I dedicate this book to Neko and Wee Mc Gregor, feline and canine companions respectively who brought much joy and comfort to humans in their time here. With this volume I complete a project which started as an idea sixteen years ago. Volume 1, ex-amining the numbers one through five, was published for Yule 2000 and marked the first book for which I utilized a computer to produce the artwork.In preparing this year’s book I utilized computers more extensively for research and as a result Volume 2 is more text heavy. There was just so much I didn’t want to leave out.So, the two volumes don’t exactly fit together and I take many liberties with punctuation, but this is not a publication for commercial purposes, it’s a work of love to show my family and friends that I appreciate having them in my life. With that written,I present for your enjoyment Uncle David’s Big Book of Numbers Volumes 1 and 2.

Many happy returns of the season from David, Tracy, Lucy and LeoRa.

Once, before time, there was ONE.All that was or had potential to be was contained in ONE but all that energy could not be contained for longso, in a tremendous outburst ONE divided itself and became stars, trees, planets, and you.Each and every thing is a unique expression of ONE because ONE is that which, when divided by itself,remains itself.

TWO brings the possibility of conflict but also the opportunity for harmony.It takes two to tango. Two represents both similarity (as alike as two peas in a pod)and opposition (as different as night and day). Most people have two similar eyes, ears, nostrils, arms, legs, lungs, and kidneys which comes in very handy should one lose half of any of those pairs. From a young age we’re encouraged to stand on our own two feet and, once there, walking is as simple as putting one foot in front of the other. Noah took the animals two by two ‘cause if you want more of ‘em, that’s what you’ve got to do. It’s been said that the world has just two kinds of people; those who use broad generalizations to classify large groups,and those who don’t. Some people think only in such dualistic terms as;black and white, good and evil, here or there, us or them,but there are two sides to every coin and not everything is a matter of life or death. Life is like a pendulum constantly moving between opposite poles,when it has reached the extreme in one direction is when it will begin to move the other way, Change (movement, life) is the product of the two fundamental, universal, diametric forces of yin and yang confronting each other. Breathe in. Breathe out.

THREE can be the balancing factor that finds the middle ground between two opposites or it can be the factor that sides with either end and tips the balance in that direction. Three’s a crowd or three’s company, it depends on which three. Division or classification into three parts is exceptionally common. Let’s look at threes as they occur in relation to soul, body, and mind: Some religions have considered the world divided into three parts; Heaven and the Underworld, with Earth in between, while others speak of Heaven and Earth with Man in between. Triadic Godheads were recognized by (among others): Greek, Egyptian, Babylonian, Hindu and Norse people, often representing the powers of Creation, Sustenance, and Destruction. Wiccans sing to the Maid, Mother, Crone, and the Christians have their mysterious One that is Three. Christians also celebrate (but of course have no monopoly on) three virtues: Faith, Hope, and Charity. Peter denied Christ three times. (Keep the faith Pete.) In Greek mythology there appear three Fates, three Furies, and three Graces. Buddhists and Neo-sannyasins give thanks for the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, or, The Awakened One, the Truth he imparts, and the community that gathers around him. The Far East has produced three major “atheistic” religions: Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism, while the Middle East has given rise to three major monotheistic religions; Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The third eye opens to spiritual awareness. To sustain our bodies we eat (some of us) three meals a day at morning, noon, and night, and if we drink too much we may end up “three sheets to the wind”. In competitions we give special recognition to those who place first, second, and third. Three goals in a hockey game scores the player a hat-trick, in bowling one can take three tries at knocking down the pins and it’s one, two, three strikes you’re out at the old ball game. Soldiers in trenches learned not to light “three on a match” (it gives a sniper time to ready, aim and fire). A triangular stance as every Aikido knows, is the most stable posture. A myriad of colours can be created from the three primaries and it takes three notes to make a chord. We think of time in terms of past, present, and future and our stories usually have a beginning, middle, and end. Some things that have appeared in our stories and songs in multiples of three include; Bears, Billy Goats Gruff, Blind Mice, Little Pigs, Little Kittens, Penny Operas, Coins in a Fountain, Men in a Tub, Ships coming sailing in on Christmas day, and Stooges. At school, in addition to Reading, ‘Riting, and ‘Rithmetic, we learned (some of us) about: acids/bases/salts, solids/liquids/gases, animals/vegetables/minerals, the id/ego/super ego, andthree degrees of comparison. Oaths and many magical incantations are traditionally repeated three times. By old English custom a couple who have had their names published and read aloud in church for three consecutive weeks are considered married (but not apparently by the Province of On-tario). Luck, good and bad, some say, comes in threes, but then again, others say “third time lucky”. Wishes granted by genies come in threes. (Hint: make the third wish a request for more wishes). I’ll give you three guesses what my favourite number is. Let’s have three cheers for THREE!

FOUR is the first square of a prime number and because of its pleasing balance and stability has represented Justice. (Perhaps that’s why we speak of a square deal) It was once thought the world was composed of four basic elements; air, water, fire, and earth.Four is certainly an “earthy” number as four strong winds blow in four directions from the four corners of the earth throughout four seasons. It requires only four colours to produce a map of the earth wherein no adjacent countries are the same colour. Einstein defined time as a fourth dimension, but many more have been postulated since then. The Bible’s Old Testament tells of;four rivers of paradise which prefigure thefour gospel writers of the New Testament who are also associated with the four beasts of Revelations who bid us see the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (coming soon, so they say, to a theatre near you). The Manu Smitri advocates four stages of life for Bhramin men;student, householder, penitent, renunciant. The Buddha taught Four Noble Truths which are (to paraphrase);Life sucks.The reason life sucks is because we want stuff.If we stop wanting stuff life wouldn’t suck so much.There is an eightfold path that leads to the cessation of wanting stuff. Some of the most pleasing musical intervals are associated with the ratios of one to four,as string quartets know, and the Fab Four taught us to love more. A pair of partners can play a multitude of games with the four suits in a standard deck of cards or if something more active is desired ... anyone for doubles tennis?

Take FIVE... please. Ancient Greek philosophers considered five to represent marriage as it was the union of the first even number (two, which they considered female) and the first odd number (three, which they considered male). The Greeks didn’t consider one a number for reasons too complicated to get into here. Neither will I (nor could I) attempt to explain how the five Platonic solids represent all the possible arrange-ments of regular polygons around a point. Tibetan and Greek philosopher/mystics considered ether to be a fifth basic element while the more practical Chinese and Japanese considered the quintessence to be metal. The Japanese names for the days of the week, Tuesday through Saturday, come from their five ele-ments. The traditional Japanese calendar has a five-day weekly cycle. Having five fingers on two hands (like almost all amphibians, reptiles, and mammals which have fingers or toes) probably led to our ten based counting system, but I’d like to know What caused so many flowers to have five petals and Who and When and Where and Why. The pentagram, or five-pointed star, has religious significance in widely varying faiths including Baha’i, Christianity, Satanism, Taoism, and Wicca. The Khamsa, an ancient symbol shaped like a hand with five fingers, is believed to protect the wearer from envy and the evil eye. The Torah contains five books collectively called the Five Books of Moses. The book of Psalms is arranged into five books, paralleling the Books of Moses. There are traditionally Five Wounds of Jesus Christ. (Though I think the scourging He received must have left more than that.) There are five “pillars” of Islam which Sunni Muslims describe as; Shahada (professing monotheism), Salah (five daily prayers), Zaket (alms giving), Sawm (fasting), and Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca). Nothing there about blowing stuff up. Speaking of blowing, the most destructive hurricanes rate as Category Five. We experience food through five basic tastes; sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami (savoriness). Taste and four other senses (or in my case, three and a half) allow us to experience this wonder filled world and all its sensuous delights. Gimme five.

SIX is sometimes called man’s number because, according to Judeo-Christian myths, man was created on the sixth day (whether this was before or after the creation of animals depends on which chapter of Genesis you read). Six symbolizes harmony, balance and the union of polarities. The hexagram, a combination of two equilateral triangles, one pointing up (representing fire, heavens and male energy) and one pointing downward (representing water, earth and female energy) has been in use as a religious symbol since ancient times. One version, sometimes called the Seal of Solomon, or more recently the Star of David, is commonly associated with Judaism but Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Christians, Muslims, Freemasons, Raelians, and those latter day “Jews” the Rastafarians and Mormons, also identify with six pointed stars. Some American law enforcement agents and most emergency medical services show their iden-tity with forms of six pointed stars. Six Nations, a confederacy of native bands in the North Eastern section of North America has been called the worlds oldest living participatory democracy. Six Flags, a confederacy of theme parks, has been called the world’s largest amusement park cor-poration. When we speak of sixth senses what is the sixth one? I have a hunch you’re thinking it’s Extra Sensory Perception, actually scientists consider the sixth physiological sense to be equilibrioception, the sense of balance. Renaissance scientists defined six classical simple machines (a simple machine is a mechanical device that changes the direction or magnitude of a force): the lever, the wheel and axle, the pulley, the inclined plane, the wedge, and the screw. We use all of these today in simple forms (axes, screw drivers, hammers, ramps) and combined to form complex machines such as bicycles, and rocket ships. Eating from the six food groups feeds the body,music from the six strings of a guitar feeds the soul. Six degrees of separation refers to the idea (since disproved) that everyone is, at most, six steps away from any other person on Earth (that is to say a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend). What about friendless misanthropic hermits? Six degrees of Kevin Bacon is a game wherein any actor named must be linked through his or her film roles to Kevin Bacon within six steps. Unfortunately it requires a good knowledge of Kevin Bacon movies. Henry the Eight may have had six wives but it wasn’t because he sported a six pack. A “six” in cricket is like an out-of-the-park home run. If you find yourself at the wrong end of a six shooter and they’ve got you covered six ways to Sunday, you may end up deep sixed or six feet under. It’s six of one, half a dozen of the other.

SEVEN is a hard working number. It is a; prime number, Mersenne prime, double Mersenne prime, Newman-Shanks-Williams prime, Woodall prime, factorial prime, lucky prime, happy number, safe prime and the fourth Heegner number. Whatever that means.Sir Isaac Newton, taking a break from sitting under apple trees, identified seven colors of the vis-ible spectrum; red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet The seven days of our week were originally named by the Romans after the seven classical ‘plan-ets’ visible to the naked eye from Earth (Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn). Seven has been very entertaining. Cinema brought us Seven Samurai, The Magnificent Seven, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, The Seven Year Itch, The Seventh Sign, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, The Seventh Seal, Seven Years in Tibet, Seven Pounds, Seven Days, Seven Chances and of course, James Bond, 007. And then there’s Seven of Nine. If you’re a geek, you know who I’m talking about. In Galician and other folklore, a seventh son is destined to be a werewolf. In other European folklores, the seventh son of a seventh son will either be a child with special powers of healing and clairvoyance, or a vampire. In Neil Gaiman’s excellent Sandman series, there are seven Endless: Destiny, Death, Dream, Destruction, Despair, Desire and Delirium. Shakespeare wrote about the seven ages of man and the Group of Seven showed us new ways to view our landscapes. Ultimate frisbee, and cross country running teams traditionally consist of seven athletes. In American and Canadian football, seven is the minimum number of players who must be lined up on offense at the line of scrimmage. Baseball’s New York Yankees retired Mickey Mantle’s number seven after his last seventh inning stretch. In a Seinfeld episode, George Costanza wanted to give his first-born the name “Seven” having promised this to the widow of the baseball great. In Canada the number seven was worn by hockey Hall of Famers King Clancy and Tim Horton and seven is the maximum number of games either of them could have played in an NHL playoff series. Seven is the sum of any two opposite sides on a standard six-sided die. When rolling two dice seven has a one in six probability of being rolled, the greatest of any number, as Crap players well know. Traditionally seven was the figurative number of seas and there were seven Wonders of the An-cient World. Of these only the Great Pyramid of Egypt still stands today but we can still (for now) marvel at the seven Natural Wonders:the Aurora Borealis, the Grand Canyon, Paricutin ( a volcano in Mexico), Victoria Falls, the Great Barrier Reef, Mount Everest, and the Harbor of Rio de Janeiro. To the ancient Greeks seven was sacred to Apollo, whose lyre had seven strings. Pan had seven pipes, another reference to the seven different musical notes in a scale. The Greeks recognized seven Wise Men (though I think there were more than that) and seven liberal arts: grammar, rhetoric, logic, arithmetic, astronomy, music, and geometry. Seven is a nickname for a mullet. (Think of the shape: 7)

The seven pointed star or heptagram is a mystical occult symbol. Sometimes called the Witch’s Star or the Astrologer’s Star, it is a traditional symbol for warding off evil. It is also the shape of many American sheriffs’ badges. Coincidence?The heptagram also relates to the seven chakras of the body. Chakras are said to receive, assimilate, and express life force energy. The heptagram is symbolic of a balanced flowing of bodily energies and of health. There are seven Great Holy Days in the Jewish year; the Menorah has seven branches; the Tem-ple took seven years to build, there are seven days of the feast of Passover and a seven year cycle around the years of Jubilee. Seven seems particularly prominent in Christianity starting in Genesis with the seven days of creation which culminated in a specially sanctified seventh day. Elsewhere in the bible we are told of seven things that are detestable to the LORD and the Seven Pillars of the House of Wisdom. We are told that God protected a murderer by threatening vengeance seven times over on any-one who dared kill Cain. There were seven years of plenty and seven years of famine in Pharaoh’s dream, the walls of Jericho fell on the seventh day after a Hebrew army marched around the city seven times, and seven is the number of nations God told the Israelites they would utterly destroy when they entered the promised land. In the New Testament Christ reportedly multiplied seven loaves into enough for a multitude (plus seven baskets of leftovers) and He cast out seven devils from Mary Magdalene.In the “Book of Revelation”, addressed to the seven churches of Asia, the number seven is used fifty five times in reference to trumpets, seals, bowls, eyes, stars, plagues, thunders and multi-headed beasts.Sadly there are seven suicides recorded in the Bible. Catholics have contrived seven; sacraments, tiers of Purgatory, Joys and Sorrows of Mary the Blessed Virgin, and Corporal Acts of Mercy, as well as seven deadly sins and seven virtues; Prudence, Justice, Restraint, Courage, Faith, Hope, and Love. An interesting comparison: the code of Bushido (Japanese martial arts) upholds some similar qualities amongst its seven virtues: Rectitude, Courage, Benevolence, Respect, Honesty, Honor, and Loyalty. In Islamic tradition seven is the perfect number. There are references in its literature to seven; levels of heaven and hell, climates, earths, sins, prophets, and stations of the heart. Muslim pilgrims (and only Muslims) circumambulate the Ka’aba (a cube shaped building in Mec-ca) seven times, representing the seven attributes of God. Bahá’u’lláh, the Prophet-Founder of the Bahá’í faith, wrote The Seven Valleys, in which He relates the journey of the soul through the seven “valleys” of Search, Love, Knowledge, Unity, Content-ment, Wonderment, and finally True Poverty and Absolute Nothingness. Sounds kinda anti-climatic. Why are the other numbers are of seven? Because seven eight nine!

EIGHT symbolizes renewal. After seven days the eighth is a new week, a new beginning. The eighth note in a (Western) musical scale is the same as the one seven notes previous, only at a higher vibration (one octave.) The same principle holds true on the Periodic Table of Elements, where each eighth element shares the properties of the one seven atomic numbers lower on the chart. Eight is the base of the octal number system, which is mostly used with computers (which often use octets, eight bit bytes). Eight on its side is the symbol for Infinity. A red octagon is the universal symbol for stop ( except in Quebec where it means arret). Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra describes an “eight-limbed” path for yoga practice. The most well known of these, asanas (body postures) certainly make one limber. Siddhārtha Gautama (a.k.a.The Buddha) espoused an eightfold path (represented pictorially by the eight spoked Dharma Wheel) to deal with the suffering described in the Four Noble Truths (see previous volume).The path consists of right understanding, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration. Right on. The Dalai Lama, also concerned with reducing suffering, advises that we turn away from eight Worldly Concerns which can be summed up as: praise, ridicule, honor, disgrace, gain, loss, pleasure and misery. Eight is considered a lucky number in China because the word sounds like the word for prosper-ity. There are eight Buddhist symbols of good fortune. Taoists celebrate eight immortals. In their system of belief eight represents all possibilities as symbolized by the PAKUA, a design depicting the eight trigrams of the I Ching. These eight tri-grams can be combined to create sixty four hexagrams that symbolize all the stages of change operating in the universe. Many Christian baptismal fonts are eight-sided as a reminder of the new creation and as a con-nection to the practice of circumcision, which traditionally occurs on the eighth day. Christ offered eight beatitudes. He specifically blessed the poor in spirit, they who mourn, the meek, they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure of heart, the peacemakers and they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness. The meek, who he promised would inherit the earth, are still waiting. Chess, checkers and my favourite, Othello (a.k.a. Reversi) are played on boards of eight squares by eight. The Brady Bunch was a family of eight who’s adventures first appeared on television in the sixties and do so again in reruns. The Bottens and the Langfords of Byron were families of eight who ap-peared in “super eight” films in the sixties which now gather dust somewhere. Eight was enough for tv’s Bradford family but proved too much for Jon and Kate. It’s awkward to be “behind the eight ball” unless it’s your last shot. Miss Muffet identified her tuffet-mate by it’s eight legs. No one will call you nuts if you play Crazy Eights while eating After Eights and sipping V8, but, if you show up in a sequined dress for military duty you might be looking for a section eight. An octopus has eight legs and Santa has eight reindeer. How many feet would be prancing on the roof if Santa’s sled was pulled by eight octopi?

NINE is the highest single-digit number in the decimal system and represents perfection. Casting out nines is a quick way of testing calculations known as long ago as the twelfth century (though I only heard of it this month). When my father pointed out the patterns in nine’s multiplication tables I got my first (and only) glimpse of the magic of numbers. If you multiply nine by any natural number, and repeatedly add the digits of the answer until it is just one digit, you will end up with nine. This led numerologically inclined Hebrews to view nine as representing truth, since it reproduces itself when multiplied. The bible promises nine gifts of the spirit through which believers may serve God’s purpose; the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, faith, healing, the working of miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, divers kinds of tongues, and the interpretation of tongues. Despite appearances, big hair is not one of the spirit’s gifts. Saint Paul wrote about the Fruit of the Spirit as one ninefold “fruit” that characterizes all who truly walk in the Holy Spirit; love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness, and self-control. By their fruitiness shall ye know them. Nine is a sacred number in Scandinavian-Teutonic symbolism. The god Odin (another of literature’s violent one eyed characters) hung for nine days and nights on the Yggdrasil (the “World Tree” around which exist nine worlds) to win the secrets of wisdom for humankind. What a mensch! In Celtic rites nine white stones symbolize the nine virgins attendant on Bridgit. In Graeco-Roman mythology there were nine muses. A nine pointed star, although not a part of the teachings of the Bahá’í Faith, is commonly used as an symbol because of the association of the number nine with perfection and unity and because it is the numerical value of the word “Bahá’”. Baha’i temples are nine sided and have nine entrances. Human gestation takes nine months as does the biodynamic preparation of compost. It takes nine innings (and alternating fielding teams of nine) to make a professional baseball game. Playing nine holes may mean enjoying a game of golf or, according to the Urban Dictionary, having sex with a woman, which can bring us back to gestation. Whether playing baseball or any other sport, Big Jim always wore the number nine. Cats are said to have nine lives though our dear Neko went through all his in only two years. When I’m dressed to the nines I feel like I’m on cloud nine and I’m ready to go the whole nine yards.

TEN represents completeness and is the foundation and turning point of our counting system. Increasing a quantity by one order of magnitude means multiplying the quantity by ten. To reduce something by one-tenth is to decimate it. The Ten Commandments are considered a cornerstone of Judaism and Christianity, and hence spark much debate when displayed in government buildings in the United States where the Su-preme Court has interpreted the First Amendment to their Constitution as requiring a separation of church and state. In Deuteronomy, the Torah commands Jews to give one-tenth of their produce to the poor. This practice of “tithing” is also required in Islam. It is disputed in some circles (mostly Christian ones) whether or not it is required of Christians.According to the book of Exodus, God repeatedly hardened Pharaoh’s heart so that He had excuse to show His power by inflicting ten plagues on Egypt. If you’ve got it, flaunt it!There are said to be Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. Even so, ten adult males must be found to meet the required quorum for Jewish prayer services such as those said on Rosh Hashanah, the beginning of the Ten Days of Repentance. Richard Dawkins proposed an alternative ten commandments:Do not do to others what you would not want them to do to you.In all things, strive to cause no harm.Treat your fellow human beings, your fellow living things, and the world in general with love, hon-esty, faithfulness and respect.Do not overlook evil or shrink from administering justice, but always be ready to forgive wrong-doing freely admitted and honestly regretted.Live life with a sense of joy and wonder.Always seek to be learning something new.Test all things; always check your ideas against the facts, and be ready to discard even a cherished belief if it does not conform to them.Never seek to censor or cut yourself off from dissent; always respect the right of others to disagree with you.Form independent opinions on the basis of your own reason and experience; do not allow yourself to be led blindly by others.Question everything. (Including this list.) The Tetraktys was a Pythagorean symbol whose four rows represented the organization of space. Its shape is still commonly seen as the formation of the pins in ten pin bowling (in which there are ten frames per game). In basketball, ten players (five on each team) try to score by shooting a ball through a hoop elevated ten feet above the ground. Driving a racing car at “ten-tenths” is driving as fast as possible. Ten is the possible highest score a judge can give in Olympics competitions. Bruce Jenner, who won the grueling Olympic decathlon in 1976, now plays bit parts on reality tv. A scale of one to ten is often used to rank things. David Letterman’s top ten lists don’t rank as highly as they used to. A “ten” is said to be a person who is attractive and physically flawless, as Dudley Moore thought Bo Derek was in the movie “10” (but I wouldn’t touch her with a ten foot pole). There are ten official inkblots in the Rorschach inkblot test. If you get frustrated and angry trying to make sense of them, cool off before speaking by counting to ten.

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