Notables of the number 9

Jack T. Chakhesang [dropcap]S[/dropcap]ince the past six months I had been writing, on and off, on various numbers. So far, the numbers 40, 10, 12 and 5 have been covered. This time it is the number 9. The reason for the last is that on January 19, I had ventured on “A flight into the realm of Angels” that has categorized these celestial beings into nine orders, or choruses. While the cardinal number 9 may still be fresh perhaps this write-up may complement its immediate predecessor. But first, a little analogy on this unique number would be in order. As you all know, this cardinal number is one less than ten. Its Roman numerals are ix or IX which are also part and parcel of the English language.The phrase “(up) to the nines” means to a great or elaborate extent. Its origin is from the Old English. Ninepins is a traditional form of the game of skittles, using nine pins. Ninth is the ordinal number. From this it follows that the cardinal number nineteen has its derivative in the ordinal number nineteenth. Cardinal number ninety (Roman numeral xc or XC) has its derivative in the ordinal number ninetieth. The beautiful scented Narcissus has 9 letters, it is flowering now in my garden! All numbers have interesting backgrounds. I have three 3, two 1 and 95 in my birthday. I have for fun and interest had a look at the Number 9. It has many interesting facts and superstitions hanging on to it. It is all man made. FACTS OF THE NUMBERS People have always been fascinated by NUMBERS... Numbers are actually basic elements of mathematics used for counting, measuring, ranking, comparing quantities, and solving equations. Numbers have unique properties: for some they are merely concise symbols manipulated according to arbitrary rules, for others numbers carry occult powers and mystic virtues. Almost all numeration systems start as simple tally marks, using single strokes to represent each additional unit. The first known use of numbers dates back to around 30,000 BC when tally marks were precisely used by stone age people. Numbers, cover a range of different topics including mathematics, history, philosophy, psychology, symbolism, etymology, language, and/or ethnology. SYMBOLISM Nine is the number of patience, the meditation. Number of harmony, it represents the inspiration and the perfection of the ideas. It is the expression of “the power of the Holy Spirit,” according to French novelist and philosopher, Etchegoyen. Symbolize the plenitude of talents, the reward of the tests. As a product of 3 x 3 it is the expression of the perfection, the symbol of the virile power, in addition to be associated to the couple. Nine is the number of the one who accomplishes the divine will. According to the Cabal, it is also the number of the achievement. The Freemasons have made it the number of human immortality. Being the last simple number, it is the number of finalization or finition; it is, therefore, the most complex, that marks the full lighting up of the numerical series. The number was considered as sacred in Egypt and in Greece. Number of the man, as a natural symbol of his gestation (nine months). Number symbolizing the nocturnal and terrestrial things, for the Aztecs. Number of the hierarchy, represented by nine orders/choruses of the Angels. Represent the three divine manifestations in the three planes: (1) World of the spirit; (2) World of the soul and (3) World of the matter. These give a triple manifestation of the Trinity (3 x 3). Symbol of the multitude and according to Paremide, it concerns the absolute things and it is the symbol of the totality of the human being. Parmenide was an ancient Greek philosopher who founded the Eleatic school of philosophy. A favourable number, associate to the eternity. BIBLICAL LINKS Nailed on the cross, Christ expires at the ninth hour. Jesus appears nine times to his disciples and apostles after his resurrection. The nine spiritual gifts of God enumerated by Saint Paul—wisdom, knowledge, faith, gift of healing, to operate miracles, prophesy, distinguishing spirits, to speak in different kinds of tongues and the gift to interpret them (1 Corinthians 12:4-11). Saint Paul also enumerates nine fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22). Jesus Ben Sira (born 170 BC) was a Jewish sage who once wrote, “There are nine things I can think of which strike me as happy, and a tenth which is now is now on my tongue.” The bed of Og, King of Bashan, incarnation of the devil, had nine cubits long (Deuteronomy (3:11). Hoshea, son of Elah, became king of Israel in Samaria, and reigned for nine years (2 Kings 17:1). GENERAL REFERENCES The practice of the nine first Fridays and Saturdays of the month, asked by Jesus: the first one being to honour his Sacred Heart and the second as a veneration for his Mother. Saturday is indeed dedicated to the Virgin Mary to commemorate her sorrows and her pain, between the death of Jesus and his resurrection, painful moment which lasted the whole day without to have the vision of her Son. The choruses/ranks of the Angels: 1. Seraphs, angels of love and light; 2. Cherubs, angels of wisdom and intelligence; 3. Thrones, angels of force and life; 4. Dominions, angels of liberty; 5. Principalities, angels of eternity and memory; 6. Powers, angels of holiness; 7. Virtues, angels of humility; 8. Archangels, having for attribute the justice; 9. Ordinary angels, to which is attributed the innocence. The nine days of retreat and prayer in a novena are sources of graces. In the revelations received by Dr Mary Jane Evan of the United States, the Lord says that there are nine degrees of prayers. The four firsts are the vocal prayer, the meditation, the affective prayer and the innate contemplation. The last five are the types of the mystical prayer—the innate contemplation, the quiet prayer, the prayer of union, the prayer of union in conformity, and the most mystical is the prayer of the transforming union. French Canadian Jacques Parquette, refers, in his book “Apocalypse: Prophecies of the end of times”, to nine kingdoms associating the 4th to the Roman empire 19 centuries ago; the Revelation of John speaks about it in chapter 2 verse 40. The ninth universal empire, called also thousand years reign, corresponds to the New Jerusalem of the Revelation. God spread many extraordinary graces on the Virgin Mary the nine days before the Annunciation, according to the visions of Mary Agreda (1602-72), a nun of the Franciscan order. After the death of a Pope, there is celebration of masses for the rest of his soul during nine days, with nine absolutions. Nine was the name of the sacred mountain of the Sun, for the ancient Egyptians. Some peoples believed that the sky was divided into nine celestial levels. It was the case for the Buddhists and also for the last worshippers of Mithra the sun god of ancient Indo-Persian mythology. The nine plains of the Chinese sky. The hall of the imperial throne was separated by nine gates from the rest of the palace and the Book of Annals, named “Chou-king,” exposes the “Sublime Science” in nine rules. Also, the Chinese prostrated 9 times in front of their Emperor. There were nine gates which separated the sacred enclosure (holy of holies) of some religious traditions, from the rest of the space, this one considered profane. Deucalion, the Greek Noah sailed 9 days on the vessel which he built on the command of the gods. For ancient Greek poet Hesiode (750 BC), the Earth was separated from the heavens by a distance of nine days and nine nights, and from the hell also by nine days and nine nights. The nine levels of the hell of Dante. The nine nodes of the bamboo for the Taoists. The nine notches of the birch-axis of the world of the Siberian tribes. The nine openings of the man for Islam. The nine stages that should traverse the souls of the Aztecs to reach the eternal rest. They counsel also nine underground worlds. The nine was the key number of teaching for the materialistic Hindu philosophers in the Vaishnavite school. It is the period of years when the voice of God is heard by a person if this person did not understand yet one of his lessons of life. Ther 9 girls of Belenos of the Druidism: Ogia—virginity, Glania—purity, Karantia—charity, Uxellia—nobleness, Viriona—truth, Aventia—honesty—honesty, Dagia—goodness, Lania—plenitudes, and Luvania—joy. The nine is often found in the various superstitions, such as for example, nine salt grains means the bad fate. And if someone wants to get married in the year will jump nine times over a fire of Saint John or will jump over nine different fires. The tradition wants that the drowned returns to the surface of the water after nine days. The magic square using the first nine numbers is associated to the planet Saturn and has for sum 15. Sometimes, it is also called the “Square of Solomon”:- 4 9 2 3 5 7 8 2 6 In Greek mythology: the nine nights of love of Zeus; the nine days and nine nights that Leto suffers when she gives birth; the nine girls of Zeus and Mnemosyne named Muses (who governed the liberal arts)—Clio, Calliope, Melpomene, Thala, Enterpe, Erato, Terpischore, Polymna and Urania. The nine days of anxiety of the Ceres-Demeter goddess who went around the world in search of her daughter Persephone kidnapped by Hepaistsos, the dark god of Hells; There is also the tradition that Minos, in his cavern spent nine years to receive the Jupiter laws; a legend says also that Minos had, every nine years, a meeting with Jupiter, after which it was possible for him to prophecy Every nine years Athens sent to the island of Crete, seven young men and seven young girls to be sacrificed there to the Minotaure. There are nine “Dharmas”, books constituting the Nepali Bible. Orphism defines nine symbolic aspects of the universe divided into 3 triads—the night, the sky and the time; the ether, the light and the stars; and the sun, moon and the nature. The 9 was the symbol of the moon goddess, “Bolon Tiku,” of the Mayas. The “Jin Hoang” of the “Kieou-teou” divide the earth in nine parts, and nine brothers of the same name share the empire of the world. In the Hindu Brahminism, Vishnu incarnates in nine avatars to sacrifice himself for the salvation of mankind. In the bio-dynamic culture, the complete cycle for the preparation of the compost lasts nine months. The language includes, grammatically, nine parts—the verb, noun, adjective, participle, conjunction, article, pronoun, preposition and adverb—interjection apart. The nine planets discovered in our solar system, are in order starting from the Sun—Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. Recently, a tenth planet was discovered beyond Pluto. R. Allendy (1889-1942), French homeopathic doctor and psychoanalyst, speaks about the curious arithmetical properties of the nine which gives it a very particular character because of the use of our decimal notation system. In another notation system, they would cease to exist; the difference between an unspecified number and the number formed by the inversion of its digits is always a multiple of 9, for example, between 26 and 62, the difference is 36, multiple of 9. The multiples of 9 are always composed of digits where the sum (once reduced is equal to 9. The product of 123456789 x 9 gives 9 times the digit 1 in the answer (1111111101). Considering this last property spiritual teacher Elisabeth Haich (1897-1994) mentions the next calculations: 0 x 9 +1 = 1 1 x 9 + 2 = 11 12 x 9 + 3 = 111 123 x 9 + 4 = 1111 1234 x 9 + 5 = 11111 12345 x 9 + 6 = 111111 123456 x 9 + 7 = 1111111 1234567 x 9 + 8 = 11111111 12345678 x 9 + 9 = 111111111 123456789 x 9 + 10 = 1111111111 The Trojan War of Homer’s epic “Iliad” lasted nine years. Anniversary of marriage: weddings of pottery or crockery. OCCURRENCE The number 9 is used 50 times in the Bible. Numbers 150, 30,000 and 100,000 are used 9 times in the Bible. The number 9 is used three times in the New Testament of the Bible, including 7 times in the Gospel of Luke. By 9 times the Bible refers to the Law of the Lord as to a book in Chronicle Books. The word “Master-of-all” is used 9 times in the Bible. The number 9 is used three times in the Koran (Koran XVII, 105; XVIII, 24 and XVVII, 49). FOOD FOR THOUGHT Any number has its significance and is not exclusive to any religion or culture.