The Theosophical Seal - Canadian Theosophical Association

The Theosophical Seal by Arthur M. Coon
occult relationship between his planetary equation and music. Indeed it was he who discovered that
musical tones have definite numerical interrelations, and his diatonic scale is still the basic of modern
western music. He formulated and taught the first part of Euclidean geometry 300 years before Euclid.
He taught that the world is built upon the power of numbers, that all living things have their own unique
rate of vibration,and that all relationships can be expressed numerically. It was he who named God "The
Great Geometrician". In his school at Crotona, he taught also the value and power of the letters of the
alphabet. He claimed that the world is built upon vibration, and since vibration produces form, there
exists a definite relationship between the letters of the alphabet, geometric forms and numbers. This
"science" was kept alive throughout the middle ages by the Kabbalists, and has been preserved for
modern students of the mysteries through the Book of Zohar and the Kaballah of Numbers.
Tribute has been paid, and will be paid many times during the course of this series of studies, to The
Secret Doctrine by H.P.Blavatsky, first published in the year 1888, for its inexhaustible wealth of source
material. Mention must also be made of two books written during the first quarter of this century by
Doctor F.Homer Curtiss, entitled The Key to the Universe and The Key of Destiny. In these two volumes
he has brought together many related ideas drawn from far and wide. His painstaking work in coordinating
these ideas and elaborating upon them is a service which deserves the gratitude of every
student. He wrote, "Letters, either written or spoken (form or sound) awaken certain potencies, and are
avenues through which certain cosmic forces operate in the worlds of manifestation" (The Key to the
Universe, page 68). I should like to mention too a well-documented little book written by Leonard
Bosman, Amen, The Key to the Universe. He has drawn from many sources to make a case for the
sacred word of the ancient Aryan, "Aum", and its Jewish (and Christian) counterpart, "Amen". Through
his analysis and interpretation of the Hebraic and Greek letters, as they are derived from their Sanskrit
and Egyptian origins,he brings interesting sidelights to the idea that each letter has its own unique and
inherent meaning.
THE LETTERS 'AO'
It is quite universally agreed that the letter "A" (Hebrew, "Aleph" and Greek "Alpha) represents origin,
source and causative power. Phonetically the sound "A" (ahh!) is that of breath filling the mouth and
going out. Some authorities claim that the shape of the letter "A" was made to represent the head of a full
in order to express the idea of domination and leadership. For this reason it has been associated with the
astrological sign Taurus. In Hebrew, the "Aleph" signifies"outgoing breath" and represents God's creative
power. It was the original "Word" which brought forth a universe. It was the spirit (breath) of God which
"moved upon the face of the waters (primordial substance)". It is also the symbol of life, for it is recorded
that "God breathed into his (man's) nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul". Significantly
the "A" is the first sound uttered by the new-born babe. The letter "A" sound represents God's
causative,creative power; and indeed on all levels and degrees of manifestation it implies the inner
causative and creative life energies. "The letter 'A' represents the reality behind anything and any being.
It represents the inner self of man, or the reality behind the universe; God as Causative, Essential,
Potential Power, that which we call spirit". (Amen, the Key to the Universe, by Leonard Bosman, page 98)
In the Hebrew, the term "ABA" meant "Father" and was so used epithetically to refer to God. Fabre
d'Olivet, in his Hebraic Tongue Restored, says of Aleph that it represents "universal man, the ruling being
of earth. It characterizes unity, the central point, abstract principle of a thing. As sign,it expresses power,
stability, continuity. Its number is 1" (See Amen, the Key to the Universe, page 287). The Significance of
this statement will be apparent presently.
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