Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

Underground > Temple >

Magic Squares and Sudoku

Quantum

18:34 / 15.07.05

So I was doing some sudoku the other day when I noticed the similarity to John Dee's Enochian tables, and magic squares in general. The study of these squares (Quadramagicology as it's sometimes known) is a magical tradition not to be sneered at, anyone have any thoughts on practical applications? Sudoku magic?

There's a comprehensive link here and one from a more magicky background here.

grant

18:44 / 15.07.05

They also look like the feng shui diagrams called, uh... luoshu.

I'm not sure what's up with them, but they seem to be migrating from England to here -- the Nat'l Enq. has just started with them (I don't think the issue's even out yet), and the NY Post (or was it Newsday?) has been running them for I dunno, three months or so at most.

grant

19:33 / 15.07.05

Wonderful history of sudoku here, in the International Herald Tribune.

The path they trace: Feng shui squares to Greek mathematicians to American puzzle publisher to Japanese magazines to British expats in Hong Kong to the web to Britain's puzzle pushers.

Oh, and the NY Post thing... it's Australian owner/publisher Rupert Murdoch, which means the puzzles are going to pop up globally.

Add Your Reply