Mystic alphabet, the

 

The Mystic alphabet was used to record all the fundamental 'truths' about the spiritual world. 

It is broadly the same in principle as the old Hebrew alphabet (Hebrew: אָלֶף־בֵּית עִבְרִי[a], alefbet ʿIvri ), with its 22 letters. 

It should be noted that the old Hebrew alphabet was derived from the Mystic alphabet, not the other way round.

It is also the same in essentials to the Gematria  (Greek: meaning geometry) system an Assyro-Babylonian-Greek system of code and numerology later adopted into Jewish culture that assigns numerical value to a word or phrase.

There is every indication that the mystic alphabet/number system was common to all mystic groups at one time, for example:

 The system

 

The objective of the system was to record the principle concepts, and the principle methods used in the Mysteries.

This system is not the same as the Word Notation system, which has a different purpose.

Nor is it the same as the numbering system used in the Tarot, which although consisting of 22 major arcana cards, represents stages on the spiritual path.  The Tarot and the Mystic alphabet are, however, complementary.

There are both numbers and characters as symbols to represent the concepts and methods.  The characters vary widely and thus are often quite difficult to interpret, but the numbers and their conceptual meaning usually remain relatively stable.

The system is intended to be a complete mystical coding of the essence of the spiritual world, something that could be remembered in times of persecution and hidden from those who were neither adepts or initiates.

 

Methods

The shape of the letters were used in the Mysteries, and were a reminder of the various positions one had to adopt during the initiation ceremonies - kneeling, prostrate, etc. as well as some of the positions that may result, for example a person in ecstasy tends to take the shape of the St Andrew's cross.

These clearly can change depending on the methods used. 

As there was considerable use of sexual techniques at the time, there were even some that showed sexual positions. 

If we take an extract from a system, The Mispar gadol: one incidentally whose meaning has probably been long lost

 

Concepts

As you will see from the section on concepts on this website, there are potentially hundreds of concepts, but there are only a few key ones.  First we need to very very briefly look at the concepts represented.  There is far more about them if you follow the links:

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  Atoms [spiritual] - Everything in the universe is made from Plato's atoms - synonyms and symbols used for this concept include Dust, Sand, Grains, Leibniz's monad, bubbles of foam [on the seashore] and so on.  These are NOT physical things these are spiritual/software things.  They contain all the functions in the universe whether they are new learnt function or old accumulated function - a great software storage bubble.  Since God [or the Ultimate Intelligence] is defined as all the functions of the universe, each Atom is a copy of God.

• Aggregates - In addition to this there are Aggregates, named classes of things organised in a hierarchy.  Atoms belong to Aggregate copies/occurrences.  Once they have been allocated and  'named' [Names] the functions they have become operational - are switched on and those irrelevant to the aggregate occurrence they belong to are switched off. The hierarchy of Named classes of things [Entities/aggregates] is the Tree of Life - but a bit extra because it includes all animate and inanimate objects. eg Dog/Collie/Border collie or rock/mineral/quartz.

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  Intelligence hierachy -  The Intelligence hierachy mirrors the Aggregate hierarchy exactly.  It is both the named object, the functions/attributes it owns and the functions needed to spawn new objects/entities.  Thus an Intelligence has creative power and 'owns' the functions allocated to that Entity.

• Egg -  The Egg - the Cosmic Egg, is a symbol used for both the atom and the universe.  As the Universe is all function it mirrors exactly the contents of the Atom but on a vast scale.  The 'shell' is symbolically the physically perceived universe - the part we are able to see with our 5 senses

• Levels and layers - the Atom, the Universe and the Egg being identical in essence, are divided into levels of vibrational energy - the Elements, the symbolic Planets, the Stars and Signs of the Zodiac and then the 'centre' - the unmoving mover.  A Map of the Egg is provided if you follow the link.  This map is also the layout of the Atom.  In effect all the Atoms which make up every thing has this layout.  It is really just a big storage bubble with functions distributed at various levels vibrationally.  The 'types' are stored in the Planets and above, the occurrence are stored in the Elements.

Numbers

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  One - the symbol for 'God' - the Ultimate Intelligence, the unmoved mover.

• Two - Symbol of the Created and Creator and by extension symbolically Mother and Father.   It can also mean the two 'aspects' - creation and destruction and thus by extension Black and White and the system of contrasts

• Three - The 'trinity', but this can have two valid meanings

• Trimurti - Creation, maintenance and destruction
• Trinity - Father/Mother/Son and also Creator, Created plus World Soul

• Four - generally meant [in this context] to mean the four  Elements, that is the vibrational levels of Fire, Air, Water and Earth. 

• Five - In this context the number 5 - also symbolically represented by the Five pointed star, or Pentangle - represents the human figure as a whole.  The number five is used because man appears to have 5 of everything – 5 senses, 5 ‘members’ [limbs and extremities],  five fingers, 5 main organs [heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, stomach], 5 toes and so on.  It can also mean the combination of the four  Elements, that is the vibrational levels of Fire, Air, Water and Earth, PLUS Aether 

• Six - The number six, 6, is representative of the union of the Conscious with the Subconscious mind – the male and female principles, opening the way for advanced spiritual access.

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  Seven - the Seven planets, and a number of different alternatives.  The symbolism is also linked with that of the rainbow - follow the link.

• Eight - symbolic of the Word.  It may also be used as the symbol of infinity, as it is an eight on its side.

•  Nine - the seven symbolic Planets,  the Stars and the Milky Way, plus the Ultimate Intelligence.  In effect all the 'types' as opposed to occurrences.

• Ten  = One plus Two plus Three plus Four and thus by extension the entire contents of the Atom/Egg.  In most mystic systems this number represents perfection and unity or wholeness.  In some cases it can also represent the final state of annihilation as those who have attained this complete knowledge are at the end of the spiritual path

• Eleven - takes its meaning from the fact it is a 1 and 1 together.  It can thus represent the Twin pillars and the two energy streams – spirit input and spirit output – the implication being that they are in balance

• Twelve - the Signs and the Zodiac and thus by extension the Milky Way and the Stars.   Of great importance is their links to the types of activity one can find in the Method used for the Great Work.

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  Thirteen - any gathering of twelve plus one extra is an indication of the execution of a major challenge within the Great Work.  In some respects it is an indicator that a major change in the fortunes of humanity is likely to take place, if 13 are gathered together with spiritual intent.

The rest of the numbers also relates to major concepts, such as the Chalice/hourglass,  the Four Elements - Fire, Air, Water and Earth and so on, until we get to 

• Twenty  two - which is both = Ten plus twelve and has its own meaning related to this combination.  Twenty two is the end of the number system and is thus also the end of an old era.  It may or may not be the beginning of a new era/increment of evolution.  In a practical sense, if it is a changeover period, it is a time of considerable change, much destruction followed by the introduction of much that is new.  In those systems that use this nomenclature, whereas Alpha [1] is the beginning, Omega [22] is symbolically ‘the End’

 References

All the pictures on this page are by Romain de Tirtoff (23 November 1892 – 21 April 1990), a Russian-born French artist and designer known by the pseudonym Erté, from the French pronunciation of his initials. He was a diversely talented 20th-century artist and designer who flourished in an array of fields, including fashion, jewellery, graphic arts, costume and set design for film, theatre, and opera, and interior decor.  He called these pictures "The Alphabet suite" (1927-67).