Rough Notes:
Five
FIVE 5
The Passage of Venus from James Ferguson's "Astronomy Explained Upon Sir Isaac Newton's Principles”, 1799 pent0a Nauvoo Day Star windows feature blue, white and red, perhaps representing water, spirit and blood
FiveGreenLifePhiPhysicalVenus
DIVINE PROPORTION (PHI)
“Take a pentagon with 5 equal sides and connect all the points to form a 5-pointed star. The ratios of the lengths of the resulting line segments are all based on phi. [Φ]”
Five and Phi; http://www.goldennumber.net/five-phi/ accessed 12/10/2012
GRACE
Coming soon…
LIFE (PHYSICAL & ETERNAL)
“5 is the number of life in scripture and in nature.”
Val Brinkerhoff, “The Day Star: Reading Sacred Architecture” (Book 1), 172
MICROCOSMOS (THE HUMAN BODY)
MIC’ROCOSM, n. [Gr. small, and world.] Literally, the little world; but used for man, supposed to be an epitome of the universe or great world.
Although the number five is not common in scriptural symbolism, two ideas are associated with it: God’s grace77 and man in his fallen state.78 Contextual clues help to clarify which idea is meant.
Regarding the symbol of God’s grace being poured out, one commentator noted that the Mosaic dispensation, including its tabernacle, had the number five stamped all over it.79 “Five sacrifices [were required]—a heifer, a goat, a ram, a dove, and a pigeon (Gen. xv. 9).”80 If these sacrifices were performed with faith, and as the typifying of their Messiah, Israel had reason to believe that they would be the recipients of God’s grace. The portable temple in which these sacrifices were to be performed “had five as its all-pervading number; nearly every measurement was a multiple of five.“81 It, too, was a source of God’s grace, just as temples and temple work are today.
Samuel the Lamanite prophesied to the people that in five years the ultimate grace of God would be manifest in the birth of the Messiah (see Helaman 14:2).
One commentator asserts that in the parable of the ten virgins (Matthew 25:1–13) the number five is a symbol for both God’s grace and the nature of fallen man.82 In this model the five wise virgins who have oil in their lamps, or testimonies, and righteousness in their hearts83 would be a representation of the grace of God. The five unwise virgins, of course, represent those who, in the spirit of fallen man as an “enemy” to God (Mosiah 3:19), have not prepared themselves for the coming of Christ.
As another example of the potentially combined symbols of grace and fallen humanity, David chose five stones for his sling as he prepared to battle Goliath (see 1 Samuel 17:40). This likely serves to emphasize the fact that David approached the task relying upon the grace of God to see him through (see 1 Samuel 17:46).84 Indeed, keeping in mind the symbolic meaning of the number one, the very fact that David slew Goliath with only one stone serves to emphasize God’s intervention (no. 1), which evidenced David’s receipt of divine grace (no. 5).85
The book of Helaman records how Nephi prophesied that the chief judge had been murdered by his brother as part of a continuing Gadianton struggle for the judgment-seat (see 8:27). Immediately, five men went to the seat of the chief judge to test Nephi’s words, to see “whether this man be a prophet [of] God” (9:2). In accordance with the secondary symbolic implications of the number five, these men stated that they did not believe Nephi was really a prophet and that they would believe only if that was proven to them (see v. 2), thus exhibiting characteristics of fallen men in their approach to revelation. Upon finding the chief judge dead, they believed that Nephi was a true prophet but were later arrested for the murder along with Nephi (see vv. 4–5, 8–9, 19). By the grace of God they were freed. Ultimately, many people were converted by the testimony of these five “doubting Thomases” and the words of Nephi (see v. 39).
SIX 6
cosmos Screen shot 2012-06-26 at 1.46.05 PM © 2007, Val Brinkerhoff Symbols161
© 2007, Val Brinkerhoff FlammarionWoodcut StarglassLasVegasNevadaTemple
BlueLawOrderSixStructureWork
MACROCOSMOS (E.G., THE UNIVERSE)
MAC’ROCOSM, n. [Gr. great, and world.] The great world; the universe, or the visible system of worlds; opposed to microcosm, or the world of man.
The number 6 describes the physical dimension of things. The six directions (above, below, east, west, south, north) mark the boundaries of the three-dimensional network of reality…The number six also figures in the formation of the physical structures that issue from the encounter between water and carbon…For Rabbi Shimshon R Hirsch (1808-88), six is the symbol of the physical and material universe, while seven embodies the creative freedom of the spiritual aspect of nature. Every physical object can be described through the six directions of space, whereas seven is the object’s essence, it’s relation to the whole. Nature, symbolized by the six days required to create it, evolves under the influence of seven, the spiritual ideal of the seventh day. And beyond six and seven lie the creative sythesis and ideal harmony of the physical and the spiritual, represented by eight.
Paolo Consigli, M. D., Water, Pure and Simple: The Infinite Wisdom of an Extraordinary Molecule
The connection between the number 6, water and the macrocosmos or universe, is interesting because, anciently, it was believed that the sky consisted of a great sea above the earth.
“In her new translation of the Rig-veda, Wendy O’Flaherty says that the ancient Hindus believed that “the earth was spread upon the cosmic waters” and that these primeval oceans “surrounded heaven and earth, separating the dwelling-place of men and gods….”(19) After the sky fell in on the Celts, the next event they feared was that the seas would come rushing in from all directions.(20) In the Babylonian creation epic Enuma Elish, the sky is made from the body of Tiamat, the goddess of watery chaos. The victorious god Marduk splits “her like a shellfish into two parts: half of her he set up and ceiled it as sky, pulled down the bar and posted guards. He bade them to allow not her waters to escape.”…Although it sounds odd at first, the rabbinic idea that the sky-dome was made of congealed water makes eminent sense in terms of creation out of watery chaos.”
N. F. Gier, God, Reason, and the Evangelicals ch.13 – link
“The three-part world of heavens, earth and underworld floated in Tehom, the mythological cosmic ocean, which covered the earth until God created the firmament to divide it into upper and lower portions and reveal the dry land; the world has been protected from the cosmic ocean ever since by the solid dome of the firmament.”
Via Wikipedia
“…six is the symbol of the physical and material universe, while seven embodies the creative freedom of the spiritual aspect of nature”.
Rabbi Shimshon R Hirsch as quoted in: Water, Pure and Simple: The infinite wisdom of an extraordinary molecule
By Paolo Consigli, M. D. Author
ORDER
See “Structure”
STRUCTURE
“…3 and 4 and 6 and 8 and 12 are considered structural numbers, the numbers nature builds with.”
(Michael Schneider, Oral Interview, via YouTube)
“Hexagons contain a message that efficient structure, function, and order are occuring. But these three separate words represent a unity; the qualities they name are always integrated, never separate, and must exist simultaneously or not at all…”
Michael S. Schneider, A Beginner’s Guide to Constructing the Universe, 179
The number six is a very uncommon number in scriptural numerology. Its meaning is deficit, imperfection, or failure to attain completeness.86 It can also symbolize “opposition to and independence of God.”87 One numerologist reasons that since six falls short of the numerical perfection found in the number seven, it symbolizes incompleteness in the sense of representing man without Christ.88 He also sees six as representing a manifestation of evil.89 Illustrating the primary definition, “Abraham’s six intercessions for Sodom (Gen. xviii.) marked man’s imperfection in prayer, which falls short of that of the Divine Intercessor.”90
Note that the armor of God, as described by the Lord and the Apostle Paul, consists of six pieces: the girdle, breastplate, sandals, shield, helmet, and sword (see Ephesians 6:14–18; D&C 27:16–18). The context clearly rules out the primary symbolic implications of the number six. But if the number is intended to be symbolic, perhaps it is seen as a manifestation of evil: the six pieces of armor protect mortals from the evils that can rob them of eternal life.
Time, which pertains only to man, has the number six “stamped” upon its imperfect measurements. For example, a day consists of twenty-four hours (4 x 6). There are twelve hours in a day (6 x 2) and twelve in a night (6 x 2). There are twelve months in a year (6 x 2). An hour consists of sixty minutes (6 x 10). And a minute contains sixty seconds (6 x 10). All is seemingly related to the temporal, imperfect nature of time.91
The concept of six as a representation of spiritual deficit, imperfection, man without Christ, and evil seems entirely appropriate as an epitaph for the Nephites, who, within a six-year period “turned from their righteousness, like the dog to his vomit, or like the sow to her wallowing in the mire” (3 Nephi 7:8).
HEXAGRAM 236
Hexagram Pattern at the Las Vegas Temple Rendering of how the Nephite Interpreters may have looked © 2007, Val Brinkerhoff Symbols161
AtonementMan + WomanMarriageRedSixThreeUnity
RECONCILIATION
“In some traditions, the hexagram star is the great seal of initiates, signifying rising aspiration from below met by the descent of grace from above.”
Michael S. Schneider, A Beginner’s Guide to Constructing the Universe, 187
MAN + WOMAN
“Outside the LDS Church some believe the upward pointing triangle is a male phallic symbol (the blade) and the downward pointing triangle a female vessel or receptacle (the challis). The Hindus and Greeks both used this motif to symbolize male and female creators…A particularly intriguing possibility is that of divine communication between heaven and earth; mighty prayer (sent heavenward), and inspired revelation (sent down to the earth), made possible through the pattern of knocking three times to open the heavens.”
Val Brinkerhoff, “The Day Star: Reading Sacred Architecture” (Book 2), 59
COVENANTS
See “Reconciliation”
UNITY
“For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.”
1 John 5:7-8
URIM & THUMMIM
“On the morning of September 22, after Joseph had returned from the hill, he placed the article [the Nephite interpreters] of which he spoke into my hands, and, upon examination, I found that it consisted of two smooth three-cornered diamonds set in glass, and the glasses were set in silver bows…”
(History of Joseph Smith by His Mother Lucy Mack Smith)
Goliath was said to be six cubits and six inches tall (see 1 Samuel 17:4). He is described as wearing six pieces of armor (1 Samuel 17:5–7), of which was a spear whose head weighed six hundred shekels of iron (1 Samuel 17:7). The man was, no doubt, the height of “opposition to and independence of God”92 and served well as the proverbial “manifestation of evil.”93
In the second chapter of John, the apostle records the first miracle of the Savior’s earthly ministry—the turning of water to wine at the wedding at Cana. Central to the story are six stone jars, traditionally used for the ceremonial washings of the law of Moses. The difference in quality and desirability between the old wine (provided by the host of the wedding) and the new wine (which Jesus made) has been compared to the two laws, the law of Moses being less desirable than the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The six pots have frequently been compared to the imperfection of the law of Moses, which would shortly be fulfilled in Christ, whose law is more desirable.94 “This ‘Judaic’ water becomes wine. . . . In place of the water of Judaism, Jesus now offers wine, the wine of the age of salvation. Indeed, the old has been transformed into the new so that there is no longer any place for the old.”95