Alchemical & Magickal Symbolism in Religious/Spiritual Traditions & Ancient Alphabets

[Greg Marcus]

Logistical Note: Spin-off thread, continued from HERE.
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That's imo an immanent issue and method to obscure alchemical instructions of this lineage. From beginning to end, even in some of the pre (Herculean) work, it is supposed to be an interplay of agens (Mars) and patiens(Venus).

So this image actually fits to any stage of the work here. Sometimes the two are fighting, sometimes in intercourse. It depends on the stage and you sometimes can guess where it's at, from what the two are doing imo.

I don't have anything useful to add.. when I first read this, I was reminded of this image.. which I couldn't find again until now:



It's from Calendarium naturale magicum perpetuum (Ms. Mellon 72)

[Florius Frammel]

That's nice, Greg!

Here we also see the greek "Tau", which looks like our "T".
"Taw" is also the last letter of the Hebrew alphabeth and somehow interesting because here it symbolizes the tree of knowledge, with which all this started in the first place according to the bible.

The members of the franciscan order still wear the tau cross today instead of the common cross.



"Tau" in german means "Dew" in english and interestingly "rosée" in french.

It's interesting to have that in mind when for example looking at some of the pictures in the book of Abraham the Jew:



where you also have the oak as a symbol for this tree of knowledge of good and bad. And the tau cross where the snake is attached on and that usually loiters around in the tree of knowledge.

The snake, like the winged dragon is an important symbol of a substance necessary in the practical art.



Also the many roses (rosée=dew, rose=rose in french) in alchemical literature (think about the rosicrucians) and on the cathedrales (they also represent the rotations.).





The latin says "the rose gives the bees honey", that leads to the beehive, that can be seen on the oven in Winterthur, or here:





Also note Noah's ark at the bottom of that image.

Also see this post

and this post

These are very simple symbols with a high density of information. It's almost ridiculous how well they all fit together.

Many are of the opinion that all this is just an invention by Fulcanelli though...

Of course in medieval times all the knowledge had to fit to the bible. So one can't really be sure which was first, but that doesn't even matter imo.

[Greg Marcus]

Well I spent a few hours yesterday formulating a reply.. In notepad, like I mentioned in another thread. Every quote I pulled out of a book, I had only pasted into that notepad. I hadn't saved it once in all that time, and then my power went out. I think I cursed myself. I'll do my best to recreate it..

Here we also see the greek "Tau", which looks like our "T". "Taw" is also the last letter of the Hebrew alphabeth and somehow interesting because here it symbolizes the tree of knowledge, with which all this started in the first place according to the bible. The members of the franciscan order still wear the tau cross today instead of the common cross.

I believe the tau cross was a symbol of John the Baptist, and many gothic churches are laid out as the tau cross.. this partially explains the connection to the Franciscans. Masonic sources say in it's earliest form it was derived from Taurus, representing the bull's horns.

"Tau" in german means "Dew" in english and interestingly "rosée" in french.

Whenever I see this dew mentioned my mind immediately goes to the picture from Mutus Liber.

It's interesting to have that in mind when for example looking at some of the pictures in the book of Abraham the Jew. where you also have the oak as a symbol for this tree of knowledge of good and bad. And the tau cross where the snake is attached on and that usually loiters around in the tree of knowledge.

I'm sure the brazen serpent of Moses has been discussed. This is probably my first Tau Cross:

The gallows from which he is suspended forms a Tau cross, while the figure—from the position of the legs—forms a fylfot cross. There is a nimbus about the head of the seeming martyr. It should be noted (1) that the tree of sacrifice is living wood, with leaves thereon; (2) that the face expresses deep entrancement, not suffering; (3) that the figure, as a whole, suggests life in suspension, but life and not death. [...] It has been called falsely a card of martyrdom, a card of prudence, a card of the Great Work, a card of duty [...] I will say very simply on my own part that it expresses the relation, in one of its aspects, between the Divine and the Universe. He who can understand that the story of his higher nature is imbedded in this symbolism will receive intimations concerning a great awakening that is possible, and will know that after the sacred Mystery of Death there is a glorious Mystery of Resurrection.
- A.E. Waite

You mentioned the oak.. I think that's a connection through the druids. It came up in one of my masonic sources while researching this post, but I didn't include it.

"Knight of the Brazen Serpent. The 25th degree of the ancient and Accepted Rite. The history of this degree is founded upon he events described in the Book of Numbers xxi. 6-9. The body is styled the Council, and represents the camp of the Israelites in the wilderness. after the death of Aaron. The camp, standards, and taberlacle, with its court, are arranged as in the 23d and 24th degrees. In the East is a transparency on which is painted a cross, with a serpent soiled round it and over the arms. The teaching and moral of the degree Is Faith. The presiding officer represents Moses, and is styled 'Most Puissant Leader.' The candidate is called *A Traveler.' The hangings f the council are red and blue. The jewel is a tau cross, of gold, surrounded by a circle—the Crux Ansata—round which a serpent is entwined, suspended by a red ribbon. The legend states that this degree was founded during the time of the crusades in the Holy Land, as a military and monastic order, and gave it the name it bears, in allusion to the healing and saving virtues of the brazen serpent among the Israelites in the wilderness—it being part of the obligation of the Knights to receive and gratuitously nurse sick travelers, protect them against the attacks of the infidels, and escort them safely through Palestine."
— Macoy's Encyclopaedia and Dictionary of Freemasonry, Article Knight of the Brazen Serpent.

TAU CROSS. The emblem {tLl) forms the principal distinction of a Royal Arch Mason's apron and jewel. Being placed in the centre of a triangle and circle, both emblems of the Deity, it would appear that it was originally intended to typify the sacred name, as the author probably of eternal 1ife; being tripled in the Christian system, because the life to come, according to the light of revelation, is superior to the elysium of the heathen; or perhaps in allusion to the three heavens mentioned by St. Paul. It has been referred to the three great lights of Masonry, expressive of of the creative, preserving, and destroying power of God.
- Robert Macoy

The east end of the Gothic churches was built in the form of a tau cross, the western half of the church being of a long rectangular shape, resembling Noah's Ark, which is probably connected with the name, ship, or nave, given to this part of the building. Therefore the east end of the church exhibits the symbol of the Macrocosm or Father, who is the antithesis of the Bride, allocated to the west.
-William Sterling

The snake, like the winged dragon is an important symbol of a substance necessary in the practical art.

Not necessarily in alchemy, but the snake and dragon are often used interchangeably. Different names for the same thing. This is more true the further back you go. I'm no alchemist, but I assume you are referencing:

'On the fifth leaf there was a fair Rose-tree, flowered in the midst of a sweet Garden, climbing up against a hollow Oak; at the foot whereof boiled a fountain of most white water, which ran head-long down into the depths, notwithstanding it first passed among the hands of infinite people, who digged in the earth seeking for it; but because they were blind, none of them knew it, except here and there one who considered the weight.'
- Nicholas Flamel

'The number 5 is that of the Great Mystery, and on the fifth page blind men were represented digging up the ground round the rose-tree in search of the grand agent which is present everywhere. Some others, who were better advised, were weighing a white water, resembling a solidified air.'
-Eliphas Levi, 'The History of Magic'

In terms of Alchemy, I offer you two other intertwined dragons/tau cross from Ashmole:

Also the many roses (rosée=dew, rose=rose in french) in alchemical literature (think about the rosicrucians) and on the cathedrales (they also represent the rotations.).

I'm sure we can agree the rose (and "rotations") has different interpretations. A passage on the "Rose" (sometimes "Lily") opens the Zohar. The rose was the symbol of Isis (and her name means "Throne".. the rose throne? "Shekhinah", the female aspect of the Divine presence to the Jews).

The stained glass window shows what I'm about to get into well. The geometry is based on 4/8/16. "Phyllotaxis" is the scientific term for how petals and leaves arrange on plants. The arrangement "rotates" each tier (or layer) to fill the gaps left by the previous tier. Some plants form spirals which follow the fibonacci sequence.

I like this version of Fludd's rose. Beside it is an Indian yantra. It's a modern creation, but its true to the source material:



This "phyllotaxis" also describes the geometry I'm always going on about. The division of the circumference into 6 parts, represent the points of the hexagon, cube, and star of david. That is just the beginning of the construction.. the next tier is comprised of 6 circles at the intersections of the first six, and the next tier follows suit. But the 4th tier changes, there are now 12 intersections/circles. After 3 tiers of 12, its 18. So for every 3 rotations, you add another six circles, which turn out to be the points of a another hexagon/cube. When you expand this enough, and consider the center of the circles, what you are left with is in geometry called an "overlapping circle grid". The image on the left is a partial construction (far enough to plot the tree of life and tetraktys), and on the right is something I did a long time ago, almost at my very beginning, based on the grid. I've always called it the Rose Cube/Rose Cross:

This image of the Rosa Mundi, or Rota Mundi, is the solar wheel of Apollo, the Lord of movement, of the ever passing/present moment. It is the Solar Citadel, the abode of the Heart, the symbolic center of the Supreme Center which is everywhere centered at once. It is a door through which this invisible place may be accessed by one with a pure heart and an unblemished soul.
-Unknown source

I've discussed the solar wheel (specifically related to this geometry) quite a bit so I won't get into it again.

Besides the Vesica Piscis the old philosophers and freemasons were accustomed to use as symbols all the plane geometrical figures. The Pythagorean emblem, the Pentalpha, or five-pointed star, and the Hexalpha, or Solomon's Seal,. have been used in the church from time immemorial as symbols of Christ and the Trinity, and have a variety of emblematic associations. The Hexagon was the common symbol of the Masonic Cube or Cubical Stone, while the Triangle, and Square had each their use as geometrical symbols. The Cross has also been from the remotest times a potent mystical emblem among all ancient peoples. Crosses were generally of three kinds, the Tau Cross, the upright or Jerusalem Cross, and the Sal tire or diagonal Cross, and each had its peculiar significance.
- William Sterling

The HEXAGRAM is the symbol of the Macrocosm; it is often called the Seal of Solomon. It consists of two interlaced triangles; the erect triangle is of flame colour, the inverse triangle is coloured blue. In the centre space there may be drawn a Tau Cross and three Hebrew Yods, or a Crux ansata, or the Triple Tau of the Arch-masons. He who with Intelligence and Will is armed with this emblem has need of no other thing, he should be all potent, for this is the perfect sign of the Absolute.
-Eliphas Levi

So.. Macrocosm, Tau Cross, Rose. I'm pretty sure Levi would have been thinking of Franckenberg's tau-rose from "Tabula Universalis Theosophica Mystica et Cabalistica":



In light of all the above, here's another image I actually came across before re-writing this reply:



Whats my point with all this? Francis Yates in "Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition" (Ficino's Natural Magic) gets pretty warm.. She's not talking about the images I discuss all the time, but I think this is close to describing the "tradition" behind them all. This is heavily chopped up for the relevant parts:

I believe that he is thinking primarily of planetary talismans, and of these used not in a "demonic" manner but, as Walker has said, with "spiritual" magic, a magic using the spiritus mundi, to be attracted mainly through groupings of plants, metals, and so on, but also through use of planetary tahsmans which address the stars as world forces, or natural forces, and not as demons.

"Why, then, should we not permit ourselves a universal image, that is an image of the universe itself? From which it might be hoped to obtain much benefit from the universe."

He then says that the figure of the world may be constructed so as to reproduce the motion of the spheres

It is a cosmic mechanism. Finally, someone may construct, or will construct:

"on the domed ceiling of the innermost cubicle of his house, where he mostly lives and sleeps, such a figure with the colours in it. And when he comes out of his house he will perceive, not so much the spectacle of individual things, but the figure of the universe and its colours."

These various forms of the "figure of the world" are thus artistic objects which are to be used magically for their talismanic virtue. They are attempting to influence "the world" by favourable arrangements of celestial images, so as to draw down favourable influences and exclude non-favourable ones. In short, these unfortunately so vaguely hinted at works of art are functional; they are made for a purpose, for magical use. By arranging the figure of the world and its celestial images with knowledge and skill, the Magus controls the influences of the stars.

I think looking east fills in some details. The "science of yantras" is 100% concerned with geometry and the "ritual" construction of the yantras, combined with contemplation/meditation, and what it does for the mind. And this is totally related to the practises of Lull and Bruno. That's what Bruno's diagrams are.. Yantras.

'This art does not simply confer an art of memory, but also opens many faculties of invention. For this reason, remember to preserve this inwardly [take it to Heart], for the royal does not depend on the choice of the common: every one of those things can be explained in its canons, provided according to capacities and faculties of the listener, as long as an intense and elegant explanation isn't missing.'
-Giordano Bruno

The divine chariot also engrossed the Qumran sect [of merkaba mystics] ; one fragment speaks of the angels praising 'the pattern of the Throne of the chariot'
- 'J. Strugnell, 'The Angelic Liturgy at Qumran - 4Q Sirot Olat Hassabbat'

The latin says "the rose gives the bees honey", that leads to the beehive

Here's a major greek connection to the beehive for the Masons:



The bee is a favorite topic of mine:

'The bee, found in Ancient Near East and Aegean cultures, was believed to be the sacred insect that bridged the natural world to the underworld.'
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'The Homeric Hymn to Apollo acknowledges that Apollo's gift of prophecy first came to him from three bee maidens, usually identified with the Thriae. The Thriae was a trinity of pre-Hellenic Aegean bee goddesses. The embossed gold plaque (illustration above right) is one of a series of identical plaques recovered at Camiros in Rhodes[5] dating from the archaic period of Greek art in the seventh century, but the winged bee goddesses they depict must be far older.'
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'The Jewish historian Josephus noted that the name of the poet and prophet Deborah meant 'bee'. The same root dbr gives 'word', 'indicating the bee's mission to give the Divine Word, Truth', observes Toussaint-Samat.[13] Melissa is also similarly defined.'
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'In Egyptian mythology, bees grew from the tears of the sun god Ra when they landed on the desert sand.'
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Ra (pron.: /rɑː/)[1] or Re (pron.: /reɪ/ orpron.: /reɪ/; Egyptian: 𓂋ꜥ ) was the ancient Egyptian solar deity. By the Fifth Dynasty (2494 to 2345 BC) he had become a major god in ancient Egyptian religion, identified primarily with the midday sun. The meaning of the name is uncertain, but it is thought that if not a word for 'sun' it may be a variant of or linked to words meaning 'creative power' and 'creator'.[2]

The major cult centre of Ra was Heliopolis (called Iunu, 'Place of Pillars', in Egyptian),[3] where he was identified with the local sun-god Atum. Through Atum, or as Atum-Ra, he was also seen as the first being and the originator of the Ennead, consisting of Shu and Tefnut, Geb and Nut, Osiris, Set, Isis and Nephthys.
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Atum sent a fiery messenger, the Eye of Ra, to find his children

I would mention since I brought up Isis/Shekhinah, that Wadjet/Eye of Ra is also feminine.

[Florius Frammel]

I could imagine that those images were often used for meditation and contemplation. I guess that's what you suggest, don't you?

I have two annotations however:

1. Waite was a rather modern interpret of the Tarot. In older versions of the Pendu the Tau is not seen as easily (I know there are older versions than the Tarot de Marseille):



Here it resembles much more the hebrew letter "Chai" (number 18), or the greek "pi". So let's open the circle here (for pi is the number of circles).

Others saw the Sephiroth in the buttons, or even Jacob's ladder (the Scala Philosophica) in the chopped off branches:



In catholic tradition the Tau cross initially goes back to Anthony the Great (or Anthony of Egypt):

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_the_Great

Francis of Assisi also liked to use and even sign with it, so the order adopted it.

In heraldry the Tau cross is also called crutches. So it's something you can't walk without. Just like you can't do alchemy without.



https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kr%C3%BCcke_(Heraldik)

In this very old Tarot version, one can guess where that came from (bottom right: L'hermite = Hermes?) and you see both the chopped of branches and the Tau cross on the crutches.




Interestingly L'Hermite here got the number XII, whereas that number was usually attributed to the Pendu. And so the circle closes again.

I just saw that the hebrew Taw (value 22 and 400) also looks like this:



So I guess what Waite did actually may have been legit.

However the Taw/Tau looked like this in the oldest known hebrew books:

X

A very important alchemical symbol. It is also the symbol of St. Andrew..

[Andro]

Here it resembles much more the hebrew letter "Chai" (number 18), or the greek "pi".

There is no Hebrew letter "Chai". The number 18 / the word Chai (meaning "alive") is composed of the letters/numbers Chet/8 ( ח ) and Yod/10 ( י ) ⇒ 18/ חי

However the Taw/Tau looked like this in the oldest known hebrew books: X

A tangent: The Hebrew word for truth is "Emeth" ( אמת ).
If we take out the Aleph ( א ), we are left with מת, which means "dead".

A very important alchemical symbol. It is also the symbol of St. Andrew..

Of St. Andro, you surely mean

[Florius Frammel]

Of course I meant St. Andro!



Thanks for helping out on the hebrew letters, I am no expert and Gillian Anderson gave me misleading informations (like she often tends to do). Still the connections are there imo.

[zoas23]

Waite was a rather modern interpret of the Tarot. In older versions of the Pendu the Tau is not seen as easily (I know there are older versions than the Tarot de Marseille):

Ha. Waite was, of course, a member of the Golden Dawn.
The Golden Dawn was following two proposals of Eliphas Levi when it comes to Tarot:
1) the idea that it is heavily linked to Qabalah.
2) the idea that Tarot can be part of some sort of "high culture" (as a way to say it), because by the times of Levi and the early GD, it was certainly considered something that only made sense in a "low culture" and probably related to the fortune teller that came with the circus to the city.

In a nutshell, he created his own Tarot version that never wanted to become the "oldest tarot" or a reconstruction. He hired Pamela Colman Smith (a painter who was also a member of the GD) and they certainly used the painting style that Pamela already had (she was considered a "high culture" painter, so it probably sounded as a good idea to use her "high culture" style as opposed to the traditional "folk-art" that looked almost like "outsider art" by modern standards).

They enhanced the ideas related to Qabalah they had (in the long run, the deck was somehow a "study deck" for a Tarot that was meant to work hand-by-hand with Qabalah)... but there was certainly not a very mystical intention (mystical= iI mean ideas like "this has been channeled, we are painting what the Gods wanted us to paint")... All the major arcana are actually portraits of different members of the Golden Dawn (Pamela is the Empress), probably because the personality of each one matched the meaning of the card somehow, but it was probably a game between those who were going to use those cards.

But it was not a "reconstruction" that wanted to arrive to the "original tarot"... It was almost a "cultural appropriation" of a deck that was considered "low culture" into a system that was somehow academic.

Also, the number of two cards was purposefully switched as to follow the order of the Hebrew Letters (i.e, the first arcana is "Aleph", the last one is "Tau"... The Justice was switched with another one as to make "Justice" become "Lamed" because it made more sense... even if such thing was hard to justify in a "historical way", though probably Waite didn't care).

A tangent: The Hebrew word for truth is "Emeth" ( אמת ).
If we take out the Aleph ( א ), we are left with מת, which means "dead".

Yes! The trick is used in a lot of Grimoires and it's also in a lot of Qabalah-related tales.
Aemeth is "truth", but often used as something that is almost equivalent to "God" and "Life" or almost a divine power (i.e, John Dee based the whole of his "Angelic language" into the so called "Sigillum Dei Aemeth" - Seal of God Aemeth... certainly now with the idea that there was a God called "Aemeth", but enhancing something that was considered to be vital in God).

Probably the most popular use of the trick is in the old stories of the Golem of Prague, in which the Golem is given life by writing AMTh ("aemeth") on its forehead, but destroyed by deleting the Aleph and leaving "Meth"... So it's like the "ON/OFF" button of the Golem.

Other than that... the Tarot belongs to the Renaissance, so sometimes going too far in history may arrive to wrong ideas (i.e, linking the symbol of a card created around the year 1450 with the way in which a symbol was used in the years 1,000 before Christ... I think it is more useful to investigate how things were done by the Renaissance or "late medieval" if we want to go far, but going too far in history is misleading -unless we talk about symbols that kept on being used in a way or other).

[Florius Frammel]

@Zoas23

I'd agree for the (useful) method of historical criticism. Symbols imo are also useful to have "timeless" fun with. If it fits, it fits. No matter the historical accuracy.

[Greg Marcus]

I could imagine that those images were often used for meditation and contemplation. I guess that's what you suggest, don't you?

Yes, but not quite as passive. What I am suggesting is just as "operative" as practical alchemy. While conducting your alchemical operations, you have a certain philosophy.. contemplation or intent in mind as you conduct your experiments. I am talking about the ritual construction of these diagrams, with the same kind of contemplation or intent, for the standpoint of the metaphysical interpretations of the geometry. Like with that translation you editted for me.. the operator/artifex/magician should "see himself" in the center, in the position of the creator with it unfolding around him. Thats the best I can explain it for now. I kept pretty quiet about it for years until I came across the yantra material which validated my ideas. I only knew what the work was doing to me.

For the record, here's something I came across this yesterday in a french masonic manuscript, from 1812 by Francois-Nicolas Noel, titled La Physique du Macon:

I have two annotations however:
1. Waite was a rather modern interpret of the Tarot. In older versions of the Pendu the Tau is not seen as easily (I know there are older versions than the Tarot de Marseille)

You're preaching to the choir on this. I think my first post here was regarding concerns I had with a Waite translation. In general, I prefer older sources to anything modern, I consider the "New Age" to have started in the 19th century. Eliphas Levi even pushes those boundaries for me.. but even with his problems, I still really like him. I was very limited in my resources in my beginning.. I think I had the golden dawn tarot set with the book by Cicero even before the History of Magic. Some of my earliest writings even cite some material from it, because it was the best, and only material I had (like with Westcott's Yetsirah). As I said that card (and description) was probably my first experience of the tau cross. Even with these issues, I wouldn't say "I stand by what Waite says", but I like it. I guess you could say it "resonates" with me for some reason.

In this very old Tarot version, one can guess where that came from (bottom right: L'hermite = Hermes?) and you see both the chopped of branches and the Tau cross on the crutches.
Interestingly L'Hermite here got the number XII, whereas that number was usually attributed to the Pendu. And so the circle closes again.
So I guess what Waite did actually may have been legit.

Yes, you caught me being a little "false". I tend to use the rider deck when it suits me, ignoring the differences of the older versions.. and vice versa. I have the Marseilles, Bodet, and others. I have never seen that old one you show, that looks like block printed. That was an interesting circle you travelled here. I have a german deck that fits what I talk about to a "T", but I never use it because I know its not authentic:

Others saw the Sephiroth in the buttons, or even Jacob's ladder (the Scala Philosophica) in the chopped off branches:

There's other rider cards that explicitly show the sefirot.. and even the right and left hand emanations. I have a folder of these ladders/staircases, but I haven't seen that card before. Or if I did I never made the connection. I'm pretty sure you've mentioned the Masonic ladder in another thread. There was a show with Aaron Paul (Jesse Pinkman from Breaking Bad) called The Path.. about an esoteric cult. "The Path" was symbolized as a ladder.

In catholic tradition the Tau cross initially goes back to Anthony the Great (or Anthony of Egypt):
Francis of Assisi also liked to use and even sign with it, so the order adopted it.
In heraldry the Tau cross is also called crutches. So it's something you can't walk without. Just like you can't do alchemy without.
A very important alchemical symbol. It is also the symbol of St. Andrew..

Yes that was coming up in a lot of my "hits" on my tau cross search on my library. And that it dates back to egypt, it's actually the original form of the cross.. the cardinal points, etc. I know in your former reply you brought up Noah's ark, and I know in one of the masonic sources I didn't quote, under the brazen serpent and tau cross it was also mentioning the ark. I hadn't come across the heraldry/crutch information. Didn't you tell me Saturn/Vulcan is always lame/on crutches?

St. Andrew and his Tau Cross is important in Scottish Masonry. The first one is from one of my great-great grandfathers diplomas (I don't know what its called, it "confirms" his apprentice, fellow craft, and master mason degrees) from 1895. The second is from my great-grandfathers mark master diploma from 1910. I've asked Masons what the deal is with the different symbolism.. In the second, the horses are riled up, and the emblem/heraldic device has fallen from the altar/base:





Here's something from the same manuscript mentioned above (and from the section "L'Alchymie du Macon"):

I just saw that the hebrew Taw (value 22 and 400) also looks like this

Maybe in western schools tau = 22, but never in hebrew sources. There's other ways to represent 22. A lot of times these words are made up just to represent values, and when the original meaning/purpose is forgotten, they become "Barbarous names" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbarous_name.

Here it resembles much more the hebrew letter "Chai" (number 18), or the greek "pi". So let's open the circle here (for pi is the number of circles).

[QUOTE=Andro;65068]There is no Hebrew letter "Chai". The number 18 / the word Chai (meaning "alive") is composed of the letters/numbers Chet/8 ( ח ) and Yod/10 ( י ) ⇒ 18/ חי

Since you bring up pi, "Metatron" is a semi-barbarous name, since most people don't clue into his value, 314, or Pi. It's the same as Shaddai, and is the meaning of the verse "My name is in Him". The ratio of the radius/diameter to the circumference. In jewish mysticism, it is pretty much a hard and fast rule that mankind cannot face God directly, and so anytime these biblical characters encounter God, it is actually Metatron (the Son, 2nd Power, some argue the gnostic demiurge) that they are meeting. A prime example is Moses w/ the burning bush. And It is Metatron being referred to in this verse, as "the presence". Check the numbers:

Exodus 33:14 The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

The best-known example of Hebrew gematria is the word Chai ('alive'), which is composed of two letters that (using the assignments in the Mispar gadol table shown below) add up to 18. This has made 18 a 'lucky number' among Jews, and gifts in multiples of 18 are very popular.

Gematria is a world based on "geometery". Chai is the root of "Chayyah", the part of the soul that allows one to have an awareness of the divine life force itself... And the "Living Creatures" from the book of Ezekiel.

The living creatures, living beings, or hayyoth (Hebrew חַיּוֹת chayot, from חַיּ chai, "live") are a class of heavenly beings described in the prophet Ezekiel's vision of the heavenly chariot in the first and tenth chapters of the Book of Ezekiel. References to the creatures recur in texts of Second Temple Judaism, in rabbinical merkabah ("chariot") literature, and in the Book of Revelation in the New Testament.

I would bring up that 18 is 3 sixes. 6 6 6. Six is also a pretty important number. In it's represented by Vav, the Hook. Vav itself is comprised of two Vavs. 6+6 = 12, 6x6=36. Vav, and "the Hook" are mentioned throughout the Zohar.

However the Taw/Tau looked like this in the oldest known hebrew books:
X

Not to sound pedantic, but I'd expect better from "Ancient Hebrew Research Center". The "Middle" has a name. It's considered the "Phoenician Alphaet". (which admittedly is a precursor of the hebrew alphabet. And 2000b.c. would be a shared/common semitic alphabet.

This could get confusing though, because the Greek Chi also comes up a lot. And the christian Chi-Rho symbol is definitely a Chi and not a Tau.

There are a lot of similarities between the arabic, greek, and hebrew alphabets (and hindu or sanskrit, can't remember.. and maybe even egyptian). With the first 10 letters representing 1 -10, then values by 10s, and then a few by 100. The oldest greek was even written right to left as well.

A tangent: The Hebrew word for truth is "Emeth" ( אמת ).
If we take out the Aleph ( א ), we are left with מת, which means "dead".

This is good stuff.

[Kibric]

Yes, but not quite as passive. What I am suggesting is just as "operative" as practical alchemy. While conducting your alchemical operations, you have a certain philosophy.. contemplation or intent in mind as you conduct your experiments. I am talking about the ritual construction of these diagrams, with the same kind of contemplation or intent, for the standpoint of the metaphysical interpretations of the geometry. Like with that translation you editted for me.. the operator/artifex/magician should "see himself" in the center, in the position of the creator with it unfolding around him. Thats the best I can explain it for now. I kept pretty quiet about it for years until I came across the yantra material which validated my ideas. I only knew what the work was doing to me.

I think your getting at is the nature of the universe is not so solid. you might be walking around in thought.
You can create your universe consciously. Manifestation of events and moments, a control over your story.
Showing you the universe is more mind than matter. Through Words which are spells of intent and will, images and music that create dimensions within the mind.
More like a dream this life than you previously thought, when you manifest in the universe your experiencing.
This all connects to the phantom universe man inhabits and the science behind its holographic nature.
The djinn state, the allies, shamanism and Aborigines, have systems of influence and manifestation over the universe. A forgotten science.
Is that in the ball park ?