Thamus asked what
use there was in each, and as Thoth enumerated their uses, expressed praise or blame, according as he
approved.

The story goes that Thamus said many things to Thoth in praise or blame of the various arts, which it
would take too long to repeat; but when they came to the letters, This invention, O king, said Thoth, will
make the Egyptians wiser and will improve their memories; for it is an elixir of memory and wisdom that
I have discovered. But Thamus replied, Most ingenious Thoth, one man has the ability to beget arts, but
the ability to judge of their usefulness or harmfulness to their users belongs to another; and now you, who
are the father of letters, have been led by your affection to ascribe to them a power the opposite of that
which they really possess. For this invention will produce forgetfulness in the minds of those who learn to
use it, because they will not practice their memory. Their trust in writing, produced by external characters
which are no part of themselves, will discourage the use of their own memory within them. You have
invented an elixir not of memory, but of reminding; and you offer your pupils the appearance of wisdom,
not true wisdom, for they will read many things without instruction and will therefore seem to know many
things, when they are for the most part ignorant and hard to get along with, since they are not wise, but
only appear wise.

http://www.ancient-hebrew.org/3_home.html

Theres a kind of Game that can be played with Tarot cards. Not the trick-taking variety of
gambling associated with their emergence in northern Italy [c. 1441], nor the divinatory
permutations combined within the fortune tellers craft. This game imparts a book of secrets
preserving a most ancient teaching concealed within the sequence of Letters comprising the
Hebrew alphabet. In this respect, Tarot can be used as a cipher-text for performing a kind of
alchemical card trick.

In much the same way that Checkers or Chess possess their field of play in the form of a
checkered board, Tarot utilizes the matrix of 10 points (sefirot) and 22 inter-connecting
lines (pathways) known as the Tree of Life. By using the simple number trick of adding the
individual digits of a number together until reaching a single digit sum, One is able to group
the Tarots enumeration of Hebrew Letters into 9 sets.

This method of assembling our game-pieces is a formulaic device for establishing the
components of an even larger puzzle - One we are to construct upon our game-board, the
Tree of Life. To be more precise, the arrangement of these components upon the Tree
constructs an allegorical scenario wherein the alchemical craft of transmuting Lead into
Gold serves as a metaphor for the perfection of our puzzle.

Herein lies an aenigma that has been the Philosophers Riddle for ages - One which has
taken many guises but always adheres to a retrievable pattern based not merely upon an
archetype of the collective unconscious, but structured around a set of relations integrating
the mathematics of acoustic geometry with the proportions of regular solids & periodic
cycles of planetary alignment - together articulating a model of the cosmos whose musical &
celestial harmony lay at the heart of antiquitys mystery traditions.

While examining the mechanics of this System, it is advised that the reader consider this a
map only, and not the territory. The benefits to be derived from exploring such an aenigma
are primarily realized through treading its pathways for One self. The poise of its symbols
articulated as One express an architectural view to Numbers as they move thru Space
(geometry) and Time (music) in a way that visually balances rational forms, like cubes &
octahedrons, with irrational quantities such as pi, the golden ratio, and the square roots of
2 & 3.

On a practical level, this activity is of benefit in constructing what is called a method of loci
mnemonic TooL - an Art of Memory formed around a recursive pattern in nature, broadly
applicable to a wide variety of subjects by virtue of its ubiquity. Through repeated
distillations it begins to take shape, coming into clearer focus as One gains greater
familiarity with the Knowledge it maps and the Understanding that contains.

The rationale behind its Table of Correspondences is drawn from the sequence and
classification of letters comprising the Hebrew alphabet. It was adopted during their
Babylonian captivity (7th-6th century, BC), when what had been the ruling class
(patriarchs, priests, etc.) within the kingdom of Judea became the servants of the Chaldeans
- a culture highly esteemed for their advancements in mathematics, astronomy & geometry.
The archaic Hebrew alphabet was at this time replaced by a box script form of Aramaic (the
language spoken by the Chaldeans) that then became the basis of the current letters in use.
Our cipher-text, as it exists today, stems from the assignment of these newer letters to the
symbols depicted by hieroglyphs from which the more ancient Hebrew letters had been
derived. In a very real sense, the one was grafted unto the other. They had much in common
already, having both been based on the Phoenician (or, rather, Canaanite) alphabet from
which Latin & Greek were also similarly descended.

Replacing the current symbols tied to their Hebrew letters with those of these ancient glyphs
depicts an older version of our Game - their differences reflecting a change of idiom
consistent with the transition from the Age of Aries to that of Pisces within the exeligmos of
equinoctial precessions.

It has been surmised that these letters broke down into 3 categories based on the type of
sound(s) they indicated. One of the earliest known manuscripts (c. 2nd-3rd century AD)
containing the basic tenets of the Jewish mystic tradition that would become known as
Kabbalah, the Sepher Yetzirah (Book of Formation) describes 10 Numbers (sefirot) and
22 Letters as the medium through which the Hebrews creator god, Yahweh [YHVH],
manifests the universe & everything in it. Classifying each of the letters as either one of 3
mothers (element), 7 double (planet) or 12 simples (zodiac), this book forms the
alphabetical structure that, when de-ciphered with the Tarot de Marseilles, exhibits a
collection of mathematical constants specific to our study of the Great Pyramid in RING
ONE.
Developed in the intermediary zone between the ancient Egyptian & Mesopotamian cultures,
our earliest alphabets may have retained the texture of a much older system; perhaps One
that was known to the high priests of the Gods own scribe, Thoth. But whether his ibis-
headedness truly invented these Letters & Numbers himself is beside the point: their cipher-
text, in its current form, demonstrates an internally self-consistent logic for integrating his
reputed inventions (writing, arithmetic, geometry, measurement, music, architecture,
medicine, alchemy, gambling, astrology & the calendar) into a single, potent mnemonic
TooL. One that explains much regarding many specific allegories used in both Semitic &
Indo-European mythology; as well as their attending star lore.
Yet their integration depends upon keys that arent printed until the 17th century: the matrix
of 10 interconnected points referred to as the Tree of Life; and the Tarot de Marseilles
pattern that standardized the Tarot deck format. To what degree either represent a much
older tradition of esoteric transmission is a matter of conjecture to which many authors in
the intervening centuries have proffered a wide range opinions. Our concern here is less
with the specifics of that debate than with the unique structure created by their synthesis -
how these Keys unlock the Hebrew alphabets cipher-text of correspondences and arrange
them into a unified whole. In order to see how this is done requires looking at their
distribution in more than 2 dimensions.

Again, the reader is advised that this is only an introduction to this System - a reminder, of
sorts - and only succeeds in distilling the elixir of memory & wisdom through repeated use.

The TREE of LIFE: projections of light & shadow

Anthanasius Kircher (16011680) was a Jesuit scholar & polymath employed by the
Collegio Romano whose breadth of inquiry spawned a host of books on topics ranging
across fields diverse as magnetism, linguistics, optics, music, mathematics & geology. A
pioneer in the attempt to reconstruct the lost art of reading Egyptian hieroglyphics, he
compiled his 20 years research drawing from Chaldean astrology, Pythagorean
mathematics, Greek & Latin mythology, alchemy, and the Hebrew Kabbalah into the 4-folio
volume, Oedipus Aegypticus (c. 1652-4).
Providing one of the earliest renditions of the Tree of Life exhibiting the structure &
symmetry of a projection, Kircher elaborated upon an earlier version of the diagram
provided by a Christian convert from Judaism, Phillipe dAquin (1625), by designating
which of the 22 letters corresponded to each of the pathways interconnecting its 10 sefirot.

Kircher had already written one of earliest accounts on projecting images in his Ars Magna
Lucis et Umbrae (The Great Art of Light and Shadow, 1646) wherein he suggested such
methods were used by the priesthood of Solomons Temple and warns against their
unscrupulous abuse. As all thats required to project the 3-d skeleton of a cube (or of any
solid) is enough light to cast its shadow upon a 2-d plane, the technology for obtaining
such a matrix was well within the reach of ancient geometers.
Why it should be of particular interest within Judaism becomes easier to see when we
examine the architecture of the Temple itself. Its inner sanctum, known as the Holy of
Holies, was the ancient Hebrews repository for their most sacred relics: the rod of Aron, a
pot of manna, and the Ark of the Covenant (containing the 10 words brought down Mt.
Zion by the Semitic ancestor-hero, Moses). A feature of temple architecture classified as the
adyton, it was adjacent to a longer hall called the cella. Described in the Torahs Book of
Kings as being in the shape of a Cube inlaid with Gold, the Holy of Holies was considered
the dwelling place of the name, YHVH - a symbolic formula of letters embodying the ritual
function of the Ark itself as the footstool of God.
One way of looking at the Tree of Life is as a portable version of the Temple itself; and, just
as with Solomons Temple after the Babylonian conquest, or the fall of the second Temple at
the hands of the Romans, the edifice has been broken into fragments. Even when it stood,
the ritual object embodying their covenant with the Divine was supposed to have contained
his 10 words already smashed to bits. In this sense, our Game is essentially a process of
rebuilding the Temple from all its scattered pieces, re-assembling them in much the same
way as in the Egyptian myth of Isis journey to collect the pieces of her dismembered
husband, Osiris, before resurrecting him and conceiving their child, the Sun god, Horus.
The formula itself is a geometric expression of mathematically constant proportions, which
remain consistent from culture to culture throughout the ages - only the mythology draped
over it changes.

Kirchers Tree disseminated a piece of this Knowledge. Within the same decade master card
printer Jean Noblet would provide another: a deck of cards whose mathematical structure
parallels the ritual function & sacred architecture of SOLomons Golden Cube.
[22/56 /8] : [22/14 /2] = 4:1 (double octave) = XVI:IV
TAROT de MARSEILLES: the Book of Thoth
Though its precise origins remain a mystery, the earliest known Tarot emerged in northern
Italy at the dawn of the renaissance - a collection of hand-painted images brought together
under the auspices of gambling. These decks and the games played with them had faded
into obscurity within Italy by the time Noblets printing press issued the pattern of 78 cards
we recognize today as the standard Tarot. But, despite having worked from the city of Paris,
the structure of his and other decks of this type mostly originating in France are now
collectively referred to as Tarot de Marseilles.

Exactly when Tarots structural parallels to Kabbala began influencing their composition &
design may never be firmly established due to the tradition of secrecy attending the esoteric
transmission of Knowledge among its adepts; but the earliest explicit mention of major
arcana corresponding to the Hebrew alphabet doesnt appear in print until 1781 with a pair
of essays written by Antoine Court de Geblin & the Comte de Mellet, and featured within the
8th volume of de Geblins encyclopedic, Le Monde Primitif (1781).
Though widely panned today by many historians for dubiously attributing authorship of
Tarot to the Egyptian god Thoth, the eponymous claim may have stemmed from their
involvement in Freemasonry. A member of Les Neuf Surs, de Geblins 9 volume work on
the enlightened & advanced civilizations of antiquity enjoyed a readership which included
both the King of France and the President of the United States. Suffice to say, he was likely
well-placed within that fraternal brotherhood whose own origin mythos centered around
the construction of Solomons Temple and the allegorical assassination of its Master
Mason for not divulging the secrets of his Craft.

Notably, more than just the addition of iconography is attained by integrating Tarot with
the Hebrew alphabet; for the Marseilles pattern also established the numerical ranking of
major arcana. A critical Key, but still essentially useless lest the player know where the
Cipher is put - in this case both a visual & numerical conundrum, or punning riddle,
suitable for a fooL.
Prior to the invention of symbols to represent numerals, the Letters were accorded values
that also reflected their sequence within the alphabet. Wedded to the Tarot de Marseilles
pattern, their sequence remains the same, but assigns a new value to each number
depending solely upon the placement of the Sifr (the arabic root from which both cipher
and zero are derived). When 0=aleph, the first letter, their subdivision by element, planet &
zodiac give values whose combination describe proportions consistent with the diagram
seen in RING ONE.

Only then does partition of the deck by digital root connect the Letters subdivided into these
9 sets to the Numbers relevant for their assemblage upon the Tree of Life.
Similar to a puzzle made by cutting a picture into many interlocking pieces, there is a
completed object in which all components of the partitioned Tarot fit together & reinforce
One another by their own peculiar, internal logic. Playing with this aenigma is a process of
repeated distillations, bringing the object into clearer focus, recognizing in its architecture
not merely the interlinking of arcane symbols within an octahedral matrix, but also an
allegorical key for unlocking the use of symbol within Indo-European & Semitic mythology
and star lore.

When examining the zodiacal glyphs it is as if we are looking at this object broken into
pieces and then projected onto a 2-dimensional surface. One might say that distilling the
solution to this particular puzzle requires continually translating its partition of glyphs into
higher dimensions. This is also consistent with the type of motion or intelligence being
indicated by each glyphs design. For example, how Scorpio depicts a spiral (as seen
from its side) of transformation through which metamorphosis incurs change; this same
spiral is connected to a hymen in the glyph for Virgo, specifying a type of
metamorphosis: gestating in the womb of creative ferment until mature enough to cross a
Virgin threshold.

Each partitioned set may also be read as a chapter within a narrative describing the Souls
journey through the Tree of Life. The process of determining what sequence the chapters are
ordered in leads to an Understanding of how the game-pieces are to be arranged upon the
game-board. Implicit within their sequence is a philosophy on the progression of Number
and Form.
Yet, even after having fit together all these pieces on our game-board, there is still an
operation to be performed - an error in The System that requires adjustment. Winning the
Game is a matter of solving the riddle posed by this specific dilemma, and concerns the
mutual use of all these glyphs among both the alchemists & astrologers of the past.

Prizing a certain secrecy which could only be overcome with a requisite modicum of
technical proficiency & education, those adept at the alchemical craft used the mythology
associated with our planets and constellations to create allegories from ancient lore that
could be used to represent specific chemical processes and philosophical concepts. However
inscrutable or bizarre this means of communication might seem to the influent, this
discourse of riddling becomes accessible when the cipher-textual properties of Tarot are
properly applied.

If we scrutinize the iconography of the major arcana, matched against the simple letters
pertaining to the zodiac, it becomes apparent there is a fundamental flaw: Libras scales of
Justice [VIII] have switched places with the Strength [XI] of Leos lion. This transposition
of symbols within the deck is instructive in many respects, and is utilized within the context
of our Game to transform Lead into Gold by completing a matrix of geometric relations at
the 11th point (Gnosis) within the Tree of Life necessary for the 2-d projection of a Cube &
Octahedron.

Before ever becoming a standardized pattern, the Tarot arcana representing the cardinal
virtues - Temperance, Justice & Strength - tended to vary position more than any other cards
within the sequences of older decks. Ironically, the position they ultimately assume in
Noblets Tarot are poised at the crux of this Puzzle: a crossroads in the Tree's pathways
leading to where its golden apples grow.

Phaedrus
Socrates, you easily make up stories of Egypt or any country you please.

Socrates
They used to say, my friend, that the words of the oak in the holy place of Zeus at Dodona were the first
prophetic utterances. The people of that time, not being so wise as you young folks, were content in their
simplicity to hear an oak or a rock, provided only it spoke the truth; but to you, perhaps, it makes a
difference who the speaker is and where he comes from, for you do not consider only whether his words
are true or not.
Phaedrus
Your rebuke is just; and I think the Theban is right in what he says about letters.

RING THREE: Heras Orchard

(under construction)

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Labels: Alchemy, Qabalah, Tarot, Thoth

TUES DAY, MAY 18, 2 010

BORROMEAN RINGS (1/3)
If one proceeded to announce that there is still nowadays a work of the former
Egyptians, one of their books that escaped the flames that devoured their superb libraries,
and which contains their purest doctrines on interesting subjects, everyone who heard,
undoubtedly, would hasten to study such an invaluable book, such a marvel. If one also
said that this book is very widespread in most of Europe, that for a number of centuries it
has been in the hands of everyone, the surprise would be certain to increase. Would it not
reach its height, if one gave assurances that no one ever suspected that it was Egyptian;
that those who possessed it did not value it, that nobody ever sought to decipher a sheet of
it; that the fruit of an exquisite wisdom is regarded as a cluster of extravagant figures
which do not mean anything by themselves? Would it not be thought that the speaker
wanted to amuse himself, and played on the credulity of his listeners?
- Antione Court de Geblin, The Game of Tarots,
from le Monde Primitif (1781)
BORROMEAN RINGS
RING ONE: hidden element

3 Rings linked together, their centers being vertices (corners) of an equilateral Triangle.

Viewed in this diagram, we are looking at a 2-dimensional map of Earth from its side,
represented by One ring of our choosing (blue):

Orient the planet so the Great Pyramid at Giza (30N) lays at one of the vertices, the Earths
center at another, and its axis North pole at the third.

Exploring this set of relations, it can be demonstrated that the architectural proportions of
the Great Pyramid at Giza exhibit a means of utilizing the measure of Earth to express the
mathematical constant, . To understand how we must suspend, for a moment, our habit of
thinking of number in purely quantitative terms and consider the ways in which some
numbers are also inherently bound to specific geometric forms - like with square (1 2 3
4 5...) or cubed (1 2 3 4 5...) numbers we see a sum attached to a particular shape.
Other shapes each possess their own sequence of numbers also attached to their change in
proportion.

These are called figurate numbers, and tradition has it they were introduced into Greek
mathematics by the pre-Socratic philosopher, Pythagoras, in the 6th century BC. A student
of the ancient mystery schools, it is likely he acquired this knowledge during his journeys to
Chaldea & Egypt; but all that is really required to calculate the number sequences tied to
these shapes is a stack of pebbles and time to spare, counting out the variety of polygons &
devising ways of stacking them to construct polyhedrons.

To the careful interpreter of nature a pattern was discernible amidst this numerical data -
One that, properly placed, could be applied to the measure of all things. It is suggested here
that the Great Pyramid at Giza, in relation to the 3-Ring structure given above, embodies
this application.

Let us then imagine the Great Pyramid as keystone to a system of projective numerology -
an application of mathematics using figurate numbers to model distances and proportions
as shapes, and translating them into their related forms as seen from different angles & in
other dimensions.

At the root of any square pyramids architecture is its seked - an ancient Egyptian ratio of
angular measure used to determine the slope of a pyramids sides and thus its height.

Utilizing the seked of the Great Pyramid, the perimeter of a square pyramidal base equals the
circumference of a circle whose radius is equal to that pyramids height.

Within our 2-dimensional map, as our planet rotates upon its axis, the Pyramid appears to
move from one end of a vesica piscis to the other, as if turning on a Wheel whose rim is the
30th parallel. Thus, in one quarter turn (11/14 /4) the Pyramid appears to move in a
perpendicular line to the base of the equilateral Triangle articulated within our 3-ring
diagram.
The distance of this perpendicular line from the Great Pyramid to the Earths polar axis is
3430 nautical miles, or 10x the cube of seven.
Let us then imagine this distance as a stack of 10 cubes, 7x7x7.

A quarter turn (11/14) of the Earth thus apportions a 10x10 square of these cubes:
10 x 14/11 = 127.27272727...

So, by the logic induced with this arrangement of proportions, distances can be pictured in
the minds Eye as figurate numbers of octahedral symmetry with 7-unit sides. Reading the
Run & Rise of the Great Pyramids seked both forward and backward we get a formula for
modeling a linear distance of the Earths measure as a column made of figurative cubes.
 [3d:2d = 343 :
127 ]

As such, we can picture the square pyramid monument atop this column as pointing to the
center of an imaginary 11th cube.
It follows, then, that a 12-hour rotation (180) measures a distance from center-point to
center-point of the cubes at either end of a column 22 cubes of 7 long.
The center point of a unit cube has a specific relationship to the vesica piscis traversed in
this 12-hour distance within our diagram, as Two rings sharing a single radius give a
rational approximation for 3, which is also the space diagonal of any unit cube.
In other words, with respect to a unit cube, the 3 is the distance between opposite corners
of that cube. Tracing these space diagonal lines joins the opposing corners, all of which
intersect at the center of that cube, and thereby delineate the edges of six square pyramids
joined at their apex.

22:7
To the Egyptian god Thoth, equated with the Greek god, Hermes, and particularly the
Roman god, Mercury, this ratio is significant in describing the number of conjunctions
aligning Mercury & Earth with the Sun every 7 years. Also known as a synodic cycle, this is
an example of what ancient Greek astronomers called an exeligmos, or Turn of the Wheel -
describing any period wherein Sun, Moon, and/or planets return to conjunction(s) from
which they started. The term is still used today, but is more specifically applied to the Triple
Saros cycle of reckoning lunar eclipses, each 120 of longitude apart, eventually returning to
a point relatively close to where they began: exeligmos. The Romans used the term annus
magnus, or great year to describe the same class of periodic event.

As we shall see, each of the planets have a harmonic ratio of conjunctions with our planet
Earth, and with each other. By fixing the Earth to the center of our ecliptic plane, the motion
of other planets relative to our position appear as serpentine spiro-graph patterns, looping
in close when aligning into conjunction with the Sun, and looping out to trace a wide arc
that coils about the Earth until looping in again for another conjunction.
Mars:Earth

Venus: Earth

Consistent within our model of 10 cubes of seven, the Great Pyramid (pointing to the center
of an eleventh) also corresponds to the tip of an octahedron of 7 = 231. And it just so
happens that 11x 231 is the number of days in the exeligmos of Mercury & Earth, 22:7. In
addition, the measure of the Great Pyramids base side lengths (440 cubits each) give a total
base area measuring approximately 231 meters square.

Being a close approximation of the value , and our annus magnus with the planet Mercury
(Hermes/Thoth), let us then imagine this column of 22 cubes of 7 as the staff of his
Caduceus. As we shall see, the cycles of the other planets can be represented as the serpents
entwined about this Staff, their helices in tune with the ratio of their exeligmos.

Imparting more than just the inevitable passage of Time, they were the very music of the
spheres by which the harmony of creation was made known to the ancient Geometers. Our
3-Rings establish the base unit of an entire system of weights & measures (metrology) by
symbolizing an angular dimension constructed by the movement through Time of the Great
Pyramid, like the point of a metronome entrained to the Earths tempo. In effect attuning the
mathematical constant with Mercury's Great Year & the linear measure of Earth's size in
units of angular measure. 'Squaring' the circle much like the Great Pyramid's seked.

1 nautical mile = 1.15 miles

The nautical mile used as our base unit of measure for obtaining the distance in cubes of
seven is also a unit of angular measure equivalent to 1/60th degree of Earth longitude (=1
minute of arc degree). Converting this into survey land miles = 1/10 the number of days
between Earth:Mercury conjunctions (=115).

22:7 = 12 hrs @ 30north (12x 30 = 360)

180 = 10,800 arc minutes of degree = 50x 216, the cube of 6
216 also equals the number of degrees between Earth:Venus conjunctions (x5 = 1
Earth:Venus pentagram = exeligmos). So, by subdividing each degree of arc into 60
minutes, Earths 180 rotation (22:7) upon its axis thereby possesses a kind of
numerological resonance regarding its harmonic with Venus, the exeligmos of the
pentagram. Reputedly a symbol of good will among the Pythagoreans, the pentagram also
provides an easy means of obtaining the golden ratio.
12 : 1 = (22/7) = 60 minutes
In this way our measure of both Time & Space define each other by weaving together the
value with the divine proportion of the golden ratio.

Of the numerous other curious facets to this TooL of Hermetic Metrology, establishing not
only our system of weights & measures, its choice of cubes & octahedrons also exhibit a
direct connection to speeds of both sound & light:

1 meter
=distance trave1ed by sound 1/343th of second
=distance trave1ed by light 1/299,792,458th of second

343 = cube of 7
299,792,458 = c = speed of light in meters per second
1296000 / = number of square degrees in one whole sphere
c / 1296000 = 231.321....
231 = octahedron of 7

Stranger still, the proportions outlined above are also paralleled in the numerical structure
of the Tarot de Marseilles pattern of 22 major arcana trumps when applied to the Hebrew
alphabet - in turn derived from Egyptian (via proto-Sinaitic) hieroglyphs which depicted the
symbols those letters are still associated with.

We see traces of this tradition within our own English alphabet with the letter A: also the
glyph for an Ox head (turned upside-down) having the same origin as the Hebrew letter
aleph.

Referred to by 'occultists' as the Book of Thoth (though never adequately explained why), the
key to unlocking this puzzle, as with any cryptological TooL, is knowing where to place the
cypher, or sifr - the arabic word from which we also get Zero, or nothing, the rank of every
Tarot decks Fool [aleph=0].

And this role proves more than suitable for One who ushers in what ultimately reveals a
prank, of sorts... leading to what is arguably the greatest punch-line in history.

RING TWO: an elixir of memory & wisdom

BORROMEAN RINGS (2/3)

RING TWO:
an elixir of memory & wisdom
Socrates
I can tell something I have heard of the ancients; but whether it is true, they only know. But if we
ourselves should find it out, should we care any longer for human opinions?

Phaedrus
A ridiculous question! But tell me what you say you have heard.

Socrates
I heard, then, that at Naucratis, in Egypt, was one of the ancient gods of that country, the one whose
sacred bird is called the ibis, and the name of the god himself was Thoth. He it was who invented numbers
and arithmetic and geometry and astronomy, also draughts and dice, and, most important of all, letters.
Now the king of all Egypt at that time was the god Thamus, who lived in the great city of the upper region,
which the Greeks call the Egyptian Thebes, and they call the god himself Ammon. To him came Thoth to
show his inventions, saying that they ought to be imparted to the other Egyptians. But Thamus asked what
use there was in each, and as Thoth enumerated their uses, expressed praise or blame, according as he
approved.

The story goes that Thamus said many things to Thoth in praise or blame of the various arts, which it
would take too long to repeat; but when they came to the letters, This invention, O king, said Thoth, will
make the Egyptians wiser and will improve their memories; for it is an elixir of memory and wisdom that
I have discovered. But Thamus replied, Most ingenious Thoth, one man has the ability to beget arts, but
the ability to judge of their usefulness or harmfulness to their users belongs to another; and now you, who
are the father of letters, have been led by your affection to ascribe to them a power the opposite of that
which they really possess. For this invention will produce forgetfulness in the minds of those who learn to
use it, because they will not practice their memory. Their trust in writing, produced by external characters
which are no part of themselves, will discourage the use of their own memory within them. You have
invented an elixir not of memory, but of reminding; and you offer your pupils the appearance of wisdom,
not true wisdom, for they will read many things without instruction and will therefore seem to know many
things, when they are for the most part ignorant and hard to get along with, since they are not wise, but
only appear wise.
http://www.ancient-hebrew.org/3_home.html

Theres a kind of Game that can be played with Tarot cards. Not the trick-taking variety of
gambling associated with their emergence in northern Italy [c. 1441], nor the divinatory
permutations combined within the fortune tellers craft. This game imparts a book of secrets
preserving a most ancient teaching concealed within the sequence of Letters comprising the
Hebrew alphabet. In this respect, Tarot can be used as a cipher-text for performing a kind of
alchemical card trick.

In much the same way that Checkers or Chess possess their field of play in the form of a
checkered board, Tarot utilizes the matrix of 10 points (sefirot) and 22 inter-connecting
lines (pathways) known as the Tree of Life. By using the simple number trick of adding the
individual digits of a number together until reaching a single digit sum, One is able to group
the Tarots enumeration of Hebrew Letters into 9 sets.

This method of assembling our game-pieces is a formulaic device for establishing the
components of an even larger puzzle - One we are to construct upon our game-board, the
Tree of Life. To be more precise, the arrangement of these components upon the Tree
constructs an allegorical scenario wherein the alchemical craft of transmuting Lead into
Gold serves as a metaphor for the perfection of our puzzle.
Herein lies an aenigma that has been the Philosophers Riddle for ages - One which has
taken many guises but always adheres to a retrievable pattern based not merely upon an
archetype of the collective unconscious, but structured around a set of relations integrating
the mathematics of acoustic geometry with the proportions of regular solids & periodic
cycles of planetary alignment - together articulating a model of the cosmos whose musical &
celestial harmony lay at the heart of antiquitys mystery traditions.

While examining the mechanics of this System, it is advised that the reader consider this a
map only, and not the territory. The benefits to be derived from exploring such an aenigma
are primarily realized through treading its pathways for One self. The poise of its symbols
articulated as One express an architectural view to Numbers as they move thru Space
(geometry) and Time (music) in a way that visually balances rational forms, like cubes &
octahedrons, with irrational quantities such as pi, the golden ratio, and the square roots of
2 & 3.

On a practical level, this activity is of benefit in constructing what is called a method of loci
mnemonic TooL - an Art of Memory formed around a recursive pattern in nature, broadly
applicable to a wide variety of subjects by virtue of its ubiquity. Through repeated
distillations it begins to take shape, coming into clearer focus as One gains greater
familiarity with the Knowledge it maps and the Understanding that contains.

The rationale behind its Table of Correspondences is drawn from the sequence and
classification of letters comprising the Hebrew alphabet. It was adopted during their
Babylonian captivity (7th-6th century, BC), when what had been the ruling class
(patriarchs, priests, etc.) within the kingdom of Judea became the servants of the Chaldeans
- a culture highly esteemed for their advancements in mathematics, astronomy & geometry.
The archaic Hebrew alphabet was at this time replaced by a box script form of Aramaic (the
language spoken by the Chaldeans) that then became the basis of the current letters in use.
Our cipher-text, as it exists today, stems from the assignment of these newer letters to the
symbols depicted by hieroglyphs from which the more ancient Hebrew letters had been
derived. In a very real sense, the one was grafted unto the other. They had much in common
already, having both been based on the Phoenician (or, rather, Canaanite) alphabet from
which Latin & Greek were also similarly descended.

Replacing the current symbols tied to their Hebrew letters with those of these ancient glyphs
depicts an older version of our Game - their differences reflecting a change of idiom
consistent with the transition from the Age of Aries to that of Pisces within the exeligmos of
equinoctial precessions.
It has been surmised that these letters broke down into 3 categories based on the type of
sound(s) they indicated. One of the earliest known manuscripts (c. 2nd-3rd century AD)
containing the basic tenets of the Jewish mystic tradition that would become known as
Kabbalah, the Sepher Yetzirah (Book of Formation) describes 10 Numbers (sefirot) and
22 Letters as the medium through which the Hebrews creator god, Yahweh [YHVH],
manifests the universe & everything in it. Classifying each of the letters as either one of 3
mothers (element), 7 double (planet) or 12 simples (zodiac), this book forms the
alphabetical structure that, when de-ciphered with the Tarot de Marseilles, exhibits a
collection of mathematical constants specific to our study of the Great Pyramid in RING
ONE.
Developed in the intermediary zone between the ancient Egyptian & Mesopotamian cultures,
our earliest alphabets may have retained the texture of a much older system; perhaps One
that was known to the high priests of the Gods own scribe, Thoth. But whether his ibis-
headedness truly invented these Letters & Numbers himself is beside the point: their cipher-
text, in its current form, demonstrates an internally self-consistent logic for integrating his
reputed inventions (writing, arithmetic, geometry, measurement, music, architecture,
medicine, alchemy, gambling, astrology & the calendar) into a single, potent mnemonic
TooL. One that explains much regarding many specific allegories used in both Semitic &
Indo-European mythology; as well as their attending star lore.
Yet their integration depends upon keys that arent printed until the 17th century: the matrix
of 10 interconnected points referred to as the Tree of Life; and the Tarot de Marseilles
pattern that standardized the Tarot deck format. To what degree either represent a much
older tradition of esoteric transmission is a matter of conjecture to which many authors in
the intervening centuries have proffered a wide range opinions. Our concern here is less
with the specifics of that debate than with the unique structure created by their synthesis -
how these Keys unlock the Hebrew alphabets cipher-text of correspondences and arrange
them into a unified whole. In order to see how this is done requires looking at their
distribution in more than 2 dimensions.

Again, the reader is advised that this is only an introduction to this System - a reminder, of
sorts - and only succeeds in distilling the elixir of memory & wisdom through repeated use.

The TREE of LIFE: projections of light & shadow

Anthanasius Kircher (16011680) was a Jesuit scholar & polymath employed by the
Collegio Romano whose breadth of inquiry spawned a host of books on topics ranging
across fields diverse as magnetism, linguistics, optics, music, mathematics & geology. A
pioneer in the attempt to reconstruct the lost art of reading Egyptian hieroglyphics, he
compiled his 20 years research drawing from Chaldean astrology, Pythagorean
mathematics, Greek & Latin mythology, alchemy, and the Hebrew Kabbalah into the 4-folio
volume, Oedipus Aegypticus (c. 1652-4).
Providing one of the earliest renditions of the Tree of Life exhibiting the structure &
symmetry of a projection, Kircher elaborated upon an earlier version of the diagram
provided by a Christian convert from Judaism, Phillipe dAquin (1625), by designating
which of the 22 letters corresponded to each of the pathways interconnecting its 10 sefirot.

Kircher had already written one of earliest accounts on projecting images in his Ars Magna
Lucis et Umbrae (The Great Art of Light and Shadow, 1646) wherein he suggested such
methods were used by the priesthood of Solomons Temple and warns against their
unscrupulous abuse. As all thats required to project the 3-d skeleton of a cube (or of any
solid) is enough light to cast its shadow upon a 2-d plane, the technology for obtaining
such a matrix was well within the reach of ancient geometers.
Why it should be of particular interest within Judaism becomes easier to see when we
examine the architecture of the Temple itself. Its inner sanctum, known as the Holy of
Holies, was the ancient Hebrews repository for their most sacred relics: the rod of Aron, a
pot of manna, and the Ark of the Covenant (containing the 10 words brought down Mt.
Zion by the Semitic ancestor-hero, Moses). A feature of temple architecture classified as the
adyton, it was adjacent to a longer hall called the cella. Described in the Torahs Book of
Kings as being in the shape of a Cube inlaid with Gold, the Holy of Holies was considered
the dwelling place of the name, YHVH - a symbolic formula of letters embodying the ritual
function of the Ark itself as the footstool of God.
One way of looking at the Tree of Life is as a portable version of the Temple itself; and, just
as with Solomons Temple after the Babylonian conquest, or the fall of the second Temple at
the hands of the Romans, the edifice has been broken into fragments. Even when it stood,
the ritual object embodying their covenant with the Divine was supposed to have contained
his 10 words already smashed to bits. In this sense, our Game is essentially a process of
rebuilding the Temple from all its scattered pieces, re-assembling them in much the same
way as in the Egyptian myth of Isis journey to collect the pieces of her dismembered
husband, Osiris, before resurrecting him and conceiving their child, the Sun god, Horus.
The formula itself is a geometric expression of mathematically constant proportions, which
remain consistent from culture to culture throughout the ages - only the mythology draped
over it changes.

Kirchers Tree disseminated a piece of this Knowledge. Within the same decade master card
printer Jean Noblet would provide another: a deck of cards whose mathematical structure
parallels the ritual function & sacred architecture of SOLomons Golden Cube.
[22/56 /8] : [22/14 /2] = 4:1 (double octave) = XVI:IV
TAROT de MARSEILLES: the Book of Thoth
Though its precise origins remain a mystery, the earliest known Tarot emerged in northern
Italy at the dawn of the renaissance - a collection of hand-painted images brought together
under the auspices of gambling. These decks and the games played with them had faded
into obscurity within Italy by the time Noblets printing press issued the pattern of 78 cards
we recognize today as the standard Tarot. But, despite having worked from the city of Paris,
the structure of his and other decks of this type mostly originating in France are now
collectively referred to as Tarot de Marseilles.

Exactly when Tarots structural parallels to Kabbala began influencing their composition &
design may never be firmly established due to the tradition of secrecy attending the esoteric
transmission of Knowledge among its adepts; but the earliest explicit mention of major
arcana corresponding to the Hebrew alphabet doesnt appear in print until 1781 with a pair
of essays written by Antoine Court de Geblin & the Comte de Mellet, and featured within the
8th volume of de Geblins encyclopedic, Le Monde Primitif (1781).
Though widely panned today by many historians for dubiously attributing authorship of
Tarot to the Egyptian god Thoth, the eponymous claim may have stemmed from their
involvement in Freemasonry. A member of Les Neuf Surs, de Geblins 9 volume work on
the enlightened & advanced civilizations of antiquity enjoyed a readership which included
both the King of France and the President of the United States. Suffice to say, he was likely
well-placed within that fraternal brotherhood whose own origin mythos centered around
the construction of Solomons Temple and the allegorical assassination of its Master
Mason for not divulging the secrets of his Craft.

Notably, more than just the addition of iconography is attained by integrating Tarot with
the Hebrew alphabet; for the Marseilles pattern also established the numerical ranking of
major arcana. A critical Key, but still essentially useless lest the player know where the
Cipher is put - in this case both a visual & numerical conundrum, or punning riddle,
suitable for a fooL.
Prior to the invention of symbols to represent numerals, the Letters were accorded values
that also reflected their sequence within the alphabet. Wedded to the Tarot de Marseilles
pattern, their sequence remains the same, but assigns a new value to each number
depending solely upon the placement of the Sifr (the arabic root from which both cipher
and zero are derived). When 0=aleph, the first letter, their subdivision by element, planet &
zodiac give values whose combination describe proportions consistent with the diagram
seen in RING ONE.

Only then does partition of the deck by digital root connect the Letters subdivided into these
9 sets to the Numbers relevant for their assemblage upon the Tree of Life.
Similar to a puzzle made by cutting a picture into many interlocking pieces, there is a
completed object in which all components of the partitioned Tarot fit together & reinforce
One another by their own peculiar, internal logic. Playing with this aenigma is a process of
repeated distillations, bringing the object into clearer focus, recognizing in its architecture
not merely the interlinking of arcane symbols within an octahedral matrix, but also an
allegorical key for unlocking the use of symbol within Indo-European & Semitic mythology
and star lore.

When examining the zodiacal glyphs it is as if we are looking at this object broken into
pieces and then projected onto a 2-dimensional surface. One might say that distilling the
solution to this particular puzzle requires continually translating its partition of glyphs into
higher dimensions. This is also consistent with the type of motion or intelligence being
indicated by each glyphs design. For example, how Scorpio depicts a spiral (as seen
from its side) of transformation through which metamorphosis incurs change; this same
spiral is connected to a hymen in the glyph for Virgo, specifying a type of
metamorphosis: gestating in the womb of creative ferment until mature enough to cross a
Virgin threshold.

Each partitioned set may also be read as a chapter within a narrative describing the Souls
journey through the Tree of Life. The process of determining what sequence the chapters are
ordered in leads to an Understanding of how the game-pieces are to be arranged upon the
game-board. Implicit within their sequence is a philosophy on the progression of Number
and Form.
Yet, even after having fit together all these pieces on our game-board, there is still an
operation to be performed - an error in The System that requires adjustment. Winning the
Game is a matter of solving the riddle posed by this specific dilemma, and concerns the
mutual use of all these glyphs among both the alchemists & astrologers of the past.

Prizing a certain secrecy which could only be overcome with a requisite modicum of
technical proficiency & education, those adept at the alchemical craft used the mythology
associated with our planets and constellations to create allegories from ancient lore that
could be used to represent specific chemical processes and philosophical concepts. However
inscrutable or bizarre this means of communication might seem to the influent, this
discourse of riddling becomes accessible when the cipher-textual properties of Tarot are
properly applied.

If we scrutinize the iconography of the major arcana, matched against the simple letters
pertaining to the zodiac, it becomes apparent there is a fundamental flaw: Libras scales of
Justice [VIII] have switched places with the Strength [XI] of Leos lion. This transposition
of symbols within the deck is instructive in many respects, and is utilized within the context
of our Game to transform Lead into Gold by completing a matrix of geometric relations at
the 11th point (Gnosis) within the Tree of Life necessary for the 2-d projection of a Cube &
Octahedron.

Before ever becoming a standardized pattern, the Tarot arcana representing the cardinal
virtues - Temperance, Justice & Strength - tended to vary position more than any other cards
within the sequences of older decks. Ironically, the position they ultimately assume in
Noblets Tarot are poised at the crux of this Puzzle: a crossroads in the Tree's pathways
leading to where its golden apples grow.

Phaedrus
Socrates, you easily make up stories of Egypt or any country you please.

Socrates
They used to say, my friend, that the words of the oak in the holy place of Zeus at Dodona were the first
prophetic utterances. The people of that time, not being so wise as you young folks, were content in their
simplicity to hear an oak or a rock, provided only it spoke the truth; but to you, perhaps, it makes a
difference who the speaker is and where he comes from, for you do not consider only whether his words
are true or not.
Phaedrus
Your rebuke is just; and I think the Theban is right in what he says about letters.