Cosmology by the Numbers II

(continued)

Six LIBRA Life. In keeping with the geometric sequence, we can say
that our recent scientific discoveries indicate that Life is based on the DNA
molecule. And the shape of that molecule is a double Helix. The Helix is one of
the two geometric figures of LIBRA (6) The other one is the Sphere, carried over
from the previous stage (5). Both are formed from the circle of Virgo (5). The
sphere is formed by spinning the circle around a diameter, and the Helix by
spinning around the perimeter while extruding that perimeter out into the third
dimension, a coil shape.. Unlike the spinning sphere, which keeps going over the
same ground, the helix doesn't repeat, but keeps discovering new territory. This
fits the position of Libra (6) as the Beginning of the second half of the
zodiac. So stage Five (Virgo) being the end of the first half, looks backward,
and the sphere there looks back to the concentric circles. But the sphere of
Libra (6) looks forward, to the Helix. So as
stage Five was one of recapitulation and summary, stage Six is one of forward
movement and discovery.

Thus as Virgo (5) in the "Iliad" was set in the motionless scene of Troy, Libra
(6) in the "Odyssey" is an ongoing adventure. But it apparently has to overcome
Virgo (5) first. So the "Odyssey" begins with Odysseus and his men bottled up in
the cave of the giant Cyclops, in a condition of motionless stagnation. And the
Cyclops has a single circular eye, in the middle of its face. Odysseus manages
to destroy the Cyclops eye, thus metaphorically defeating Virgo (5) so that
movement can start again. And that new movement consists of the Achaeans
escaping from the Cyclops cave by clinging beneath the bellies of sheep, as the
now-blind giant lets the sheep out of the cave, feeling their backs as they
pass. So we have an image of Rebirth, a Libran renaissance overcoming the
stagnation of Virgo.

And the same theme ends the book. In Odysseus' absence, his palace has been
occupied by suitors for the hand of his wife, since she is apparently a widow.
They do nothing but hang around, in a situation of Virgoan stagnation. And his
wife, Penelope puts them off by saying that she must first weave a funeral
shroud, which she patiently works at by day, and undoes her work at night, so
that it will never be finished. She thus represents the tireless work of Virgo.
But when Odysseus returns, he kills the suitors and saves his wife from her
patient labors.

In between that opening and closing of the book, we hear the tale of the Trojan
horse, from which the Greeks emerge in another example of rebirth, thus
fortifying the Libra theme of the book.

For the position of the "Iliad" and "Odyssey" in time, see, "Great Cycles of
History":

http://geocities.com/zreunion/Cycles.html

Just as there were Three phases to Time (Cancer 3) and Four directions to Space
(Leo 4) so there are Six directions to the three dimensional stage Six,
front-back, left-right and up-down.


Nine SCORPIO Death. Growth (6) changes into decay and disintegration (9).
But that is necessary, in the dualistic pulse of things, for growth to resume
and continue. Decay and disintegration produce fertile ground for the future.
Thus in FW, chapter seven, Shem takes the role of Scorpio (9) and is described
in consistently negative terms---until the very end of the chapter, where in a
reversal of opposites, the life-force ("lifewand") is with him instead of with
his brother Shaun.

Seven SAGITTARIUS Now growth resumes, in the form of human societies and
cultures, Cellular life (6) is replaced by Social life (7). And in the human
context, the height of social life is Civilization, with its institutions:
economic, educational, religious. Number Seven is the largest Sum in the
sequence (3+4=7) so Sagittarius is associated with large size and completeness,
and with winning at contests. The name means the Archer, who is depicted as
firing an arrow forward and upward, indicating the Aspiration to higher things.
But being still within the dualistic world of opposites, everything that goes up
must come down. So the Archer's aspirations meet with Limitation in the next
stage.

We might say that the geometric figure of stage Seven is a multitude of
expanding spheres, each one representing a civilization or institution.
Civilization is inherently expansive, imperialistic.

Eight CAPRICORN The cyclic End of the repeating Round, from birth (3) to end
(8) and back to birth again. Our expanding spheres encounter one another, and
their mutual pressure produces lines of Limitation. These lines shift
back-and-forth with time as one or another of a competing pair gains ascendancy.
An example might be the line of contact and competition between Western
civilization and Middle-eastern civilization. Their conflict began around 700
B.C. between the Greeks and the Phoenicians. It continued between the Greeks and
the Persians, until Alexander defeated the Persian Empire, leading to a thousand
year occupation of most of Middle-eastern Civilization by the West. That
occupation reached its limit when the new religion of Islam inspired
Middle-easterners to reclaim their native territory and expnnd to Spain The West
counter-attacked briefly in the Crusades, but the Ottoman Turks soon recaptured
all of Anatolia, and conquered much of the Balkans. The next
pushing of the line of limitation began with Napoleon invading Egypt, followed
by the British and the Americans in various places. Now the Middle-eastern
Civilization is trying to regain the initiative and push the line of mutual
limitation back into the West.

The same sort of interplay can be found institutionally between various
religious bodies. Two examples are Protest-Catholic and Sunni-Shiite, waging
chronic hostilities against each other. And of course the scientists tell us
that the universe itself is in a rhythm of unimaginably long expansions and
contractions.

When we consider this oscillation of expansion-contraction. expansion
(7)-contraction (8) it swings back-and-forth like the tides. It fits right into
the pendulum-like ebb and flow, and we find ourselves back at Cancer (3) again,
about to be born into another cycle of "riverrun".

Eleven AQUARIUS The aim of the Archer (7) is achieved. Duality is finally
overcome in Reunification. The opposites are resolved. No Self, no Other. The
opposition between the one and the many becomes the paradox of both the one and
the many at once. "Either-Or" becomes "Both-And". This is the new Unity, and
thus inarticulate. So it is difficult to say anything about it, because language
is dualistic. But let's see what others have said".

"You must exterra acquarate to interirrigate all the arkypelicans."

That is from the Wake in the last chapter's zodiac, position number Eleven.You
must evaporate to irrigate all the islands (archipelagos). And you must purify
to integrate all the fallen, divided men and women. "Arky": Noah's ark (4)
fallen man, and the mother pelican, who was reputed to make blood flow from her
own breast to feed her young: Cancer (3) fallen women. Evaporation purifies
water in this stage of Aquarius (11) the new One, called the "Water Carrier"
because the air holds all the evaporated water. And detachment from the
dream-world of the Round purifies the human individual.

But this paradoxical integration of the one and the many is difficult to
achieve. Most people remain caught up in the non-stop imagery of the
Cancer-Capricorn Cycle. So in dealing with stage number Eleven (the new One)
there is an established practice of presenting not Eleven, but the fallen Three
and Four (Cancer and Leo). A famous Biblical example of this is in position
Eleven in the book of Judges. There we find Samson and Delilah locked in their
fatal embrace. He is identified as Leo (4) by fighting with a lion, and she as
Cancer (3) by coming from a river valley.

The same picture is shown in "Parzifal" where Gawan fights with a lion, in
chapter Eleven.

Similarly in FW the Mookse and the Gripes are the strong and weak sides of Leo,
and the Gropes represents Cancer as well. They appear in chapter six, question
Eleven. Then in chapter Eleven, most of the story is taken up with Noah (4) and
the killing of the Russian general, another sacrificial king (4). But Aquarius
is represented positively in stanzas covering numbers One through Five, with a
refrain of lifting-up
and "waters parted from the sea", i.e. evaporation.

And there are a few places in the Bible where a positive Aquarian appears. The
first is Joseph, in position number Eleven among the brothers in Genesis 49. He
is separate from his brothers, unique. He resists temptation and presides over a
great Reunion, reunification, of his family.

Then there are Elijah and Elisha, two men in one spirit. When they first meet,
the younger man is plowing with twelve pair of oxen. He sacrifices one pair,
leaving Eleven. And John the Baptist, a unique individual. He is number Eleven
by taking the place of Malachi, who is number Eleven among the minor prophets.


Thirteen ARIES The original intelligence. What shall we say that which is of
the same nature as "nothing", Aries (0) ? Perhaps we can offer a translation of
the opening of the gospel of John:

"In the beginning was the original intelligence. (Greek:Logos). And the original
intelligence was with God.
And it was of the same nature as God. By it were all things made.....And it came
to live among us."

Paul Albertsen



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