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Sunday 17 August 2008

Magick Squares

A magick square (kamea in Hebrew) is an array of numbers arranged in a square so that the sum of any row is equal to the um of any column. For most magick squares, the sum of either of the diagonal also equals the sum of either a row or column. Magick squares have been esteemed for their magickal and mathematical properties for thousands of years in China, India, and the Middle East.
  • There are eight different arrangements of a nine-division (3x3) magick square.
  • There are 880 ways to arrange a 16-division (4x4) magick square.
However, we are only concerned here with the seven kamea, which have been traditionally associated with the seven planets in practical qabalah. Each of these kamea is associated with a planetary Sephirah on the Tree of Life.

The number of divisions in a row or column of the magick square is governed by the number of the appropriate Sephirah (the order of the sphere on the Tree):

Number
Sephirah
Planet
...
3
BinahSaturn
4
ChesedJupiter
5
GeburahMars
6
TipharethSol
7
NetzachVenus
8
HodMercury
9
YesodLuna

Each kamea has a “seal,” which is a geometric diagram designed so as to touch upon all the numbers of the square. The seal is used in talismanic magic to represent the entire pattern square and to act as a witness or governor for them. The seal is the epitome or synthesis of the square.

There are also an “Intelligence” and a “Spirit” connected with each kamea which are derived from the key numbers of the square using techniques of gematria.

The Intelligence of a planet is viewed as an evolutionary, guiding, inspiring, or informing entity. However, the Spirit of a planet is traditionally considered more of a blind or neutral force.

Each Intelligence and Spirit has a sigil, which is considered an analogical glyph of the associated name, number, force, etc. These sigils are obtained by converting the name of the Spirit or Intelligence to a numerical form using the Aiq Bekar, or Qabalah of the Nine Chambers.

If the numerical equivalent of a letter does not exist on a given kamea, the number is “reduced” to the next lowest value in the same division of the Aiq Bekar until it fits onto the kamea. A letter should never be reduced further than necessary.

The resulting numerical sequence is then traces on the appropriate kamea to produce the sigil of that name.

The traditional seals and sigils do not in all cases follow the entire numerical sequence of each name. Some of the longer sigils seem to have been shortened or compressed for easier use.

Each Magick Square represents a matrix of planetary energy. Magick squares are based on the original work done by ancient mathematicians in their description of numbers. Magickal practitioners expanded on this to carry over the correlation between a number and its corresponding planet, therefore representing planetary energy in a mathematical format.

A magick square is made up using three key numbers. The first one is the planetary number. The second is the square of the planetary number (or the planetary number multiplied by itself). The third is the sum of the square (or all the incremental numbers starting at 1 that it takes to fill the boxes in the square added together and then divided by the planetary number).

The best way to understand this is by example so for illustration we'll can the planet Saturn.
  • Saturn is represented by the number 3.
  • Start by drawing the magick square with 3 boxes horizontally and vertically for a total of 9 squares (the square of 3 being 9).
  • This makes the sum of the square in this case 1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9 equaling 45. Now 45 dividing by Saturn’s planetary number of 3 this equals 15.
  • Each row of numbers in the magick square, horizontally and vertically, must equal 15 (the sum of the square of the planetary number of 3).

When drawing the Magick Square, all numbers should be placed in the square, in sequence beginning with number 1. This is the magick square representing Saturn. Notice that the square is 3 by 3 and that all the rows equal 15.

Source: altreligion.com