The Theosophical Seal - Canadian Theosophical Association

The Theosophical Seal by Arthur M. Coon
idea of the immanence of God, the two letters"AO" represent His wisdom,and the number 10 is the
measure of His power. Long before the present numerical (Arabic) system was in use by
mathematicians, in ancient Greece and India the number 10 was held sacred, where its origins and
values were known only to priests of the temple and initiates into their mystery schools. The number 10 is
the basis of our decimal system (from the Greek "deka"), without which our entire scheme of
mathematics would be impossible. The number 1 is the beginning and source of all numbers, just as the
point is the beginning and source of all forms. Hence it might be looked upon as "father". The 0 (naught)
is the end, the consummation. It is infinity, in which all numbers are contained. Their union (10) is the sign
of completion - the beginning and the end united.
It is no mere coincidence that the tenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet is "Yod", most sacred of letters. It
coincides with the Greek "Iota" and our letter "I". In Masonic symbolism , Yod ( ) is the "All-Seeing-Eye",
the sign of God. Albert Pike, in his great work, Morals and Dogma, says, "The principle called Father is
completed in Yod... the most occult of all the letters. The Supernal Wisdom is Yod ; who is therefore
called Father of Fathers: wherefore Yod is the beginning and end of all things". (Pages 792-793) It is the
"I" or Self, whether small or great. It is the center of the Blazing Star, the emblem of omniscience. To the
Egyptian initiates, it was the emblem of Osiris the creator. It is the first letter of the four-lettered Holy
Name "IHVH". F.Homer Curtiss, associating the Yod with the number ten, says, "Yod, representing the
activating Principle of all life manifestations, symbolically stands for the reincarnating Ego...its greater
cycles indicated by the additional ciphers (100, 1000, etc.)" (The Key to the Universe, page 356)
representing, in unending spirals, the attainment of wisdom and power, as it rises to heights of greater
perfection and closer union with its ultimate Source. As Yod in the universal sense is the sign of God, in
man it signifies his Spirit or Monad, the Ego, or "I". H.P.Blavatsky, speaking of the potency of numbers,
says of the number 10: "It is from this number 10, or Creative Nature, the Mother (the occult cipher, or "0"
ever procreating and multiplying in union with the unit "1" or the spirit of life) that the whole universe
proceeds". (The Secret Doctrine, 3rd Edition, Vol. 1., page 121)
The famous Tetraktys of Pythagoras was another symbol portraying this same idea. It was held sacred
because its form as an equilateral triangle contained 10 "Yods!" These Yods (or points) were so arrange
with four along each side of the triangle, and with each row of four numbered consecutively, that their
separate sums totalled 10. This form was called the mystic Decad and was known as the number of the
"Ineffable Name", because it expressed the unity of perfection and completion in the numbers 1, 2, 3 and
4. The sacredness of the number 10 is evidenced also in the Sephiroth of the Kabbalists as representing
the 10 Emanations of Deity, and the perfection of a sublime wisdom.
THE POINT AND THE CIRCLE
If we would search the whole universe for some symbol which most truly expresses the nature of God as
First Cause and Father, we must choose the Point. Of God as Absolute Being there can be no likeness or
similitude either on earth or in heaven. Of the Absolute nothing can be said. We may only call it THAT. It
has no attributes save that it is Eternal, Changeless and Causeless Cause. It is inherent in all things and
pervades all space. It is the Root Principle from which emanate both Spirit and matter. Yet the point is the
symbol which most nearly represents God as Absolute Being, for the point has neither form nor
dimension, and has therefore no external existence; yet it is potentially everywhere and is the beginning
of all forms and the source of all dimensions.
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