Gematria

(Revision as of 09:31, 24 Oct 2004)

Part of the Magick in Theory & Practice series.

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Gematria is numerology of the Hebrew language and Hebrew alphabet originally. Modern magicians commonly practice it using other alphabets, including Greek, Latin, and English.

Table of contents

1 Judaic Gematria

1.1 Revealed Gematria
1.2 Mystical Gematria

2 Gematria and Crowley

3 References

Judaic Gematria

Revealed Gematria

The commonest form of gematria is used occasionally in the Talmud and Midrash and elaborately by many post-Talmudic commentators. It involves converting words and sentences into numbers, usually by assigning numbers to each letter of the Hebrew alphabet. When converted to a number, they can be compared to other words and similarities drawn. A commentary almost completely dedicated to gematria is Baal ha-Turim by Rabbi Jacob ben Asher.

Mystical Gematria

A system of recognizing a correspondence between the ten sefira on the Tree of Life and the twenty two letters in the Hebrew alphabet. This system is elaborated in many mystical Jewish writings such as the Zohar.

One example of Gematria is that there are twenty-two solid figures that are composed of regular polygons. There are five Platonic solids, four Kepler-Poinsot solids, and thirteen Archimedean solids. Since there are twenty-two letters in the Hebrew alphabet (aleph-beth), a correspondence is possible between these two facts. The art of Gematria is knowing which solid is associated with which letter.

Another example is that of Hebrew numerals. Although there are twenty-two letters, there are twenty-seven numerals necessary to sum each number up to one thousand. (one through nine, ten through ninety, one hundred through nine hundred) The Hebrew numeric system notes that the missing final five letters of the numeral system match exactly with the five 'sofeet' forms of the Hebrew letters, which are alternate forms of particular letters only used when that letter is the last consonant in a hebrew word.

Another use is that words which have the same numerical value, share the same qualities, and reveal still other aspects of the Divine.

Gematria and Crowley

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References

Wikipedia. (2004). Gematria (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gematria). Retrieved Sept. 26, 2004.

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