Dear Reader,
In this new text I will talk about Alphanumeric Qabbala, a cipher that I already explored (somewhat incompletely) in my 3rd part of the History of the Thelemic ciphers, even though this time my approach will be very different from my previous articles. The reason for this is that in my first text about that cipher I had to focus a bit on where it came from — after all, am I not writing about the History of ciphers? — and as I did that, there was a lot of other interesting stuff that was left unmentioned. So in this new text, as I don't have to explain its history again, I will instead focus on what we can do with this cipher, as well as how we can explore some of its highly curious properties.
As a new introduction to this cipher, I'll begin by explaining what exactly is Alphanumeric Qabbala and how it is connected to Base-36 notation.
Next, I'll briefly talk about some of the very strange synchronicities that happened in my life when I found & then was told about this cipher, as I believe that they are very worthy of note and should be mentioned in this text. After all, it was through a very strange synchronicity that I found this cipher... so why not talk about it?
After that, I'm going to talk about this cipher's name(s), their Gematria values and mathematical properties. In this section, my main intention will be showing my Readers how some names can be devised in order to return a very specific and intended numerical value, when "decoded" through Gematria. In this case, Alphanumeric Qabbala is a cipher whose names have been heavily encoded in the past so that they could be specifically connected to the number 36.
Then, I will be talking about how Alphanumeric Qabbala is related to Base-36 notation, some interesting properties of that number base, and why I think that the alphanumeric sequence from 0 to Z is extremely versatile and should be further explored, even for creative or recreational purposes. In this part I will also explain how the alphanumeric sequence 0-Z can be used for sigilization, cryptography, or even applied to Astrology, following some of my experiments with it.
In the following part I will show you some of my findings with AQ in the context of Thelema, and the reasons why I think that this cipher may be extremely relevant in that specific context. Some of this material was already presented in my previous text about this cipher, while some other material will be fresh new — and extremely intriguing.
In the second-to-last chapter I will briefly talk about the "dos" and "don'ts" with Alphanumeric Qabbala, which in turn reflect the way how I work with AQ — and also some other ways how I think we shouldn't work with AQ.
And finally, as I like to leave the best for last, the last part of this text will present a riddle to my Readers — or better yet, a series of riddles.
* * *
So here's an approximate "table of contents" for this text:
— Alphanumeric Qabbala as an offshoot of Base-36 notation;
— Strange synchronicities involving Time, this cipher, and the number 36;
— The names of this cipher ("AQ", etc) and how they were heavily encoded;
— The mathematical structure and properties of AQ;
— Finger-counting with AQ;
— Using AQ for cryptography and sigilization;
— Applying AQ to Astrology (new techniques);
— The (frequently underestimated) role of AQ in a Thelemic context;
— Some ways how I tend to use this cipher.
For a start, let me first talk about how AQ is related to Base-36 notation.
Preliminary Notes:
It has been recently brought to my attention the fact that Mike, a.k.a. "Sean Virroco", deleted all of his repositories from Github.com, including his GEMATRO and ravic-norsou calculators. I'm not quite sure if this was a wise move on his part, but I won't be questioning his motives. Fortunately I still have my own forks and copies of "Gematro" and "ravic-norsou", so those are the calculators that I'll be using in this presentation — particularly my GemCon calculator, based on Sean Virroco's "ravic-norsou" calculator, as well as my copy of GEMATRO (to a lesser extent).
My calculators are just simple modifications of Virroco's previous work, to the extent that my (very) limited knowledge of programming allows me to do. So thank him, not me, for these wonderful tools.
* * *
Alphanumeric Qabbala and Base-36 numeration
Alphanumeric Qabbala, or AQ for friends (haha!), is basically an offshoot of Base-36 notation, a type of numerical notation that uses exactly 36 alphanumeric characters (from 0 to 9, and from A to Z) as numerical digits.
But what exactly is Base-36 notation, then? Actually, it's just like decimal notation, the one that we use everyday, but instead of using only the ten Arabic numerals from 0 to 9, it also includes the twenty-six letters of the modern English Alphabet as numerical digits. You can learn more about Base-36 notation here and here — and also read the history of a tech company that was named after Base-36 notation.
So how does it work, actually? In decimal (Base-10) notation, every number is written considering 10 possible values (from 0 to 9) for the units, tens and hundreds — so in Base-36 notation there are 36 possible values (from 0 to Z=35) for the units (1), "tens" (36) and "hundreds" (36×36). In other words, the number that is written as 360 in Base-10, meaning "3×100 + 6×10 + 0×1", would be written as A0 in Base-36, meaning "10×36 + 0×1".
Doing these calculations by hand can be troublesome for anyone who isn't used to count in groups of 36's instead of 10's, so I would recommend using some quite handy online calculators in order to convert numbers between Base-10 and Base-36:
... or you can simply use Gematro. If you right-click a number in the table containing the active ciphers, you'll see how that number is written in different number bases, including Binary (base-2), Octal (base-8), Hexadecimal (base-16), Base-36, among others.
In the meantime, let me tell you about...
My first synchronicities with AQ
In this section I'll tell you how I came to know this cipher: or in fact, how I only found that it already existed after I had devised it by myself.
My work with AQ began in the last days of April 2021, when I was first told about this cipher. There were a lot of synchronicities involved in this discovery, and I think that it is due time to talk about them. Please note that I was granted authorization to post screenshots of parts of my conversations. This is important in order to give this presentation some graphical context, and to note some important details.
On April 29, 2021, Sean Virroco sent me a message saying that someone had forked GEMATRO, making a pull request that included a cipher known as "Anglossic Qabbala":
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| Click to enlarge. |
I was extremely intrigued by this (note my "eyes" reaction to Sean's message), because just some days before this happened I had already added the exact same cipher to GEMATRO — even though with a different name, of course.
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| Click to enlarge. |
In fact, the first name I gave to that cipher, in mid April 2021, was Hexadecimal Qabalah — which was wrong, since "hexadecimal" refers to Base-16 notation, not Base-36. A proper name for Base-36 notation would be Hexatridecimal, which comes from the Greek words hexa~ ("six") + trideka ("thirty"), even though Sexatrigesimal, of Latin origin, is sometimes used as well. So in fact, my first "correct" name for this cipher was Hexatridecimal Qabalah, which I later noticed that matches the value of Numbers and Letters — which is precisely what AQ is.
Some time after this, on June 3ʳᵈ, I was in a Discord server where I found more people who were using this cipher, and there was a guy with the nickname "NN_Solex" who was sharing some of his findings with this cipher in a Thelemic context. As at that time I was doing exactly the same, I decided to start a private chat with that guy. To my absolute surprise, NN_Solex was precisely the person who had made a fork of Gematro and added AQ, just some weeks before:
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| Click to enlarge. |
There would be nothing interesting about this, weren't it the fact that I was talking with the same guy that had forked Gematro and added AQ to it, without knowing who he was before talking with him — on the 3ʳᵈ day of the 6ᵗʰ month, which was precisely the 36ᵗʰ day since Sean Virroco had told me about AQ (i.e. counting April 29 as day 1):
Curiously enough, while talking with NN_Solex, we discovered that one of the subjects we share the same (almost obsessive) interest in is the ancient Egyptian stellar gods called
Decans, a set of
36 deities where each one is traditionally allotted 10 degrees of the ecliptic — that is, one of three parts into which each sign of the zodiac can be subdivided.
This was my first great synchronicity with AQ, even though it was just the beginning. From that time on, I was going to see the number 36 everywhere and constantly, every single day — like the case when I was having my dinner while a soccer match was being transmitted on the TV. The second I looked at the TV, exactly 36 minutes and 36 seconds had elapsed since the beginning of the match. All of it was pretty wild, to be honest.
My final (as of this moment) great synchronicity with this cipher happened months later, during late November 2021.
On November 25ᵗʰ, I was searching the server where I had talked with NN_Solex for the first time, looking for messages from him to see if I could find the exact date when he had forked Gematro. I knew that it would be near April 29, the day when Sean Virroco told me about AQ, but even then I was wondering... "what if?". And I found the message that I was looking for:
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| Click to enlarge. |
So Sean told me about AQ, even though the fork had been created the previous day. So I ran to the date calculator and saw how many days there were between April 28 (AQ added to Gematro; fork created) and June 3 (my first chat with NN_Solex):
Who would guess?! 36 days exactly. 😅
However, some other "strange" things happened during this day. You see, I found the exact date when AQ was added to a NN_Solex's fork of Gematro on November 25ᵗʰ. Add the day and the month and you get 11+25 = 36. On this day there were also 36 days left until the end of the year:
On that day I also received by mail my favorite card deck, a Lenormand deck which has (guess what?) 36 cards:
And in case the "message" hadn't been understood... on the same day, when I arrived at my work, and after noticing all these patterns involving the number 36, I was curious to know what was the worker's ID number of a colleague of mine — a beautiful woman I was "sort of in love" with. Well... you wouldn't imagine how I felt when I saw her card with the number... 36. I was speechless, for obvious reasons.
Of course, one could argue that the more you look for something, the more you'll see it — so if I was focusing my attention on AQ and Base-36 notation, it would be inevitable to "see" the number 36 more frequently than others. Could be. And yet...
Now, a word or two about:
Alphanumeric Qabbala:
its name & properties
At this point I should state that this is my absolute favorite cipher so far, and I've played a lot with it. It is also one of the most intelligently named ciphers that I've ever known, and the reason why I say this has to do with... well, its name, of course!
In this section we will learn how some names can be encoded with Gematria, so that they match pre-determined values. Alphanumeric Qabbala is the perfect example of a cipher whose names were willingfully encoded, so that they would be related specifically to the number 36 — for obvious reasons.
Let's start by its short name, "AQ". If you look closely, this cipher contains 10 Arabic numerals (from 0 to 9) and 26 English letters (from A to Z), and those are precisely the values of A and Q — the initials of the name of the cipher itself!
So basically the name of the cipher explains what it is:
AQ = 0123456789 + abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
(10 Arabic numerals + 26 English letters)
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| Click to enlarge. |
The name "Alphanumeric Qabbala" sums 328 in the same cipher. Now, note how the sum of all divisors of 328 (including itself) is 630 — precisely the sum of all numbers from 0 to 35 (i.e. all digits of AQ):
And yet... even though "Alphanumeric Qabbala" is a really cool name for the above reason, there is yet another name that is perfect for this cipher, and that name is Alphanumeric Qabbalism:
Why is this relevant, then? It becomes VERY relevant once we notice that the decimal number 386 is written as "AQ" in Base-36:
From my previous text on this cipher, my Readers will remember that another name for this cipher is Anglossic Qabbala. The meaning of the term "Anglossic" may not be clear for my Readers, but I'll just say that it seems to be a neologism derived from Anglo~ (i.e. related to English) plus the Greek particle gloss~ which is related to "tongue" or "language"... so it would be just a fancy way of saying that this is a Qabbala for the English Language.
However, even in this case there is more than meets the eye. If you happen to use my GemCon calculator, you'll see that three of the ciphers that are enabled by default are: English Standard (also called "Extended"), Ordinal (the simplest modern English cipher, from A=1 to Z=26) and Reduction (also called "Pythagorean Numerology"). I like using those three ciphers together because they work as a kind of "octaves", with Standard being a higher octave of Ordinal, and Reduction being its lower octave. To these I added Alphanumeric Qabbala, because... well, you already know why, or else you wouldn't be reading this. 😅
When used together, those four ciphers yield some interesting results when applied to the names of the AQ cipher — which as we have seen, is related to Base-36 notation. "Anglossic" sums 360 in the Standard cipher and 36 in the Reduction cipher, while "Qabbala" sums 36 in English Ordinal, which is the value of "AQ" in Alphanumeric Qabbala.
Even by a mere coincidence, "Thirty-Sixth" sums 279 in AQ — the value of "Anglossic Qabbala" in the same cipher.
Other results not directly related to the number 36 but still worthy of note, are: "Alphanumeric Qabbala" which sums 157 in English Ordinal, matching the value of "Qabbalism" in AQ. And in English Ordinal, "Anglossic" sums 99 — the value of "Qabbala" in AQ.
At this point some of my Readers may be asking themselves: "What does this actually mean?". Well, besides the fact that this cipher seems to be prone to attract coincidences, the fact is that these names that were given to AQ were all heavily encoded so that they would all revolve around the number 36 — precisely the value of the number base from which AQ was derived. So in fact, what this means is precisely this: one can use Gematria creatively, in order to encode secret references in a word, phrase or text, so that what one intends to convey can only be "unlocked" (deciphered) with the correct "key" (cipher).
Take this example of such a ciphered riddle:
The name "Alphanumeric Gematria" is almost perfect;
In order to be perfect, you'd only need to add 1 to it.
Why?
I invite you to try to solve this. Read very carefully what I wrote up until this point, and the answer will be there. This can actually help you in spotting willingfully encoded things, provided that the clues are given and you can understand them.
* * *
Now, leaving aside the question of the cipher's name(s), let us turn our attention to the number 36 and its properties, and see what we can "do" with it.
Properties of Number Thirty-Six
Mathematically speaking, 36 is the first number (besides 1, by definition) that is both a triangular number and a square number. Let "N" be any natural number, and every number that can be written as "1+2+3+...+N" will be a triangular number, and every number that can be written as N×N will be a square number. So 36 is the 8ᵗʰ triangular number because it corresponds to 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 + 8, and it is the 6ᵗʰ square number because it corresponds to 6 × 6.
When I started experimenting with these properties of the AQ cipher, it was my intention to try to find some clue for a "pattern" in the English alphabet. After all, there are some different theories about how English is a "magical language" with a magically structured alphabet:
— In my first text about the Elizabethan/Baconian ciphers I wrote (regarding the "Kaye" ciphers) about how the modern English alphabet seems to be a "perfected" form of the old Elizabethan English alphabet. And Alphanumeric Qabbala becomes relevant in this context as well, since if you look closely, in both Kaye ciphers the letters of the alphabet are numbered from 10 to 35 — exactly like in AQ, leaving the impression that even the Kaye ciphers were connected to Base-36 notation — which seems to be hinted at in an excellent article by Peter Dawson (as are all articles written by him) in which he talks about Rosicrucian Mathematics (PDF — 681 KB, pp. 14 & 17).
My experiments with Alphanumeric Qabbala eventually led me to yet another conclusion. What if Arabic numerals were the "missing piece" that would allow us to find an actual "structure", as it were, in the English alphabet? After all, I couldn't help noticing that when we write all 36 alphanumeric characters (from 0 to Z) in the shape of a triangle, there are exactly 4 rows for the Arabic numerals, and 4 rows for the English letters, as if they were complementary series:
"The Pythagoreans indeed go farther than this, and honour even numbers and geometrical diagrams with the names and titles of the gods. Thus they call the equilateral triangle head-born Minerva and Tritogenia, because it may be equally divided by three perpendiculars drawn from each of the angles. So the unit they term Apollo, as to the number two they have affixed the name of strife and audaciousness, and to that of three, justice. For, as doing an injury is an extreme on the one side, and suffering one is an extreme on the on the one side, and suffering in the middle between them. In like manner the number thirty-six, their Tetractys, or sacred Quaternion, being composed of the first four odd numbers added to the first four even ones, as is commonly reported, is looked upon by them as the most solemn oath they can take, and called Kosmos."
This paragraph and the following explain some of the "divine" correspondences for the numbers according to the Pythagoreans. It also mentions that the Tetraktys, or Sacred Quaternion, represented by the number 36, was their most important symbol and was called Cosmos. And even though the most widely known form of the Tetractys corresponds to the number 10 (or 1+2+3+4), in this case, intringuingly, Plutarch says that 36 was also considered to be a Pythagorean Tetractys. I didn't know this before I read Hall's book.
"I swear it by him who has transmitted into our souls the Sacred Quaternion, the source of nature, whose cause it is."
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| A simple form of the Pythagorean Tetractys. |
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| A modern-day Tetractys, perfectly adapted to the English Alphabet. |
The number 36 also seems to play a major role when it comes to sacred numbers in mythologies all around the world, which in many cases are multiples of 36. Take for example:
— 108 is a very relevant number in Hinduism, with specific mantras being repeated exactly 108 times. It equals 3×36, which means that it is written as 30 in Base-36 notation (meaning 3×36 + 0);
— In Jewish Qabalah, 72 is the value of the unspeakable Name of God when it is written in the shape of the Pythagorean Tetractys. 72 equals 2×36 and so is written as 20 in Base-36;
— In Jewish mysticism there's also the tradition of the Lamed Vav Tzaddikim, or 36 Hidden Righteous Men, according to which "there are no fewer than 36 righteous people in the world who greet the Shekhinah in each generation". According to this tradition, the world would come to an end if even one of them was missing.
— In Christian Eschatology, the number 144 (particularly as 144,000) has a fundamental role, representing the Servants of God, the number of souls to be saved on the day of Final Judgment. 144 equals 4×36 and it is written as 40 in Base-36;
— Many more examples of this exist, like the number of seconds in a day, 86,400 (864 = 24×36), a period of 1260 days that is referred to more than once in the Book of Revelation (1260 = 35×36), or the number of degrees in a circle (360 = 10×36).
Base-36 becomes even more interesting when we see how some numbers are written in it — particularly (in)famous triple-digit numbers like 666, 777, 888 and the like:
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| Click to enlarge. |
Finally, as the number 36 is also a square number, I also thought about writing all 36 alphanumeric characters in the shape of a square:
And eventually... this actually gave me a different idea — and that's what I'm going to talk about now.
English Alphabet
and the Magic Square of the Sun
Many people know it as the Magic Square of Tiphareth, and it's basically a 6×6 square where all numbers from 1 to 36 have been inscribed, and structured in a way that the rows, columns and main diagonals all add up to 111. The total sum of all numbers is 666, the 36ᵗʰ triangular number.
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| Magic Square of the Sun. |
I was always intrigued with this Magic Square since I first read about it, for a simple reason. You see, in terms of the sequence of numbers, all Magic Squares follow a symmetrical pattern, starting with the 3×3 Magic Square (the smallest possible Magic Square containing only natural numbers) and onwards — while the 6x6 square is the only square for which it is impossible to create a pure symmetrical pattern. In fact, it's quite ironic that while 6 is considered a perfect number, the magic square of 6×6 is always unperfected. It's almost like finding order out of chaos... if you know what I mean...
After a moment of contemplating how to adapt Alphanumeric Qabbala to this Magic Square, I had a thought: so this table contains all numbers from 1 to 36, right? What if I subtract "1" from each of those values, obtaining a series of values from 0 to 35, and then convert the numbers back to Base-36 (i.e. AQ)? So I did that, and this is what I got:
.png) |
| Magic Square for AQ. |
Now, how exactly can we use this? One among many possible uses of this square is to use it as a sigilization technique.
In Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa's
"Three Books on Occult Philosophy", Book 2, chapter 12 (
link), the author presented the sigils of the planetary intelligences & spirits, which were based on an ingenious sigilization technique. Using the example for the Sun and its 6×6 magic square, and applying this technique to the names of the solar intelligence (Nakiel
נכיאל) and solar spirit (Sorath
סורת), we start by finding first the corresponding values for the letters. Let's analyze "Nakiel" first:
"Nakiel" is written with the letters Nun-Kaph-Yod-Aleph-Lamed:
— The reduced value of Nun is 5;
— The standard value of Kaph is 20;
— The standard/ordinal value of Yod is 10;
— The value of Aleph is 1;
— And the reduced value of Lamed is 3.
In the case of "Sorath", written with the letters Samech-Vav-Resh-Tav, we have:
— Both Samech and Vav have a reduced value of 6;
— The reduced value of Resh is 2;
— And finally, the reduced value of Tav is 4.
Next, what we have to do is to locate those numbers in the magic square and draw lines joining those values, like this:
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| Colored sigils drawn by me. Click to enlarge. |
Adapting this system to the English Alphabet, or more exactly the alphanumeric sequence 0-Z, we could create specific sigils for any word, name or phrase that we want. I must be honest with my Readers, though, and confess that I haven't explored this sigilization technique very deeply yet, even though I noticed a very intriguing pattern for the word "FEMININE" — because, you see, its sigil would be a simple straight line:
Besides this, which I believe is no more than a coincidence, in my early experiments with this technique there was only one other case that caught my attention. The cover of Simon's edition of the fabled (and often misunderstood
fictional book called)
Necronomicon contains a sigil that, somehow, is strangely similar to the alphanumeric sigil for
"Necronomicon":
Apart from this, there isn't really much more to say about this sigilization technique, except that you can use it in every way you want. To find patterns, to design patterns, as a personal signature, as a magical symbol — the limit is literally your own imagination.
In the next part, but still keeping this alphanumeric magic square in our minds, let's talk about:
Cryptography & Alphanumeric Qabbalism
As we have seen, the sequence from 0 to Z can be inscribed in a 6×6 square, and what this actually means is that we can use this sequence as the basis for a cryptographic technique. Techniques like that already exist, however — and the first system that comes first to my mind is the
ADFGVX cipher, which is based on a modern modification of the
Polybius square.
In the modern ADFGVX cipher, a 6×6 square is used in which are inscribed all 36 alphanumeric digits from 0 to Z, while the lines and columns are encoded by the characters A, D, F, G, V and X, like this:
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| Please note that in this case, the letters have been ordered according to the "AZERTY" keyboard layout. Picture from DCode.fr. |
However, as in the last section we've been working with a alphanumeric square derived from the Magic Square of Tiphareth, that's the layout I'll be using. Also, instead of using the letters ADFGVX for the lines & columns, I'll use instead the numbers from 0 to 5:
While the ADFGVX cipher is used according to a certain pattern of encryption (using a keyword, reordering columns, etc), the way how I use it is a bit different and much easier — which implies that it's also easier to decode. Anyway, here's how I use it:
I'm only using one word as an example because I want to make it simple for my Readers. So let's say we wanted to encode the word "QABBALA" using my method.
First, write the corresponding pairs of digits that correspond to its letters: first the number of the line, then the number of the column:
Q A B B A L A
12 11 45 45 11 32 11
Then, group those digits in a continuous sequence:
12114545113211
After that, break that sequence in half, dividing it into two strings:
1211454
5113211
And finally, decode the result, considering that the string above corresponds to the line of the (encoded) character, and the string below to its column:
1 2 1 1 4 5 4 (line)
5 1 1 3 2 1 1 (column)
↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓
T D A R 9 4 S
And so, the word "QABBALA" can be encoded as the alphanumeric string "TDAR94S" using my method as an example. But this is just one example among many possible others. As in Gematria, the limit of Cryptography is our own imagination. For example, instead of using the alphanumeric square as derived from the Magic Square of the Sun, we could instead use a keyword to reorder the characters inside the square (like the example above, following the "AZERTY" keyboard layout). So my suggestion is always to create your own method and to use whatever makes sense to you.
Another way of using the 0-Z sequence would be to apply it to what I call
"Alphanumeric Athbash". For this method we would make the first alphanumeric character (0) correspond to the last (Z), then the second (1) to the second-to-last (Y), and so on and so forth — and basically replace every alphanumeric digit with its opposite.
If, for example, we wanted to encode the word "LANGUAGE" using this technique, it would correspond to "EPCJ5PJL". Please note, however, that substitution ciphers like this are very easy to crack using frequency analysis, so please be sure that your encoded messages cannot be broken by the wrong people. In most cases, a second layer of encryption will ensure that the message will most certainly be more difficult to decrypt.
And now let's talk about...
Finger counting and Alphanumeric Qabbalism
Another possible way of encoding the alphanumeric sequence (0-Z) is to use finger counting and Base-6 notation. As it is explained in the Wikipedia article on Senary (base-6) notation, particularly the section about finger counting:
"Each regular human hand may be said to have six unambiguous positions; a fist, one finger (or thumb) extended, two, three, four, and then all five extended.
If the right hand is used to represent a unit, and the left to represent the "sixes", it becomes possible for one person to represent the values from zero to 55senary (35decimal) with their fingers, rather than the usual ten obtained in standard finger counting. e.g. if three fingers are extended on the left hand and four on the right, 34senary is represented. This is equivalent to 3 × 6 + 4, which is 22decimal."
What this actually means is that we can represent all alphanumeric characters from 0 to Z=35 using the fingers of both hands. In order to make this clearer, let me show you yet another table:
Using this table as reference, and considering that the lines correspond to the fingers on the left hand, and the columns to the fingers on the right hand, we could represent the letter "A" (line 1, column 4) by raising 1 finger of our left hand, and 4 fingers of our right hand. Likewise, the letter "Z" (line 5, column 5) would be represented by all the ten fingers raised. Zero, then, would be represented with closed fists (i.e. literally zero fingers raised). In practical terms, this would be similar to a cryptographic substitution cipher, in this case using Base-6 notation as reference.
Next we'll be talking about...
Applying the alphanumeric sequence to Astrology
In this part I will explain how we can adapt the alphanumeric sequence to Astrology — or more specifically, how we can use the sequence to encode all main planetary positions in an astrological chart as two distinct alphanumeric strings.
The principle is simple: as there are 360 degrees in the circle of the zodiac, each degree can be made to correspond to an alphanumeric character from 0 to Z, as in the following image:
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| Click to enlarge. |
In Astrology there is another division of the zodiac that is quite ancient, coming from the times of Kemet (ancient Egypt), in which the zodiac is divided in 36 equal parts, called the Decans. As there are exactly 36 alphanumeric characters from 0 to Z, each Decan can thus be associated with a unique alphanumeric character, in the following way:
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| Click to enlarge. |
With these two tables we can encode any planetary position using only two characters, one for the corresponding degree, and another for the corresponding decan. For example, if a certain planetary position corresponds to the characters 9 (degree) and M (decan), then we know, by using the tables above, that that position corresponds to 15° Scorpio. But how would this work in practice?
Let's say we wanted to encode the planetary positions in a real astrological chart — and let's take as an example the chart of Aleister Crowley, as it is shown in Astro-Databank:
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| Click to enlarge. |
Applying this technique to this chart, we would start by noting the planetary positions for the Sun, Moon, and the other planets of the Solar System (I'll include Pluto here as well). Then, we check in the two tables shown above to which alphanumeric characters those positions correspond, in terms of both degrees and decans:
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| Click to enlarge. |
So basically what we have here is two alphanumeric strings that ultimately encode the date of birth of Aleister Crowley, by associating each degree and decan with a specific alphanumeric digit. And this is so because each degree of the zodiac corresponds to a unique combination of characters for the decans and the degrees; there aren't any two degrees that share the same pair of alphanumeric characters, using this method.
In the case of Crowley, those two strings are:
— JZMKTLVD35 for the decans;
— and JS7O41VVVH for the degrees;
Using these two strings simultaneously, and knowing to which planet (or astrological point) each of the characters corresponds to, it is possible to economize a lot of characters in order to encode the informations contained in an astrological chart. And with that information and the correct astrology software, it is possible to find to which date those astrological informations correspond, with a small margin for error.
The only negative aspect of this method is that it only accounts for the degrees, not taking into consideration the minutes and seconds of arc — so failing miserably when it comes to the details.
A way to circumvent this problem would be to keep the division of the zodiac in 36 equal parts (the Decans) and then subdivide each Decan in 36 equal parts, with each smaller part corresponding to 16'40'' (16 minutes and 40 seconds of arc), thus technically subdividing the Zodiac into 1296 or 36×36 equal parts. That way we would only need two alphanumeric characters to identify each small fraction of 16'40'', starting at 00 (0°00'00'' to 0°16'39'' Aries) and ending at ZZ (29°13'20'' to 29°59'59'' Pisces). This method has the advantage of using the same amount of alphanumeric characters as the previous, while allowing for greater detail when it comes to planetary positions.
And now, let us talk a bit about...
The revelation of AQ in the context of Thelema
My Readers will remember the series of articles I wrote about the Thelemic ciphers (parts I, II, III and IV), and I must say that for a very long time I was thrilled with English Qaballa (the "ALW" cipher, explored in Part I) and how it delivered some outstanding results (when compared to other Thelemic ciphers) when it was applied to Liber AL vel Legis, the Book of the Law.
However, after I knew about Alphanumeric Qabbala (in a text called Qabbala 101), I became very intrigued with it, because it showed that AQ also gave some quite curious results when applied to certain key terms and phrases used in Thelema. In fact, I became convinced that not only there was still much work to be done in order to show the validity of AQ in a Thelemic context, but I also thought — and I maintain the same opinion to this day — that Alphanumeric Qabbala may in fact be the ultimate Thelemic cipher, for a number of different reasons:
— AQ is an offshoot of Base-36 notation, which means that it includes exactly 36 alphanumeric characters (10 Arabic numerals and 26 English letters) that can be used as digits in a Base-36 numeration system. The fact that Aleister Crowley called himself "The Great Beast 666" and that 666 is the 36ᵗʰ triangular number, only lends substance to this possible connection;
— A number of key Thelemic elements deliver intriguing values when decoded through Alphanumeric Qabbala:
- "AL" = 31
("AL" is a key formula in Thelema, being part of the name of the Book of the Law. Crowley wrote the following: ""AL" is the true name of the Book, for these letters, and their number 31, form the Master Key to its Mysteries." — source. Even considering that Crowley was referring to the value of "AL" in Hebrew Gematria and Greek Isopsephy, it's quite noteworthy that the formula adds to the same value in Alphanumeric Qabbala.)
- "Thelema" = 127 (the 31ˢᵗ prime number) = "Number"
- "The Book of the Law" = 301
- "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law" = 777
- The number 777 is written as LL in Base-36 notation (i.e. 21×36 + 21×1). "LL" can stand for "Liber Legis", "The Book of the Law" translated to Latin. Also, before Frater Achad found the key-word "AL" in his Liber Thirty-One, the Book of the Law was being called "Liber L". Only later did Crowley call it "Liber AL", as explained in the The New and Old Comments to Liber AL vel Legis. The letter "L" has the value 21, or 7+7+7 in Alphanumeric Qabbala.
- "Do what thou wilt" = 325 = "Aleister Crowley"
(325 is a numerical constant in the 5×5 magic square of Mars. Consider, in this case, how Horus is called "a god of War and of Vengeance" in AL III:3.)
- The full birth name of Aleister Crowley was "Edward Alexander Crowley", which sums 438 in Alphanumeric Qabbala. Considering that 36 is the 8ᵗʰ triangular number and 666 is the 36ᵗʰ, it's quite curious to note that the (decimal) number 438 is written as 666 in Octal (base-8) notation.
- "Aiwass" = 126 = "Horus"
(Aiwass is called "the minister of Hoor-paar-kraat" in the Book of the Law, which is but a title of the Egyptian god Horus as Harpocrates, the Child)
- The first words of the 1ˢᵗ and 2nd chapters of the Book of the Law are "Had" and "Nu" respectively, representing Nuit and Hadit, the two opposite principles of infinite expansion (the "circle") and infinite contraction (the "point"). Adding the value of both words, the total sum will be 93, the number of both "Thelema" and "Agape" in Greek.
- The first word of the 3ʳᵈ and final chapter of the Book of the Law is "Abrahadabra", the Word of the Aeon. It sums 156 in Alphanumeric Qabbala, which according to Crowley is the number of the goddess Babalon — the complement of Therion, the Beast.
There's a number of other interesting correspondences that one can find when using AQ in the context of Thelema, even though — and this is very important — many different ciphers may deliver equally curious results, so using numerical matches to prove our point may not always be the best of choices. Anyway... in my tests with this cipher while studying the Book of the Law, I looked for the values of specific words, names, phrases, and whole verses, and I noticed that there are only two complete verses that add up to 630 — the sum of all numbers from 0 to 35:
AL I:24. "I am Nuit, and my word is six and fifty."
AL I:66. "The manifestation of Nuit is at an end."
The word "manifestation" only appears once more in the very first verse of Liber AL:
AL I:1. "Had! The manifestation of Nuit"
So the text seems to hint at a connection between Nuit, whose word is six and fifty, and manifestation. And indeed, the value of "manifestation" in AQ is 263, the 56ᵗʰ prime number:
But there's yet another thing I wish to talk about at this time. All ciphers that have been adapted or developed to be used in the context of Thelema have been applied to some key riddles in The Book of the Law, namely AL II:76 and AL III:47, in order to have their "validity" verified. And as I'm proposing Alphanumeric Qabbala for decoding the Book of the Law, I will now show my own solution to perhaps the most widely known riddle in the Book of the Law.
Note carefully:
Every now and then (maybe more "then" than now), a new "Thelemic English Qabalah" pops out of nowhere, with someone claiming to have found the promised key that will solve all mysteries of the Book of the Law. While I enjoy certain ideas behind some of these systems — particularly the ones I've written the most about — I can't avoid feeling some discomfort when proposing this cipher as an important key to Thelema, simply because I'm not interested in repeating the same history that has already been written and rewritten by others.
My Solution to AL II:76
Here's the verses in question:
AL II:75. "Aye! listen to the numbers & the words:
AL II:76. "4 6 3 8 A B K 2 4 A L G M O R 3 Y X 24 89 R P S T O V A L. What meaneth this, o prophet? Thou knowest not; nor shalt thou know ever. There cometh one to follow thee: he shall expound it. But remember, o chosen one, to be me; to follow the love of Nu in the star-lit heaven; to look forth upon men, to tell them this glad word."
My solution to this riddle is in fact quite humorous... and simple... and with it we would certainly understand why the numbers & the words are in their respective "position to one another" — even though I can't really explain all of it. And I still have many doubts that this would be a definitive answer to AL II:76.
This "solution", as it were, doesn't "mean" anything to me, except that the "riddle" was never intended to be taken seriously. There is no meaning as to which numbers or letters are used in it — but in fact how they are used.
Four times the same message is repeated:
"4 6 3 8 A B K"
And the message would be: Letters always come after numbers — which is precisely the most fundamental characteristic of Alphanumeric Qabbala. And so the answer could be obtained, assuming that Alphanumeric Qabbala was the intended "key" to decode AL.
AQ = 0123456789 abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
(Letters come after the "numbers" — i.e. the numerals.)
I can't explain, however, why the same "message" would be repeated four times. However, what I do know is that the riddle contains exactly 28 numbers & letters, with 28 being a triangular number, just like 36. And if we organize the 0-Z alphanumeric sequence in the shape of a triangle, as we have seen before, there will be exactly 4 rows for the numbers, and 4 rows for the letters.
Assuming that this would be the answer to AL II:76, we could further elaborate upon a possible connection between the rows of the "AQ triangle" and the rows of the (decoded) riddle in AL II:76, putting them side by side and looking for similarities.
Starting with the numbers, we will see that there does seem to exist some kind of connection:
However, doing the same with the "words" (i.e. the letters) won't retrieve any noteworthy connection — besides the fact that the 2nd and 4th rows share exactly the same number of letters:
Even not trying to "justify" this finding with Gematria, let my Readers consider the following:
— The Law of Thelema, "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law" sums 777 in Alphanumeric Qabbala.
— Then, consider that in Crowley's book of numbers and letters, Liber 777, Crowley listed the ten sephiroth numbering them from 1 to 10, and then the twenty-two Hebrew letters (the "paths"), numbering them from 11 (Aleph) to 32 (Tav).
— If we were to adapt that system to the English Alphabet, listing first the ten Arabic numerals from 0 to 9, and then the twenty-six English letters from A to Z, we would end up precisely with Alphanumeric Qabbala: a continuous, logical and non-redundant alphanumeric sequence from 0 to Z=35.
* * *
I make no claims whatsoever about "my role" in this solution, as I think that's irrelevant — my intention is not to claim that I've found the "Key of It All" or that I am the "child of the Beast". In my opinion, that's simply stupid and immature, and won't lead you (or me, or anyone) anywhere. I do believe, however, that AQ may be an important key in Thelema, and what I'm doing here is simply to play along with it, and trying to make it become more widely known.
* * *
All of this, of course, can't be taken as "proof" that Alphanumeric Qabbala is an important key to Thelema — firstly, because many of these matches could be taken as being coincidental, and I think that most gematricists would agree with me on this conclusion. And secondly, because there's still much work to be done in this field, while at the same time the continuous proposal of too many ciphers to decipher the mysteries of Liber AL has made the topic a sort of "taboo" in the context of Thelema. So what I'm trying to achieve by writing this is, in fact, to show some ideas and then let my Readers work the rest by themselves. I am, of course, always interested in exchanging ideas about Gematria, and about this subject in particular — so if you, dear Reader, feel the need to get in touch and discuss some of these things, please do!
Now let's talk about...
"Dos" and "don'ts" with AQ
In this section I will try to explain how I personally use Alphanumeric Qabbala, which will be reflected by my suggestions for "dos" and "don'ts" regarding the work with AQ.
First of all, let's start with my suggestions for the "dos":
1) Use AQ whenever it makes sense to use an alphanumeric cipher, for example, in phrases or strings composed of digits (0-9) and letters (A-Z).
2) Use AQ with the English language! Besides the Standard, Ordinal and Reduction ciphers — which I view as being the main English ciphers — it also makes a lot of sense to use AQ for English words, phrases or specific terms, since it is perfectly adapted to the alphanumeric sequence which includes 10 Arabic numerals (from 0 to 9) and 26 English letters (from A to Z).
3) Use AQ in the context of Thelema (!!!). The work with AQ in this area has been extremely scarce, aside from some occasional discoveries that are shared here and there by some (very few) people, so I think it is about time that some serious work can be done with this cipher in the study of the Holy Books of Thelema — Liber AL vel Legis is just the beginning.
4) Use AQ to encode hidden references in your texts! In fact, that's one of my favorite ways of using Gematria. You can do this too, and it can be easy or difficult depending on which tools you use. I recommend using Gematro, which includes an "Encoding" tool as well as a link to an ever-growing list of public databases (check the "About" menu) — it will make your work a lot easier, and will give you hours of guaranteed fun.
Now let's talk about the "don'ts":
1) Don't use AQ whenever it does NOT make sense to use it, which should be fairly obvious, even though a brief explanation is needed. For example, I would never use AQ to try to "decode" a text written in Latin or Elizabethan English, for the simple reason that the alphabets used for these languages were different from Modern English. AQ, and its intricate connections to the number 36, only makes sense to be used with (1) a decimal system of numeration (0 through 9) combined with (2) the modern English alphabet with 26 letters.
2) Don't try to decode any random name or phrase with AQ — or with any other cipher, in fact! 😅 We always need to be very careful when "decoding" something, particularly if we're not sure that it was encoded in the first place. So things like looking for patterns in the English language while using AQ may or may not be fruitful, depending on what you want to do with it. If you're simply looking for patterns, I can guarantee that you'll find them — whether with Alphanumeric Qabbala, English Ordinal or Standard, English Qaballa or Agrippa's Latin cipher. The actual question is what does a numerical match actually "mean" — and it means only what you want it to mean. For example, some "alternative" interpretations of the Bible started by analyzing it with Hebrew Gematria (and Greek Isopsephy) and establishing connections between words and concepts based on numerical matches and/or geometrical patterns. So a numerical match is a means of encoding (not only decoding) something, and sometimes it can give you some great ideas. But don't search abusively for patterns and matches in search for a "proof" of something. Numerical matches don't prove anything per se — but they can be an intelligent way of saying more than what you're actually saying.
And last but not the least (whew!)...
Riddles — and some notes on this text
My intention in writing this text has been to show my Readers how we can use Alphanumeric Qabbala, and the 0-Z alphanumeric sequence in particular, in many different ways. The main method is, of course, Gematria: that is, adding the values of the letters composing a word, name or phrase, and analyzing the result through numerology, geometric or polygonal sequences, or even compare it with other words, names or phrases that share the same value. But there are other ways to use it, as we have seen, which include cryptographic & sigilization techniques, for example.
One of my favorite uses of Gematria is to encode secret references in my texts. And so, as the main subject of my blog is Gematria, in this text I took the liberty to leave some "scraps" or hidden references throughout the article, so that my most perceptive Readers would understand, in practice, one of the ways how I work with Gematria.
Every section of this text contains something that was purposefully encoded with Gematria. Starting with the title, "The wonders & magic of Alphanumeric Qabbala": is there anything "special" about it? How many words does it have? How many letters? What does it add to in Alphanumeric Qabbala? And why? You'll love it once you see it.
If you want to give it a try, let me give you some clues:
— all colored text is encoded;
— sometimes, differently formatted phrases can hide some references too.
In order to know if something was purposefully encoded or not, which is one of the key points when working with Gematria to "decode" something, is to remember the following: if it looks too good to be random, maybe it isn't random. However, in order to be sure about this, we always have to confirm our findings by noting (1) the context we're working on, and (2) if the ciphers we're using make sense to be used in that context.
So, in this specific context, the main cipher you need to use is Alphanumeric Qabbala... and maybe 2 or 3 more ciphers in some cases. 😅 Anyway, in any case, if you don't know it, be sure to get acquainted with Gematro, one of the best Gematria calculators out there, in order to both decode and encode whatever you want in your texts. It will make your work a lot easier.
In the meantime, as always, if any of my Readers wishes to get in touch and talk about anything related to Gematria or Cryptography (or any remotely connected subject), feel free to do so either by using the "Contact Form" on the right side of this blog, or by making a comment on any post you want.
Thanks for following my work, and... keep on decoding!
Luís Gonçalves
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