Nine is the emblem of matter which, while changing and in constant flux, yet retains its identity and resists complete destruction. This is manifest in the strange phenomenon of 9 remaining 9 in its power no matter by what number it is multiplied. It eternally reproduces itself.
John Heydon, an early Rosicrucian philosopher, writes in The Holy Guide, published in 1662, that the number 9 if writ or engraved on silver or sardis, rendered the one who wore it invisible. He adds further: "Nine also obtaineth the love of women. It prevails against plagues and fevers. It causeth long life and health. By this number Plato so ordered events that he died at the age of 9x9."
Nine has special significance for humanity since it is the number principally governing its evolution. Around the power of 9 the cyclic progress of man revolves. That 9 is the number of the evolution of present humanity is borne out by two numbers in the Book of Revelation, a book which indeed reveals mysteries. These two numbers are 666 and 144,000. Both reduce to 9. The former is the number of the Beast, the unregenerate nature of man that wars against his higher nature, the mortality that must put on immortality. The latter number, 144,000, is the number of the redeemed. They comprise all who bear the mark of God upon their foreheads and chant hosannas in their joy of having found the peace that resides at the heart of their divine Selfhood.
Since all humanity experiences the downward draw of the lower nature and the upward pull of the higher self, it is clear that 666, the Beast, and 144,000, the Regenerated, apply not to a single dragon nor to a specific group of individuals but that they are numerical symbols for powers operating in all humanity, and that both numbers reducing to 9 point to it as the major vibratory power governing human evolution. It makes it clear that this number relates both to the mortal and the immortal, the terrestrial and the celestial aspects of man.
It is because of this inclusive nature of 9 that it becomes the special numerical power by which man comes into contact with his inner self, unfolds his latent divinity, and attains to that state of interior illumination which is known by the name of Initiation.
The esoteric members among the early Christians said that there were 9 orders of angels, by which they meant the 9 celestial Hierarchies that form the evolutionary ladder which extends from God to man. They are so numbered by Dante in The Divine Comedy.
The celestial Orders are the 9 which are most intimately concerned with human evolution. Astrologically they correlate to the signs beginning with Cancer and ending with Pisces. Botticelli beautifully portrays these various groups of heavenly Beings in his masterpiece The Assumption of the Virgin.
Nine may be represented by the 3 triangles symbolizing the threefold aspects of each of the three principles of man, namely, body, soul, and spirit. This fact also indicates 9 as a number of universality, of a wide, all-embracing consciousness. The 9 individual has run the gamut of personal experiences, including both the high and the low, the mundane and the spiritual. It is the synthesis of these experiences which produces that sympathy, compassion, and a rare understanding which is characteristic of the 9.
Red, the color of humanitarianism, is the color of 9. This means that 9 has a sympathetic understanding of the undeveloped and the underpriviledged while at the same time sharing the aspiration and idealism of the more advanced. Nine is closely related to 10, the number of unity. It is moving toward the consciousness in which all parts are realized as embraced in the One. Nine carries in its heart the red of humanity's sorrow and travail, which, when fully redeemed, will yield to the golden flame of One.
Zodiacally the ninth sign is Sagittarius, the sign of the higher or Christed mind, the place of holy aspiration and inspiration. Nine is the number of universality, cosmic freedom, and high soul expression. Its emblems are a helmet and an olive branch.
That 9 synthesizes the Ego's entire experience gathered throughout the whole of the evolutionary journey prior to its complete reunion with God, or One, is revealed by the numerical truth that all numbers from I to 9 reduce to 9. 1 plus 8 equals 9, 2 plus 7 equals 9, 3 plus 6 equals 9, 4 plus 5 equals 9. Thus 9 is truly the number of matter, the number of man's evolution, and the number of cosmic knowing or Initiation. The numbers 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10 equals 9. Also 9-18-27-36-45-54-63-72-81-90 equal 9. Nine when multiplied by another number always reproduces itself; for example, 9 X 2 equals 18, or 9. 9 X 3 equals 27 or 9. 9 X 4 equals 36, or 9. 9 X 10 equals 90, or 9. 1 and 8 are 9, 2 and 7 are 9. 3 and 6 are 9. 4 and 5 are 9. Thus we see how the number 9 returns to itself after the numerous changes through which it may pass by addition, subtraction, or multiplication with other numbers. It indicates at once its power and its universality. The Greeks compared 9 to the ocean, because they said it was like the water flowing around tht other numbers, as in the decad. No further elementary number is possible, they added, hence it is like the horizon, because all numbers are bounded by it. Nine is the number of the circumference of things, every circle having 360 degrees, which number digits 9.
Nine is frequently a number of service. A 9 character, therefore, realizes himself fully through service to others. He cannot work successfully for self alone. It must be for the benefit of the whole. The 9 person also has the qualities that make for friendship. He has friends because he is a friend.
A 9 year is especially favorable for cementing old ties and forming new ones. It is also a time that brings favors and gifts from friends. It may be called a veritable friendship year.
Number is the basis of all formation, the root of all creative manifestation. In the number symbolism of a race we may discern its inner response to the forces of life and its understanding of the mysteries of being, both infinite and finite. The fundamentals of geometry and mathematics are cosmic in their origin. The numerals from 1 to 10 compose the sound and power hieroglyph by which the worlds are made. They are centers of condensed creative potency in materialization.
The similarity of these glyphs as used by different races, even primitive peoples, indicate that there is present in the number itself a hidden power that expresses itself in its every symbol though that power may not be consciously recognized by those who design the symbols.
Every system utilizes a circle enclosing a point, a triangle, and a cube. These are followed in some form by the pentagram, the hexad, the heptad, the octad, the ennead, and the decad. In these cosmic hieroglyphics from 1 to 10 may be found the astral delineations of the Book of Genesis; the separation of the grosser substances from the finer, or the formations which constituted the work of the Seven Creative Days. Also herein may be traced the creation of man and his loss of the Edenic state, and the path of emancipation which leads to the eventual reunion with his real or higher self.
Nine marks the beginning of this reunion. Its symbol, made of the line and the circle, represent the masculine and feminine principles potentially united and in active and conscious simultaneous manifestation. But equilibrium is not fully attained in 9; perfect balance is not yet realized. Because of this fact 9 has been considered to be both a favorable and unfavorable number. It has been termed the number of evil and also described as representing the Tree of Eternal Life in the Garden of the Gods.
Thus we see from its wide and varied influences that the 9 may make what he will of life. All things are fundamentally and intrinsically good, evil being but good in the becoming. Man through his own God-given power within himself, possess the ability to rise superior to any outward circumstances and to overcome and master any malign influence. He may yield to failure or he may rise to the glorious heights of Initiation. Nine is the number of the Initiate. The Temple in which Pythagoras taught was dedicated to "The Nine." These were the 9 Muses of Grecian mythology, the daughters of Zeus and the goddess of memory. Their names and the department of life to which they gave their inspiration were as follows:
These 9 muses represent the many faculties and attributes acquired by the aspirant as he passes through the 9 degrees of the Mysteries. Rhythms of mind and body were developed as acquisitions of an expanding consciousness in a measure of perfection and beauty entirely unrecognized or unsuspected by the majority in our present materialistic civilization. That the Greeks were masters of the arts and reached a degree of excellence in symmetry, proportion, and grce which has never been equaled by any succeeding generations was due to the Arcane Wisdom given them in the Mystery Temples of that day. This modem age must return to like shrines of hidden truth and do homage before them before it can attain to that same high degree of aesthetic excellence attained by the Greeks. The 9 may become a prominent exponent of this truth and a leader among those who have the courage to blaze the trail which will guide the less dauntless ones to find again the paths which pass into these Temples of Light.
Nine is the figure 6 (a symbol of sex) reversed. Nine in its highest aspect, therefore, represents the sublimation of the creative life essences which is the fundamental teaching of Initiation. The story of the Widow's Son of Naim as recorded in the Luke's gospel is that of such an Illumination. The word Naim means 9 and refers to one who has passed successfully through the 9 steps of Enlightenment which lifts the consciousness of man above and beyond the ken of ordinary humanity. Virgil's famous Epic, The Aeneid (the Nine), is an occult cypher which also records the experiences of this same inner growth and development.
Among the biblical characters and Sacred Books which are attuned to the vibratory rhythms of 9 are some of the most deeply mystical in the entire category of the Book of Books. One of these is The Song of Solomon which is a chant of the mystic marriage and which voices the ecstasy of a soul that has glimpsed the heights of cosmic freedom and returned to sing of the glory of that liberation which none who still remain in bondage to the things of earth can ever know. This is the glorious freedom of 9 when it has become a soul number.
Another Book which is keyed to the inner power of 9 is that enigmatic story of Job. When this is spiritually interpreted, it is found to be an account of a soul who wins emancipation by learning to rise above the limitations of human travail and personal bondage. It delineates the cosmic pattern of 9 by which that freedom is attained.
The mysterious Book of Daniel is also in tune with 9. Daniel, the prophetic Seer who visioned the occurrences of past ages and linked them through his initiatory knowledge with happenings yet to be, was, like the Pythagoreans, dedicated to the cosmic wisdom of "The Nine."
Agrippa writes of the Philosopher's Stone that "it is blood-red like fire and white and transparent like heaven." These are the colors of Nine. "It is," he adds, "composed of One and Three and at the same time, of Four and Five."
Five represents man, the microcosm; also the 5 senses. It is the number of the Root Races which, up to this time have embodied the spirit during its evolutionary cycles. Four represents the square of matter formed by the condensation of the 4 elements; also the 4 Sacred Seasons in which man may learn to transform matter into spirit and thus ascend from his present human status into one of a higher order. This theme sounds the central keynote of the Book of Job.
The Tabernacle (Mystery Temple) in the Wilderness, presided over by the Initiate Moses, symbolized the hidden power of 4 and 5, or 9, by five pillars of shittim wood from which were suspended four-colored curtains. These curtains concealed the inner place from the outer, and could be lifted only by one who had earned the privilege to pass within the holy precinct.. The illumined 9 becomes worthy of this priceless privilege. In the words of a prophet such a one is portrayed as "a winged creature yet bearing the likeness of a man," or as Paul describes him, "an heir and a joint heir with Christ." This is the supreme ideal and the destiny of every soul keyed to the celestial note of 9.
The ninth letter of the sacred Hebrew alphabet is Teth, meaning "Serpent." The word serpent is closely associated in our mind with the Garden of Eden and the Genesis legend of the expulsion of Adam and Eve therefrom on account of the subtle wiles of this crawling beast. Some variation of this story is common to all the principal religions of the world.
One of the most magnificent episodes in all biblical history is the miracle performed by Moses, the master artificer in white magic, when he transformed the crawling serpents in the dust whose sting brought death into brazen, upright serpents, which when elevated and looked up to by the afflicted brought healing and life. The above serves to indicate inner links between 9, Teth, and serpent, and to bring out another aspect of the number.
Numbers are centers of enormous force and power, each one being a particular focus for specific emanations of the Elohim in their evolutionary work with humanity. "Number," asserts a sage, "veileth the power of the Elohim."
Nine represents the power of sex. In this aspect we recognize the truth of the dual nature of 9 as previously defined, namely, a number of matter and a number of divine illumination. For this the great motive power of all life leads man either into degeneration as instanced in the expulsion of man and woman from the Edenic state of consciousness or else into the paths of regeneration and Initiation as exemplified in John the Revelator's glorious vision of the Woman clothed with the Sun.
It is significant to note that the word "oil" around which is concealed so much biblical mysticism is a 9-powered word. "Wine" is six-powered, and "bread" three-powered. Each of these numbers are a component part of the number 9, and the words mentioned are used throughout the Bible in reference to the various regenerative processes which take place within man as he treads the ninefold path of conscious spiritual expansion known to the early Christians as "The Way." This Way was taught by Moses when he lifted the brazen serpent which healed the ills of all the people.
Love is also a word which is set to the rhythmic harmony of 9. Man will never come into a full realization of the operations of love as a power, until he walks the "Way," which is the only path to regeneration and redemption. Nine is the power of the Serpent Wisdom. High and holy is its meaning, and sacred is the responsibility that comes with it. The illumined 9 comes into physical incarnation to serve. For him life is not a playground, but a preparatory school for the higher spiritual grades which his illumined consciousness has glimpsed and into which his soul ardor may lift him.
The ninth Sephira is Yesod, termed "the Foundation." The Tarot symbol for 9 is a hermit in a mantle, leaning upon a staff and carrying a half-concealed lamp. When the light becomes full it reveals the mantle as the seamless robe of the master. "Count aright and then thou shalt have oil for thy lamps," sing the Wise Men of all times. The functions of 9 are described by Paul Case in the Book of Tokens as follows:
The Christ gave this same truth when He said: "If I be lifted up I will draw all others unto me."
"Nine which is three-Squared, refers to the attainment of perfection on three lower planes." "Abraham had reached the period of ninety and nine years when he communed with angels and his name became no longer Abram but Abraham."
— Corinne Heline
