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Arithmomancy
Also known as Arithmancy.
A term
from the Greek arithmos ('number') and manteia ('divination'), relating
to
divination
by interpretation of numbers, figures and letters values. It
is considered a forerunner of
Numerology.
In the most common form of this number
mysticism, letters of an alphabet were assigned numbers by some
'magical' rule or system. Words then became numbers when their letter values
were added together. People's names, in particular, were considered to have
special significance in determining futurity. The best-known instance of
this relation between numbers and words is the “number of the beast,” 666, from
the Bible. But who is the beast? Different interpretations and interpreters
turn up different results, varying from the Roman Catholic Church to Hitler,
the Roman emperor Nero, Pope Leo X and Martin
Luther.
Esoterically Arithmancy is concerned with
the science of correspondences between gods, men and numbers, as taught by
Pythagoras,
who believed that the whole universe was ordered mathematically and that
everything could be expressed in terms of numbers.
Pythagoreans, and Platonists as well, were practitioners of this type of
fortune telling. A popular method used at combats and battles, and also
at the ancient gladiatorial and Olympic games, consisted of examining the
number and the values of the letters in the names of the combatants or competitors.
Diviners, after conjecturing the name with
greater value, would thus predict the victorious contender. According to
legend, this method was used to
foretell that Achilles would defeat Hector in battle at the
Trojan conflict.
The ancient Hebrews also practiced Arithmancy,
which is a part of
the magico-philosophical science known as
Gematria, found in the Jewish Kabbalah.
The
Caldeans were also fond of this type
of divination, which they practiced by dividing their alphabet into three parts, each part
composed of seven letters which they attributed to the seven known planets.
Through this arithmetic method they made predictions based on the planets
numerical values.
Modern methods of this sort of divination tend to concentrate on character
analysis and potential rather than prognostications.
See
Numerology,
Divination,
Casting Black Magic Spells,
Commanding Spirits,
The Tarot Store and
Divination & Scrying Tools and
Supplies.
Sources: (1) Dunwich, Gerina,
A Wiccan's Guide to Prophecy
and Divination, Carol Publishing Group; (2)
Pickover, Clifford A.,
Dreaming the Future: The
Fantastic Story of Prediction, Prometheus Books; (3)
Dictionary of the
Occult, Caxton
Publishing; (4)
The Encyclopaedia
Britannica Eleventh Edition Handy Volume Edition,
Oxford University Press; (5) Johnstone, Jane and Pilkington, Maya (editors),
The Little Giant Encyclopedia of
Fortune Telling,
Sterling.
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