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Kim H. Veltman
Keynote: “Historical Interfaces for Cultures”: Fourth International Workshop on HumanComputer Interaction, Tourism and Cultural Heritage (HCITOCH 2013): Strategies for a
Creative Future with Computer Science, Quality Design and Communicability, Rome,
September 26 – 27, 2013. http://www.ainci.com/HCITOCH-2013/workshop_HCITOCH_2013.html
Abstract
The rapid growth of the Internet has led to Big Data. Some assume that this challenge will be
resolved simply by linked data and new algorithms in data mining: quicker word and image
searches. With a rhetoric of a seeking a semantic web, an earlier vision of saving, scanning
and linking everything is becoming focussed on profitable links to be sought (advertising,
sales) and potentially dangerous links to be fought (terrorism). The current web includes past
knowledge, but is focussed on aspects of the now (Who, What, Where).
Historically, semantics was about meaning which, at the macro-level of words, was the
domain of dictionaries. There was also a micro-level of meaning in terms of letters (alphabets,
cabala), numbers (arithmetic, gematria) and symbols (hieroglyphs, glyphs, geometry), which
were linked with the arts (grammar, dialectic, and rhetoric) and the sciences: acoustic worlds
(music), invisible and visible worlds (alchemy, chemistry, phusis, natural philosophy,
physics), and the heavens (astrology, astronomy).
Scanning and making historical materials available online is a first step towards a web of the
past, which will complement the current web of the present. We need to scan in not just the
texts and images but also the links they contain. To understand this web of the past requires
new interfaces with chronological, historical, relational and causal filters (When, How, Why).
It needs more granularity in terms of letters rather than just words, and new links between
words, letters, numbers, symbols, and images. The paper illustrates the challenges using
examples linking letters and alphabets with astronomy.
1
1. Introduction
The Internet is expanding rapidly. There were 252 million new users in the first 3 months of
this year with a total of 2,749 billion in March 2013.1 The amount of content is also
expanding dramatically:
Each day 540 million SMS are sent around the world, 143 billion e-mails are
exchanged, 400 million tweets are posted and 104,000 hours of video are added to
YouTube.2
This massive expansion has inspired a new buzzword: big data, with some claiming that 90%
of all electronic data has been produced in the last two years.3 Sir Tim Berners Lee, a founder
of the World Wide Web, preaches the importance of linked data as if this would be enough.4
Some are seemingly certain that faster algorithms and data mining5 will overcome all
challenges. There are two main camps. One is focussed on ever new, more efficient and more
profitable links (advertising and sales). A second camp is focussed on dangerous links
(terrorism). Traditionally, intelligence and security agencies were focussed on the important
task of tracking spies and individuals who were a threat to the state. Recently, they have made
the contents of big data part of their job description. The good news is serious funding for
finding profitable and dangerous elements in the present and near future. The less good news
is probably less money for studying historical dimensions of our cultures.
Even if we accept that 90% of all electronic data was produced in 2011-2112, it would be rash
to claim that 90% of all human knowledge and wisdom was produced in the past two years.
Meaningful knowledge does not need to be highly profitable or dangerous: it needs to be
learned and shared. This principle is less evident than before. At the beginning of the 20th
century there were visions of creating a world brain6 or global brain (Gehirn der Welt),7
which would give universal access to all knowledge. Today, while this rhetoric continues,
rather than a vision of integration and synthesis through collective efforts, there is a trend
towards fragmentation through separate apps8 whereby as Oscar Wilde would say: one knows
the price of everything and the value of nothing.
The current trends focus attention on the now. They also narrow our horizons. Profitable links
to be sought (advertising, sales) focus on our known habits, in order to sell us more of the
same or variants on the familiar. Potentially dangerous links to be fought (terrorism) focus on
the known habits of individuals with negative attentions. Both focus on the known or
presumed known. By contrast, new knowledge is about the unfamiliar. So search engines with
filters on what we know and expect impede rather than foster serious searching.
This paper outlines needs for more synthesis, which requires a more detailed approach at the
level of letters and individual symbols rather than simply words and images of today’s search
engines. It also points to the need for links between letters, numbers, symbols, words and
images. On the surface, this essay focusses on only a dozen letters: O, U, D, V, Slovo,
Swastika, Posolon, A, Ain, L, E, Th. These serve as leitmotif to illustrate why we need a new
approach to organizing, searching for and presenting data, information and knowledge and
why we need new interfaces. They envision a new history of letters, alphabets and knowledge.
2
Ω
The head
The threshold entring Earth
The upper threshold
Ʊ
The Taile
The threshold going out Fire
The lower threshold
Figure 1a. Rahu and Ketu, b. Dragon’s Head – Tail, c-d. Anabibazon – Catabibazon, e-f.
Omega – Upsilon, g-h. The Head – The tail, i-k. Characters of Serpens Caput – Cauda.
3
2. Rahu and Ketu
In astronomy, the moon and sun have independent orbits which intersect at two points. In the
West, these are called the North and South nodes of the Moon. In India, they are called Rahu
and Ketu and are counted as separate (shadow) planets. They are important because they help
to explain the cause of eclipses. One version of the symbols for Rahu - Ketu is a downward
and an upward facing horseshoe (figure 1a). In the West, Rahu and Ketu have other names
such as head and tail of the dragon or serpent (Serpens caput - Serpens cauda). These two
parts are symbolized by a squashed version of horseshoes to either side of a skeleton (figure
1b). Technical names for the head and tail include Anabibazon - Catabibazon (figure 1c-d). In
terms of Greek, they are letter 24 - letter 20 (Omega - Upsilon, figure 1e-f). In geomancy,
they become 2 of the 16 Behenian stars, associated with earth and fire and represented as a
dotted Y and inverted Y form (figure 1g-h). As the characters of Serpens caput- Serpens
cauda they recur as a series of forms including a chalice and chalice inverted (figure 1 i-k).
The second of these characters of Rahu is identical to that of the Chinese Yuan and Japanese
Yen symbols (Ұ), number 4 in Indian, Letter 4, Indo-Bactrian (cch),9 Y (Proto-Byzantine),
Cyrillic U with stroke, Kazakh short U, letter Sh (Old Turkic) and УТЕХА (у) (Rune 54, Old
Slavic). Hence, Rahu is linked with numbers letters 4, 6 10 and symbols of earth and wealth.
A regular Google search using the symbol Ұ takes us the Kazakh short U, the Cyrillic capital
U with a stroke and the Titty symbol used in German social networks.10 Following the links
takes us to the Yen and Yuan symbols, but there is no hint of any connection with rahu and
ketu, or the dragon’s head-tail. Google image search is equally incomplete. Our search
engines are trained to look for full words. They need the granularity to search for individual
letters and shapes.
They also need to search across different media and scales of reality as becomes clear when
we explore the rahu - ketu theme in more detail. The two signs are associated with dragons
and serpents. In India, there is a very specific association with cobras. If we look at the back
of a cobra poised to strike we notice that it has a V shaped sign that is in fact the ketu symbol
(figure 2a). The position of the physical poised cobra becomes the basis of the cosmic Kaal
Sarp Dosha in Hindu astrology (figure 2b). Here the cobra is much more than a snapshot of a
familiar reptile. It defines the route of the 12 zodiac signs beginning with Mesha (Aries). In
the Mandaic alphabet, the V shaped sign of the cobra becomes letter 21: Sha (figure 2c). In
Glagolitic, it becomes the letter, Vědě (to know). Rahu becomes the letter Dobro (good, as in
Dobro Iutro, Good Morning, figures 2 d-e). Ornamental versions of Glagolitic show the
richness of variations of these two forms (figure 2 f-g).
They recur as door handles, sometimes as a squashed version of Ketu (figure 2h, cf. figure
1b). Or Ketu is above while the door handle is connected with the laurel of Rahu (figure 2i).
The reasoning entails astronomy.11 The mutable signs defined two axes, 4 cross-quarter
points, and 4 gates of the year: the Human, Earth, Heaven, Demon Gate. Entering a house
symbolically re-enacts the cosmic thresholds, cycles and patterns. In future search engines, we
need to be able to move from earthly snakes or door handles to their cosmic equivalents.
4
Figure 2 a. Cobra, b. Kaal Sarp Dosha, c. Sha (Mandaic), d-e. Vědě -Dobro (Glagolitic), f-g.
Decorative Glagolitic, h-i Horseshoes (Wolfshuis, Valkenburg ).
5
Figure 3a. Rahu, b. Regnum Typhonium Rhombs, c. Typhon, d. Kircher Zodiac.
6
Figure 4a.7 Headed Snake, b. Ketu as Hydra, c. 10 Headed Snake, d. Vishnu on Seshnag, e.
Dürer, Apocalypse: Dragon with 7 Heads, f. War in Heaven: Dragon Defeated.
7
Other versions of Rahu and Ketu show a split personality avant la lettre. The upper part of the
figure is human (Rahu), while the lower part of the figure is reptilian and beastly (figure 3a).
Western equivalents are Erichthonius12 and Typhon (figure 3 b-c). Faster algorithms will not
link Rahu-Ketu and Typhon. In the Egyptian zodiac map, Typhon is linked with the zodiac
sign Scorpio and decans 31 - 33 in the Kircher Zodiac (figure 3 d). Decan 31 links to letter 31
in Sanskrit, Sha, and corresponds to Sha, letter 21 in Mandaic in the form of Ketu (figure 2c).
The system needs to do more than find a zodiac image. It needs to map links between zodiac
signs, decan numbers and letter numbers, which also have links with deity numbers and
concept numbers. Scanning Kircher’s zodiac is only step one. Identifying the individual
figures and symbols and correlating them with numbers is step two. Tracing their historical
equivalents in different media is step three.
While Rahu is a serpent with a human head, Ketu has a human body with a multiple serpent
heads (figure 4b). At first glance, this is totally fanciful. In nature 6 and even 10 headed
snakes exist (figure 4a, c). In Indian mythology, Vishnu stands (figure 4 d) and sometimes lies
on Seshnag or Sesha (Se-Sha which again contains the Sha of letter 21 in Mandaic and 31 in
Sanskrit). Shesh (or Shisha) is also connected number 6 in a number of Eurasian languages.
India and Nepal have a feast of Nagpachami to appease the power of snakes in July-August.13
In Hindu astronomy and astrology, Aslesha and Adisesha are linked with the constellation
Hydra, which explains why Western mythology typically shows Hercules fighting a multiheaded serpent. In Western religion, the Ketu, Hydra tradition recurs as the Dragon with 7
Heads in Dürer’s Apocalypse and modern drawings of the War in Heaven (figure 4 e-f).
Current search engines expect to find a name (Dürer), a term or a title (Apocalypse, War in
Heaven). Needed are search engines that can find elements within a title, relate these to other
examples in different places and different times. In addition to searching for who? and what?
we need to be able to filter the search by where?, when? and sometimes also how? and why?
We also need filters for media: e.g. only examples which are paintings, woodcuts, and or
engravings and filters for different scales, worlds and levels of reality. The Internet introduced
links. The World Wide Web focussed on links for born digital materials. The Internet of
things is linking with the physical world. The examples of Rahu and Ketu illustrate the need
to expand links to conceptual, imaginary, mythological worlds. The real challenge is links
between these worlds at different scales and different levels of abstraction in terms of
numbers, letters, figures, symbols as well as words and images.
3. Ouroboros and the Alphabet
The Ouroboros, a cosmic serpent biting its tail, offers further examples of the challenges of
linking numbers, letters and images. One example shows such a serpent with a left pointing
swastika known as a Posolon (figure 5.a):
[VSvastika]-[Posolon] is located on the upper ray of the seal of Solomon, showing the relationship
between the internal and the external; by soul and by god. Swastika in this emblem serves as the
conductor of soul to god, designates the place of the passage of soul into the godly abode.
Simultaneously swastika is obstacle snake that personifies evil in the Slavic tradition; it is the
expression of the forces of good, which oppose to evil. Swastika - the higher symbol with respect to the
seal of Solomon.14
8
Figure 5a . Ouroboros, b. Ouroboros, Good and Bad Numbers, c. Swastika Letter, d. Posolon
Letter, e. Ouroboros and Alphabet.
9
Figure 6a. Slavic Veda, b Russian Bukvitsa
10
Figure 7. Indicum
11
Figure 8. Alphabetum seu potius Syllabarium Lutterarum Chaldearum
12
Figure 9. Aethiopisch
13
A fuller meaning emerges through knowledge of ancient Slavic alphabets, which have a letter
Glagoli (Γ, G), four of which combine to create a letter Swastika (figure 5b). Letter Swastika
is linked with morning and the summer solstice, while its reverse, (Posolon) is linked with
evening and the winter solstice (figure 6c). In other cases, there are two serpents biting each
other’s tails representing the superior and the inferior abyss.15 Alternatively, they form a
figure 8 linked with letter 8, letter H and the Summer Solstice. Or the figure 8 becomes two
interlinked entities, where the upper is a laurel circle and the lower is a serpent circle (figure 5
b). Looking closely, we see that above the laurel is a mountain with a seated angelic figure
holding a rosary. To his right are the signs for Gemini and Rahu. At the bottom are the Signs
for Sagittarius and Ketu. So now Rahu and Ketu have clear spatial coordinates: Gemini and
Sagittarius. Rahu is linked with Laurel. Only Ketu is linked with the Serpent. The laurel and
serpent have numbers: “All in the Laurell are good All in the Serpent are Evill.” Basic
numbers now have a moral value. Here Rahu and Ketu are much more than two nodes of the
moon. They serve as a means of structuring the universe.
In the Slavic runic tradition, there are versions of the figure 8 ouroboros which serve to
structure the runes and letters of the alphabet (figure 5c). Here our concern is not to analyse
the details but simply to note that scanning the image is only step one. Its meaning only
becomes clear when individual letters, symbols and corresponding numbers and gematria are
noted. The Internet and World Wide Web drew attention to new links made by individuals for
personal reasons. The corpus of enduring knowledge also has many links which were thought
to reflect the truths and mysteries of the universe. We need ways of distinguishing between
personal links made on a whim, with a randomness that recalls Rorshach tests, and the
carefully documented links in historical documents.
A version of the Slavic Veda shows a person seated in a yoga position. Above the person is an
ankh. Below the person is in another ouroboros. All the parts are linked with letters and
numbers. The ouroboros is linked with numbers 16, 19, 20, 22: i.e. 16 (O,On, Othila), 19 (R,
Ritci), 20 (S, Slovo, Speech) and 22 (OY, Uk, Matter, Myr in the senses of physical world,
cosmos and peace). This letter 22, Uk, is a combination of O and U, Omicron and Upsilon,
Greek letters 15 and 20, Ο - Ʊ (cf. Ω – Ʊ of Rahu - Ketu). It recurs as letter 25 in the centre of
the 49 Russian Bukvitsa (figure 6b).
These alignments become the more interesting when we compare them with other contexts.
Letter 16, O, qua the yoga figure, is aligned with the root chakra (muladhara) 16 associated
with earth and sexuality. Letter 20, S (speech) is directly below and below this is 22, OY
(Uk), at the centre of the ouroboros circle. In the 26 letter Indicum Alphabetum (figure 7),
letters 16, 20, 22 are: a (ain), ga, tza. This structure recurs in Chaldearum, Ethiopien and
Ethiopique (figure 9a). This is also the precise structure of Aethiopisch and Amharisch, the
latter of which has 7 letters more to become a 33 letter alphabet (figure 8). Here letters 16, 20
and 22 are letters Alph, Ain and Jai. Amharic (Amharisch) is arranged in a matrix of vowels
and syllables, often called a syllabary, and thus letters 16, 20, and 24 generate 7 vowels, 7
vowels, and 7 semivowels respectively. So the root chakra of yoga is linked with earth,
Othila, wealth, Yuan, Yen, Rahu (figure 1i) and thus also with Gemini. In 33 letter
Aethiopisch, as letter 16, it is linked with letter A (Alph) and the 7 vowels of Western
14
Figure 10a . Ethyiopique, b. Planets and alphabet, c. Indian 1, d. Hebrew 1
15
alphabets. In 26 letter Ethyiopique, letter A becomes letter 13. Letter 20, linked with the Word
and Speech in Slavic becomes Ain in Aethiopisch, which becomes letter 16 in Ethyiopique
(cf. figures 6a, 9, 10a).
This quick plunge into the details of a few letters establishes several points. Without a direct
linking letter by letter, number by number, we could not follow the thread. Hence, scanning in
old alphabets and cosmological figures can only be the beginning. The structure of Indicum is
identical to that of the Chaldean syllabary and early Ethiopian alphabets. An underlying
philosophy of linking letters with the human body and with the cosmos is shared by China,
India, Russia, Ethiopia, Egypt and the Near East.
A number of these early Indian, Chaldean and Ethiopian alphabets did not start with the letter
A. They started with letter Ha which later became letter 5. In 33 letter alphabets, A was letter
16. Ain was letter 20. In 26 and 22 letter alphabets A was letter 13. Ain was letter 16. These
two vowels generated the range of 7 vowels. In Samaritan and ancient Hebrew, this number
was reduced to 5 vowels.17 So letter A as letter 1, has 5 vowels, while Ain as letter 16 has 5
aspirated vowels (aspirata). Letters 5 and 18 in Ethyiopique were the 2 semivowels Va - Iud
(Vau - Iod, Vaue- Jaman) connected with 7 semivowels each in the syllabaries, subsequently
become V and Y, letters 6 and 10 in the tetragrammaton, JHVH. The tetragrammaton was not
only a source of Hebrew cosmology and religious mysticism, it was also a source of
semivowels. Modern scholars who assert that Hebrew is a consonant-only alphabet have
forgotten this historical connection to vowels.
The data linking of the World Wide Web assumes that any word or hyperlink will link to only
one other word or site. Needed is multi-layered linking which allows chronological and
geographical features. We need to be able to trace links of letters and numbers historically and
to distinguish formal links of cosmological systems from commentaries and casual
observations in social networks.
While such an approach requires major effort, it will also transform our understanding of the
history of alphabets. The received wisdom is that the alphabet was invented in the Near East,
with Syria, Babylon, Lebanon and South Arabia as the usual candidates. It is typically
claimed that the early alphabets were without vowels and thus completely separate from
syllabaries and abjads (abagadas, abugidas) of the Proto-Arabic tradition. The examples cited
above demonstrate that these forms are connected. The abagada form of Ethyiopique is a
deliberate and conscious re-ordering of the sequence of Indicum, Chaldearum, Ethiopien,
Aethiopisch, and Amharisch. They also show that the Western versions come from India.
The Sanskrit alphabet linked the 25 consonants with 25 principles of nature (tattvas, cf. Greek
stoicheia, elements), as well as 7 further semi-consonants and 1 aspirate (Ha), which were
arranged in a sequence beginning with the 5 elements and proceeding towards consciousness.
Indicum reversed this sequence beginning with the highest (Ha, cf. letter 33 aspirated),
descending to letter 28 (La), then a stressed version of Ha (letter 33), descending to letter 25
(Ma) and culminating in Pa or Pe (Sanskrit letter 21). Accordingly the Ethiopian feedel (a
syllabary form) is called the Ha/Pe. Sections of the alphabet were aligned with planets, but
planets were a secondary principle of organization.
16
1 10 19 - 2 11 20 - 3 12 21 - 4 13 22 - 5 14 23 - 6 15 24 - 7 16 25 - 8 17 26 - 9 18 (27) – 28
1 10 100,
Ketu
Dragon
Tail
Aries
2 20 200, 3 30 300, 4 40 400, 5 50 500, 6 60 600,
Shukra
Surya
Chandra Mangala
Rahu
Venus
Sun
Moon
Mars
Dragon
Head
Aries
Taurus
Taurus
Gemini
Gemini
Fire
Air
Earth
7 70 700, 8 80 800, 9 90 900, 1000
Brihaspati Sani
Budha
Jupiter
Saturn
Mercury
Gemini
Cancer
Cancer 18
Water
ΖΟΩ
ϛΟΩ
ϛ-ξ-χ
ЅѮХ
Ѕѕ/Ƨƨ-Ѯѯ-Хх
Figure 11 a. 27 Mansions of the Moon (Nakshatras), b. Nakshatras and Gematri, c. Letters 6 - 15 - 24 in
Coptic, Greek, and Cyrillic.
17
4. Planets and Alphabets
In the Slavic tradition19 and Babylon, the planets became a primary ordering principle. The
Sun was linked with letters 1-8-15 (figure 10b). This initiated a sequence: 2-9-16 became
linked with B, 3-10-17 with G, 4-11-18 with D, 5-12-19 with H, 6-13-20 with W and 7-14-21
with Z. The result of this planetary reshuffle was the sequence A B G D, H W Z, H T Y, K L
M N, S A P Ts, Q R S T now associated with the abjad system.20 Subsequently, there was also
juggling in the order of the planets which led to further shifts in the order of letters.
Meanwhile, subsets of Sanskrit produced different orders of letters. Indian 1 and 2 used the
sequence: 1-9-17 (a-th-p), 2-10-18, 3-11-19. This sequence was copied by the major versions
of Hebrew, a number of versions of Chaldean, Egyptian etc. (figure 10 b- c). Underlying this
sequence are cosmological frameworks linked with lunar mansions. Letter 1, A marks the
beginning. Letter 9, Th, marks a turning point usually linked with Leo (Simha). Letter 17
marks the root star, Mula, the end that was also the beginning. The sum of the letters 1-9-17 is
27 which is also 33 and the first number of the Creation holograph.21
India developed an elaborate lunar system in terms of mansions of the moon, with parallels in
China (Hsiu), Arabic countries (Manazil), and Egypt (Nomes). One such system aligns the
mansions with the 9 planets (figure 11). The 1-9-17, which had Aslesha, the cosmic serpent as
the central number, now shifted to 1-10-19, which conveniently have the gematria 1-10-100
and align with Ketu. The sum of 1-10-19 is 30, which is also the number of earth in Chinese
cosmology. The sum of gematria 1-10-100 is 111, which acquires profound mathematical and
philosophical significance especially in the Arabic tradition, where it becomes part of a larger
sequence: 1-11-111-1111. Nakshatras 1-10-19 take us from the beginning to Regulus at 10
and then to the Root star (Mula) at 19. The tail of the dragon is also the tail of Scorpio. Thus
letters 1-10-19 become A-Y-Ay (Ain) in the 27 letter version of Hebrew linked with mansions
1-10-19.
Meanwhile, the sequence 6-15-24 with a gematria of 6-60-600 is aligned with Rahu. The
respective sums are now 45 (a number associated with with the magic square of Saturn and
also with Adam) and 666 (which in ancient Russia is linked with the collective Spirit-Mind
long before communism).22 In the Christian tradition, 666 becomes the number of the beast.
Scholars have noted a link with letters Stigma, Xi, Chi.23 An understanding of Indian
astronomy makes it clear that the beast is not a physical entity in the normal sense. The Beast
is effectively the path of Rahu. It also helps us to understand why 15, an endpoint in the sun
arrangement (figure 10 b), is now considered the number of the devil, and the number of evil
(an anagram of live). Indeed, it offers insight into the origin of “All the numbers in the serpent
are Evill” (figure 5b). An Internet of things, trying to identify the Beast with an object will
encounter beastly problems but will not find the nature of the beast. The quest for objectivity
should be tempered with awareness that not everything is objectifiable or objectionable.
This astronomical context of alphabet letters is reflected in their shape. The sequence 6-15-24
(or the Greek variant 6-14-22) becomes a series of letters linked with life (Ζ Ο Ω, cf. Zoo) and
with the serpentine (ϛ Ο Ω, ϛ - ξ - χ). The first letter, 6, Greek Stigma becomes stigmatized,
as does the Latin numeral equivalent: Sex. Curiously, in Cyrillic, the three letter sequence,
18
ळ
Figure 12a. Sanskrit Letter La, b. Brimstone Symbol, c. Black Sulfur Symbol, d. Letters 1722 in Ethyiopique, e. Symbol of the Eastern Roman Empire, f. Chi-Rho, g. Chi-Rho-AlphaOmega.
19
seems to spell out the forbidden theme as well the beast (Ѕ Ѯ Х; Ѕ ѕ / Ƨ ƨ - Ѯ ѯ - Х х ).
In purely logical terms, there is little basis for insisting on 6-15-24 being evil numbers. And
yet scholars over thousands of years have insisted on these associations. If we impose a
logical system such as the current WWW, we erase the realities of history. Or we can choose
a system that keeps intact associations established in the course of millennia. Undertanding
the ancient systems is a key to understanding roots of our religions, mythologies and cultures.
In the West, the Indian system of linking Rahu and Ketu with 6 mansions (1-10-19 - 6-15-24)
is reduced to a polarity between the first mansion of Rahu and the last mansion of Ketu (i.e. 619), which is effectively the Gemini-Scorpio/Sagittarius axis.24
The period from 6 to 19 marks the half year that the sun is moving away from the centre of
the universe culminating in the root star, the tail of Scorpio and the root mansion (Mula),
symbolized by a right pointing swastika and the letter Swastika. The period from 19 to 6
marks the half year that the sun is moving back to the centre of the universe, which begins
from the same root, and culminates at the Summer Solstice in Gemini, symbolized by a left
pointing swastika, that is the letter Posolon, and links with the swastika in the mouth of the
Ouroboros, the root chakra, runic letter 16, which generates the 7 vowels of Alph which, as
A-L-Ph, recapitulates the 1-9-17 sequence of letters connected with the 27 that starts the
creation holograph.
In the Arabic tradition, mansion 6 becomes linked with letter 6 (Khâ (kh), the Mark, and
Form) in Gemini, while mansion 19 becomes linked with letter 19, Z, Zai, The Living One in
Scorpio. Hebrew, which seeks to avoid the associations of 6 and S words, shifts the
opposition to letters 7 - 16, Zain - Ain in Gemini-Capricorn with letter 11, Lamed at Libra, as
a balance between them.25 In the Tarot, this becomes the sequence The Lovers-The Devil with
Justice between them. The English alphabet reverses the sequence of Zain-Ain so Z-A
becomes the A to Z of the alphabet.
Indeed, an understanding of Rahu-Ketu helps us to understand further otherwise puzzling
shifts in the history of letters. The ancient runes are claimed to have begun with UR (rune 1)
and culminated with FE (rune 24). In some versions they were arranged in concentric
circles.26 Arranged in a regular sequence UR (letter 24 officially but as U-R also letter 6letter 20 in the Hebrew sequence) would have followed the Gemini-Scorpio/Sagittarius axis.
The next letter FE (letter 1 officially but as F-E also letter 6-letter 5 in keeping with the
diminution after the solstice) marked both fullness (hence the associations of 6 with property,
wealth, riches, yuan, yen) and a first step towards decline. Subsequent versions of FE were
Fehu and FA or simply F.
A number of the earliest alphabets linked letter 1 (A) with Taurus in position 6 (Gemini). So
A was 1 and F was now 6 (Scorpio/Sagittarius). When the South oriented cosmos was made
into a North oriented cosmos, this polarity was switched. A, which had been in the Southeast
was now in the Northwest and F (= V and Vau in the Hebrew tradition) was in the Southeast
linked with Rahu, who had now become the head of the beast. In an earlier stage, there was
outrage about the serpent and the S words. Now there was equal outrage about letter 6 and the
F words: new connotations for evil numbers which, at one level, were merely the path of a
20
shadow planet. Even words which combined letter 1 and letter 6 such as AF, meant off in
Dutch, while words which combined letter 10 an 6 became IF and iffy in English and IF, the
yew tree, the tree of death and resurrection in French, also written as IFIN.
Current search engines, like object-oriented programming, are focussed on a single link to a
single object at a time. The examples of Rahu and Ketu illustrate that a series of links such as
1-10-19, 6-60-600, AF, IF, are often the keys to meaning. If search engines target only
individual items, they cannot find multiple associations, series, patterns, structures,
frameworks, systems which are central to meaning and knowledge.
5. La, Da, Rho
Sanskrit has two letters L: letter 28 is La (ल), letter 34 is Laa (ळ figure 12a), which is
effectively the leminiscate or infinity symbol. In the West, this symbol, linked with the cross
becomes the Brimstone Symbol and Black Sulfur Symbol (figure 12 b-c). In the Eastern
Roman Empire, a variant of this symbol becomes the Omega symbol linked with the upper
part of the Gemini-Scorpio/Sagittarius axis. Hence, while the first La becomes associated with
a yoke, restraint and balance, the second Laa becomes linked with the root, the turning point
in the annual cycle, the tail of Ketu, Sulphur, (Fire and) Brimstone associated with the Devil.
An historical approach helps us to understand the shifts in positions of letters and even offers
clues concerning their shapes. The last five letters of Ethyiopique (figure 10a) are Za, Iud, Da,
Ga, Pa, Tza (figure 12 d). If we align these with decans 17 18 19 20 21 22 in the Kircher
version of the Egyptian Zodiac, we see that letter 17, Za aligns with the midpoint of Gemini
as does Zain in Hebrew. Letter 18, Iud (Iod, Iaman, Iaman, Yämän, linked with Yemen, jiva,
jaya, jai and life) aligns with the right side of the central axis and is written as P 1. In Hebrew,
18 is the number of Adam. Letter 19 of Ethyiopique, Da (Daleth) corresponds to the left side
of the central axis in the Egyptian Zodiac and is written as a P on a pedestal. In Hebrew, 19 is
the number of Eve. Letter 20, Ga (Gimel) corresponds to the centre of Cancer. Letters 19 and
20 together make Daga (cf. Dagaz, day). Letter 21, Pa, corresponds to the 69 symbol of decan
21. Letter 22, Tza, corresponds to the first decan of Leo, the star Regulus and the cut-off point
of 22 letter alphabets.
As noted earlier the alignment with planets shifted the order of the letters in Ethyiopique into
the abjad sequence. Now the final letters 17-22 of the alphabet were Pa, Tza, Cha, Ra, Sha, Ta
(or Pe, Tsaddi, Coph, Resh, Shin Tau in Hebrew). Hereby, letter 17 in Ethyiopique, Pa,
aligned with the centre of Gemini and thus held the same position as Greek letter 17, Rho: (Ρ,
cf. English R), associated with the creative female power, fruitfulness, vegetative growth,
fluidity.27
In the Christian tradition, the South-North orientation of Egyptian zodiac is replaced by a
North-South orientation. Decan 17 is now in the position formerly held by Decan 35 in the
middle of Sagittarius. Greek letter Rho is now written as ˈroʊ or rω or PΩ, that is, it links with
the nodes of Rahu and Ketu. Its gematria becomes 100, so that it has a position expected for
letter 19. The P on a pedestal of letter 19 in Ethyiopique now becomes a new P on a pedestal
21
as both a symbol of the Eastern Holy R(h)oman Empire and their version of the Chi Rho
symbol (figure 12 e, g).
In the Western Roman Empire, the Greek letter R of Rho (P), becomes a regular Latin letter
P. In ornamental versions, it takes the form of a shepherd’s staff. With its upper curl
beginning with point 17 or point 19 that marked the tail of Ketu, the dragon, serpent, Devil,
and evil generally, as the Western version of the Chi- Rho symbol (figure 12 f). The
beginning of Rahu as A and end of Ketu as O are now the Alpha and the Omega (A – Ω)
which becomes one of the epithets of Christ, now aligned along the Aries-Libra axis. In other
words, the Chi-Rho symbol is implicitly also a map of the heavens in the annual cycle. The
Roman Empires and Christianity entailed the life of Christ. They were also a response to the
symbolic consequences of trying to suppress or ignore the nodes of the moon, when Babylon
and later the West reduced the 9 planets of India to the 7 planets as we know them today.
6. Conclusions
This paper began by examining two nodes of the moon, Rahu and Ketu. Initial examples
revealed unexpected links with horseshoes, snakes, letters of the alphabet and zodiac signs.
Further examples revealed that these seemingly trivial signs representing nodes, which are not
physical objects, are linked with sequences of letters that take us to the roots of astronomical
and cosmological systems. Indeed, they take us to the roots of Western Empires and
Christianity itself. Outlining these connections was the surface goal of this paper. The deeper
purpose is to demonstrate that scanning and retrieving documents and images is not sufficient
in understanding the roots of cultures, religions and empires. We need a new level of
granularity that takes us the level of individual numbers, letters, and symbols, to complement
words and images.
The object-oriented approach of programming and search engines means that everything is
reified as if it were an object. Yes, we have metadata for persons, and places and some for
functions and causes. But we base our searches on words which are universal. Hence, when
we enter the word dog, we are potentially searching for all dogs, past, present (and potentially
future). Such searches need more precision, which means our metadata for any word must
ideally give its who, where, when, how, why and well as its what functions.
The current WWW has a Resource Description Framework (RDF) in terms of triples (subject,
object, predicate),28 which assumes that logical truth is the sole foundation for a networked
system of links. We need an historical web that accepts different links in different times and
places, that allows us to trace how something as seemingly obvious as letter A moves from
being letter 16 to 13 and finally letter 1 or how letter Y moves from the final shape (17), to
letter 18 (in Ethyiopique), then letter 11 (in Ibn Arabi), to 10 in Hebrew. Or how the same
letter Y can be linked with fire (and hence zodiac signs and letters 1-5-9) with life (vita),
sulfur (in the alchemical sense), the God Oromasis (or the reverse: Sisamoro) and how, as
gematria, 10 it also becomes linked with Monad in Hebrew, while in Sanskrit Y is letter 26
with a gematria of 30.
22
We need interfaces that can show us the position of a letter in an alphabet, show its gematria,
trace its position in the body, in the zodiac and sometimes in the cosmos as a whole, follow its
history over times and across languages and cultures; trace its meaning in mythology,
astronomy, alchemy and other disciplines. We need search engines that allow us to follow this
process though different levels of abstraction, how 10 points connected with 10 Sephiroth can
lead to outlines of a cosmic man (Adam Kadmon), provide links for alphabet letters and Tarot
cards, and become a framework for outlining the four worlds.
Companies such as Google and European projects such as Horizon 2020 are scanning books,
documents and heritage of the past.29 This will provide links to individual books and objects.
To achieve proper links with the past we need also to record and make searchable, not only
the books, but also the links, associations made in those books. Sequences and series of letters
and numbers must also be searchable. We need systems which help us to see and navigate
from a 3-D Tree of Life, into 2-D versions of letters and numbers and conversely. The cosmic
schemes, diagrams and figures of the past can serve as frameworks for navigating between 2D and 3-D versions and moving between different levels of abstraction.
As the Internet was evolving there was much talk of multimedia, which for many users simply
meant the addition of sound such that lectures began dramatically amidst Beethoven’s 5th. In
the early 90’s multimedia included video. There was a promise of being to edit video, film
and other media as easily as doing word processing. It did not happen. All too soon
multimedia was the M word adroitly avoided by the “real” professionals. Open source was
supposed to overcome the limitations of proprietary systems. Another decade passed before it
was clear that the synthesis still had not happened. Yes, major search engines allow us to
search for words/texts and separately for maps and images. Wiki has a token treatment of key
numbers.30 Yet no search engines allow us to search systematically for links between
numbers, letters, symbols, words, images, let alone specify scale, location, chronology. HTTP
and HTML provide us with tools for new links but we still need tools for integrating historical
links.
We have entered a time of paradox. In the name of logic we search for unequivocal answers.
We ask precise questions and get millions of hits, few of which strike our needs. We are
flattered by the abundant possible answers and blinded from seeing that a system which does
not integrate the temporal, geographical, procedural and causal (when, where, how and why)
cannot hope to find precisely what we seek. There is a temptation to fall back on the words of
the Hollow Men:
Between the conception
And the creation
Between the emotion
And the response
Falls the shadow.31
And there is a possibility that we work towards a system that will integrate our past rather
than exclude it. Big Data has focussed on the profitable and the dangerous of the now. Will
23
we have the courage to insist on the meaningful, the knowledgeable and the wise of the
enduring that can link past, present and future? Knowledge of alphabets can lead to an
alphabet of knowledge.
Acknowledgements
This paper is an excerpt from a larger work which has been the focus of the author’s efforts
over the past decade. It began as an attempt to define an approach that would take us away
from a naïve Euro-centrism. It is becoming a book, Alphabets of Life with a draft of c. 1500
pages and a database of over 353,000 terms.32 This essay synthesizes some insights without
attempting to summarize the book. A more detailed survey of themes is found in an earlier
lecture,33 which also provides a list of persons who have helped the project. Related essays are
found on the website.34 For this paper I wish to thank especially Professor Francisco Ficarra
for his support and encouragement. I thank friends Madhu Acharya, Professor Frederic
Andres, Professoressas Giuseppina Battisti and Anna dell’Agata, John Gordon, Udo Jauernig,
Rakesh Jethwa, Rizah Kulenovich, Magister Franz Nahrada, Nino Nien, Dr. Sabine Solf and
Dr. Marie Luise Zarnitz for faithful support.
Figures
1a. Rahu – Ketu: http://www.sanskrit.org/www/Astronomy/rahu.jpg
1b. Dragon’s Head - Tail: http://www.cthulhufiles.com/necro/necromancy.htm
1c-d. Anabibazon – Catabibazon: http://wiki.verkata.com/en/wiki/Astrological_symbols?page=3
1e-f. Omega – Upsilon: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omega;
1g-h. The Head – The tail: http://www.esotericarchives.com/agrippa/agripp2d.htm
1i-k. Characters of Serpens Caput – Cauda: : http://lawica.free.fr/FR/14.htm
2 a. Cobra with Ketu Marking: http://www.naturephoto-cz.com/photos/sevcik/indian-cobra--naja-naja-2.jpg
2b. Kaal Sarp Dosha: http://www.divine-rudraksha.com/images/detailed/1/kalsarpdoshreport.jpg
2c. Sha (Mandaic): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandaic_alphabet
2d-e. Vědě -Dobro (Glagolitic): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glagolitic_alphabet
2f-g. Decorative Glagolitic: Glagolitic alphabet Vede: http://www.ruspismo.net/glagol/vede.htm
Glagolitic alphabet: Dobro http://www.ruspismo.net/glagol/dobro.htm
2h-i Horseshoes (Wolfshuis, Valkenburg ). Photographs by author.
3a. Rahu: http://lightinthedarknessoflife.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/rahudragonhead1bo2.jpg
3b. Regnum Typhonium Rhombs: http://www.masseiana.org/images/zodiac_kircher.jpg
3c. Typhon detail from Kircher Zodiac: http://www.masseiana.org/images/kircher_zodiac.jpg
3d. Kircher Zodiac, ibid.
4a.7 Headed Snake: http://www.thfire.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/7head.png
4b. Ketu as Hydra: http://quantumphoenix.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/rahu-ketu-in-vedic-astrology.jpg
4 c. 10 Headed Snake: http://amazingnotes.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/ten-head-snake.jpg
4d. Vishnu on Seshnag: http://www.exoticindiaart.com/artimages/shri_vishnu_on_sheshnag_os09.jpg
4e. Dürer, Apocalypse: Dragon with 7 Heads:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/98/Albrecht_D%C3%BCrer,_Apocalypse_of_St_John,_The_
Dragon_with_the_Seven_Heads.JPG
24
4f. War in Heaven: Dragon Defeated:
http://www.cervantesdesign.com/revelations/images/New%20Folder/dragon-defeated.jpg
5a . Ouroboros: Posolon and seal of Solomon: http://blogs.mail.ru/mail/volklarson/6703913fe49ba07d.html
5b. Ouroboros, Good and Bad Numbers: http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mao49rpcWY1rgxtvuo1_400.jpg
5c. Swastika Letter: http://img0.liveinternet.ru/images/attach/c/2//68/224/68224576_bukovnik_1.gif
5d. Posolon Letter: Formerly at: http://koldun4.mirtesen.ru/blog/interesting
5e. Ouroboros and Alphabet: http://img0.liveinternet.ru/images/attach/c/2//66/557/66557377_535.jpg
6a. Slavic Veda: http://receptidocs.ru/docs/index-3708.html?page=10
6b. Russian Bukvitsa (49 Русская Вуквица): http://alpha-omega.su/_si/0/89700.jpg
Figure 7. Indicum in Postel, Guillaume, Linguarum duodecim characteribus differentium alphabetum:
introductio ac legendi modus, longe facilimus, linguarum nomina sequens proxime pagella offeret, Paris:
Lescurier, 1538. http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k54507r
http://www.e-corpus.org/notices/108077/gallery/1355544
Figure 8. Alphabetum seu Potius SyllabariumLitterarum Chaldearum:
http://rarebooks.filosofia.sns.it/index.php?id=13&workId=2&L=0&n=52
9. Aethiopisch und Amharisch, Ballhorn, 1873:
http://archive.org/stream/alphabeteorieta00ballgoog#page/n28/mode/2up
10a . Ethyiopique in: Claude Duret, Thrésor de l'histoire des langues de cest univers, Cologny: M. Berjon, 1613,
p. 584: http://www.archive.org/stream/fre_b1886963#page/n1/mode/2up
10b. Planets and Alphabet: S.L.Panphilov: www.64g.ru
10c. Indian 1 in Fry, Edmund, Pantographia. containing accurate copies of all the known alphabets in the
world; together with an English explanation of the peculiar force or power of each letter: to which are added,
specimens of all well-authenticated oral languages ...London: Printed by Cooper and Wilson, for J. and A. Arch
[etc.], 1799, p. 162.
http://www.archive.org/stream/pantographiacont00fryeiala#page/n5/mode/2up
10d. Hebrew 1 in Ibid, p. 144
11 a. 27 Mansions of the Moon (Nakshatras): http://horoscopicastrologyblog.com/wpcontent/uploads/2008/12/the-nakshatras-large.jpg
12a. Sanskrit Letter 34. La: http://www.omniglot.com/writing/sanskrit.htm
12b. Brimstone Symbol:
http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2010/130/2/5/Brimstone_symbol_by_sigil_of_baphomet666.jpg
12c. Alchemical Symbol for Black Sulfur:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/Alchemy_Sulfur_Symbol_used_by_Satanists.gif
12d. Letters 17- 22 in Ethyiopique. Details of 10a.
12e. Flag of the Eastern Roman Empire:
http://s244.photobucket.com/user/Shogun133/media/2002997929402364645_rs.jpg.html; http://statesworld.ru/flags/byz-fxm.png
12f. Chi-Rho: http://www.oplnk.net/~ajackson/clipart/chirho.gif
12g. Chi-Rho-Alpha-Omega:http://kahalyahweh.net/Articles/celestialChiRho_files/image001.jpg
Notes
1
Internet growth Stastistics: http://www.internetworldstats.com/emarketing.htm
2
Big Data: http://www.bulletins-electroniques.com/actualites/73270.htm:
Pour donner quelques chiffres, chaque jour 540 millions de SMS sont envoyés à travers le monde, 143
milliards de courriels sont échangés, 400 millions de tweets sont postés, 104.000 heures de vidéos sont
ajoutées sur Youtube ...
3
Big Data: http://www.bulletins-electroniques.com/actualites/73270.htm
25
Viktor Mayer-Schönberger & Kenneth Cukier, Big Data : A revolution that will transform how we live, work
and think, HMV,2013.
4
Linked Data: http://www.w3.org/DesignIssues/LinkedData.html
5
Data Mining: Big data and Ad companies: http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/07/29/morning-agendaadvertising-in-the-business-of-big-data/?_r=0 ; Big Data Haves and Have Nots:
http://www.engineeredtoinnovate.com/2013/02/25/how-big-data-will-separate-haves-from-havenots/?utm_source=OUTB&utm_medium=CPC&utm_term=BA&utm_campaign=BNL
http://www.unc.edu/~xluan/258/datamining.html
6
World Brain: http://new.sumscorp.com/index.php?id=249&statement=get_obj&id_object=22952
7
Global Brain:
http://new.sumscorp.com/index.php?id=249&statement=get_obj&id_object=179063&session=ZW5nbGlzaDtlb
mdsaXNoO05ldyBNb2RlbHM7MTI0MzQxOzE3OzA7MDtJbnRlcm1lZGlhdGU7MDtzdHVkeQ-8
My friend, Alan Radley, also discusses this in his paper.
9
Indo- Bactrian: http://www.cristoraul.com/ENGLISH/BIBLIOGRAPHICA/HTML-Library/ANCIENTHISTORY/PREHISTORY/The-Story-of-the-Alphabet-2-Dateien/tmp6894-27.png
10
In current computer usage it is also the Y-titty Zeichen am Computer Ұ:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsmDEPiNbtw
11
The cardinal signs defined the 4 directions (N, S, E, W). The mutable signs (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and
Pisces) defined the Gemini-Sagittarius axis (called Beltain - Samhain by the Celts) was the masculine axis, while
the Virgo-Pisces axis (called Lammas or Lughnasadh - Imbolc by the Celts), was the female axis. This created
the 4 gates (SE, SW, NW, NE) which were the thresholds to other worlds. Entering the threshold of a house one
grappled with the dangers of the metaphysical cosmic as one entered the everyday physical: “on earth as it is in
heaven” as in the Lord’s prayer.
12
Cf. Erichthonius, the king of Athens, who was literally a basket case because he had a regular upper body and
a deformed lower section:”In a later myth Erichthonius was described like a snake with human head, similarly as
Cecrops.”: http://www.pantheon.org/articles/e/erichthonius.html
13
Nagpanchami: http://www.theholidayspot.com/nag_panchami/celebration_of_nag_panchami.htm
14
Posolon: http://blogs.mail.ru/mail/volklarson/6703913fe49ba07d.html
15
Abyssus Superior/Inferior: http://www.fisicamente.net/SCI_FED/oroburo-david0001.jpg
16
Muladhara: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chakra
17
Samaritan: http://onthemainline.blogspot.com/2010_02_01_archive.html
18
These zodiac signs refer only to the first number in each of the respective sequences. For instance, the full
sequence of 1 10 19 would be Aries, Leo, Sagittarius.
19
Slavic Runes and Planets: http://www.e-reading-lib.com/bookreader.php/128578/Sklyarova__Zolotye_runy.html
20
There were slight variations especially in section 5 called Sa’fas in Arabic: e.g. S A P S or S O P S.
21
Creation Holograph: http://www.biblewheel.com/GR/GR_Creation.php
22
Slovo: http://dm80.ru/lib/prayazik/
23
Sometimes arranged Chi - Xi - Stigma: http://www.ridingthebeast.com/articles/epi-charagma-chi-xi-stigma/.
In Greek the letters 6 – 14 – 22 are aligned with 6 – 60 – 600.
24
There are a series of differing solutions as to precisely where the head and tail are found. In the 16 th c.,
Cornelius Agrippa discusses three alternatives: http://www.princeton.edu/~ezb/geomancy/agrippa.html
25
See Claude Duret, Thrésor des langues du monde, Coligny, 1613, p. 210:
http://archive.org/details/fre_b1886963
26
Ur – Fe: http://www.e-reading-lib.com/bookreader.php/148041/Karlsson__Runy_i_nordicheskaya_magiya.html
27
Kabbalah: http://www.slideshare.net/star3salonica/hebrew-arabic-greek-alphabet-of-the-kabbalah
28
RDF: http://www.w3.org/TR/rdf-concepts/#section-triples
29
Google Books: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Books; Horizon 2020:
http://www.digitalmeetsculture.net/article/digital-cultural-heritage-steps-forward-to-horizon-2020/
30
Wiki numbers: e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/72_(number)
31
Hollow Men: http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/784/
32
SUMS: Rahu – Ketu:
http://new.sumscorp.com/index.php?id=249&statement=get_obj&id_object=153104&session=ZW5nbGlzaDtlb
mdsaXNoO05ldyBNb2RlbHM7MTI0MzQxOzE3OzA7MDtJbnRlcm1lZGlhdGU7MDtzdHVkeQ-33
Cosmologies: http://sumscorp.com/img/file/2009_Cosmologies_Elements_and_the_Alphabet_2003.pdf
34
Culture: http://sumscorp.com/new_models_of_culture/culture/
26