Always Wondering said:
I was wondering this also. Did we get an answer in all that math?
AW
Dwtw
So far I have only dealt with the straight facts derivable from the verse. Nuit says that the Jews call their version of Nothing '61', while she has a different version, which is generated by multiplying their version by 8, and then adding 18.
So the initial answer is just 506, and this is germane for all the reason already discussed, as it relates to the word for Taurus, which is ShUR = 506
But Nuit has offered us a simple formula, which entices us to plug a different number into it, instead of 61, and thus we can arrive at 666, etc.
Now as to why Nuit would chose the numbers 8 and 18 to differentiate her nothing from the Hebrew qabalists' nothing, there are a number of possible answers.
I don't believe that the 8 in the formula refers to the Hebrew letter Cheth, simply because Nuit seems to be stressing the difference in her version of Nothing as compared to the Jews.
So what else can 8 signify? Some like to see the infinity symbol in it, which of course it is, and since 'every number is infinite', then 8 certainly partakes of this infinity, as do all other numbers. This then does not differentiate the number 8 enough to tell us much of anything, BUT... contrasting the symbol 8 with the symbol 0, we find that they both are types of curves, with no beginning or ending, although 8 as a mobius band is a more complex type of idea than a simple ellipse.
Another possibility is that the 8 stands for the 8th trump of the Tarot, which would be Adjustment. This would then symbolize that we are performing an 'adjustment' to the original number by multiplying it by the number 8, to which we then add the number 18.
And what else does 8 signify? Well, other than the trivial case of the number 1, the number 8 is the smallest cube number, being 2 x 2 x 2. Note well that this means that a cube can be made up of 8 smaller cubes.
Now there is another place in Liber AL where eight is mentioned very prominently; Hadit says:
"with the just I am eight, and one in eight, Which is vital, for I am none indeed"
And since Hadit is saying he is none, which is synonymous with nothing, perhaps this is where our answer lies.
Hadit says he is eight -- this could be the eight cubes making up a larger cube.
Then he says he is 'one in eight', i.e., he is also the larger cube made up of eight smaller cubes, or 'one cube in eight cubical parts'.
And then Hadit goes on to say that this indicates that he is 'none', so that we might take this larger '1 cube-made-out-of-8-cubes', to be a symbol of nothing.
So far so good, but what of this adding 18 business in the formula?
Well, a cube has 26 parts: 8 corners, 12 edges and 6 sides. If the eight corners are then represented by 8 smaller cubes, then the 18 represents the 12 edges and 6 faces of the larger, single cube.
In other words, Nuit's formula of 8N + 18 = X is a representation of 'adjusting' the initial variable, the zero or nothing, so that it takes on a three-dimensional shape.
(with the JUST I am eight...Adjustment is the 8th trump)
She is stressing that this Zero-cubed is, in effect, 'Nothing under its three forms'.
This provides a solid reasoning behind why Aeon418's idea works so well, because the Ain Sof Aur is also known as the 'triple veil of the negative', and is the Hebrew qabalistic version of the Thelemic qabalah concept of the 'three forms of nothing'. These 'three forms' are simply the three dimensions of space.
And as Aeon418 also pointed out, the initial letters within this phrase spell out her name;
Nothing Under Its Three = NUIT
So Nuit has taken a rather flat, or non-dimensional, idea of nothing as handed down by the Jews, and amplified it specifically by 8, to indicate that it has become spatial, and three-dimensional. These dimensions are still not manifesting anything, they are not filled with anything specific; they are simply the template, the architecture of space, (of which Nuit is the Queen).
But this 'cube of space' is identical with Hadit. Remember how Hadit specifically said he was 'the CUBE in the circle'? Exactly.
And although this is getting ahead of the game, I may as well state it here in case I'm not around when that verse comes up...
In the Trigrammaton qabalah, the 8 corners of the cube are referenced to the 8 Planets. I believe that Hadit also secretly references them:
I am the flame that burns in every heart of man = Venus and in the core of every star. = the Sun
I am Life, and the giver of Life = Earth
yet therefore is the knowledge of me the knowledge of death. = Saturn
I am the Magician = Mercury
and the Exorcist = Mars
I am the axle of the wheel = Juppiter
and the cube in the circle = the Moon
gloss on the above:
we are to 'love one another with burning hearts', and Venus is the goddess of love.
The Sun is a star.
Earth is the planet that harbors life (as we know it)
Death is a symbol of Saturn
The Magician of the Tarot is attributed to Mercury
Mars is the Exorcist due to his forceful nature
The Wheel of Fortune is attributed to Juppiter,
leaving the cube in the circle to be the Moon.
The Moon orbits in a roughly circular path every 27 days, and 27 is the next highest 'cube' number.
Now note that the card called the Moon is number 18 in the trumps. This is a hidden reference to the addition of the 18 in the formula 8N + 18 = X
(8N) symbolizes Adjustment of the variable
(+18) represents the Moon, which is the 'cube in the circle', i.e., 18 represents the completion of the cube's 8 corners with its 18 other parts.
So Hadit is a cube in a circle. The cube is the 8, while the circle is the 0. The cube is Nuit's new version of Nothing, (under three forms, i.e., the three dimensions of space), while the circle was the old idea of nothing, the two-dimensional 'nought' symbol, 0, i.e., the ellipse, which Crowley related to the AIN, (just as he related the parabola and hyperbola to the other veils of the negative).
My apologies for a very long-winded answer. The simple response would be that Nuit uses 8 to indicate Hadit. And the concept of Nothing in Thelemic terms is a spatial one.
Nothingness, with twinkles ;-)
Litlluw
RLG
