The term arithmosophy literally translated means simply "number wisdom". By numbers here we mean the counting numbers including zero: 0, 1, 2, 3, ... Do individual numbers have inherent meanings? Obviously if a number comes up in a practical calculation, such as measuring the size of a room or doing one's accounts, there is usually no reason to suppose that the number is telling you anything, except that you are in the red, or the room is too small to fit your bed into. The meaning of a number depends on what it is counting. For example in a length of 7 centimetres, the 7 has no arithmosophic significance, since a centimetre is just an arbitrary unit, but in a period of 7 days the 7 may have significance since a day is a natural unit.
One of the best known examples of this is the association of the number 13 with bad luck, which is often regarded as a superstition. We will see below however that a systematic scheme of interpretation of numbers can be developed, beginning with the number 1 representing "unity", the number 2 "analysis" and the number 3 "synthesis" in which this symbolism for the number 13 can be to some extent justified. At any rate there is a long tradition of assigning ideas or "meaning" to numbers.
I don't claim that the assignment of meaning to numbers, as given here, is a matter of fact; it is just a plausible scheme. Of course I realise that many mathematicians may well treat this whole subject as piffle, but I do find it attractive as an art form if not of practical use. I have tried to avoid making overblown claims for it, such as are found in religious texts. It is possible that this scheme might be developed to become a practical way of library cataloguing like the Dewey system, but it would need much more systematisation.
The following poem is a summary of the sections that follow. By stopping at the number 21 we are of course following the traditional scheme adopted in the pictorial cards of the Tarot, which simply depict the journey through life.
by George Jelliss
Let us now study the logical, philosophical, metaphysical, literary and historical significance of the numbers, starting from zero. First I present here a general overview of a systematic way that arithmosophic significance can be seen in the numbers. The smaller numbers represent ideas of the greatest generality. The number 0 is of course specially distinctive, since it represents the basic philosophical or metaphysical concept of void or nonexistence, and has often been considered not to be a number. The number 1 is the basic building block from which numbers are constructed. Higher numbers that have lower numbers as factors partake of their general qualities but apply them to more specific cases.
The arithmosophic significance of numbers, as analysed here, is based on their factorisation into smaller numbers, their divisors. A number that has no divisors other than itself and 1 is termed a prime number. The first prime number 2 represents analysis - taking things apart - and the second prime number 3 represents synthesis - linking things together - and their product 2.3 = 6 therefore represents the combined processes of analysis and synthesis, that is reason. This placing of emphasis on multiplicative relationships is where the treatment here differs from traditional number mysticism which tends to be based on additive relationships.
Numbers of the form (2^m).(3^n) formed by twos and threes multiplied together I call basals, and they can therefore be taken to represent scientific and mathematical thought, the result of detailed and repeated analysis and synthesis. Numbers that are not divisible by 2 or 3 I call primals. The first primals are 5 and 7. All primals are of the form 6.n ± 1, that is one less or one more than a multiple of 6. Arithmosophically therefore the primals can be taken as representing modes of thought that underly or enhance the corresponding rational thought represented by the multiple of 6. Thus we take 5 to represent instinctive or underlying forces affecting reason, welling up from below, and 7 represents the search for higher ideals.
The next primals 11 and 13 represent past and future while 12 represents the present. The sequence of primals continues with 17 and 19, 23 and 25, 29 and 31, 35 and 37, 41 and 43, 47 and 49, and so on. Among these 25 = 5.5, 35 = 5.7 and 49 = 7.7 are the first composite primals. The notes that follow are obviously underdeveloped.
Further related results can be found in my booklet on Figurate Numbers available as a PDF on the publications page.
Zero, nought, nil, represents the somewhat paradoxical or even mystical concept of a void, nothingness, nonexistence, rest, stationarity, origin, datum, point, passivity, darkness, balance of positive and negative forces, equilibrium, inaction, stasis, zero hour, zero in on the target. Paradox: nothing exists. "In the beginning was the void." "Darkness upon the face of the deep."
Personifications: fool, mystic, madman, prophet, poet, seeker, joker.
"Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing — absolutely nothing — half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats." (Kenneth Grahame, Wind in the Willows 1908 ch.1) "They didn't think much to the Ocean: / The waves they were fiddlin' and small, / There was no wrecks and nobody drownded, / — Fact, nothing to laugh at at all." (Maurice Edgar, The Lion and Albert monologue 1932) "...I have nothing to say ... and I am saying it ... and that is poetry." (John Cage, Silence 'Lecture on nothing', 1961) "Every public action, which is not customary, either is wrong, or, if it is right, is a dangerous precedent. It follows that nothing should ever be done for the first time." (Francis Cornford, Mcrocosmographia Academica 1908, p.28). "Committee — a group of men who individually can do nothing but as a group decide that nothing can be done." (Fred Allen, 1940s) "Nothing happens, nobody comes, nobody goes, it's awful! (Samuel Becket, Waiting for Godot, play, act 1. 1955).
The number one represents a whole or individual, something unique, a unit, standing alone, wholeness, universality, existence. time, initiation, step, seed, spark, light, unpredictabilty, fluctuation in the void, brick, element from which a structure is built, hydrogen, basic building block of matter, primacy, origination, originality, beginnings, positive force, creative principle.
Personification: whole person, wise man, sage, philosopher, archer.
Being one, unity, is an aesthetic concept, requiring that an artistic creation possess qualities of cohesiveness, whereby it is not merely a hotch-potch collection of things put together at random, but that the parts be related, united, combined to form a union. The universe is everything that exists; it is all things considered together as a whole.
Every number except zero can exist in both positive and negative aspects. A negative number can be thought of as a product of a (positive) number and the negative unit, −1, and thus corresponds to the negation of the concepts represented by the positive number. Positive is associated with success, optimism, nefative with failure, pessimism.
Spirals are characteristic of the way many things happen. For example, not getting enough exercise means that you get less fit, getting less fit means that you get tired more easily, getting tired means that you don`t feel like taking exercise, and so you get even less fit, and so on, in a downward spiral. To get fit again you have to reverse the process into an upward spiral, by taking just a little exercise, which gets you a little fitter, and so less easily tired and so feeling more like taking more strenuous exercise, and so on, little by little. Improving your life is a matter of getting the spirals all turning in the right, positive, direction.
Two, pair, twins, yoke, brace, duo, duet represents separation, analysis, logic, difference, contrast, conflict, opposites, extremes, polarity, division, study, ambiguity, ambivalence, double entendre, yin and yang, doubt, dispute, discord, disagreement, complementarity, coming together, separation, conflict, opposition. A difficult choice between two alternatives is a dilemma. A sword can be two-edged, it cuts both ways. An insincere person is two-faced.
Personifications: logician, calculator, judge.
Many words in our languages occur in pairs of opposites, also known as dualities. Here are some examples: up/down, right/left, right/wrong, front/back, true/false, black/white, light/dark, male/female, night/day, good/bad, hot/cold, summer/winter, life/death, yes/no, high/low, sun/moon, active/passive, in/out, inner/outer, introvert/extravert, sea/sky, positive/negative, health/illness, shut/open, north/south, east/west. Opposites may be contradictories (X and not-X, where X + not-X = all) or contraries (X and Z, where Z < not-X, and X + Z < all ). Opposites cannot exist without each other. See under 4 concerning the mistake of matching pairs of opposites in misleading ways.
A twisted rope of two threads is called a twine, from the same root as two. Such a twisted yarn is a symbol of life, and can be associated with the double helix of DNA.
Two points fix the one-dimensional line-segment. Two also represents planarity, two-dimensions, an incomplete reality.
Some Famous Duos: Adam and Eve, Romulus and Remus (founders of Rome), Castor and Pollux (the Gemini, Twins), Crick and Watson (discoverers of structure of DNA), Penzias and Wilson (discoverers of background radiation), Mason and Dixon (surveyors), Holmes and Watson, Flotsam and Jetsam, Laurel and Hardy, Morecambe and Wise, Jewel and Warris, Little and Large.
Three, trio, trinity, represents 'synthesis' of ideas, compromise, or bridging the gap between opposites, resolution of differences, compromise, holding together, creativity, intermediate, alternative, development, music, time, change. creation, mean, middle, balance-point, sequence, joining, interference, obstruction, fuzziness. Between each pair of opposites is a borderland, both joining and separating them. Three also represents three dimensions, solidity, reality. "Two's company, three's a crowd." "What I say three times must be true." "All is connected."
Symbols: Triangle. Bridge. The three hares with ears forming a triangle (Paderborn cathedral). Triskelion (Isle of Man).
Famous Threes: Beginning/Middle/End, Grammar/Rhetoric/Logic (Trivium), Church/Law/Parliaments (Estates), Reading/Writing/Arithmetic (Rs), Nymphs/Oreads/Sylphs (Spirits), Navy/Army/Airforce, Sea/Land/Air, Animal/Vegetable/Mineral (Kingdoms), Clotho/Lachesis/Atropos (Fates), Faith/Hope/Charity (Graces), Melchior/Gaspar/Balthazar (Magi), Athos/Porthos/Aramis (Musketeers), Wilson, Keppel and Betty (Music Hall Act), Red, Yellow, Blue (primary colours), Orange, Green, Mauve (secondary colours), Three witches (Macbeth).
Four represents classification, foundation, balance of opposites, material order, maps, 4 = 2+2 = 2.2 = 2^2.
Personifications: Builder, Mason, Ruler.
Symbols: Square, Cross (+ or X), Fylfot, Swastika.
Two pairs of opposites generate four categories. There is a confusing tendency to match pairs of opposites in misleading and unjustified ways. For example there is a strong tradition to be found in literature, especially fairy tales, that associates goodness with light or white and badness with dark or black. In some cases this is justified, as when a criminal makes use of the cover of darkness to carry out his deeds with less chance of being seen or recognised. But darkness can mean safety and peace, where light may spell danger of being seen by a predator or consumed by fire. There is also a considerable tendency in tradition of male chauvinism. For instance in identifying male with active and female with passive. Where there is a direct relationship between the components of one duality and another the correspondence between them may generally be justified, as in light/dark and day/night, though if there is a bright moon, the night can be light, and if the sky is overcast, the day can be dark. To avoid these logical errors, it is essential to recognise that any pair of dichotomies in fact always produce four categories: 2.2 = 4, e.g. active male, passive male, active female, passive female.
Famous Fours: Earth, Water, Air, Fire (traditional 'elements'), Solid, Liquid, Gas, Energy (states of matter), Winter, Summer, Spring, Autumn (seasons), Spring equinox, Summer solstice, Autumn equinox, Winter solstice. North, South, East, West (directions, winds), New, Waxing, Full, Waning (phases of moon). Four weeks in a month. Spade, Club, Heart, Diamond (suits).
Since 5 = 2.3 - 1 we take it to represent what ever underlies conscious thought, subcinscious, id, intuition, instinct, life, vitality, humanity, common sense, complexity, life-force, love, cunning, lower reason, unpredictability, imagination, fantasy, illusion. Where the two borderlands of four parts meet is a centre or node of complexity.
Personifications: mathematician, magician, conjuror, chessplayer.
The chess knight has a move of length root 5, and root five is related to the golden mean (divine ratio).
Symbols: Five-fingered hand. Five-petalled flower, Five-pointed star, Vitruvian man.
Famous Fives: Hearing, Sight, Smell, Taste, Touch (senses), Tetrahedron, Cube, Octahedron, Dodecahedron, Icosahedron (Platonic solids, regular polyhedra, having 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 and 20 faces)Since 6 = 2.3 it represents a combination of analysis and synthesis, in other words the processes of reason, logic, conscious thought, common sense, calculation, estimation, memory, judgement, knowledge. Six is the custodian of order: all higher primes are 6.n ± 1. The multiples of 6 in the number sequence are 'resting places', preceded and followed by related numbers which include all the higher primes.
Six in nature: Carbon, the basic element of life, has atomic number 6, and forms the hexagonal benzene ring in aromatic compounds. The bees' honeycomb. The symmetry of snowflake crystals. The six 'flavours' of quark: up, down, strange, charm, bottom, top. The six colours of the rainbow, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green , Blue, Violet (three primary and three secondary) which combine to form white light. The six directions: Up, Down, Right, Left, Forward, Backward (the two senses, positive and negative, of the three dimensions of space). Six farming seasons: Winter, Lent, Spring, Summer, Harvest, Autumn. Six senses: Hearing, Sight, Smell, Taste, Touch, Intuition or instinct (being the "sixth sense").
Traditionally 6 is called a 'perfect' number since it is the sum of its proper factors: 6 = 1+2+3 = 1.2.3.
Personifications: Thinker, practical man, scientist.
Symbols: Two superimposed triangles forming a six-pointed star, Sigillum.
Seven (7 = 2.3 + 1) represents a higher consciousness, supra-conscious, super-ego, conscience, idealism, morality, moral purpose, spirit, empathy, religious feeling, or negatively: passivity, acceptance, simplicity, irrationality, beyond reason, mysticism, obscurantism.
Personifications: Contemplative, Mystic, Hermit.
Seven in nature: Seven days in week (moon's phase-change period). Nitrogen, atomic number 7, main constituent of atmosphere.
Symbols: seven-pointed star, seven-branched candlestick, Menorah.
Famous Sevens: Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn (celestial wanderers). Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday (weekdays) . Gold, Silver, Iron, Quicksilver, Tin, Copper, Lead (metals, atomic numbers: 79, 47, 26, 80, 50. 29, 82). Topaz, Pearl, Ruby, Amethyst, Sapphire, Emerald, Diamond (gems). Pride, Wrath, Envy, Lust, Gluttony, Avarice, Sloth (sins). Faith, Hope, Charity, Justice, Courage, Prudence, Temperance (virtues). Doh, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La Ti (tonic solfa, notes of the musical scale). Red, Orange, Yellow, Green , Blue, Indigo, Violet (the taditional rainbow colours, but Indigo seems to have been inserted just to make the number up to a mystical seven). Atlantic, Paacific, Indian, Arctic, Antarctic, Mediterranean (the seven seas). Grammar, Rhetoric, Dialectics, Music, Arithmetic, Geometry, Astronomy (liberal arts). Seven Samurai, Seven against Thebes, The Magnificent Seven (legendary fighters). Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (musical). Seven pillars of wisdom.
There are seven celestial bodies that can be seen from Earth by unaided human vision and which wander among the fixed stars. These 'wanderers' used to be called the 'planets' and still are in astromancy. In modern terms the 'planets' are the principal bodies that orbit the sun, thus Sun and Moon are excluded, but Earth is included, plus the new planets visible only by telescope. If we exclude the Earth and regard Pluto as an eccentric asteroid, there are still seven planets, Uranus and Neptune replacing Sun and Moon. The seven days of the week and the seven common metals are related in name to the planets.
Eight, being the first cube, 2.2.2 = 2^3, represents solidity, strength, certainty, practicality, reality, three-dimensional analysis, spatial order.
Personifications: Mason, Builder, Engineer.
Symbols: octagon, cube, octahedron, star formed of two squares. Binary numbers: 000, 001, 010, 011, 100, 101, 110, 111; also represented by I-ching triads, and Arabic dots. Eight-spoked wheel of the year. Sleipnir, Odin's 8-legged horse.
Eight in nature: Oxygen, atomic number 8.
Famous Eights: Love, Hate, Kindness, Anger, Pride, Shame, Admiration, Distaste (emotions).
Nine = 3.3 = 3^2. Compound synthesis. Art. Two-dimensional creativity, visual art.
Symbols: three superimposed triangles, 3 by 3 magic square, the smallest possible, adding to 15 in every line.
Nine in nature: Fluorine, atomic number 9.
Famous Nines: The nine muses: Verse: Calliope (poetry), Polyhymnia (lyrics), Erato (eroticism) Drama: Thalia (comedy), Melpomene (tragedy), Clio (history), Entertainment: Terpsichore (dance), Euterpe (music), Urania (magic).
Ten = 2.5. Analysis of subconscious, psychology, psychoanalysis, the human condition, madness, sanity, schizophrenia, mental balance.
Symbols: Two hands: counting on the fingers. Cabalistic tree, sephiroth. Neon (atomic number 10). Tetract, triangle of ten marks, 10 = 1+2+3+4, as in ten-pin bowling.
11 = 2.6 – 1. Looking backward, history, nostalgia, past time, recollection, remembrance, as in the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. Brinkmanship, leaving something to the last moment, the nick of time, the 11th hour.
"It was about eleven o'clock in the morning, ..., I was neat, clean, shaved and sober, and didn't care who knew it." (Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep 1939 ch.1) "This morning, the British Ambassador in Berlin handed the German government a final Note stating that, unless we heard from them by eleven o'clock that they were prepared at once to withdraw their troops from Poland, a state of war would exist between us." (Neville Chamberlain, radio broadcast, 3rd Sept. 1939).
Sodium Na (Natrium) atomic number 11. Football or Cricket team.
Twelve = 2.6, analysis of consciousness, conscious analysis, self-awareness; = 3.4 creative order, time-keeping, = 5 + 7 a balance of instinct and idealism, time past present and future, looking backward and forward, active living, continual change. Twelve hours, months, signs of the zodiac. Deadline, as in high noon, or the stroke of midnight. "Twelve good men and true", Jury. "Dirty Dozen" mercenaries.
Symbols: Regular or rhombic dodecahedron, with twelve pentagonal or rhombic faces. Football. Pentominoes. Magnesium Mg.
Famous Twelves: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December (months). Aries, Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn, Sagitarius, Scorpio, Libra, Virgo, Leo, Cancer, Gemini, Taurus ('signs' of the zodiac). Simon Peter, Andrew, James son of Zebedee, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, Labbaeus Thaddaeus, Simon the Cananite, Judas Iscariot (the original? twelve apostles, followers of Jesus; apparently Mark and Luke came later).
"Mad dogs and Englishmen / Go out in the midday sun. / The Japanese don't care to, / The Chinese wouldn't dare to, / The Hindus and Argentines sleep firmly from twelve to one, / But Englishmen detest a siesta. / In the Philippines, there are lovely screens / To protect you from the glare; / In the Malay states, they have hats like plates / Which the Britishers won't wear. / At twelve noon, the natives swoon, / And no further work is done; / But mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun." (Noel Coward, song 1931). "Sometimes these cogitations still amaze / The troubled midnight and the noon's repose." (T.S.Eliot, Prufrock 1917).
Thirteen, 13 = 2.6 + 1, signifies beyond the present, looking forward, future, fear of the unknown, unpredictability, fate, chance, good or bad luck, fortune, superstition, dread, prediction, premonition, foreboding. Triskaidekaphobia.
Symbols: a baker's dozen, lunar months in a year (365 = 13×28 + 1), Aluminium Al, the Archimedean or semiregular polyhedra.
"It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen." (George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four, 1949, pt.1 ch.1).
Primes of the form 4.n + 1 equal a sum of two squares (13 = 9 + 4, art and order, possibly somewhat in conflict).
Fourteen, 14 = 2.7, analysis or conflict of ideals, ethics, conscience, doubt, schism.
Symbols: The 13-14-15 triangle approximates equilateral.
Fourteen in nature: Fortnight: Two weeks: new to full moon. The parts of the human hand. Fourteen years the age of puberty. The number of ways to bracket five terms.
Fifteen, 15 = 3.5, synthesis of subconscious, creative life, health, beauty, love, social relationships,
Personifications: Venus, Ishtar, Apollo.
Symbols: triangle of counters 15 = 1+2+3+4+5 like the red balls in snooker, sum of 3 by 3 magic square.
Sixteen, 16 = 2^4, four-dimensional, space-time order, = 2.8 analysis of reality, constructive criticism, = 4.4 subclassification and detailed mapping, computation (base 16 used in computers, e.g. for coding colours).
Symbols: Two cubes generate the four-dimensional hypercube, 4 by 4 array forming a magic square, with lines adding to 34.
Seventeen, 17 = 3.6 − 1, underlying craft, skill, pattern, negative aesthetic, crude art, pornography, humour.
There are 17 wallpaper pattern groups. Euclidean constructibility of 17-sided polygon.
Eighteen, 18 = 2.9, analysis of art, aesthetics, = 3.6, synthesis of reason, philosophy, science, craft, knowledge, deep thinking, wisdom, understanding, intelligence.
Nineteen, 19 = 3.6 + 1: enhanced craft, prophecy, divination, speculation, imagination, poetry, positive aesthetic, religious art.
Period of the Metonic cycle is 19 years, when lunar aand solar calendars coincide.
Twenty, 20 = 2.10, analysis of humanity, anthropology, sociology = 4.5: ordering of instincts, self-control, politics, society, statistics, economics. Number of fingers plus toes.
Twenty-one, 21 = 3.7, synthesis of ideals, reconciliation between beliefs, tolerance, realised ideal (heaven, nirvana), perfection, achievement, goal.
An interpretation of Tarot: There are 22 cards in the major arcana of the Tarot, numbered 0 to 21. The 0 represents the fool or pilgrim or hero or protagonist or adventurer, setting out on a pilgrimage or search or journey of discovery, which is often one of self-discovery. The 21 represents the achievement of the goal of the search, the holy grail, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, the philosophers' stone.
22 = 2.11, analysis of past, history, conflicting remembrance, memoirs, assessing the journey.
Symbols: 22 letters of the Hebrew Alphabet. 22 cards of the major arcana of the Tarot (numbered 0 to 21).
23 = 4.6 − 1, underlying spatial order, quantum theory, chaos, underlying politics, chicanery.
24 = 2.12, analysis of present, politics. practical knowledge, engineering, technology, clocks. = 3.8, synthesis of structure, creative spacial order, architecture. = 4.6, ordered reason, formal logic. = 1.2.3.4, a factorial number.
24 letters of the Greek Alphabet, alpha, beta, gamma, delta, epsilon, zeta, eta, theta, iota, kappa, lambda, mu, nu, xi, omicron, pi, rho, sigma, tau, upsilon, phi, chi, psi, omega. Hours of day + night.
25 = 5.5 = 5^2, two-dimensional complexity, complexfied complexity, labyrinth, puzzle, = 4.6 + 1 beyond spatial order, fractal growth, statesmanship, living life to the full, hedonism
Symbols: Minoan labyrinth, 5 by 5 magic square, or knight's tour.
26 = 2.13, analysis of future, futurology, science fiction, prediction, folklore, forecasting, analysis of chance, probability
The 26 letters of the English Alphabet: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ.
27 = 3^3, three-dimensional creativity, sculpture, = 3.9, synthesis of arts, opera, high art.
28 = 2.14, analysis of conscience, ethics, moral science, = 4.7, practical idealism, hospital, medicine, humanitarianism. 28 = 1 + 2 + 4 + 7 + 14 (sum of divisors, perfect number). Days in a month. Vertebrae in a spine. Period of menstrual or metabolic cycle.
29 = 5.6 − 1, underlying biology, genetics
30 = 5.6, life science, biology.
31 = 5.6 + 1, beyond biology, emergence, evolution, artificial intellgence
32 = 2^5 = five-dimensional analysis, fractal order, 4.8, classification of space, geometry, architecture. 32 pieces in a chess set.
33 = 3.11, synthesis of past, archaeology, creative past, historical novels
34 = 2.17, analysis of patterns, detection, satire. Magic constant of 4 by 4 square.
35 = 5.7, ideal life, utopianism, dreams, saintliness, = 6.6 − 1, underlying philosophy, ontology, epistemology
36 = 6.6, reason about reason, philosophy, 2.18 = analysis of craft, methodology, = 3.12, present synthesis, = 4.9, ordered art.
37 = 6.6 + 1, beyond philosophy, esoteric knowledge, metaphysics, mysticism, cabala.
38 = 2.19, analysis of poetry, symbolism, analysis of prophecy, comparative religion.
39 = 3.13, future synthesis, cosmology, creative prediction, science fiction, planning ahead.
40 = 2.20 = analysis of society, sociology, = 8.5, spatially ordered life, social engineering, town planning, = 5.8, life construction, constructive life, A 40-day period is associated with weather, contemplation, travel.
41 = 7.6 − 1, underlying practical idealism, scientific method, logistics
42 = 7.6, idealistic reason, science, practical idealism, red cross, nursing
43 = 7.6 + 1, beyond practical idealism, martyrdom, self-sacrifice, altruism.
44 = 4.11, classification of the past, archeology, history
45 = 9.5, art and subconscious, creativity
46 = 2.23, analysis of chaos, generalship, analysis of trickery, detection
47 = 8.6 − 1, incomplete knowledge, mystery
48 = 2.24, analysis of practical knowledge, = 8.6, spatial science, architecture, = 3.16, synthesis of knowledge, encyclopedias
49 = 7^2 = 7.7, idealistic idealism, saintliness, fanaticism?, zealotry?, = 8.6 + 1, going beyond knowledge, faith?
50 = 2.25, analysis of labyrinth, analysis of life-living, biography
51 = 3.17 creative pattern, fiction
52 = 4.13 = ordered chance, gaming, gambling, cardplay. Number of cards in a standard pack.
53 = 9.6 − 1
54 = 9.6, art and reason
55 = 5.11, past life, living past, tradition, mythology, = 9.6 + 1, beyond art and reason, imagination
56 = 7.8, ideal solid, ideal 3D form, beauty
57 = 3.19, composition of poetry
58 = 2.29, analysis of genetics, genealogy, evolution
59 = 5.6 − 1, war?
60 = 3.4.5, creative life area, civilisation, = 2.30, analysis of biology
61 = 5.6 + 1, peace?
62 = 2.31, theory of evolution
63 = 9.7 idealised art, religious art, icons
64 = 2^6, six-fold analysis, Symbol: chessboard
65 = 5.13, complexity and chance, coincidence, synchronicity, future life, = 11.6 − 1, legend, myth
66 = 6.11, reason and remembrance, history of ideas
67 = 11.6 + 1, beyond history of ideas, prophecy, insight
68 = 4.17, ordered pattern
69 = 3.23, constructive chaos?
70 = 2.5.7 = 7.10, practical life ideal, idealistic humanity
71 = 6.12 − 1
72 = 8.9, solid art, sculpture, architecture, = 6.12, practical science, engineering
73 = 6.12 + 1
74 = 2.37, analytical metaphysics
75 = 3.25, creation of labyrinth
76 = 4.19, ordered poesy, doggerel?
77 = 7.11 ideal remembrance, idealised past, mythology = 6.13 − 1 underlying probability, unknown causes, mysteries
78 = 6.13 reason and chance, theory of probability, gambling, futurology
79 = 6.13 + 1
80 = 16.5
81 = 3^4, four-dimensional synthesis, 9^2, art of art
82 = 2.41 analysis of logistics,
83 = 6.14 − 1
84 = 6.14, = 3.4.7 practical idealism, medicine
85 = 5.17, life pattern
86 = 2.43
87 = 3.29
88 = 8.11
89 = 6.15 – 1
90 = 2.5.9, analysis of art of life, science of creative life
91 = 7.13, Number of days in a quarter year (365 = 4.91 + 1).
92 = 4.23
93 = 3.31
94 = 2.47
95 = 5.19, = 6.16 − 1
96 = 3.32 = 6.16 space-time science, relativity
97 = 6.16 + 1
98 = 2.49
99 = 9.11, history of art
100 = 4.25 = 10^2
101 = 6.17 − 1
102 = 6.17
111 = 3.37, constructive metaphysics
120 = 3.5.8
132 = 11.12 past and present
143 = 11.13 past and future, = 6.24 − 1
144 = 16.9 = 12^2 = 6.24,
144 is a Fibonacci number. The numbers 143 and 145 on either side of this multiple of 6 are the first pair of primals that are both composite.
145 = 5.29
153 = 9.17
156 = 12.13, present and future
167 = 6.28 − 1
168 = 6.28
169 = 13^2 = 6.28 + 1
216 = 8.27 = 6.6.6 = 6^3
240 = 16.15 = 6.40, rational society
248 = 8.31
365 = 5.73
666 = 2.(3^2).37 = 18.37, esoteric craft, mystic knowledge
1000 = (2^3).(5^3) = 10^3
1001 = 7.11.13 idealised past and future. The Thousand and One Nights. Sheherezade.
1002 = 6.167
1716 = 11.12.13, past, present and future
The following books have been consulted. However they contain a lot of religious and obscurantist nonsense that I have ignored here.
W. Wynn Westcott, Numbers, Their Occult Power and Mystic Virtues, Theosophical Publishing Society, third edition, 1911.
Annemarie Schimmel, The Mystery of Numbers, Oxford University Press, paperback 1994 (originally published in German, 1984).