(seal of Crowley's magical order, the Argenteum Astrum)
E-mail question from a visitor to Supernatural World --
Another thing which I am attracted to or which is attracted to me is the number 777. Sets of three sevens appear to me more frequently than seems likely by normal chance. All I know about it is that Aleister Crowley wrote a book of correspondences with that title, but I couldn't find anything in the book to explain the title. Could you tell me what this number means?
Aleister Crowley's Kabbalistic numerology can be daunting at first impression. It seems to make no sense, and to be very complex, convoluted and difficult. This is not really the case, but to understand it requires an acquaintance with several aspects of the Western esoteric tradition that are seldom taught to those practicing witchcraft or pagan ways, or even to many who study ceremonial magic.
Understanding Crowley's numerology requires, among other disciplines, a knowledge of the number values of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, and the correspondence between Hebrew letters and English letters; the numerological techniques of the Kabbalah; the system of occult correspondences used by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, particularly those relating to the trumps of the Tarot; the structure of the Tree of the Sephiroth; the basics of astrological symbolism and the structure of astrology; the meanings and use of the sixteen geomantic symbols; and the teachings of Crowley's personal cult of Thelema, particularly his Book of the Law. An understanding of the use of Greek and Latin letters in numerology is also useful, although Crowley makes use of these alphabets only occasionally when deriving his magically significant numbers.
Even though one of Crowley's most important books is titled 777, it is not immediately obvious from a study of the text exactly what the number signified for Crowley. The information is present, but the difficulty of the subject makes comprehension difficult for those not well versed in Kabbalistic numerology. My explanation of its meaning to a woman who wrote to me about her personal relationship with this number may be of interest to others, so I have reproduced it below.
The number 777 probably had several meanings for Crowley, but the specific meaning which gave rise to the title of his work 777 is explained in that book.
If you look at page 61 of the final numbered section of the Weiser edition 777 and other Qabalistic Writings of Aleister Crowley (the page numbering is a little awkward, because the work is composed of collected shorter works) you will find this statement concerning the number 777:
"The Flaming Sword, if the path from Binah to Chesed be taken as = 3. For [Gimel] connects Arikh Anpin with Zauir Anpin."
This may be a little obscure if you are unfamiliar with the Kabbalah. I will try to explain it to you briefly.
The Tree of Life is a graphic symbol composed of 10 circles and 22 pathways. It vaguely resembles the shape of a Tree, which is one of the reasons it was called the Tree of Life (or more correctly, Tree of the Sephiroth, although Tree of Life is the much more common term).
The ten circles, or spheres, are the Sephiroth of the Kabbalah -- ten successive stages of emanation in the transition from highest deity to the manifest world. The Tree is a kind of map of creation.
Kabbalists believe that it is possible for spiritual beings to descend the Tree, and for human beings to ascend the Tree, at least in their meditations.
The primary path of descent is known as the Way of the Lightning, or sometimes the Flaming Sword. It is called the Way of the Lightning because it darts back and forth down the Tree in a zigzag pattern, like the common pictorial representation of a lightning bolt. It is called the Flaming Sword because during the act of creation, the word of God became flesh, and this Word is often depicted as a sword extending from God's mouth. The Word made its way from the highest Sephirah, Kether, to the lowest, Malkuth. The path is the same whether it is called by either title.
Each of the 22 pathways, or more properly channels, that connect the spheres, or Sephiroth, has in the Golden Dawn system of magic a specific Hebrew letter, and each Hebrew letter has its own number value. When the numbers of the Hebrew letters of the pathways traced by the Flaming Sword are added together, they total 777, provided that the gap between the third sphere, know and Binah, and the fourth sphere, known as Chesed, is assumed to equal 3. This must be done since there is no path on the standard glyph of the Tree that connects Binah with Chesed, yet this is one leg of the Way of the Lightning, or Flaming Sword.
Why 3 for this gap? Crowley's thinking was that since the three highest spheres, known as the Supernals, represent Arikh Anpin, or God the Father, and the lower spheres represent Zauir Anpin, or God the Son, the number of the existing pathway that links the two specific Sephiroth associated with these aspects of divinity should be used for the leg of the Way of the Lightning that joins the Supernals with the lower spheres.
The only existing pathway that crosses the gulf between the Supernals and the lower seven Sephiroth at the center of the Tree is the path associated with Gimel, the third Hebrew letter that has a number value of 3. The path of Gimel does not run from sphere 3 to sphere 4 -- in fact, it runs from sphere 1 to sphere 6. But it is the only overt pathway on the Tree that crosses the gulf between the Supernals and the lower seven Sephiroth at Daath, the so-called eleventh invisible Sephirah that resides between and slightly below Chokmah and Binah. This gulf, known as the Abyss, is what separates sphere 3 (Binah) from sphere 4 (Chesed) on the symbol of the Tree. Daath is the gateway to the Abyss. The way of the Flaming Sword does not run from sphere 1 to sphere 6 where it crossed the Abyss at Daath, it runs from sphere 3 to sphere 4 -- so, Crowley, needing a number for this leg of the Flaming Sword, and not having any, took the number of the Hebrew letter of the pathway that does span the Abyss through Daath.
Even as I write this, I can imagine how confused you must be, if you have little knowledge of the Kabbalah. It is important to understand that each of the pathways on the Tree of Life has two main numbers associated with it -- first, it has the number of the pathway itself, and second, it has the numerical value of its Hebrew letter. The paths are numbered from 11 to 32, because the first ten Sephiroth are thought of as the first ten "paths" on the Tree. But the Hebrew letters are not valued sequentially from 1 to 22, as you might suppose. Some have much higher values.
In achieving a value of 777 for the paths of the Flaming Sword, Crowley added the numerical values of the Hebrew letters -- he did not work with the actual numbers of the paths themselves. I hope this is clear.
So the actual equation Crowley worked with is as follows:
Path 11, letter Aleph, value 1
Path 14, letter Daleth, value 4
[no path], letter Gimel, value 3
Path 19, letter Teth, value 9
Path 22, letter Lamed, value 30
Path 24, letter Nun, value 50
Path 27, letter Peh, value 80
Path 30, letter Resh, value 200
Path 32, letter Tau, value 400
This is the Way of the Lightning down the Tree of Life, also known as the Flaming Sword. If you add the number values together, you get:
400+200+80+50+30+9+3+4+1 = 777
The reference to Arikh Anpin and Zauir Anpin refer to the Kabbalah. As used by Crowley and the Golden Dawn, they are alternative designations for sphere 1 and sphere 6 on the Tree of Life. It is sphere 1 (Kether) and sphere 6 (Tiphareth) that are connected by the path of Gimel, which crosses the Abyss at Daath. Arikh Anpin, also known as the Macroprosopus or Vast Countenance of God, is a title of Kether, and is equivalent to God the Father; Zauir Anpin, also known as the Microprosopus or Lesser Countenance of God, is a title of Tiphareth, and is equivalent to the Messiah or Son of God.
Part of the introductory material to Crowley's 777 is an essay titled "Gematria" that first appeared in Crowley's periodical THE EQUINOX, Volume 1, Number 5. I assume the author of the essay was Crowley himself, although this is not indicated in 777. In this essay, the meaning of the number 777, and why it formed the title for Crowley's book, is explained in somewhat greater detail. I will quote the passage for you, which is located on page 20 of 777:
"But the compiler of Liber 777 was a great Qabalist when he thus entitled his book; for he meant to imply, 'one is the Spirit of the Living God,' i.e. I have in this book unified all the diverse symbols of the world; and also, 'the world of shells,' i.e. this book is full of mere dead symbols; do not mistake them for the living Truth. Further, he had an academic reason for his choice of a number; for the tabulation of the book is from Kether to Malkuth, the course of the Flaming Sword; and if this sword be drawn upon the Tree of Life, the numeration of the Paths over which it passes (taking [Gimel], 3, as the non-existent path from Binah to Chesed, since it connects Macroprosopus and Microprosopus), is 777."
I hope that my explanation has made this passage a little more intelligible. It will make much better sense if you consult several of the many images of the Tree of Life. I'm afraid the image shown in Crowley's 777 is quite poor, but I have better images of the Tree available on my Web site Supernatural World. You may want to look at those when trying to make sense of Crowley's text.
Donald Tyson
[Note: The Way of the Lightning is illustrated in the animated GIF at the top of the Sources and Resources page of this Web site.]