The Mathematical and Historical use of Numbers in Hermetic Qabalah

Supernal Triangle
By Dave Holt
Everyday we use numbers and simple mathematics to navigate our world but do we ever take
the time to look at numbers and simple mathematics in any other way?
Dr. Amit Goswami, a theoretical nuclear physicist and member of The University of Oregon
Institute for Theoretical Physics since 1968 says that Quantum Physics tell us that; things are
not things but possibilities.
This discussion is not just about numbers, symbols, mathematics or even reality as it is
perceived, it is about possibilities. What Im about to discuss is beyond the scope of rational
human consciousness. It illuminates the power of the divine subconscious mind, thereby
producing possibilities. When we start to approach life with the inquisitive mindset of
renaissance men like Leonardo da Vinci or Galileo, we then begin to see things in a new light
and perspective.
Many of us have heard that; math is a universal language and it can explain the universe.
The fact that mathematics and numbers are our oldest symbols and the only language shared
by all human beings regardless of culture, religion, or gender, clearly illuminates this idea.
British Author Philip Pullman, states; "Adam and Eve are like imaginary numbers, like the
square root of minus one... If you include it in your equation, you can calculate all manners of
things, which cannot be imagined without it."
We shall begin this ancient symbolic journey of numerical mathematical reasoning by
examining the uppermost equation in the Qabalistic Tree of Life, the Supernal Triangle.
We will use the oldest symbols known to man, numbers; to see how God manifests itself into
existence creating this reality we call life. Besides the Sephiroths of Kether, Chokmah and
Binah that make up the Supernal Triangle, we shall also examine its related 11th, 12th, 13th and
14th paths. This study mainly concentrates upon the relationship of numbers from our earliest
civilizations and myths, as well as the religious traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
Karl Menninger, a German mathematician, states in his book; Number Words and Number
Symbols: A Cultural History of Numbers.
If we address ourselves directly to our number words, one, two, threenine, ten, hundred,
thousand, they remain strangely silent about their inner meanings; in this respect they behave
like few other words of our language. It is remarkable that in our daily lives we encounter them
constantly and use them as the most reliable bearers of concepts in our possession. Yet we
allow ourselves to be content with their usefulness while knowing them only by name. They
pass us by mute, like alien slaves valued only for their services, and we do not dignify them by
inquiring into their person or their homeland. And yet they do have personalitiesWe are
aware of course that the number sequence did not spring from a single brain, as a perfected
system, but that it developed slowly, like a tree, keeping pace with mans gradual development.
Thus we cannot view the first few number words as being artificially contrived formations
invented, like Esperanto, by one person alone and then adopted by others.

The first step in examining the Supernal Triangle begins with the number Zero
Zero has been thought of in many cultures as the great void. This concept of void is seen in
Hinduism and Buddhism. The ancient Babylonians, Chinese, Egyptians and Greeks did not
have a symbol for zero, representing nothingness, although all were aware of the need to use
a placeholder for zero. Records show that the ancient Greeks seemed unsure about the status
of zero as a number. They asked themselves, "How can nothing be something?" (1) Many
today still ponder this same question.
The word zero comes from the Arabic "al-sifer". Introduced to Europe during Italian
renaissance in the 12th century by Leonardo Fibonacci (and by Nemorarius a less well-known
mathematician) as "cifra" from which we have obtained our present cipher, meaning empty
space. Sifer in turn is a translation of Hindi word "sunya" meaning void or empty. In Hindi
"shunya" means zero. The terms aught, naught, and cipher are older names in English for zero
symbol. Zero in German is called "Null," it is derived from the idea that it is nulla figura, not a
"real" figure. (2)
In the western world today we view the concept of nothing in a very negative light. Stating that
you have or are nothing relates to poverty and lack of material or human worth. This type of
conditioned thinking challenges the lower ego centered conscious and thus the idea of
something coming from nothing is a very difficult concept for the western mind to accept.
Mystics have claimed for thousands of years that the only way to unify with God is by
becoming nothing or zero.
Its interesting how many can accept the concept of a God creating everything from nothing but
not that this same God coming from nothing. Yet, where the World trade Centers once stood
in New York is now commonly referred to as Ground Zero. This truly illustrates the concept of
something coming from nothing and nothing becoming something. We can also see how zero
(nothing) can also represent a concept or idea.
The rules governing the use of zero appeared for the first time in Brahmagupta's book; The
Opening of the Universe, written in 628 AD. Here Brahmagupta considers not only zero, but
negative numbers, and the algebraic rules for the elementary operations of arithmetic with
such numbers. In some instances, his rules differ from the modern standard.
One of his rules states that: The sum of a positive and a negative is their difference; or, if their
absolute values are equal, zero. - 1 + +1 = 0
On the sides of the Tree of Life are two pillars; Boaz, the pillar of Severity representing the
female and Jachin, the + pillar of Mercy representing the male.
Therefore, it is my theory that God comes into being from nothing and goes from being to
nothing. This means that earth changes and the life and death cycles of life are nothing more
than God experiencing reality through itself.

Kether and the Number One

We get our first look at the concept of creation as we see 0 (nothing) become something in the
first Sephiroth of Kether. 0 (nothing) becomes 1 (something) in Kether and at the same time
goes back to 0 becoming nothing.
0 + 1 = 1 and again we see 0 1 = 0
When we combine 1 and 0 we get 10 which is 1 Kether and 0 nothing combining to create 10
the Sephiroth of Malkuth (earth and our illusionary existence).
We can now see God as perfect in polarity, centered in the pillars of Boaz (female) and
Jachin + (male).
The Upanishads of India expressed 1 as neti neti, "not not," or in the Cabala, of the Ein Sof
(literally "without end"), which then reveals itself in descending layers of manifestations.
Indian tradition, which claims that the primordial and all pervasive principle is the One without a
second; similar words are used by Plotinus, the most influential Neoplatonic thinker in late
antiquity, whose ideas provided a basis for the development of mysticism in the Jewish,
Christian, and Muslim traditions. For him, the One God is beyond all forms, because forms
always express multiplicity. As every multiplicity is a multiplicity of unities, it presupposes unity
in itself. And since God is the root and presupposition of everything, God is also absolute Unity.
Ancient Chinese religion has expressed similar ideas about 1, which represents the All, the
Perfect, the Absolute beyond all polarity.
For the Muslim mystics the numerical value of 1 for the letter ali!, the first letter of the Arabic
alphabet, as well as the first letter of the name of Allah, God, offered a wonderful possibility for
puns and allusions on every literary level. (4)
The number 1 cannot be added to itself (1+1) in Qabbalah because 1 is in harmony with
polarity in Kether both + and -, therefore, in the Sephiroth Kether 1 is only 1 and only a 0 can
be added or subtracted which still produces one. This is because zero is also in harmony with
polarity both + and - .
1+0=1 1-0=1
As we have seen in our earliest civilizations, as well as the major religious traditions of the
world, the number one has always been associated with God or the source of all things.
Although there are many religious and cultural differences, it seems there in one universal
meaning of the number one.
1 must cross the 11th path on the Tree of Life to become 2
10 + 1 = 11 Malkuth and Kether combine at the point of creation. The microcosm and the
macrocosm are created. As Above so Below. This union also creates the 11th path and
represents God entering into being creating the male (+) polarity of existence.

11 + 1 = 12th Path (-) Female. God coming into being and creating the female (-) polarity of
existence is created in the 11th path as well.
11 1 = 10 This simple math represents the creation of Malkuth the creation of the illusionary
world of reality using the elements of fire, air, water and earth.
The 11th Path of the Tree of Life
The number 11 has usually been connected with something negative. Larger than 10 and
smaller than 12, it stands between two very important round numbers and therefore, while
every other number had at least one positive aspect, 11 was always interpreted in medieval
times as a negative number. The sixteenth-century numerologist Petrus Bungus went so far as
to claim that 11 "has no connection with divine things, no ladder reaching up to things above,
nor any merit." (5)
Actually, Petrus Bungus was wrong as we see 11 is the first stage of creation and divinity.
Originally, 11 seems to have been connected with the zodiac, for 1 of the 12 signs is always
behind the sun, hence invisible.
11 is called the Number of Sins and the Penitent, because it exceeds the number of
Commandments and is less than twelve, which is the number of Grace and Perfection. But
sometimes even eleven receives a favor from God, as in the case of the man who was called
in the Eleventh Hour to the vineyard, who yet received the same pay as the others. (6)
French author and Mystic, Rene Guenon has attempted to emphasize the positive values of 11
by explaining it as "the great number of the hieros gamos," the sacred marriage between
macrocosm and microcosm. According to this novel interpretation, 11 consists of the
combination of 5 (which is 2 + 3) and 6 (which is 2 X 3).
6 the Sephiroth Tiphareth leads to 5 the Sephiroth Gerburah through the 22 nd path which also
shows the Malkuth relationship in 22 6 = 16 5 = 11 (16) is 1 Kether and 6 Tiphareth and
11 is 10 Malkuth and 1 Kether.
Given this calculation 5 is the combination of the Sephiroths Chokmah 2 and Binah 3, the
polarity of existence.
6 is the Sephiroth Tiphareth which is the direct illumination of 1 through the 13 th path and of the
Supernal Triangle. 1 Kether + 2 Chokmah + 3 Binah = 6 Tiphareth
In the Hebrew Language, the word eleven was expressed as Achad Osher, or One in Ten
which is 11 = 1 Kether and 10 Malkuth.
The number 11 has had a bad reputation through the ages but Rene Guenons mathematical
calculations make sense since the numbers used, 2 and 3 make up the Tree of Lifes Supernal
Triangles Chokmah + (male) and Binah (female).

Doing my own calculations I noticed that 1 + 11 = 12, 12 is a made up of the numbers 1 and 2
and represents the 12th path (female) which creates polarity 11 (male) 12 (female). The
number 1 Kether is also expressed 12 11 = 1
Based upon these simple mathematical calculations we can see that the mathematics related
to 1 Kether, the 11th Path in connection with 2 Chokmah, make perfect sense.
Therefore, Rene Guenons theory of 11 representing "the great number of the hieros gamos,"
the sacred marriage between macrocosm and microcosm fits where the 11th path is located on
the Tree of Life and fits the basic mathematical calculations of the supernal Triangle thus far.
11 + 2 = 13th Path
From the 11th Path we now find 1 Kether becoming 2 in the Sephiroth Chokmah
In many religious traditions, 2 means disunion, the falling apart of the absolute divine unity, and
is therefore the number connected with the world of creation.
The line, the geometrical expression of 2, separates as it unites.
From an esoteric and mystical viewpoint 1 cannot be added to itself to create 2. Since 2 has
been thought of as a number of disunion, sin and dualism, it cannot be combined with the
divine 1.
1 + 1 = 2 Is incorrect but 2 1 = 1 is correct in my calculations. Here we see 1 Kether entering
2 Chokmah and again becoming 1. This pattern is throughout the Supernal Triangle.
32=1

12 11 = 1 14 13 = 1

This is where the importance of the paths of the Tree of Life separating the Sephiroths has
major significance. 1 Kether must cross the 11th path to become 2 so that it can again become
1. 2 1 = 1
11 + 1 = 12. 12 is a combination of 10 Malkuth and 2 Chokmah. 12 (female) also creates
polarity 11 (male) 12 (female) In this equation we also see 2 Chokmah combing with 10
Malkuth. Thus, we see God using the male + combining with the elements of Malkuth to create
existence.
When we look at the diagram of the Tree of Life we see that 12 is female and 11 is male +
and opposite each other on the Tree. In fact, the 11th path is the 1 coming into creation and the
12th path is creation coming back to the 1 completing the cycle of the universe and the Tree of
Life. Polarity creates this union of creation as we see 1 and 11 (female -) become 12 (male +),
thus completing the polarity of creation.
Muslim tradition states that God manifests himself through his beauty and kindness, jamal, and
his majesty and wrath, jalal, both of which point to his unfathomable, unique perfection in
which all the opposites come together.

Therefore, 1 Divinity needs the 11th path and the Sephiroth Chokmah 2 to create the polarity
needed for creation. This is very similar to the idea of God creating man Chokmah and then
woman Binah from man in Genesis. Man could not reproduce by himself and needed the
female to complete the polarity of creation. In fact, this is the way all of life reproduces itself.
The 14th path uniting 2 Chokmah and 3 Binah
1 Kether + 11th Path + 2 Chokmah = 14 14 is the 14th path between 2 Chokmah and 3 Binah
uniting the male with the female. Here we see the importance of the 14 th path in creating
polarity + (male) Chokmah and (female) Binah.
In order for creation to be brought into existence the Sephiroth Chokmah must cross the 14 th
path and combining with the Sephiroth Binah 3. The 14 th path unites the Chokmah 2 (male +)
with Binah 3 (female -) It is one of three paths on the Tree of Life that creates polarity, the other
two are the 19th and 27th paths.
The 14th path is neither male nor female but unites both together into creation.
14 2 Chokmah = 12th Path Female -

14 3 B Binah = 11

11th Path Male +

14 plays a part in ancient Egypt, where the kindly god Osiris was, according to the myth, cut
into 14 parts, and each of his parts brought a blessing to the land where it was lying. It is
natural that it takes the waxing moon 14 days to become a full moon.
It is also natural that in Islam, a religion where lunar symbolism plays an important role, the 14
should occupy a special place. Once again the main contributions to the esoteric interpretation
come from the Brethren of Purity. Fourteen is not only half of 28, the number of the lunar
mansions and the letters of the Arabic alphabet, but it is also reflected in the 14 parts of the
human hand and the 14 vertebrae each in the upper and lower parts of the spine. Is it not
strange that the Arabic alphabet consists of 14 so-called sun letters and 14 moon letters, and
also of 14 letters with diacritical marks and 14 without them? Such considerations played an
important role in the mystical interpretations of the letters as it was elaborated in the late
fourteenth century by Hurufism, who combined letter and number mysticism with the parts of
the human face and body, showing, for example, that the words yad, "hand," and wajh, "face,"
both have the numerical value of 14. (7)
The 14th path also connects with the 13th path at the Supernal Triangle making 1.
14 -13 = 1
14 is also the combination 7 + 7
The number 7 has fascinated humankind since time immemorial. Thus, Seven, has been
called; the Number of Creation. We can see 7 as the number of creation on the Tree of Life.
3 Binah (-) female combines with 4 Chesed (+) male to become 7. There is no path connecting
3 Binah and 4 Chesed. Binah crosses the equal polarity of Daath and becomes 7. God comes
into being in the Supernal Triangle and crosses the veil of existence at Daath, thus the
universe comes into creation when 3 Binah (-) female combines with 4 Chesed (+) male,
becoming 7.

In Judaism, the seventh day became the day of divine rest, thus sacred: the previous, negative
injunction against work was transformed into a positive order. Such a transformation is often
encountered in the history of religions, where sacred and profane, positive and negative orders
exchange their position with the introduction of a new religious system.
In Egypt, for example, there were 7 paths to heaven and 7 heavenly cows, and by doubling
this number one reached the 14 places in the realm of the dead. In a late demotic text, Osiris
leads his father through the 7 halls of the netherworld.
The Old Testament is replete with heptads. In the seventh generation after Adam there
appears Lamech, who lives for 777 years and should be avenged seventy-sevenfold (Gen.
4:24). The 7 steps leading to Solomon's Temple correspond to the 7 stories of the Babylonian
temples. Noah's dove stays away for 7 days, and the flood prepares its arrival for 7 days;
the Euphrates is divided into 7 brooks. Recompenses and punishments are repeated 7 times,
and 7 blessings are part of the marriage ceremony. During the sacrificial expiation in
ancient Israel, blood was sprinkled 7 times, and as most great feasts lasted for 7 days a 7 day
sacrifice was celebrated when Solomon's temple was inaugurated.
As 7 contains everything, the Proverbs praise the 7 Pillars of Wisdom (9:1), and when
Zechariah speaks of the 7 eyes of the Lord, he uses this image to evoke God's omnipresence
and omniscience (4: 10). The idea of 7 divine eyes reoccurs in later Sufism in connection with
the 7 great saints who, as it were, are the eyes through which God looks at the world.
"The words of Yahweh are pure words, purified silver, purified 7 times," says the author of the
twelfth psalm, and these words inspired the Cabalists to a deeper interpretation of
biblical expressions. Thus the 7 days prescribed for dwelling in the sukkot relate to the 7 days
of creation, and according to the Zohar, the 7 lower Sephiroth in the Kabbalah are connected
with their historical manifestations in the form of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron,
Joseph, and David. Likewise the building of Solomon's temple, which lasted for 7 years, is
combined with the 7 lower sefirot, which are contained in the sefirah binah ("intelligence"),
corresponding to the Temple. The seventh of these lower sefirot (the tenth one altogether) is
the Shekhinah, which is called the Sabbath Queen and which, the Zohar explains, corresponds
to the seventh primordial day. The Old Testament (Gen. 4:15) says Cain's murder will be
avenged 7 times, but the New Testament (Matt. 18:22) speaks of 70 times sevenfold
forgiveness. Rupert of Deutz, a German theologian of the Middle Ages, speculated about this
mystery and reached the conclusion that 7 is an indivisible, that is, unchangeable number and
thus points to the unchangeable vengeance of the Old Testament as well as to Christ's
immutable life. Conversely, 77 in Gen. 4: 24 (revenge for Lamech) is a divisible number, which
means that such a vengeance was abrogated by 70 times sevenfold forgiveness. Among other
Christian elaborations on the heptads of the Old Testament are the 7 last words of Christ on
the Cross and the 7 stars he holds in his hand. (8)
We can really see the power of the number 7 when adding 1 to 6:
6 Tiphareth + 1 Kether = 7
The 14th path now combines Sephiroth 2 Chokmah 3 Binah and God comes into existence
through the polarity of the male (2) and female (3).

Again we see this as a perfect mathematical combination.

2 Chokmah + 3 Binah = 5 14 5 = 7
We have seen previously that the numbers 2 and 11 throughout history have been thought of
in negative terms, which is interesting because their combination forms the number 13.
2 + 11 = 13
In a fascinating article entitled "Triskaidekaphobia" (fear of 13), Paul Hoffman tells readers of
the February 1987 Smithsonian Magazine that the phobia with this difficult name "costs
America a billion dollars a year in absenteeism, train and plane cancellations and reduced
commerce on the thirteenth of the month." Indeed, over the centuries, 13 has assumed an
increasingly negative character in popular belief. One hesitates to invite 13 guests for dinnereven Napoleon, J. Paul Getty, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt were afraid of dining with 13
people at a table. (Apparently they did not know that this superstition can only be traced back
to the seventeenth century.) Some hotels avoid the number 13 for rooms or even skip the
thirteenth floor, just as there are railway stations in which a platform 13 is missing. And when
the thirteenth day of a month happens to fall on a Friday (the day of Christ's death), it is viewed
with even greater apprehension.
In the Christian tradition, based on the 12 + 1 at the Last Supper, 13 was often mentioned as
the number of the infernal hierarchies; likewise, witches frequently appear in groups of
13. It was also, as can be expected, connected more generally with witchcraft and black
magic, and here the magic square relating to Mars plays an important role, as its central
number is 13, and its sums always add up to 5 X 13. And when a German says, "Jetzt
schlagt's Dreizehn" (Now, the clock is striking 13), it means that the closed circle of the 12
hours has been transgressed and "too much is too much!"
As in ancient Maya culture, the 13 was a sacred and auspicious number. The Cabala regards it
as a lucky number since its numerical value in Hebrew (as in Arabic!) produces the word Ahad,
"One," the most important quality of God. From Exodus 34:6 one derived 13 divine qualities,
and the Passover Haggadah clearly emphasizes the importance of this number. An oracle in
the Talmud claims that "at one time the land of Israel will be divided into 13 parts, the thirteenth
of which will fall to the king Messiah." The Cabala speaks of the 13 heavenly fountains, 13
gates of mercy, and 13 rivers of balsam that the pious will find in paradise. The Zohar
elaborates the importance of 13 when describing the three-headed Sacred Ancient of Days:
"He can be found on 13 paths of kinds of love, because the wisdom hidden in him divides itself
3 times toward the 4 directions, and He, the Ancient One, comprises all of them." Here again
we encounter the all-embracing principle that encloses the created world, which is determined
by the 12 signs of the zodiac. One even went so far as to meditate upon the 13 conformations
of the Holy Beard of the Divine,
but a more practical and less esoteric occurrence of the 13 is that the Jewish boy celebrates
his Bar Mitzvah at age 13 and is then under the obligation of the law. (9)
Even today in the western world the number 13 is regarded as a negative number of
superstitious beliefs but as we can see the number 13 relates to the 14 th path and the
Sephiroth Binah.

13 10 = 3 Binah
13 + 1 = 14 path
13 also confirms the relationship between 1 Kether and 6 Tiphareth
1 Kether + 6 Tiphareth = 7 13 7 = 6
From the 14th Path we now find 2 Chokmah (male) + uniting with 3 Binah (female)
Ludwig Paneth has stated, is that the triad leads to a new integration, one that does not negate
the duality preceding it but rather, overcomes it, just as the child is a binding element that
unites the male and female parents.
It can even be seen as the first "real" number, and the first to produce a geometrical figure:
since 3 points enclose the triangle, it is the first plane figure that can be perceived by our
senses. Soon after World War II a theologian in Marburg, Wolfgang Philipp, composed a
learned study with the title Trinity Is Our Being, in which he pointed to the tendency-apparently
inherent in everything grouping things in triads. Indeed, in 1923 German philosopher, Ernst
Cassirer had already written in his "Philosophy of Symbolic Forms", that the problem of Unity
which comes out of itself and thus becomes something else and a second to become united
with itself again in a third stage belongs to the spiritual heirloom of the entire human race."
Although it may appear to be a purely intellectualized expression in the speculative history of
religion, the widespread idea of a triune deity shows that it must have deep-rooted foundations
in the human mind. As early as the Middle Ages, Albertus Magnus also claimed that 3 is in all
things and signifies the trinity of natural phenomena.
From time immemorial, thinkers have tried to explain the unfolding of the One into multiplicity
with special reference to the 3. Lao-tzu says: "The Tao produces unity, unity produces
duality, duality produces trinity, and the triad produces all things." The Pythagoreans likewise
postulated that the unqualified unity was divided into 2 opposing powers to create the world
and then into tri-unity to produce life.
In the state religion professed in Thebes, Amon, Chonsu, and the goddess Mut are the 3 main
protagonists, while that of the mystery religion consists of Isis, Osiris, and their son, the
savior Horus.
The Christian concept of Trinity is perfectly in tune with general trends in the history of
religions. Hopper makes this point in Medieval Number Symbolism: The paramount doctrinal
weakness of Christianity, as the Arian heresy testifies, was the duality of the Godhead. The
Son was the first step towards a solution, but the addition of a third person, the Holy Ghost,
provided indisputable evidence of Unity . . . . That the Father and Son were One was
questionable on numerical as well as philosophical grounds. But Father, Son and Holy Spirit
were unquestionably One by the very virtue of being Three! (10)
Aristotle indicates that 3 is the first number to which the term "all" applies.
The interesting thing to note is that throughout the history of religions, myths and civilizations,
the number three is an important spiritual number and of great significance. On the Tree of Life

glyph we see 3 Binah female (-) as the birth of life emanating from God. It is the union of 3; 1
Kether Binah female (-), 2 Chokmah male (+) via the 14 th path.
This equation shows + positive creating negative and negative creating polarity.
We also see that 3 Binah (-) female - 2 Chokmah (+) male = 1
1 Kether + 2 Chokmah + 3 Binah = 6 Tiphareth
9 Yesod Moon (Female) - 6 Tiphareth Sun (Male) = 3 the number of the Supernal
Sephiroths. This again shows polarity and balance.
The simple mathematical calculations can be verified easily as 2 Chokmah + (male) is added
to 1 Kether, while 3 Binah (female) is subtracted from 1 Kether. The polarity of the Pillars of
the Tree verifies this operation.
2 Chokmah + 1 Kether = 3 Binah (-)
3 Binah 1 Kether = 2 Chokmah (+)
The Supernal Triangle is completed as 3 Binah returns to 1 Kether on the 12 th Path
The completed Supernal Triangle mathematically shows:
12 1 = 11 11 = 10 Malkuth + 1 Kether

12 is the female pillar -

12 2 Chokmah = 10 Malkuth
12 3 Binah (female) = 9 Yesod (female) this verifies the female polarity and balance is result
of 3 Binah coming into contact with the 12th path.
12 + 1 Kether = 13th path This combination creates the 13th path and 13 as stated earlier is a
combination of the 2 Supernal Sephiroths of Kether, Chokmah (-), Binah (+) = 3 and 10
Malkuth. We now see God creating the male and female polarity along with the elements of
earth, fire, water and air in Malkuth.
We can see the number 12 closing the Supernal Triangle with: 12 - 11 = 1
5 and 7, the sacred numbers,
They rest in the 12.
The 12 signs of the zodiac, have probably influenced numerous myths, legends, and fairy tales
in which groups of 12 deities, heroes or important personalities and time spans of 12 hours,
days, or years frequently occur.
The 12 became an important round number in the ancient Near East and the Mediterranean
world. Historically speaking, the 12 tribes of Israel were never exactly 12, and yet they formed
a unit. The Old Testament has a good number of twelves: the 12 fountains of water in Elim

(Num. 33:9), the 12 gems on the priestly robe of Aaron (Ex. 28:9-12), and the 12 stones that
Joshua took from the Jordan to place in the Tabernacle (Josh. 4:5) are only a few examples.
An important role is played by 12 in Christian allegories as well. If one regards Christ as the
day, then the 12 hours are related to the 12 apostles, who were themselves prefigured by
the 12 tribes of Israel, the 12 patriarchs, the 12 minor prophets, and even by the 12
shewbreads in the Tabernacle.
In ancient China not only was the zodiac with its 12 signs well known, and the year of 12
months, but a decimal cycle was combined with this duodecimal cycle-exactly as in
Babylonia to produce a sexagesimal system. One counted 12 hours of the day, and celebrated
the completion of the circumambulation of Jupiter, which occurs every 12 years. One also
believed that humans have 12 sections of intestines (and we do in fact have 12 ribs). The old
high god in China, whose throne was located at the celestial pole, had, according to myth, 3
sons, 4 wives, and 12 chamberlains, and here, the connection with astral mythology seems
clear. (11)
We see the 12th path make the Supernal Triangle complete entering 1 Kether using 10 Malkuth
to do so.
12 1 = 11 11 is 1 Kether + 10 Malkuth 11
12 + 1 = 13th path
In closing I would like to add my thoughts.
These simple mathematical calculations were created by me and are based upon my
interpretation of the Tree of Life and its numerical system. Right or wrong its what I have come
up with. I do believe I have shown the relationship with the numbers on the Tree of Life
showing God 1 Kether entering the 11th + path and creating male polarity in Chokmah and then
in the 14th path creating the polarity balance of the male Chokmah and the female Binah, then
returning through the 12th path creating the male female polarity in the 11th and 12th paths.
While the study of the history of numbers and simple mathematics was a fascinating journey
into the Tree of Life, it is one to be done slowly and carefully. I personally noticed that this
mathematical thinking connected with the Tree of Life glyph has a tendency toward anxiety and
neurosis when taken in large doses. Something in the mind is lit up resulting in anxiety and
hyperactivity.
In a documentary called; Dangerous Knowledge, based upon four brilliant mathematicians
Georg Cantor, Ludwig Boltzmann, Kurt Gdel and Alan Turing whose genius has profoundly
affected us, but which tragically drove them insane and eventually led to them all committing
suicide. All were taking mathematics beyond that of human existence. The film PI by Darren
Aronofsky shows a mathematician searching for the mathematical patterns in nature, science,
religion, business and everything. In trying to prove that everything relates back to numbers
and the number of God, we witness a steady decline into insanity.
The study of numbers on the Tree of Life is a worthwhile journey but one that should be done
slowly and methodically. Again this is only my opinion from my own personal experience.

(2) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) The Mystery of Numbers by Annemarie Schimmel
(1) (3) Wikipedia.org The number Zero