272 Grimoire for the Apprentice Wizard
one has: your Birth Number and your Name Number.
First, work out your Birth Number by reducing all the
numbers in the date. Then you can do the same with
your name. Numerologists say that ideally, these two
numbers should match. The reason is that your Birth
Number—like your astrological sign—never changes.
You might change your address or even your name,
but your date of birth remains the same.
If your Name Number is different from your Birth
Number, you might want to take that into account in
choosing a new nickname, use-name, or Magickal
Name. Some given names have many variations. For
instance, a boy named “Alexander” might go by Al,
Alex, Xander or Zander. A girl named “Elizabeth”
might go by Liz, Lizzie, Eliza, Liza, Lisa, Beth, or
Betty. Each of these versions will have a distinct num-
ber, which you should take into account when you
decide how you want to be called.
In choosing a Magickal Name, you should check
every name you consider for its number. Or you can
create a name based on such numbers, just like mak-
ing a word out of a telephone number. After all, each
number (except 9) has three letters! If you get a set of
numbered letters that make up a name you like, and
add up to your Birth Number, you can even rearrange
them into a different order without changing their num-
ber. Such rearranged word are called anagrams (“re-
versed letters”), and anagrams are often used as codes
in magickal writings and spells. Scrabble games are
useful for this. For instance, a healing spell might use
Scrabble letters to spell out the word “EVIL” for the
illness, and then rearrange the letters to spell “LIVE.”
By choosing a name that matches your Birth Num-
ber, you are then aligning yourself with the same asso-
ciations as those of the day you were born, and thus
doubling the power of your own special number. This
is your “Lucky Number,” and you can use it to note
magickal syncronicities when that same number comes
up in your life.Lesson 4: Perfect Bodies
The concept of Perfect Bodies was defined by Greek
geometricians. The notion of “perfectness” reflects
their belief that geometry, of all sciences, is closest to
the essence of things, expressing the rules set by the
Gods in the creation of the Universe. A polygon (many
angles) is a two-dimensional shape with straight edges.
Multi-sided three-dimensional objects are called poly-
hedrons (many-sided). A Perfect Body is the polyhe-
dron built from identical regular polygons, such as an
equilateral triangle, a square, and a pentagon. It may
appear that one could build an infinite number of such
bodies yet, as it turns out, there are only five con-
structions possible. These five shapes were defined and
classified by Euclid (325–265 BCE).The tetrahedron, which is built of four triangles,
is the simplest. The cube is made of six squares. The
other Perfect Bodies are the octahedron (8 triangles),
the dodecahedron (12 pentagons), and the icosahe-
dron (20 triangles). These all currently appear in the
forms of the dice used in board games.
In 350 BCE, the great Greek philosopher Plato (427–
347 BCE) postulated that the four Elements—Earth,
Water, Air, and Fire (thought by the Greeks to make up
the world)—are composed of tiny particles, which can-
not further be divided. Thus the concept of atoms
(“undividable” in Greek) was born. Atoms were thought
to be perfect geometric constructions like the Perfect
Bodies.
According to Plato, Earth atoms are cubes,
thought to be the most solid of these bodies. Water,
that which rolls most easily, is represented by the icosa-
hedron. Air is octahedral. And the simple tetrahedron
represents Fire, the most rarified of all the Elements.
With Four elements and five perfect bodies, the
correspondence between nature and geometry required
an added constituent, and it was suggested that the
dodecahedron represented the entire Universe. Some
modern Wizards, however, associate the dodecahedron
with the Fifth Element—Spirit.Perfect Bodies in Nature
Nature of course knows all
these rules, and shapes such
as described above occur in
nature. Microscopic radiolarians
obeying these rules create complex
structures based on Perfect Bodies. These are struc-
turally the strongest constructions while at the same
time very light. This feature has been used by modern
architects as stronger materials became available.
As Plato predicted 2,350 years ago, we find such
geometric constructions in the world of atoms and
molecules, where the building blocks are held together
with chemical bonds. These strict geometrical rules,
expressing symmetries involved with the electronic
distributions in atoms, create the bond formation. Such
constructions occur involving many different atoms,Octa-
hedronDodeca-
hedronIcosa-
hedronTetra- Cube
hedron- Spectrum 2.p65 272 1/15/2004, 9:31 AM