Tetractys

The tetractys is an esoteric symbol related to the school of Pythagoras, consisting of ten points in our four rows going from one (unity) to two (dyad), three (triad) to four (tetrad).

The simple symbol can be used to tell the story of the evolution of our solar system over four planetary stages of evolution, and the appearance of the four elements and higher ethers, as well as the processes between these as described in alchemy. In that sense it presents a key to the universal knowledge and wisdom and described through the ages (see sources of spiritual science).

For other pyramidion symbols that represent a sort of spiritual alphabet, see eg the Book of Ten Pages, and the Sephiroth.

Aspects

• three key processes
  • combustion (sulphur process, Old Sun)
  • movement (mercury process, Old Moon)
  • dissolution (salt process, Earth)
• fire leaves behind ashes of burned matter
  • decision/resolve leaves behind the good or bad that remains
  • thought leaves behind ashes -> strengthens bones
• form used in Tetragrammaton: the name of Jehovah in hebrew: IHVH for Yod-He-Vav-He is sometimes also arranged in a triangle

Illustrations

Schema FMC00.556: shows the tetractys symbol with some explanatory notes to bring the ten dots to life with meaning.

As the 'mystery of number', see Schema FMC00.551 and of the Book of Ten Pages, this symbol is all about relationships and a typical example of a pyramidion symbol, with underneath a pyramid of spiritual scientific knowledge and wisdom.

Schema FMC00.556A depicts some additional illustrations of the tetractys symbol, a.o. by Robert Fludd (left) and Manly Hall (middle).

Note that the triangle is can be oriented in different ways related to meaning and sequence rolling off, compare the below with Schema FMC00.556. Also observe that pictorial representations hardly add value, as the true deep wisdom contained in the ten dots is so far beyond what can be represented; and in that sense the 'naked' ten dots without anything more is the best presentation because it leaves all the rest open for the mind.

Schema FMC00.551 illustrates what was taught through the ages as the mystery or secret of numbers, the esoteric or spiritual scientific significance of how the number relates to fundamental characteristics of the macrocosm and microcosm. See Book of Ten Pages.

In the lectures of 1906-09-GA091, Rudolf Steiner starts with Pi and develops the numbers 1 to 10, showing how 5 is a result of 3 (triangle, see Man's higher triad) and 4 (see Man's bodily principles) - see also Schema FMC00.095 on Lord's prayer - that combine into 5 and the pentagram as symbol of Man.

Five (5) represents the number of revelation as an expression of seven spiritual influences that worked during the descent. On Earth, Man is halfway in its development. Ten (10) represents the number of completion and will be the result of 14 forces, as Man will make the seven spiritual influences his own during his ascent.

During the evolution during the seven planetary stages of the solar system evolution, Man will go through seven stages or Conditions of Consciousness (CoC, see also Three dimensions of evolution), later Man will develop further as the Tenth hierarchy to five further stages and become part of active creation of the cosmos, and ultimately the Logos, see IAO. The Twelve Conditions of Consciousness can be related to manvatara and pralaya stages as seven and five (see also Twelve as seven and five). Twelve (12) relates to the spirit world, the Sun forces, the zodiac signs; as seven (7) relates to the Human 'I'; and five (5) with the pentagram the symbol of incarnated physical Man.

Lecture coverage and references

1908-02-26-GA266

1908-03-14-GA266

see Mystery of silver#1908-03-14-GA266

1909-04-10-GA109

For today's humanity, two closely related truths shine as mighty lights and emblems on the horizon of the spirit — important points of reference for a developing humanity that is striving within the spiritual realm. The first emblem is the burning bramblebush of Moses, and the second is the fire appearing under lightning and thunder at Sinai from which Moses received the pronouncement of the “I am the I am.” Who is that spiritual being in the two apparitions announcing himself to Moses?

Anyone who understands the Christian message in a spiritual sense will also understand the words that announce to Moses the Being in the burning bramblebush, and later in the fire on Mt. Sinai — the Being who places the Ten Commandments before his soul. The writer of the Gospel of St. John tells us that Moses prophesied the Coming of Christ Jesus, and the Evangelist John expressly lets him point to those places in the Bible where the force in the burning bramblebush and later in the fire at Sinai announces Himself as the Being who was later to be named “the Christ.” No godhead other than the Christ is intended to be introduced by the words “I am the I am.”

The God who later appeared in the human body and who confronted mankind with the Mystery of Golgotha reigns invisibly after He had announced Himself earlier in the fire element in nature, in the burning bush, and in the lightning fire of Sinai. And you can understand the Old or the New Testament only if you know that the God proclaimed by Moses is the Christ who was supposed to walk among people. That is how the God who is supposed to bring salvation to human beings announces Himself in a way as no being in human form would. He announces Himself in the fiery element of nature, the element in which Christ is living. His divine essence makes itself known in many forms. The same Divine Being that reigns throughout all of antiquity now makes His visible appearance through the Event in Palestine.

Let us look back to the Old Testament and ask ourselves whom the ancient Hebrews actually revered. Who is their God? The members of the Hebrew Mystery Centers knew it; they worshiped the Christ and recognized Him as the speaker of the words, “Tell my people: I am the I am.” But even if nothing of this were known, the very fact that God, within our cycle of humanity, announced Himself in the fire would be sufficiently authentic evidence to the person capable of seeing into the deep mysteries of nature that the God of the burning bramblebush is identical with the God who announced Himself on Mt. Sinai. He came down from spiritual heights in order to fulfill the Mystery of Golgotha through His descent into a human body. For there is a mysterious connection between the fire that ignites the elements of nature out there and the fire that pulsates through our blood in the form of body temperature. We have often emphasized in our Spiritual Science that the human being is a microcosm juxtaposed to the large world, the macrocosm. Therefore, when we perceive things in the right way, the inner processes of a human being must correspond to processes taking place outside in the universe. For every inner-process we must be able to find the corresponding outer process, but to understand the meaning of this requires that we enter deep shafts of Spiritual Science. We are touching here the fringe of a deep mystery, of a truth that answers this question: What in the external macrocosm corresponds to the origin of human thought within us?

Human beings are the only creatures on Earth who really think, and through their thoughts they are able to experience a world that extends beyond the Earth. The manner in which thoughts flash up in the human being has no parallel in any other creature on earth.

What is taking place within us when a thought is ignited, when either the simplest or the most enlightening thought flashes into our minds?

To answer this question, let us say that the I and astral body are simultaneously activated within us when we let our thoughts pass through our souls. Our blood is the physical expression of our ego, and that which in our nervous system is called “life” is the physical expression of our astral body. Not a single thought would flare up in our souls if I and astral body did not work in concert, thus giving rise to a commensurate, interdependent functioning of the blood and of the nervous system. The future science of human beings will some day be amazed at today's scientific theory, which holds that thoughts originate solely in the nervous system. This belief is incorrect because the process responsible for the origination of thoughts must be seen as a dynamic interaction between blood and nervous system.

A thought flashes up in our soul when our blood, our inner fire, nervous system, and air cooperate in such a way. The origination of the thought inside our soul corresponds to rolling thunder in the cosmos.

Likewise, when lightning flashes in the air, and when air and fire interact to produce thunder, this corresponds to the fire of our blood and the activity of our nervous system.

This produces what one might metaphorically call an inner thunder that echoes in our thoughts, albeit gently, quietly, and imperceptibly. The lightning in the clouds corresponds to the fire and to the warmth in our blood, whereas the air outside, including all the elements it contains in the universe, corresponds to everything that passes through our nervous system. And just as lightning in its counterplay with the elements produces thunder, so the counterplay of blood and nerves produces the thought that flashes up in the soul. Suppose we looked out into the world that surrounds us, saw lightning flashing up in the air, and heard rolling thunder discharging itself. Then suppose that, as we looked into our soul, we sensed an inner warmth pulsating in our blood and felt the life that passes through our nervous system, a thought would flash up within us to tell us that both the external and the internal event were one.

That is really the truth! Although our thoughts take place within ourselves, the thunder rolling in the sky is not just a physical, material phenomenon. To assert that it was so would be nothing but materialistic mythology. However, individuals able to perceive that spiritual beings weave and radiate through material existence will look up to the sky, see the lightning, hear the thunder, and to them this will be a true and real indication of God's thinking in the fire, of His intention to announce Himself to us. That is the invisible God who weaves and radiates through the universe. His warmth is in the lightning, His nerves in the air, His thoughts in the rolling thunder; and it was He who spoke to Moses in the burning bramblebush and in the lightning fire of Sinai.

The elements fire and air in the macrocosm correspond to blood and nerves in the human microcosm. Thoughts in the human being are what lightning and thunder are in the macrocosm.

By analogy, the God whom Moses saw and heard in the burning bush and who spoke to him in the lightning fire of Mt. Sinai appears as the Christ in the blood of Jesus of Nazareth. By thinking like a human being and by being in a human body, Christ's influence as the great model for human evolution extends into the far-distant future. And thus, two poles in the human evolution meet each other: the macrocosmic God on Mt. Sinai who announces Himself in thunder and lightning fire, and the same microcosmic God who is embodied in the human being of Palestine.

The sublime mysteries of humanity have been derived from the most profound wisdom. They are not invented legends, but a truth so profound that we need all the means available to Spiritual Science in order to unveil the mysteries that are woven around this truth. Let us ask what kind of an impulse mankind received through its great model, the Christ-Being, who descended to earth and united Himself with the microcosmic copies of the elements that are present in the human body.

Related pages

• Book of Ten Pages
• Alchemy
• Mystery of silver

References and further reading

• Arturo Reghini (1878-1946):
  • For the restitution of Pythagorean geometry (1935, again in 1988)
    • includes 'The sacred numbers in the Pythagorean tradition' with new title 'Sacred numbers and Pythagorean geometry'
  • Of the Pythagorean Numbers (Seven Books) (1940 again 2004 )
  • 'Sacred Numbers in Traditional Pythagorean Masonry' (1947) - see online source A and source B
    • Chapter 1: The Pythagorean Tetraktys and The Masonic Delta
    • Chapter 5: The number and its powers