In chapter 8 of AMFB, Chapman writes that the more meaningful the symbolism in a ritual is, the more meaningful the result of the ritual will be. "More meaning in equals more meaning out". This view is based on an acausal perspective of magick, and that all magickal results manifest as synchronicities. Agreed. Then, he advises us to create what he calls a book of numbers. He writes:

"If we were to accept that the universe is composed solely of ideas, and that the most elementary expression of an idea, and its relationship with other any other idea, is mathematical in nature, could it not be possible to attribute any phenomena whatsoever to number? If it were really possible to attribute every phenomenon or every symbol to a number, we could develop not only a mnemonic system beyond parallel, but also an intuitive, coherent means of understanding every symbol in relation to every other. The symbolic complexity of a ritual would then not only be a matter of the material symbols employed during ritual, but on the breadth and depth of the magician's symbolic association developed by using such a numerical system as outlined above. Thankfully for us such a system already exists, and seems to have existed in various cultures around the world for millennia. Today we know it as the Qaballah."

"Exercise 14. 1. Choose a Qaballah: Hebrew, Greek, Latin, English, GoN, etc, purchase a good book on the subject and memorize the alphabet with its numerical values. 2. Develop a 'book of numbers': Write down every number from 0 to 1,000. Work out the numerical value of all of the ideas that are important to you (using the Qaballah you have chosen), and write them next to the corresponding number. Add words as and when necessary. 3. Study the Tree of Life, and work out where each word in your 'book of numbers' belongs. 4. Study all possible mathematical relationships, and ascertain what these relationships mean for the ideas to which you apply them. 5. Classify every phenomenon you experience in terms of the Tree, until it is habitual."

So what he is talking about is really a system of gematria, i.e. ascribing numerical value to letters, words, terms. It's based on the belief that words that have the same numerical value share a significant meaningful relationship. I decided to use the english gematria as he prescribes it in the link below.

http://thebaptistshead.co.uk/2007/06/21/th...glish-alphabet/

Now I have quite a bit of the chaos current surging through my circuits, so I don't care about the objectivity of this system. I decided to take a leap of faith and develop my own book of numbers. I painstakingly went through a dictionary looking for every magical / spiritual / significant term I could find and cataloged them. (For the sake of my sanity, I decided to use nouns only.)

Here's my problem. Even though I have read that book cover to cover over 5 times, I still don't understand how to apply my book of numbers in a ritual. What's worse is he doesn't actually give an example of how to use it. This is the example he gives, but only to explain the value of symbolism in ritual:

"Consider a ritual to evoke an entity. True enough, given enough practice we can perform any designated action in order to engender the required result. But what if, as well as performing the designated action (say, reciting barbarous words), we were to employ a magical phallic wand specially consecrated to manifest entities, with which we draw the entities seal? And what if incense is burnt that is deemed commensurate with the nature of the entity being summoned? Therefore as well as the original action to evoke the entity, we have a further two levels of complexity in the operation. If we consider the fact that a magical result is a synchronicity, or the occurrence of two events with the same meaning, does it not follow that the complexity of the meaning of the outcome will reflect the complexity of the meaning involved in the ritual?"

Now this is a great example he uses to explain how symbolism can improve your magic. Later he advises to devise two rituals for the same result, one that is just a simple magical act and another that uses "appropriate incense, colour schemes, robes, candles, sounds, music, food, drink, physical acts, etc." so that the difference in the quality of the result can clearly be seen. But how does the book of numbers factor in???

I understand how the book of numbers could possibly be used for divination. For example, I could create cards with numbers from 0-100 on them, throw them all into a bowl, ask my question and randomly pick a number. Consulting my book of numbers would give me my answer. (I really should try this sometime.) But I still have no clue how the book can be used to improve magical results in a ritual. On his website I found the article linked below. He writes the following: "If I were to discover my name has the same numerical value as the word ‘Messiah’, it does not prove that I am the Messiah. The Qaballah is simply a demonstration of the relationship between symbols. The most I could say in this instance is that I am just as much God as the Messiah is, and that the Qaballah has provided a perfect symbolic expression of Immanance!"

http://thebaptistshead.co.uk/the-basics/ba...9-the-qaballah/

That's very neat and all, but how does that improve a magical result? Just to give an idea of what my book of numbers is like, here are a few numbers and the words I have associated with them:

14: Access, Akasha, Arm, Aura, Cell, Dew, Fun, Joy, July, June, Key, Leo.
22: Buddha, Contact, Cord, Gene, Mantra, Master, Mind, Poem, Realm, Robe, Rune, Sign, Speed, Touch, Uranus, Water, Year.
47: Authority, Cultivation, Foundation, Meditation, Metaphysic, Relaxation, Telekinesis, Vibration.
55: Consecration, Discipline, Integrity, Lightning, Omniscience.
58: Affirmation, Composition, Contemplation, Imagination, Perception, Realization.

Why Chapman couldn't you give a few examples? WHY!!!!

This has been driving me nuts.

This post has been edited by Green Lantern: Dec 4 2013, 07:40 AM

You have a bunch of abstract nouns and nothing to link them together. That is why Chapman made a point of using "phenomenon" (sight, smell, emotion, ext.) and having you classify them according to numbers. The numbers are a quick reference that allows you to quickly pull together experiences, but it is experiences themselves that have associative meaning. What do all those abstract nouns mean to you, personally, and what objects, shapes, colors, sounds, smells and times in some way relate to them. Too many abstract nouns leaves you with chains of associations you can't apply. Adding some concrete nouns attached to each abstract noun it looks like this: 47: Authority, blue, lilly, Jasper, rectangle; Cultivation, orange, silver, carrot; Foundation, garnet, Jopie weed, tin. Then take the goal and work those things in. For example, I will get authority by wearing blue clothes, and perfume of lilies, drawind an orange rectangle on garnet using a silver pen and ink made from carrots and Jopie weeds.

You may find that your goal is simple and only one number is needed to express your wish but sometimes you may need two or three. When moving between number think about how they relate to the goal and try to express that clearly via the objects. Some time one object or idea will relate to several numbers and that will help link things together. Silver my relate to Cultivation but it might also relate to Emotion.

Of course. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/8.gif) Ugh, I can be such an idiot. I purposefully left out things like incenses, plants, foods, scents, oils, etc. because I thought to myself that the so-called "official" correspondences deal with those. As a result I couldn't make the connection. FINALLY! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/banana.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/Laie_58.gif) The book of numbers is really a correspondence and should be treated as such. Of course!

Reading through various correspondences can be somewhat confusing, as no two agree on which plant belongs to what planet, and same so for any other thing. Might as well create my own.

Thanks for clearing that up!

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This post has been edited by Green Lantern: Dec 5 2013, 07:16 AM