Chapter 1432

[←1421]

In The Source of Measures, the author shows (pp. 50, 51) that the figure of the cube unfolded in connection with the circle “becomes ... a cross proper, or of the tau form, and the attachment of the circle to this last gives the ansated cross of the Egyptians.... While there are but 6 faces to a cube, the representation of the cross as the cube unfolded, as to the cross-bars, displays one face of the cube as common to two bars, counted as belonging to either [i.e., once counted horizontally, and once vertically]; ... 4 for the upright, and 3 for the cross-bar, making seven in all. Here we have the famous 4 and 3 and 7.” Esoteric Philosophy explains that four is the symbol of the Universe in its potential state, or Chaotic Matter, and that it requires Spirit to permeate it actively; i.e., the primordial abstract Triangle has to quit its one-dimensional quality and spread across that Matter, thus forming a manifested basis on the three-dimensional space, in order that the Universe should manifest intelligibly. This is achieved by the cube unfolded. Hence the ansated cross as the symbol of man, generation and life. In Egypt Ank signified “soul,” “life” and “blood.” It is the ensouled, living man, the septenary.