The Secret Science of NumerologyThis letter is concerned with man’s spiritual unfoldment. The man
who lives only for material things does not waken his spiritual centers and
true peace is unknown to him. It is in ignorance that man expects accom-
plishment through war.
The man who seeks spiritual unfoldment finds in his meditations the
peace which passes all understanding (Philippians 4:7). The spiritual cen-
ter for this is found in the head: a small gland in the forehead area that is
known by mystics to be the dwelling place of man’s spirit and his point of
contact with the higher planes. It is called the pineal gland because of its
resemblance to a pinecone. Some call it “the third eye,” for when it is
opened, spiritual illumination takes place and all knowledge is available
to us. It is the organ of the spiritual mind (The Key to the Universe, 265).
The interesting thing is that R is a picture of the pineal gland: a small
rounded body with two cords attached that connect it to the brain.
As the 20th letter, Resh signifies death and resurrection. When the
spiritual centers are awakened, there is a tingling sensation that raises the
vibratory rhythm so high that an exaltation of consciousness is experi-
enced. To one who has reached this level of awareness, death has no
sting. “Oh death, where is your sting? Oh grave, where is your victory?
The sting of death is sin ...” (1 Corinthians 15:55-6).
Death totals 20 (4 + 5 + 1 + 2 + 8 = 20). The 20 is not a finishing
number so death is not the end. It has been noted, though, that persons
who have a prominent 20 in their chart are inclined to fear death unless
that fear has been replaced with a faith.
When the letters of death are added according to their exact num-
bered place in the alphabet, T would be 20 instead of 2 and the total
vibration of the word death would be 38/11 instead of 20. The 11 is the
number of light, so death is not darkness but light to the man who is
spiritually aware. It is the man meeting the Master 1 to 1, a resurrectiona
new birth.
When the Greeks borrowed the sign for Resh, they changed its name
to Rho but kept it as their R consonant. They changed the glyph by re-
versing it and the Romans added the leg at the right.
R begins with a vertical line on the left, which represents upright man.
The loop at the top is the head and it stands for the ability to think, to
draw in knowledge, to have creative thought. At this point it resembles
the letter P, which is a symbol of the creative force in a paternal way.
The added leg at the right, R, is a picture of a man with one foot
forward showing that he is moving ahead. This depicts activity in the
person’s life. Since the leg is attached directly to the head it means to
move ahead with one’s thinking. Esoterically it means to raise one’s thinking
above the purely material and to seek spiritual understanding.
R’s are intellectual. Here we find teachers, writers, and leaders. That
enclosed circle tells us they retain knowledge and that they think deeply
about things.