The science of numbers is of remotest antiquity. Among the Aryans and Greeks, the Assyrians and Egyptians, we find indications of a development which gave to numbers their real significance and employed them in a system of symbolism which had respect to something more than mere enumeration.

While it is true that a figure is a symbol denoting a quantity, it is also a fact that a quantity thus symbolised may denote much more than a mere number, as we may learn from chemical analysis, where two bodies consisting of an equal number of atoms of the same elements are of an entirely different chemical nature. This is the case as between phenylisocyanide and benzonitrile. But here we have a difference in the arrangement of the atoms, the single atom of nitrogen being active in the one and passive in the other molecule. The position serves, however, for a general thesis which regards all bodies as compounded of elements drawn from a single base, their specific differences being due to the domination of one over another element in them. The astrologers affirm that individual character answers to a similar analysis, for where as all men are constituted from the same cosmic forces, one has more of Saturn in him than others, being born under the dominance of that planet, while another has more of the nature of Mars, on account of its ascendancy or elevation at his birth, corresponding differences of character being observable in them, the one being ponderous, melancholic and tacturn, the other energetic, enterprising and demonstrative. Man, in fine, is a modification of cosmic elements, a composite of cosmic forces, like any other body. But also something more. Behind the coloured glass there is always the light. The intelligence striking through the composite of personal organisation reveals itself as character.

Similarly, behind the cosmos there is an Intelligence which manifests to us through cosmic elements as Nature. God geometrises, and in Nature we have the geometrical expression of the Divine Intelligence. Crystallisation takes place according to definite laws. All the superior metals crystallise at the angle or complemental angle of a regular polygon, which may be inscribed in a circle and theses angles are those which are indicated by the astral science as operative. Water, which the ancients referred to in a mystical sense as the

mother of all things, their material base, crystallises at an angle of 60 degrees. The universe is but the crystallised ideation of God it is a divine thought- form. It is by the study of numbers, therefore, that we may learn the laws of divine expression, from the constitution of the universe down to the most trivial occurrence in its evolutional progress. What we call an event is but a displacement and rearrangement of the parts of our sphere of reality. Changes taking place in the cosmos are accompanied by changes in all its constituents, and these changes may converge to a cataclysm. They may also produce a shower of rain, an epidemic, or a rise of a penny per cental in the price of wheat. Admitting man's relations to the cosmos, and it would be difficult to deny them, there is really no end to the concatenation of effects which may arise from any single cosmic disposition, as for instance, Sun oppose Mars, when our earth lies in the diameter of the Martian sphere of influence.

About Author:

Dr Walter Gorn Old (born 20 March 1864, at 2:06 a.m. LMT in Handsworth, England; died 23 December 1929 in Hove, England) was a notable 19th century mystic and astrologer, better known as Sepharial.

An eminent English Theosophist, Sepharial was a well-known and respected astrologer in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and wrote numerous books, some of which (particularly those on numerology) are still highly regarded today. He was editor of "Old Moore's Almanac", which is still published in the 21st century.
Overview

As a young man Sepharial initially studied medicine and followed this up with studies in psychology, oriental languages, astrology and numerology. In 1886 he started to write an astrology problem page in the Society Times, where he answered the public's questions, and in 1887 at the age of just 23 was admitted to the "inner sanctum" of the Theosophical Society. He was in fact one of the founder members of the Theosophical movement in England. Madame Blavatsky (whom he lived with until her death) called him "The Astral Tramp" because of his nightly explorations into the astral plane (Ref: Kim Farnell's book).
Influential legacy

He became a very influential author in the fields of the occult, astrology and numerology, and his writings had a considerable impact on E. H. Bailey and Alan Leo, who he introduced to Theosophy. He can be credited as the first astrologer to use Earth's "dark moon" Lilith in his calculations. Genuinely erudite, Sepharial had for example a greater knowledge of mathematics, astronomy, and historical methodology than most of his astrological contemporaries and this showed in his writings. Sepharial's "Degrees of the Zodiac Symbolised" (co-written with Charubel) foreshadowed Marc Edmund Jones's subsequent (and nowadays better known) work on Sabian Symbols. However, many of his books and other works were put together in a rather slapdash way, which made his reputation less enduring than it might have been. A colourful character, Sepharial started a number of astrological magazines, all of which failed to establish themselves.
Books

Sepharial wrote many books, most of which are rare and out of print. Here are a few:

* Sepharial: "New Dictionary of Astrology", republished by Arco, New York in 1964.
* Sepharial: "The New Manual of Astrology" (in four books).
* Sepharial: "Astrology Explained".
* Sepharial: "The Book Of The Simple Way" Pub 1904. (Translation of Lao Tzu's Chinese classic, the "Tao Te Ching").
* Sepharial: "The Kabala of Numbers" Pub 1913. Modern edition: ISBN 1-59605-404-2. (on numerology).
* Sepharial: "The Silver Key".
* Sepharial: "Cosmic Symbolism".
* Sepharial: "Science of Foreknowledge".
* Sepharial and Charubel: "Degrees of the Zodiac Symbolised" (on astrology).
* Kim Farnell: "Astral Tramp". Ascella Publications, 1998, ISBN 1-898503-88-5. (biography of Sepharial).