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Underground > Temple >

English Gematria- Divination or Mathematics?

15:01 / 03.12.03

So I've been thinking about Gematria/Gemetria/whatever, the method of analysing language numerically after the style of the Qabalists.

Jewish gematria is an old and well respected magickal tradition, and of course Hebrew letters are equivalent to numbers in the first place, so that's not so controversial.
English gematria generates all kinds of squabbles though, as I'm sure you know dear reader, just check out some threads here if you haven't already.

There is a tradition of English gemetria (although I know little about it so anyone feel free to jump in) and the Isisian schools seem to practise it, and many people get excellent results from it, so it can't just be dismissed- but it isn't simple.

As far as I can see there are two main attitudes to it- firstly that it's just like Hebrew gemetria, and as objectively valid, and secondly that it's a form of Divination like Runes or Tarot or Phyllorhodomancy.

I subscribe to the divination view (having changed my mind from 'it's rubbish' to 'it's interesting' after reading the Isisian threads by Fetch & LVX23 etc, and many thanks to them for their work) but I'd like to explore the different views of it and find out more in general- the link between magick and language is too important to deny.

Do you practice it? What form? What do you think of it? Do you dismiss it or think only Hebrew gemetria is valid?

15:46 / 03.12.03

Actually, I belive the term Gemetra is from the Greek practice. Its not just the Hebrews who did this.

And before this takes off I'd just like to note with great amusement that yesterday, Sesame Street was brought to you by the letter R and the number 18. My kids are already learning this, and they don't even know it yet!

trouser the trouserian

07:10 / 04.12.03

I think Gematria has it's uses, particularly in making connections between seemingly disparate concepts. Having said that, it seems to me that it can be addictive, or at least become an end in itself. I have occasionally used to 'examine' words or acronymns that have popped up in dreams or trance states. One approach which I have found helps me, particularly in examining Hebrew letters, is to meditate on the Tarot cards to which those letters are attributed. I find this helpful as it helps me to break out of word-thinking, and sometimes 'analysing' a word in terms of images sets off further associations and connective ideas. Gematria is a tool for creating/finding meaning - a stage in the process, nothing more.

10:45 / 04.12.03

cusm- I didn't know that, eentresting.. and dude, everyone knows Sesame Street is communication from the Ancient Masters, keep up.

AoG- I agree. I think it has a lot of value for a lot of things, but mostly deriving meaning and making/discovering correspondences. I do have a problem when it's presented as objective truth though. The 'rules' for transformation are so flexible and the target so vague you can get anything from anything (like a magickal Kevin Bacon game).

For example, my name is Quantum which becomes 16+21+1+13+20+21+14=106 which becomes 7 (Chariot or Netzach) which is G.
This is my 1,648th post, which reduces to 19 (or the Sun card) which becomes 10 (or Malkuth) which is J, or the 10 becomes 1 or A.
And guess what? This post is about GematriA!! Incredible!

16:49 / 04.12.03

Gemetra's tradition use is more along the lines of this example: In examination of mine and another person's Internet handle who I work with magickly, I found that both words added up to the same total value. This was presented as evidence of our closeness, that we and what we do is related. It was as if God had given us the nod that working together was a good idea. And in the end it only served to further justify what we already believed.

That's about the nutshell of Gemetra in general.

18:04 / 04.12.03

Oh, and I've just noticed that all the names I use reduce to 11. Every one of them.