Sound of Your Soul

10/10/10

The activity and the essence of the number must be measured by the power contained in the notion of 10. For this (power) is great, all embracing, all-accomplishing, and is the fundament and guide of the divine and heavenly life as well as human life. —Philolaus

October 10, 2010 is a 10/10/10 day. Does 10 mean anything? Sure it does, at least to the ancient Greek dude Pythagoras, the Mayans, the Hebrews, and many other cultures, but what’s it signify for us? Maybe nothing more than watching Sunday football, but the history and esoteric symbolism of “10″ is pretty cool.

My first introduction to the meaning of numbers came via working with the Tarot. After my spiritual awakening with the rock band Cheap Trick nearly nine years ago, I was intuitively guided to check out the archetypal images on Tarot cards. Each card (except for the face cards) are numbered 0-22 in the Major Arcana, and Ace through 10 in the Minor Arcana.

10 in the Minor Arcana is a combination of 1 (independence, action, motivation, driven, purpose) and 0 (Alpha and Omega, beginning and ending, paradox, limitless, infinite, unity, pure potential, will). Put ‘em together, and 10 contains all preceding numbers as a whole contains its parts, therefore it represents fulfillment and completion. 10 often signifies a cycle which has ended, and that a new one is/will be beginning. According to A Beginner’s Guide to Constructing the Universe, “Ten takes us beyond the realm of number itself, above the fray of ordinary numerical interactions and geometric relationships. It is a new beginning, a journey into limitless.”

So, does 10/10/10 indicate that humanity is collectively hammocked between the end of one cycle, and the start of a new one? Let’s hope it’s starting a cycle for the better.

You remember Pythagoras, the Pythagorean theorem dude? Well to Pythag, (ya really can’t give the guy a nickname) ten represents a recapitulation of the whole and is the “perfect number.” We praise something or someone like Bo Derek as a as a perfect “10,” and 10×10=100%, a perfect grade on an exam (I loved the two times I got those cause I’d get Carvel ice cream!). We have 10 fingers and toes, (unless of course you’re like my father-in-law and cut a few digits off with a table saw) making a perfect, complete set. In fact, Pythagoras seems to have been totally enamored with the number 10. For him, it was the symbol of the universe, and also expressed the whole of human knowledge. That’s a lotta weight 10 carries. Guess that’s why 10 is two digits, cause 9 looks like his back is breaking.

Around 500 BC, the Pythagorean schools discovered that ten points unfolding in four levels describes a Tetraktys (from the Greek for “fourfold”). The total of the four rows of points = 10; 1+2+3+4.

This image reminded me of a peg game I used to play, where one peg was missing, and you’d have to jump the other 9 pegs until only one was left. Problem was, that

usually didn’t happen until you figured out the secret path. Often, you would annoyingly be left with two nonadjacent pegs that were like lovers waving to one another from across the ocean. “Hey, you’re just one space away and now we’re stuck! I can’t jump you and win this damn game, so now we gotta start all over again.”

The Tetraktys (I hope that sounds better than it’s spelled…for some reason whenever I write tetraktys, turkey tetrazzini pops into my head…now I’m hungry) provided a basis for the Pythagorean school’s studies of natural science and philosophy. The four levels represented increasing densities of the four elements: fire, air, water, and earth, and the four modern states of matter. The tetraktys also symbolizes divinity where the number one represents a point; two, length; three, a plane or surface (as a triangle); four, solidity or space.

After my awakening (due to the music of that most wonderful rockin’ rock band Cheap Trick), I kept hearing the number “four.” Now I wonder if Pythag was whispering in my inner ear, telling me sweet nothings about the nature of the universe. He always was a sucker for tall blonds. Fascinating that through a triangle of ten simple points in four rows the Decad’s (fancy Greek word for ten) principles of fulfillment, completion and wholeness are revealed.

Now this gets a bit tricky. Mr. Pythagoras is often referred to as the father of music cause as an ancient Greek math geek, he tested how vibration/sound changed with various string lengths (think modern guitar or violin but with different lengths). When one string was twice as long as the other it would produce two notes that seemed very similar (that’s the ratio of 2-to-1, or an octave). He wondered if other simple ratios like 2/3 or 3/4 might also sound good. (The Greeks were big fans of mathematical ratios.) Ultimately, Pythagoras pretty much set up the basis for our seven-tone and chromatic musical scale.

Notice that those ratios above include the numbers 1,2,3 and 4, which add up to our favorite Greek word symbolizing 10 points, Tetraktys…or turkey tetrazzini. This led Pythagoras to discover the octave (one-half and two-fourths) the double octave(one-fourth), the musical fourth (three-fourths), and the musical fifth (two thirds). These produce the “spiral of fifths” or “spiral of fourths” and endless octaves of tones.

So 10 influences lotsa things, and in the Tarot, the Kabbalistic Tree of Life is constructed out of 10 points, each point having a number and a meaning applied to the number. These points are called the Sephirot, which means “enumerations”…. the 10 numbers. I won’t go into the details, but the Tree of Life shows up on the 10 of Pentacles in the Universal Rider Waite deck, and symbolizes achievement, abundance and fulfillment.

‘Ten is also the number of completion of journeys and returns to origins: Odysseus wandered for nine years and returned on the tenth. Troy was besieged for nine years and fell on the tenth. After Dante toured the nine rings of hell, his journey culminated with an ascent to the tenth, or empyrean, realm of transcendent spiritual beauty. I’ve been traveling the Hero’s Journey for nearly nine years (started with my awakening in January 2002), and something recently happened with Cheap Trick that shifted a ton o’ energy on my odyssey which indicates that this 10th year could be a year of completion and fulfillment for me. How very cool!

I think the completion of a cycle or journey is best depicted by #10 in the Major Arcana of the Tarot: The Wheel of Fortune.

The circular wheel symbolizes the ever changing winds of fate. The tarot recognizes that each person sets his own path in life, but is also subject to the larger cycles that include him and all life. This again is our theme of a cycle ending, and another beginning.

And notice that on the wheel there are 4 letters (TARO), four symbols (in Hebrew they create the name for God) and the four creatures on the four corners of the card originate from Ezekiel 1:10. Four is mega connected to the perfect, all encompassing, TEN. I knew Pythagoras was yodeling four in my head for good reason.

So, now we come to the date 10/10/10. Do three 10′s signify 10³ as in 10 to the third power or 1000? We humans like numbers with lots of zeros at the end, especially when they are checks made out to our name. 101010 in binary is 42, so if that’s you’re lucky number, buy a lottery ticket today. Or watch/read The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy since the Ultimate Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, The Universe, and Everything is 42.

Maybe 10/10/10 is just a cool date to get married (lots of folks are tying the knot today). Personally, I think Pythagoras will return 10/10/10 and give a full dissertation on the meaning of the funkily spelled Tetraktys. After all, ten is the number of the cosmos—the paradigm of creation.

All kidding aside, since 10 is the number of completion/rebirth, perhaps 10/10/10 might just might be a good day to reflect on your life, and see if something, say a relationship, has ended or come to completion in some way. Has something similar happened before? If so, with who and when? I noted a five year cycle for me repeating itself with Cheap Trick just a few weeks ago, on Labor Day weekend. It helped me realize that I’m part of an evolving, cyclical universe.

I know no one who has lived a life that’s a perfect “10.” We all experience times of joy as well as profound sadness/grief. Yet completion/death is necessary in order for the new to emerge. Transitions can sometimes be painful, but if we take a moment to notice patterns that repeat themselves, it might help us understand the bigger picture of our lives. That kind of knowledge, at least to me, is certainly worthy of a 10.