QUOTE(bym @ Jul 4 2007, 06:14 PM)
I'm not exactly sure why the Hebraic goes three-one half times around save that in the Crowley edition he had a fascination for pulling various other occult influences into different rites to bolster the overall effect. In this case the 3-1/2 times represents the coiling of the Kundalini fire-serpent at rest around the mages sacral center.
I believe in the peterson edition the manuscript has the 3 and half loop sans snake around the circle but it is in english not hebrew. I am not sure which manuscript he is pulling on and the age.
If crowley/mathers did add the loops you might also want to consider the Golden Dawn Circumambulation technique as the source.