Page 193 - The_secret_teachings_of_all_ages_Neat

1 + 3 +5 +7 = 16
2 + 4 + 6 + 8 = 20
36

Keywords given to the tetrad are impetuosity, strength, virility, two-mothered, and the key keeper of
Nature, because the universal constitution cannot be without it. It is also called harmony and the first
profundity. The following deities partook of the nature of the tetrad: Hercules, Mercury, Vulcan, Bacchus,
and Urania (one of the Muses).

The triad represents the primary colors and the major planets, while the tetrad represents the secondary
colors and the minor planets. From the first triangle come forth the seven spirits, symbolized by a triangle
and a square. These together form the Masonic apron.

The pentad--5--is the union of an odd and an even number (3 and 2). Among the Greeks, the pentagram
was a sacred symbol of light, health, and vitality. It also symbolized the fifth element--ether--because it is
free from the disturbances of the four lower elements. It is called equilibrium, because it divides the perfect
number 10 into two equal parts.

The pentad is symbolic of Nature, for, when multiplied by itself it returns into itself, just as grains of wheat,
starting in the form of seed, pass through Nature's processes and reproduce the seed of the wheat as the
ultimate form of their own growth. Other numbers multiplied by themselves produce other numbers, but
only 5 and 6 multiplied by themselves represent and retain their original number as the last figure in their
products.

The pentad represents all the superior and inferior beings. It is sometimes referred to as the hierophant, or
the priest of the Mysteries, because of its connection with the spiritual ethers, by means of which mystic
development is attained. Keywords of the pentad are reconciliation, alternation, marriage, immortality,
cordiality, Providence, and sound. Among the deities who partook of the nature of the pentad were Pallas,
Nemesis, Bubastia (Bast), Venus, Androgynia, Cytherea, and the messengers of Jupiter.

The tetrad (the elements) plus the monad equals the pentad. The Pythagoreans taught that the elements of
earth, fire, air, and water were permeated by a substance called ether--the basis of vitality and life.
Therefore, they chose the five-pointed star, or pentagram, as the symbol of vitality, health, and
interpenetration.

It was customary for the philosophers to conceal the element of earth under the symbol of a dragon, and
many of the heroes of antiquity were told to go forth and slay the dragon. Hence, they drove their sword
(the monad) into the body of the dragon (the tetrad). This resulted in the formation of the pentad, a symbol
of the victory of the spiritual nature over the material nature. The four elements are symbolized in the early
Biblical writings as the four rivers that poured out of Garden of Eden. The elements themselves are under
the control of the composite Cherubim of Ezekiel.

The Pythagoreans held the hexad--6--to represent, as Clement of Alexandria conceived, the creation of the
world according to both the prophets and the ancient Mysteries. It was called by the Pythagoreans the
perfection of all the parts. This number was particularly sacred to Orpheus, and also to the Fate, Lachesis,
and the Muse, Thalia. It was called the form of forms, the articulation of the universe, and the maker of the
soul.

Among the Greeks, harmony and the soul were considered to be similar in nature, because all souls are
harmonic. The hexad is also the symbol of marriage, because it is formed by the union of two triangles, one