Copyright © 2009 Paul Foster Case
The numerals from 0 to 9 represent successive stages in every cycle of evolution, whether on the grand scale of the cosmos or on the smaller scale of personal unfoldment. The order in the numeral series reflects an order which prevails throughout creation. It is an ancient doctrine that the Master Builder has ordered all things by measure, number and weight. Everywhere in the universe the properties of number are manifested, whether in the revolution of planets round the sun, in the whirling of electrons within an atom, or in the arrangement of parts in a living organism. Not so long since a famous relativist declared that number is one of the few things in the universe which is not relative.
MEANINGS OF THE NUMERAL SIGNS
0: NO-THING; the undifferentiated Power preceding all manifestation; absence of quantity, quality of mass; freedom from every limitation; changelessness; the unknown; immeasurable; fathomless; infinite; eternal Source; the Rootless Root of all creation; the sacred ellipse representing the endless line of eternity; the Cosmic Egg; Superconsciousness.
1: BEGINNING; the first of the numeral series, because 0 stands for that which precedes all manifestation, and therefore is not properly included in the series; inception; initiative; the Primal Will; selection; unity; singleness; individuality; attention; onepointedness; concentration; the definite or manifest, as contrasted with the indefinable Source; Self-consciousness.
2: DUPLICATION; repetition; Wisdom and Science; opposition; 0 polarity; antithesis; succession; sequence; continuation; diffusion; separation; radiation; secondariness; subordination; dependence; Subconsciousness.
3: MULTIPLICATION; increase; growth; augmentation; expansion; amplification; productiveness; fecundity; generation; the response of subconsciousness to self-consciousness in the generating of mental images; hence, Understanding.
4: ORDER; system; regulation; management; supervision; control; authority; command; dominance; the classifying activity of self-consciousness, induced by the multiplication of mental images through the response of subconsciousness to impressions originating in self-consciousness; the Cosmic Order considered as the underlying substance manifested in every form; Reason.
5: MEDIATION (an idea suggested by the fact that 5 is the middle term of the series of signs from 1 to 9); adaptation; intervention; adjustment; hence, Justice; accommodation; reconciliation; result of the classifying activities symbolized by 4; Subconscious elaboration of these classifications, and the formulation of deductions therefrom. These deductions, projected into the field of self-conscious awareness, are the mental states termed Intuitions.
6: RECIPROCATION; interchange; correlation; response; coordination; cooperation; correspondence; harmony; concord; equilibration; symmetry; Beauty.
7: EQUILIBRIUM (the result of equilibration, the concrete application of the laws of symmetry and reciprocation); mastery; poise; rest; conquest; peace; safety; security; art; Victory.
8: RHYTHM; periodicity; alternation; flux and reflux; pulsation; vibration; involution and evolution; education; culture; the response of subconsciousness to everything symbolized by 7.
9: CONCLUSION (literally, "closing together", which implies the union of elements that are separate until the conclusion is reached, and has special reference to certain meanings attached to the number 9 through the Tarot Key bearing this number); goal; end; completion; fulfillment; attainment; the final result of the process symbolized by the series of digits; perfection; adeptship; the mystical three times three of the Freemasons, and of other societies which preserve some vestiges of the ancient mysteries.
The meaning of a number consisting of two or more digits may be ascertained by combining the ideas indicated by each symbol, beginning always with the digit on the right-hand or units place. Thus the number 10 combines the ideas of 0 and 1, with 1 considered as the agency expressing the power represented by 0. Furthermore, since 10 follows 9, it implies that the finality represented by 9 refers to a single cycle of manifestation only. The completion of a cycle is always a return to the eternal No-thing, 0; but since 0 is essentially changeless in its inherent nature, the eternal Source is eternally a self-manifesting power.
Consequently a new cycle begins as soon as the previous cycle ends. Thus the number 10 symbolizes the eternal creativeness of the Life-power; the incessant whirling forth of the self-expression of the Primal Will; the ever-turning Wheel of Manifestation. (See the Tarot Key numbered 10). Thus 10 is the number of embodiment, of the Kingdom, and of the manifested Law. It is also a combination of a characteristic masculine symbol (1) with another recognized the world over as feminine (0).
Paul Foster Case originally wrote the materials in this book as lessons
for students of his School of Ageless Wisdom. They were sent out on a
weekly basis, which is why you'll find references in them to "this week"
or "next week". He meant for his students to spend a week of daily focus
on each lesson. There are two lessons devoted to each Tarot Trump. At
the end of the first of each of these two lessons, coloring instructions are
given for painting the card.
In 1936-37, he gathered these lessons into four books, each of which
he typed up a copy and sent to the American Library of Congress for
copyright purposes, possibly with the intention of eventually publishing
them for non-members. We were fortunate enough to be able to acquire
the original copies, typed on Case's typewriter, and have now released all
four copies in this compilation.
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