All Things Eight
Cardinal: EIGHT
Hindu-Arabic: 8
Ordinate: Eighth
Roman: VIII
Greek: Eta
Pythagorean number: the ogdoad
1+7, 2+6, 3+5, 4+4, 2x4, 2x2x2
The first cube number
Words of Eight
Roman words
- octo: octavus: October (Roman 8th month), octave, octoroon (1/8 Negro ancestory), Octagon
- octoni - 8 each
Greek words
- octo: octopus
Time associations:
- Roman week had 8 days
- August (Caesar Augustus)
Social, Family, Religious Associations:
- Christain: regeneration or resurrection
- Eighth Commandment: Thou shalt not steal.
- Jews practiced circumcision on the eighth day after birth.
- Eight sects of Pharisees
- Eight prophets descended from Rahab
- Triple 8 (888) is number of Christ the redeemer
- Games, sports references: Eight Ball, eight pawns on each side (Chess)
Science, Techology References:
- Geometric symbol: octagon
- Oxygen (O) periodic number
- First cube number
- Eight cylinder engine
Alpha associations: letters h, q, z
Prophetic references:
- The number of material success and worldly involvement. Eight has four-fold balance because when halved its parts are equal and when halved again they are still equal.
- The Greeks called it the number of justice because of its equal divisions. It represents the solid and the complete.
- Eight represents cycles of time: the four seasons sub-divided once more into two solstices and equinoxes.
- In Christian symbolism it stands for afterlife. It is the number of regeneration and of the Gods who accompanied Thoth.
- The figure eight is believed to represent the joining of the two spheres of heaven and earth. It is the number of the force which exists between terrestrial order (the square) and external order (the circle).
- Eight is associated with the Serpents of the Caduceus, the balancing of forces, the equilibrium of different forms of power and with infinity.
- Eight is the balance of cause and effect.
- Keywords: love, counsel, prudence, law, convenience ; associated with Rhea, Cibele, Orcia, Neptune & Themis. Eight is a mysterious number also associated with the Eleusinian Mysteries and the Cabiri. Also called the little holy number. A mysterious number also associated with the Eleusinian Mysteries and the Cabiri. Also called the little holy number.
Astrological Association: House of Scorpio
Tarot Divination: the card of strength which represents rest & victory, self discipline and stability. Learning to balance between spiritual & carnal nature; force of character, spiritual power overcoming material power, love triumphing over hate.
Literary, folk lore, art:
Symbols:
- Saturn which governs melancholy, reserve, limitations, seriousness, economy, authority and the ability to accept and work with the limitations of life.
- Demeter
- the Caduceus, the figure of Justice with a sword pointing upwards and a balance in her left hand.
Sign: the double square.; Symbol of infinity (eight on its side)
Common usage, slang:
- Behind the eight ball
AFTER becoming engaged last year in Paris, Grace Fung and Victor Chiu returned to New York to discover that event spaces for their wedding on the second Friday of August were already booked. The logjam was unusual for a Friday, but the date in question is this Friday — 08/08/08. “As a homonym, the number 8 sounds like ‘good fortune’ in Mandarin and Cantonese,” said Ms. Fung, who, like her fiancé, is of Chinese descent. From article about weddings on August 08/08 by Jennifer Lee in New York Times, 8/3/08
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Sources Some information drawn from:
- The Discoverers by Daniel J. Boorstin
- The Numerology Workbook by Julia Line
- Dartmouth, Number Symbolism in the Middle Ages at http://www.math.dartmouth.edu/~matc/math5.geometry/unit8/unit8.html
site offers much info on Christianity.