Sacred Alphabets

From the Lesson

Why study this?

In several ancient scripts every letter is also a number, and often a symbol. To read such a language contemplatively is to find that words have weight, shape and resonance, the Hermetic Principle of Vibration made visible.

Hebrew gematria

The twenty-two Hebrew letters carry values from Aleph (1) to Tav (400). Words of equal value are held to share a hidden kinship. Classic examples: ahavah (love, 13) and echad (one, 13) together make 26, the value of the divine name YHVH. The Qabalah places the twenty-two letters on the paths of the Tree of Life, so each letter is also a passage between states of being. The Sefer Yetzirah (Book of Formation) describes creation itself as the combination of letters.

Greek isopsephy

Greek letters also served as numerals. Ancient graffiti at Pompeii plays on it ("I love her whose number is 545"). Christian and Gnostic authors noted that Iesous sums to 888 and the Gnostic Aeon Abraxas to 365, the days of the year. The number 666 of Revelation is most often read by scholars as the isopsephy of "Nero Caesar" in Hebrew letters.

The runes

The Elder Futhark (c. 150–800 CE) has twenty-four runes in three aettir (families) of eight. Each rune has a sound, a name and a meaning: Fehu (cattle, wealth), Uruz (aurochs, strength), Thurisaz (thorn, giant force), and so on. The Old Norse poem Hávamál tells of Odin hanging nine nights on the World Tree to win the runes: knowledge bought by self-sacrifice. The runes were used for inscription, charm and, per Tacitus, lot-casting.

Sanskrit and bija

In the Indian tradition the fifty letters of the Sanskrit alphabet (the matrika, "little mothers") are placed on the petals of the chakras, and single-syllable bija mantras (LAM, VAM, RAM, YAM, HAM, OM) are said to be the sound-seeds of the elements.

Orthodox view

Scholars agree these number systems were real and used devotionally. Critics warn that with enough freedom any two words can be made to match; the most meaningful correspondences are those the tradition itself recorded, not ones we reverse-engineer.

Practice

Take your own first name. Write it in Hebrew or Greek transliteration, sum it, and look up two traditional words with the same value. Then, more importantly, sit with the sound of your name spoken slowly three times.

Reflection

If every word you spoke had a weight, which would you speak more often, and which less?

Sources

- Aryeh Kaplan, Sefer Yetzirah: The Book of Creation - David Fideler, Jesus Christ, Sun of God - Carolyne Larrington (tr.), The Poetic Edda - Arthur Avalon, The Garland of Letters