A cosmogony is an explanation of the origin and evolution of the Cosmos. Dion Fortune, in The Cosmic Doctrine, provides a metaphor of creation based on movement and resistance. In her metaphor, swarms of Divine Sparks have descended and ascended planes of existence, resulting in the Cosmos that our swarm of Divine Sparks inhabit.
A related metaphor describes creation based on the relationship between force and form (energy and matter). A pictorial representation of this metaphor is the Cabalistic Tree of Life, which describes creation as the materialization of spirit in ten emanations (attributes) called Sephiroth. (Eliphas Levi, in The Doctrine and Ritual of High Magic, associates the Tree of Life with the Tarot.)
The number Three figures prominently in the Cabalistic Tree of Life, one example being the Supernal Triad (the first three Sephiroth: Kether, Chokmah, and Binah). The number Three figures prominently in other religions and spiritual paths, including Druidry. The three drops of potion from Ceridwen’s cauldron that splashed on Gwion Bach’s finger gifted him with knowledge, inspiration, and rebirth. These three drops also appear on the symbol of Awen, a symbol of creation.
Another way of understanding creation is through a theogony, which describes the origin and genealogy of the gods. (I am partial to the Greek pantheon, so my references to theogony in this article will be to those gods.)
By studying cosmogonies and theogonies of “above”, I hope to better understand creation “below”. I developed a curriculum for myself and decided to sequence the sources I studied chronologically. I was intrigued with Pythagoras’ Tetractys, a design of ten dots arranged as a triangle and this article is the result of my studies and meditations.
The Theology of Arithmetic (by Iamblichus) and A Study of Numbers (by R.A. Schwaller de Lubicz) both explore the Tetractys as a metaphor of Creation. The first dot represents the Monad, which contains everything potentially. All numbers come from the Monad, but the Monad is not considered a number. Odd numbers, in Pythagoras’ time, are male; even numbers are female. The Monad, however, is even-odd. It has a dual nature, both the potential to be even and the potential to be odd.
The Monad, described by Lubicz, is an uninterrupted electrical circuit. In our physical world, this type of circuit cannot exist. (For electric current to flow, there needs to be an electric potential difference. A wire closed in a loop doesn’t conduct electricity. A wire connecting the positive and negative poles of a battery does conduct electricity.) The Monad’s dual nature means it has the potential to be positive and the potential to be negative.
Observing this dual nature provokes scission (a separation); the Monad creates the Dyad.
The Monad (|) becomes a Dyad (||), or
|
| |
which also represents a Triad.
This scission of the Monad to the Dyad can also be represented as
A
B C
A is a unity. CB is a unity. B is a unity. C is a unity.
Four unities. A Tetrad.
But ABC is also a unity, so five unities. A Pentad.
To understand why AC and AB are not unities, consider A to be a bar magnet.
A is a unity, a bar magnet.
A bar magnet has two poles, positive and negative (CB).
A cannot be a unity with C without B.
A magnet cannot have one pole; it must have two.
Lubicz also describes the unities with genders, A being masculine-feminine, C being masculine, and B being feminine. So the Tetrad is masculine-feminine and masculine and feminine (a version of Yod-Heh-Vau-Heh, the Tetragrammaton, the source of creation in many Cabalistic traditions).
Another way of describing the process of the Monad to the Pentad is
- 1 created 1,
|
| - which made 2,
| | - totaling 3,
|
| | - resulting in 5 unities.
Considering the sequence of 1, 1, 2, 3, 5 as a cosmogony/theogony is intriguing. We start with 1, with a dual nature, so scission (a separation) creates 1 1.
1
1 1
1 and 1 create 2, so we have
1
1 1
2
The uppermost 1 is Kether, the uppermost Sephiroth on the Cabalistic Tree of Life. The 1 on the right is Chokmah, the “force” emanating from Kether. The 1 on the left is Binah, the Great Sea that receives the force and gives it “form”. When 2 is created, Kether continues to emanate, so we have
1
1 1
1 2 1
Two, according to Lubicz, is androgynous, containing a potential active nature (force) and a potential passive nature (form).
Two can procreate with either
form or force,
making 3.
So
1
1 1
1 2 1
1 3 3 1
Since the active nature and the passive nature of Two procreated to make Three, they are no longer potential, but actual. (So Three isn’t androgynous, it is bisexual.)
The next iteration is
1
1 1
1 2 1
1 3 3 1
1 4 6 4 1
This pattern, first described by the Persian mathematician Al-Karaji in approximately 1000AD, is based on a binomial (a + b) raised to a power x. The pattern is known as either Pascal’s Triangle (named after the French mathematician Blaise Pascal) or Khayyam’s Triangle (named after the Persian mathematician Omar Khayyam).
- The first row is (a + b)0 = 1.
- The second row is (a + b)1 = 1a + 1b.
Using a = 1 and b = 1 (since 1 is our creative unity), we get 1 and 1.
- The third row is (a + b)2 = 1a2 + 2ab + 1b2.
Again, using a = 1 and b = 1, we get 1 2 1.
- The fourth row is (a + b)3 = 1a2 + 3a2b + 3ab2 + 1b3, or 1 3 3 1.
From Lubicz, “As number (quality), 1 is abstract and becomes concrete only when it is 10, and 10 is 1 made concrete: 10 is the first power of 1!” (So if you consider Creation as taking four Cabalistic Trees of Life (one for Atziluth, one for Briah, one for Yetzirah, and one for Assiah, the four Worlds of the Cabala) then the second row of Pascal’s Triangle would represent Atziluth (the binomial to the first power, so Kether to Malkuth one time, Kether being the uppermost Sephiroth, Malkuth being the lowest). The second row is the binomial to the second power, so another iteration of Kether to Malkuth
Translating this to a theogony of the Greek pantheon:
- (a + b)0 is Ain Soph and Ain Soph Aur.
(Ain Soph emanates Ain Soph Aur, the Divine Light which travels down the Cabalistic Tree of Light.) - (a + b)1 is Ouranos and Gaia.
(the first generation of Greek gods, the Primordials or Protogenoi;
in The Cosmic Doctrine metaphor, the Lords of Flame) - (a + b)2 is Kronos and Rhea.
(the second generation of Greek gods, the Titans;
in The Cosmic Doctrine metaphor, the Lords of Form)
Kronos can be seen as force sometimes (procreating his children) and as form sometimes (consuming his children). - (a + b)3 is Zeus.
(the third generation of Greek gods, the Olympians;
in The Cosmic Doctrine metaphor, the Lords of Mind)
There are two Threes, which is fitting, since Three is bisexual. Zeus is masculine with Hera (producing Ares, et al) and with Demeter (producing Persephone). But Zeus is, at times, feminine (producing Athena and Dionysus). (And, with this triangle, Zeus as Three procreates Apollo as Six!)
And how does this relate to the Fibonacci sequence, the Golden Ratio of Creation alluded to earlier (1, 1, 2, 3, 5)?
Instead of
1
1 1
1 2 1
1 3 3 1
1 4 6 4 1
align the numbers on the left
and add along the diagonal.
It seems important that the sum including 6 (Apollo) is 13 (Death/Transformation). And it also seems important that the sum including the first 10 is 21 (a cycle of the Tarot Trumps, perhaps?). But those are meditations for another day…
There is much more for me to learn about numbers. Numbers lead to shapes which lead to sacred geometry and sacred architecture. Numbers lead to mathematical relationships which lead to music. Numbers are used for divination, for correspondences, and for symbols. Numbers are fascinating and intriguing, and I encourage you to explore how numbers impact your practice of Druidry.
Fortune, Dion. The Cosmic Doctrine. London, 1957.
Iamblichus, translated by R. Waterfield, The Theology of Arithmetic, Grand Rapids, MI, 1988.
Levi, Eliphas (author). Greer, John Michael, and Mikituk, Mark Anthony (translators). The Doctrine and Ritual of High Magic. New York, NY, 2017.
Schwaller de Lubicz, R. A., translated by Bamford, C., A Study of Numbers: A Guide to the Constant Creation of the Universe, Rochester, VT, 1986.