symbolic 25: 25 degrees
From my astrology chart generated by alabe.com: "Neptune is in 25 Degrees Scorpio. You are extremely interested in anything deep and mysterious. You will explore and idealize the benefits that can accrue from the study of the occult, healing and psychology..."
The 25th Degree of the Masonic hierarchy is the Knight of the Brazen Serpent. According to Biblical legend, during the Exodus some of the folk began to complain about the length of the hike. God sent serpents among the people, biting the whiners. Moses, after getting a mental clue from God, made a bronze serpent and wound it around a staff. Those who had been bitten and were suffering looked upon the staff and were healed. The symbol of the Masonic degree is both this staff (reduced to an ankh for simplicity) and the serpent biting it own tail. Ouroboros.
[An interesting aside because, as you know, these things fascinate me: the snake biting his own tail was an image I took and modified for the logo of the first web-presence I did for myself. The details of the 25th degree I didn't know until I went to write up this entry.]
The 25th Enochian Aethyr is VTI, a winged angel who represents the Voice of Silence. He is usually pictured standing on a large rock which is nearly submerged in a thrashing sea, and he symbolizes the emergence of the intuitive nature through the troubled waters of the intellect. He is the small voice which we all have down in our guts, and his full robes symbolize the mysterious and hidden nature of this mental process.
25 is the square of 5 which, if you write it out in mathematical notation, is one of the few equations where you utilize the same numbers on either side of the equal sign. 5 is the PENTAD in Pythagorean theory. It is the first number which can be achieved through the addition of an odd and an even number. It is the third prime number. The third prime squared is 25. (3, 2, 5. It gets out of hand.)
The Gematria of the first Hebrew word in the Bible, "let there be," is 25.
If the first six numbers of my cell phone are added together, the result is 25. Those two digits added together make 7 which happens to be the seventh digit of my cell number.
25 is my favorite number and has been for years. My earliest memory of the infatuation goes back to the days when the quarter could actually buy you a comic book. I would put my hand in my pocket and feel the shape of the single coin, knowing that I could go the racks at the supermarket and buy anything that I wanted. Usually it would be Conan or Beowulf because I was going through a swords and sorcery pulp phase, or even a Marvel Spotlight if Son of Satan was starring. Twenty-five cents used to be worth something -- 22 pages of pulped paper, covered with ink -- and now the sole reason to carry quarters is to feed the parking meters.
But, for some reason, the mystical importance of the number sticks with me and I find myself alert to signals imbedded in the presence of the number when it arises. The reason may simply be because Neptune had moved 25 degrees into Scorpio on the moment of my birth and all the occult influences swirling around at the moment I first had conscious thought separate from my mother may have imprinted that number in my brain. My fascination with the number may be a product of planetary alignments and celestial positioning. It may be the harmonic frequency on which I am most likely to be attuned. It may be the number of transmigratory lives I have had prior to this incarnation.
In the end, I am somewhat disappointed that my subscriber number at the local comic shop is "26." Cosmically, this seems somewhat unfair.
writing
This is a reasonably comprehensive list of my published work, both virtual and physical.
THE MISFIT LIBRARY
I am Nine of Thirteen, one of the members of the Misfit Library, a writing collective which puts out a quarterly journal of our respective work. We are scattered across the globe and determined to change the face of the planet one story at a time. The link above will take you to Misfit Central where you can acquire copies of the journal as well as read exclusive online material.
SYMBOLIC
I wrote a column for OPi8.com's Transmit blogs: journals of the new dark underground. SYMBOLIC tracked the novel I was working on, referencing the process and the research materials which mad up the backbone of the work. In addition, SYMBOLIC busied itself with ruminations and considerations on the nature of language and communication. And a wee bit of mythology. The first 100 entries of SYMBOLIC can be found here on this site as well as at OPi8.com.
LITERARY REPRESENTATION
I am represented by Scribe Agency as my literary agents. Please contact these gentleman if you have any queries about my work.