Sacred numbers and sacred geometry

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I know there are sacred numbers like 3, 7, 12, etc, but are there also designated sacred angles? Every time I search out sacred geometry I end up with pagan resources. Can anyone point out a good Catholic resource?
…Or should I just stay away from it?
 
gallo said:
I know there are sacred numbers like 3, 7, 12, etc, but are there also designated sacred angles? Every time I search out sacred geometry I end up with pagan resources. Can anyone point out a good Catholic resource?
…Or should I just stay away from it?
Click to expand...
What is a “sacred” number?
While there may be certain numbers of importance and significance and I don’t think there is such a thing as a sacred number.
 
Sacred numbers are mentioned in the Bible in the sense numbers can have a symbolic significance (i.e. the numbers in Revelation) or numbers are interpreted to have an allegorical meaning (as many biblical or mystical theologians have drawn out of the text to relate to spiritual realities, such as Richard of St Victor’s mystical interpretation of the number twelve in the patriarchs). Numbers also have a religious meaning in other religions, including Pythagoranism (the ancestor of modern mathematics and theoretical physics in a way, and also the theory of music), Platonism, and also in Eastern religions.
 
Greg27 said:
Sacred numbers are mentioned in the Bible in the sense numbers can have a symbolic significance (i.e. the numbers in Revelation) or numbers are interpreted to have an allegorical meaning (as many biblical or mystical theologians have drawn out of the text to relate to spiritual realities, such as Richard of St Victor’s mystical interpretation of the number twelve in the patriarchs). Numbers also have a religious meaning in other religions, including Pythagoranism (the ancestor of modern mathematics and theoretical physics in a way, and also the theory of music), Platonism, and also in Eastern religions.
Click to expand...
I’m not questioning the importance or significance of certain numbers in the Bible. I question the use of the word sacred. Sacred means Holy or Divine. I don’t think you can apply that word to a number.
 
thistle said:
What is a “sacred” number?
While there may be certain numbers of importance and significance and I don’t think there is such a thing as a sacred number.
Click to expand...
It’s when a number (or anything else at that matter) is associated with the reverence and worship of the Triune God as opposed to just number crunching int the checkbook. For example, the times of silence during the Mass is referred to as “sacred silence”. These moments are used for meditation of something that has recently occurred, to worship, pray, etc. It’s differentiated between just being silent elsewhere.
So it’s separating something from the ordinary to use for the glory of God in some manner.

The reason I ask about the angles/geometry is for it to be used as a guide in meditation. For example, the number 5 is sacred to me when I meditate on the wounds of Christ and how I may further my understanding and devotion to Reconciliation and taking the Gospel to others. Sometimes it’s done with a “crusader’s cross” which consists of a large cross surrounded by four smaller ones.
Otherwise, the number 5 just may be how much I spent at the grocery store. Nothing out of the ordinary.
So numbers and symbols, turn me to prayer and Jesus’ commands to be holy. The more numbers, symbols, and shapes I see as sacred, the more I will see in everyday life as “signposts” of God’s Will, to pray, to fast, and other necessities.

So that’s it. Numbers and symbols may not be sacred to some, but to me I find that it’s becoming impossible for them not to be.
 
This may have nothing to do with anything, but I had frequently wondered what was so special about the number 7. Then I saw it as a binary number–111.

Yet one more trinitarian fingerprint in our universe?

😃

DaveBj
 
gallo said:
I know there are sacred numbers like 3, 7, 12, etc, but are there also designated sacred angles? Every time I search out sacred geometry I end up with pagan resources. Can anyone point out a good Catholic resource?
…Or should I just stay away from it?
Click to expand...
Well, the Hebrew names of God have numerical equivalents. The names are sacred but I do not believe that the numbers are anymore than numbers. There is a contemplative practice in jewish mysticism which contemplates words having the same number value. Any word or phrase equivalent having the same number value are considered the same.

This is called the practice of gematria. A very short passage of Hebrew can be evolved into a large number of equivalent phrases. It ordinarily wouldn’t seem that it leads to any valuable contemplative experiences, but I have met someone who uses the method, and she amazes me with the phrases that she intuits.

See my website for a geometrical study in counting coincidence, that coordinates the Our Father, the Tree of Life, and the Decalogue.

theosopher.com

Best regards,

Vincent
 
I was born on the 13th day of the month (and also, a FRIDAY!). Over the years, many people have warned me about the “unlucky” day I entered this life. Poppycock! 😃

I’m 100% NON-superstitious and I’ve always looked at it, this way… 1 (God) 3 (Persons)… and born on the day our Salvation was accomplished. I know this isn’t really related to the OP’s original question. But it made me think of how silly and superstitious people can be. Heck, I even have a black cat! :rotfl:

If you look for God… you will find Him… perhaps in places you’d never think of!👍

God bless.
 
thistle said:
I’m not questioning the importance or significance of certain numbers in the Bible. I question the use of the word sacred. Sacred means Holy or Divine. I don’t think you can apply that word to a number.
Click to expand...
I suppose it is a matter of perspective. The properties of numbers and other mathematical concepts and ideas have been a puzzle to many people, even very sceptical and hard-headed thinkers. The relationship of mathematical laws (such as those of physics) to mathematical objects is also a puzzle that has fascinated many very distinguished scientists. I think the apparent eternity and necessity of mathematical truths suggests to some minds that the origin or source or ‘world’ in which numbers reside or originate from is in a way divine, in the sense of either having a numinous or holy dimension, or sharing in some way in divine attributes such as infinity, eternity, necessary existence, and so on.

Numbers and mathematical ideas have been given a religious meaning in most major religions, or have been connected to the divine or holy or sacred in some respect. Christianity is no exception. One can think of the doctrine of God being a Trinity for example, the importance of certain numerical patterns or numbers in the Bible (seven days of creation, 666, etc). Another example is the importance of God being One in Christianity, Judaism and Islam. Likewise, at least some major Greek thinkers attributed religious meaning to numbers and geometric figures.

This does not mean giving numbers and mathematical ideas mystical meaning is not just another silly form of irrational superstition. Arguably mystifying mathematics holds back progress in allowing it to be a rational science, as well as better philosophical understanding of the foundations of mathematical concepts. It also may well be that mathematical ideas have no intrinsic religious reality beyond what people attribute them to have.
 
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