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In the number 12, the forces of 1 and 2 combine and form 3. In studying the value of 12, the student is advised, therefore, to review carefully the lessons covering the numbers 1, 2, and 3, and to meditate upon the sublime powers which their forces produce in 12. In the number 11 this product is foreshadowed as an ideal; in 12 it reaches perfect manifestation.
The powers of 12 may be applied to all concepts which deal with extension, expansion, and elevation. It transcends the three dimensional. The consciousness belonging to it is posited in a higher dimension.
In the numbers, 1, 2, and 3 we may trace the gradual involution of spirit into matter; in the number 12 we may discover this same working toward its liberation from the limitations of form. It leads upward and inward. Spiritual forces gain the ascendancy, and the spirit regains freedom. It wins liberation from the cross of matter and is resurrected in a vehicle of light. Time gives way to the timeless, and mortality enters into conscious immortality. Since this is the nature of 12 it is evident that the full realization of its powers come only with the expansion and illumination of consciousness belonging to Initiation.
The twelfth letter of the Hebrew alphabet is Lamed. In Tarot symbolism this is represented by a man suspended from his left leg on a gibbet placed between two trees, each tree having six branches, making 12 in all. These branches have been cut away, indicating the series of earth experiences put forth and completed in the long cycle of spiritual unfoldment. No Ego can ever come under the highly differentiated vibratory forces of 12 that has not accumulated an unusual inner strength through many and varied experiences. The 12 vibration belongs to the "old soul."
A person who has attained to the powers of 12 has learned many lessons under the masculine forces of one and passed through many experiences within the feminine rhythm of 2. Twelve also blends the powers of 3 and 9. It is the Holy Trinity in Manifestation. Three works towards the self-mastery which is essential to taking certain degrees of Initiation attainable under 9. Nine is man in generation; 12 is man in regeneration. The supreme purpose of the spirit's pilgrimage through earth experience is to bring to birth the Christ within. The number 12 sounds the keynote of this accomplishment.
Twelve lines of equal length describe the cube. The Mason is taught in the early stages of his exercises that the object of his training is to transform the rough ashlar into the perfect cube. Seven and 12 form the two most important numerical patterns in the heavens. It is through the circle of the 12 signs of the Zodiac that the Celestial Hierarchies work in directing the evolution of the earth and all the kingdoms of life developing on it.
Biblical seers, understanding the forces of 12, use it repeatedly when dealing with events and characters o' high spiritual import. In the Old Testament, the 12 sons of Jacob, representative of the 12 signs of the Zodiac is the most conspicuous example of the use of this number. Their work dominates the entire Old Testament.
Other instances of the use of 12 in the Bible include the 12 loaves of shew bread that were placed on the table in the inner court of the Tabernacle and which represent the opportunities for soul growth presented by the 12 solar months of the year. The Temple that Ezekiel beheld in a vision like the New Jerusalem described by John, the Revelator, has twelve entrances, or avenues of service. The Christ chose 12 to work with Him in the initial dissemination of the evangelism of the new Christed Age.
Every esotericist understands that Twelve Forces grouped in a circle around one form a Unity that vibrates to 13. Herein lies the secret of plenty, peace, and power for all mankind. In the formula of 13 is to be found the occult key to the Master's words "Where two or three are gathered together in my Name, there am I in the midst of them." Through the proper assemblage of the forces of 12 and 1, or 13, "All the forces of heaven and earth are given unto you" as the Christ declared.
The wise Pythagoras taught that 1 is both limited and unlimited. When added rightly to 12, and thereby making 13, it is unlimited — the miracle of the loaves and fishes becomes an actuality on every plane of manifestation. Much of the work of the Christ and His 12 disciples is concerned with the powers of the mystic formula of 12 and 1.
Goethe, a master mind, had the power to tune in with the exalted forces of 13. He does so when describing the experiences of a Traveller on a visit to a certain Monastery wherein resided 12 Brothers together with a 13, who was head of the Group. The Traveller undergoes many trials before he discovers the home of the Order he seeks. The Monastery which he ultimately finds is crowned with a black cross which is embellished with 7 red roses. This same symbol also forms the gate through which the Traveller must enter before he can stand in the presence of the 12 and the exalted 13th.
In the great Hall of Accomplishment there were 13 chairs and. above each hung a shield, showing in symbol the deeds performed by the one who was worthy to occupy that seat. The 13th synthesizes the forces of the encircling 12. The 12 notes of the chromatic scale are focused on a 13th which sounds the basic harmony of the octave. The Traveller arrives at the Monastery just as the 13th Brother is preparing to ascend to higher realms, having mastered all the lessons belonging to material existence. It is a case of having completed a cycle — a cycle of 12 — and entering upon a new cycle in the ever ascending spiral of being. This portion of the story parallels the event in the life of the Christ when observing the initiatory Rite of the Last Supper prior to taking His departure from the 12 and later making His ascension.
Mem is the 13th letter of the Hebrew alphabet and represents the great feminine or Mother mystery. The processes of this mystery are fourfold, and may be described as birth, death, sublimation, and transfiguration. The Book of Revelation, that most profoundly mystical of all Bible books, is keyed to 13, and the completion of the fourfold process, or consummation of the magic power of 13 is depicted in the glorious vision of the Woman clothed with the sun:
The letter Mem is the most important of the three Mother letters and is ranked by the Kabbalists as second in power only to the straight line (1) of Absolute Unity. The form of the letter Mem is similar to the symbol for the sign Aquarius the urn from which the shepherd of the skies is pouring water on the earth bears 13 stars.
The repeated use of 13 in the seal of the United States of America is not by mere chance, but in obedience to cosmic law as required by the nation's destiny. Thirteen means either death through failure and degeneration, or the attainment in regeneration of a New Order of the Ages. There are no half way measures with 13; it demands all or nothing. Thus is America's high calling portrayed numerically, If she be true to it, she will, under 13 inaugurate fresh beginnings for all the race.
The number 13 digits 4 which enfolds the powers of the Tetragrammaton, the Yod-He-Vau-He of the Ancients. A knowledge of that magic Name gives an open sesame into all the wonders of the heavens above and the waters under the earth,
And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his trained servants, born in his own house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued them unto Dan. (Genesis 14:14.) — These trained servants in the house of Abram, 318 in number, digit 12 and indicate the time and place of preparation for a complete union with 13. In Greek these numbers give the beginning of the words meaning Jesus and the cross.
Lamed, interpreted as' a spur of pain, is the 12th of the Hebrew letters and is described as the hanging man. By a proper training of the 318 = 12 servants, or the 12 faculties within, the personal life is mastered, or crucified, and a new Christed man is born. The 12th sign is Pisces, which governs the house of tears and sorrow. He who does the will of the Father enters into harmony with His plan and comes to know the truth that sets man free. Under the powers of 13 he attains to the heights of an ascended consciousness.
Anna Kingsford says in The Perfect Way: "As the number of the lunar months, thirteen is the symbol of the woman and denotes the soul and her reflection of God — the solar number twelve being that of spirit." — "The two numbers in combination form the perfect year of that dual humanity which alone is made in the image and likeness of God — the true Christian year, wherein the two, the inner and the outer, spirit and matter — are as one." — "Thirteen then represents that full union of man with God wherein Christ becomes Christ."
The literal translation for the 12th power-force of the sacred series, the Hebrew letter Lamed, is an oxgoad. In the life of man it operates as the influence of pain, sorrow, disillusionment. Call it by whatsoever name we. will, it is that unalterable law of destiny which sooner or later in the course of the many life cycles of man, brings him to that place wherein he knows that he cannot safely depend upon any other power than the spirit within. When he comes to this realization, then he can say with the Christ: "The Father and I are one," and "He doeth the works." With this realization comes the ability to understand and to receive the mighty spiritual outpourings of the powers operating through the forces of 12. — This was the state of consciousness attained by the Immortal Twelve who were chosen by the supreme Master. Their lives had each been beset with trials and difficulties, and many were the renunciations which they were called upon to make. It was the oxgoad of pain and travail which refined them in spirit so that they might hear the tender tones of the Master's voice whispering in their storm-stressed hearts, "Come and follow me."
It was this inner understanding of the divine purpose of sorrow which caused the early Christians to so revere the cross which represented to them the path that leads from the outer to the within, from the personal to the impersonal, from the seen which is temporal to the unseen which is eternal.
The mystic chant of Lamed is as follows: "Before this have I declared myself to be The Teacher of Teachers, and mine instruction is like unto a goad." — The "Teacher of all Teachers" is sorrow, and so we note the heavy impress of its hand upon the lives of men and races throughout the world. Humanity in the large, however, has not come to recognize the divine compensation that sorrow brings; and so strife, rebellion, are its present results; rather than the glory of at-one-ment which a complete surrender gives.
Every ideal for future attainment set forth in the Biblical records that is presented in the numerical terms of 12, as for example, the Temple of Ezekiel, the works of the Twelve Tribes, and the Eternal City of Revelation, have as their foundation stone the tears and blood, the sorrow and sacrifice of the people to whom the ideal was given. It is only through the awakening engendered by the forces of 12 that the illumination of 13 may be found. In Revelation, that mystic cycle of spiritual law which is attuned to the forces of this number of transformation John sings "God shall wipe away all tears for the former things have passed away." Sorrow and the tears it brings forth, will be necessary no longer, for man shall have come into the full realization of the glorious freedom in spirit which only a complete surrender of all things personal can give.
Thirteen has been considered since ancient times as the number of ill luck and misfortune. This is because its true significance has been totally uncomprehended. Thirteen means death or transfiguration — death if man chooses to follow the old ways of material living; transfiguration, if he accepts the new. The New Jerusalem of Revelation describes this last named condition. For the early Christians the powers of 13, the 12 and the 1, were typified by the 12 disciples and St. Paul who combined and synthesized all the 12 attributes of spirit represented by this illumined company united and conjoined with or in 13.
The Tarot symbology of the 13 power-force is that of a skeleton armed with a scythe, representing the inevitableness of death in the present dispensation of mortal thought. But a rainbow rises on the horizon, an emblem of the new day dawning in the race consciousness, and described in the Revelation of John as the concealed (save to the few) forces of the number 13.
From the Book of Tokens by Paul Case, we quote these lines of meditation as descriptive of this great force resident in the 13th letter Mem: "Absolve thyself in this Great Sea of the Waters of Life. Dive deep in it until thou hast lost thyself. And having lost thyself, thou shalt find thyself again, and be one with Me. Then shall the glory of Myself, which is thy true self, be mirrored in thee."
"Twelve is 4 plus 8, or the world and man renewed. It is 4 x 3 or the world and man in intimate union with God, and it is 6 x 2, symbolic of Christ taking upon Himself the sins of man and becoming subject to death for the sake of man's redemption."
— Corinne Heline
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