Arêndron Numerology

Numerology is a particularly important subset of Arêndron superstition. Most people are not aware of the traditional meanings of all the numbers (though everyone knows that six is a sacred number, and that seven and thirty-four are unlucky), but anyone interested in Arêndron astrology has to understand the numerological meanings that underpin it.

Arêndron numerology is a very complex system in which each number up to 35 has its own symbolic meaning. Many of these meanings are derived from the natures of the gods; others may have originally been chosen based on the numbers' mathematical properties or from their connections in Glaud's Triangle; still others, one feels, were invented at one time or other to complete the system, and stuck.

When calculating a person's birth chart, the most important number is the key number derived from the person's patron and ruling deities; but the symbolic meanings of the month, day, hour and minute numbers all have a part to play. The key number, it should be noted, does not determine one's personality in the same direct way that one's patron and ruling deities do. (So, for instance, having a key number of 23, “quarrel”, does not necessarily make one quarrelsome.) Instead, the number poses a question that is likely to be central to one's life; one must find one's own way of answering it.

The numbers 0 to 7

The sequence of numbers from 0 to 35 is known as the Zêrein Vœrdon or “Moments of the Road”; this and Glaud's Triangle are by far the most important sources of meaning in Arêndron numerology. However, the numbers up to 7 each have special significance because of their associations with the Artûlan, the main deities of the Arêndron religion.

Zero is the number of Kailya, who was the Void before the World was created. It is the number of Eternity and Timelessness; it cannot change and develop as the higher numbers can. It is a sign of Beginnings, even though no progress from the beginning can be made without the help of One. It is associated with calm and meditation, and with the colour black.

One is the number of Glaud, and stands for the Cosmos (Argam) considered as a Unity, and thus begins the process of Creation. It is associated with creativity and imagination, and with the colour white.

Two is the number of Amma, and represents the Female. Two is a number of divisions, of a structure emerging from the initial spark of creation. It is called the Sign of Continuation, but it can also stand for partnership and togetherness. It is associated with the colour yellow.

Three is the number of Loreish, and represents the Male. Three is a force of balance opposed to the dynamic influence of Two, and stands for Judgement and Wisdom. Three is also a number of comradeship and alliance, and is associated with the colour red.

Four is the number of Sheubâr. It stands for the family, and for mutual love and protection; but also for the nation viewed as a family, that is, of Justice and the Law. Four is associated with the colour vêlish, that is, blue; Arêndron has two basic colour words for blue, vêlish meaning light blue or sky blue, and rûl meaning dark blue (including dark purple).

Five is the number of Thantor. It stands for the power of the individual person standing apart from the family; it is the sign of Ambition and Rebellion, but also of individual achievement. It is associated with the colour brown.

Six is the number of the gods, and therefore stands for their union and co-operation. Being the first xegla shunha (perfect number), it symbolises the glory of the finished Creation, and the grand System of the World, ending the first stage in which its unity and diversity are both revealed together. It is associated with the colour green.

Seven is the sign of Overflow and Reverse, represented by the arch-demon Raimut; Glaud began his creation by creating the other Artûlan, but the energy he put into this creation overflowed and created Seven as well, and it is from this together with the lower numbers that the full diversity of the world, including evil as well as good, came into being, to such an extent that its primal unity is now masked for most of us. Seven, and evil, are associated with rûl or dark blue.

The numbers 8 to 35

I give only a brief description of the meaning of each later number.

Higher numbers

Thirty-five is the highest number in the Zêrein Vœrdon, but because the sequence includes zero, there are 36 and not 35 zêrein. For this reason and because it is the square of the sacred number six, thirty-six is associated with the culmination of Creation in the diversity of the World.

Forty-nine is the square of Raimut's number, seven, and so stands as the counterbalance to thirty-six; it represents the eventual undoing of the world and its conversion back into nothingness.

The number 216, being the cube of six, is also sacred. It is particularly associated with mankind, considered as the gods' most special and complex creation.

Perfect numbers (xeglan shunha) are associated with aesthetic beauty. The Arêndron people know of four: 6 and 28, which are considered above, and 496 and 8128. Each of the four is associated with a particular type of beauty: six with the beauty of Creation, twenty-eight with elegance in art, 496 with beauty in movement and dance, and 8128 with human facial beauty. The meaning of the number sixteen, incompleteness and dependence, may partly derive from 496; Arêndron counts in base thirty, and 496 is represented as 16 × 30 + 16, so sixteen is in a sense “half of” 496, dependent on its other half for the attainment of perfection.

The number 900 has no especial significance, but it is the square of thirty and therefore to the Arêndrons a “round number” just as 1000 is to us. It is often said that the natural span of a man's life is 900 months (75 years, or around 73 years speaking pedantically, since the saying originated when the old lunar calendar was still in use).

The number 1225 is especially dreaded, and associated with the final battle at the end of the world, because it is both the square of 35 (the last in the sequence of the Zêrein) and the triangular number with a side of 49. (It is, in fact, in some respects an Arêndron counterpart to the “Number of the Beast”, although its significance is more transparent.) Many people are superstitious about this number and will, for instance, pay extra to avoid it if the amount they are asked for comes to exactly 1225 units of currency.