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9341 Mill Street, Ben Lomond, CA 95005 831.336.3513
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The importance of the Number 9 in our lives is derived from ancient belief systems and continues to effect us today: living along Highway 9, through 9 lives, 9 months, the whole 9 yards, cloud 9, dressed to the nines, a stitch in time, and so on.
The importance of the Number
9 in our lives is derived from ancient belief systems and continues to
effect us today: living along Highway 9, through 9 lives, 9 months, the whole 9
yards, cloud 9, dressed to the nines, a stitch in time, and so on.
To provide you with a perspective on the significance of the number 9,
from ancient beginnings to our present, we offer the following excerpts from
“A Beginner’s Guide to Constructing the Universe”: The last among the
seven Pythagorean numbers (three through nine), nine is the limit
to which the generative principles of number reach. The ancient mathematical philosophers called nine the “finishing
post” and “that which brings completion.”
Folk
sayings have carried the essential nature of nine over many centuries. We say “a cat has nine lives,” after which
its luck runs out. A “cat-o-nine-tails”
provided symbolic maximum punishment to its victims. To “go the whole nine yards” is to go all
the way into an endeavor. We say we’re
“on cloud nine” to express our highest joy. To be “dressed up to the nines” is to be
dressed completely and perfectly, omitting no detail.
“A stitch in time saves nine” is a pithy way of saying
that taking care of small problems as they arise enables us to avoid having to
repeat the complete job later. The ninth
level is the proverbial nth degree. Holiest of Holies
- Composed of the three trinities (9 = 3 x 3), the number nine represents the
principles of the sacred Triad taken to their utmost expression.
Nine was considered thrice sacred and most holy, representing perfection,
balance, and order, the supreme superlative.
In ancient Asia, gifts given in groups of nine were considered most
respectful. In fact, the Chinese
words for “gift” and “nine” are identical.. The
Ultimate - Nine
is the final number having a specific identity.
It represents the highest attainment to be achieved in any endeavor. Nine
is the unsurpassable limit, the utmost bound, the ultimate extension to which
the archetypal principles of number can reach and manifest themselves in the
world. The ancient Greeks called
nine “the horizon”, as it lies at the edge of the shore before the boundless
ocean of numbers that repeat in endless cycles the principles of the first nine
digits. Nothing lies beyond the
principles of nine, which the Greeks called the Ennead.
9 Muses – 9 Gods
- The Greeks honored nine muses, who personified and inspired the full range of
the arts and sciences of humankind. Going
back further in time, the Egyptians honored a company of nine “gods, “ or
neteru, their Ennead of nine manifest principles, a trinity of trinities, which
emerged from four pairs of unmanifest gods to oversee the world’s ongoing
creative process. The Egyptians saw the whole of humanity, which they
symbolized by the glyphs for “nine archers’ bows,” as subject to the
ninefold rule of the Ennead. The
pharaoh, their representative on earth, was often symbolized by nine bows.
This same symbol is referred to in the name of the vulture Mother Goddess
Nekhebet, “she who binds the nine bows,” or unites all people and so was
called “the father of fathers, the mother of mothers.” Ninefold
rule is not uncommon in history.
In medieval Europe, nine types of crowns in heraldry represented complete
ninefold rule. Ecclesiastical architects recognize nine styles of crosses.
The Freemason founders of the United States government used the Egyptian
Ennead as their model for the nine justices of the Supreme Court, whose
interpretation of the law is ultimate. The Egyptians honored
ninefold companies of both deities and demons.
The notion of ninefold cosmic levels spread through cultures they
influenced and appears in others they never reached. In Christian symbolism, we find nine orders of angelic choirs
in nine circles of heaven and nine orders of devils within nine rings of hell.
Medieval tales refer to nine gates of hell (three of brass, three of
iron, and three of adamantine rock) with its nine rivers all pouring into the
ninth ring, where Lucifer is confined.
There are worldwide
practices of repeating a phrase, prayer, or chant three times to enforce it with
sacred intention. Thus, to repeat
any trinity three times, fulfilling nine repetitions, represents an ultimate
appeal. A famous example concerns
the three witches in Macbeth, repeating their spell nine times: The
weird sisters hand in hand, Posters
of the sea and land, Thus
do go about, about, Thrice
to thine, and thrice to mine, And
thrice again to make up nine. -
William Shakespeare A look into nearly
every culture finds references to nine representing the ultimate extension.
A superstition among many musical composers forbids the numbering of a
symphony past the number nine. Even
in modern times we find the principles of the Ennead expressed in secular
affairs such as the American sport of baseball, played on the four-base diamond,
or square earth-symbol, fielded by nine players over a duration of nine innings.
The “bottom of the ninth,” the modern version of the ninth rung of
hell, is a team’s last chance to win, the ultimate limit. A novena is an act of
worship over a period of nine days.
modern
technology, but they attributed the nine months during which we develop in the
womb and the nine openings of the body to the limiting principle of the Ennead.
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