Numbers and Music

This blog I’m exploring a few numbers in Dan Brown’s The DaVinci Code, my book, I Found All the Parts, and another fascinating novel I devoured several years ago, The EzekielCode. 

Numbers became a big deal for me on my journey with rock music. Shortly after my awakening, the number “four” camped out in my brain with a lawn chair. The words “archetype” and “everyone” also did the cha cha in my skull for many months, but I had no idea at the time why I was hearing this stuff. Since they were like annoying neighbors who frequently visited me on a daily basis to borrow some sugar, I knew the words were important clues on my journey. But why would a number be significant?

Numerology, the system, tradition or belief in a mystical or esoteric relationship between numbers and physical objects or living things, goes way back. Pythagoras, the dude who gave us the Pythagorean Theorem, was into the spirituality of numbers big time. Every number resonates at a unique frequency. Kind of like music. Just as the note middle “C” vibrates at the frequency of 256 cycles per second, the numbers 1-9 are also believed to resonate to different energies and therefore offer insight into ourselves and our world.

In The Davinci Code, smart and handsome Professor Langdon illustrates how the five sided pentagram, or pentacle symbol, is considered both divine and magical by many cultures. That’s because if you draw a pentagram, the lines divide themselves into segments according to the Divine Proportion. PHI =  1.618.

 

Phi is s a symbol of beauty and perfection and connected with nature, the goddess, and the sacred feminine.

 

My journey as a woman with rock music helped me get in touch with the sacred feminine through various avenues, but especially via numbers. I began to see the correlations between music, numbers and sacred geometry in spectacular ways. The Divine Proportion, or 1.618, is everywhere in nature and even in different proportions of the human body.  

The black and white keys on a piano represent the ratios of musical proportion as well. (from  http://www.miqel.com/jazz_music_heart/vibrational-truth.html)





Phi is closely related to the Fibonacci series. In the 12th century, Leonardo Fibonacci discovered a simple numerical series that is the foundation for an incredible mathematical relationship behind phi. Starting with 0 and 1, each new number in the series is simply the sum of the two before it.

0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, . . .

The ratio of each successive pair of numbers in the series approximates phi (1.618. . .) , as 5 divided by 3 is 1.666..., and 8 divided by 5 is 1.60. After the 40th number in the series, the ratio is accurate to 15 decimal places. 1.618033988749895 . . . 

Since my book delves into alchemy, codes, symbols and the Rosicrucian Dr. Robert Fludd, I wondered if 1.618 might be a code for me. Think, think, think. Aha!  Take the decimal away from 1.618 and you get the year 1618. In 1618 Fludd wrote De Musica Mundana (Mundane Music) which described his theories of music, including his mundane (also known as "divine" or "celestial") monochord.  And look. God is tuning the chord so it sounds nice for us. 

What’s interesting is that Fludd’s image is all about proportion and illustrates the mathematical properties of musical pitch. In music, the 5^th note of a scale (for example G in a C scale, also called a fifth) creates 2:3 ratio or .666. Therefore, as noted above, if you play a fifth, such as C and G together, it is considered the musical representation of Phi and sounds very harmonious sound to our ears.

Gary Val Tenuta explores Phi and the Divine Proportion in The Ezekiel Code as well.  Tenuta calls his form of numerology, whereby each letter represents a number; 1 = A, 2 =B, so on up to Z=26, cryptonumerology. On his website, he writes that the term "crypto" relates to the idea of secret writing, ciphers, and codes. Therefore, any word or group of words has a numerical value (by tallying the numbers associated with the letters in the word or group of words). This is important since some consider that numbers not only have quantitative values, but qualitative values as well. “In this sense” say Tenuta, “one might think of numbers as being resonant symbols reflecting archetypal concepts residing in what the Swiss psychologist, Carl Jung, called the collective unconscious.”

Aha! Numbers are archetypal! That must be why I kept hearing “archetype” and the number “four” after my awakening.  Getting back to PHI and the Divine Proportion, The Ezekiel Code offers numbers and musical references up the yin/yang. For instance, THE GOLDEN MEAN SPIRAL = 198 = THE MUSICAL SCALE OF GOD and PHI SPIRAL = 108 = GEOMETRY.  THE MUSICAL PHI = 144. THE DIVINE PROPORTION = 252 = CHRIST CONSCIOUSNESS = ALCHEMICAL TRANSMUTATION. In case you didn’t notice, all of these numbers add up to 18 or 9 (18 or 1+8=9). Many of the hidden messages in The Ezekiel Code total 9. Tenuta believes 9 represents “synchronicity.”  

Reading The Ezekiel Code was a blast because there were numerous synchronicities between the numbers and my own journey. Synchronicity to me indicates that everything is connected, and my thoughts attract situations/people/information to me when I’m in a place of allowing. The synchronicities I encountered on my spiritual journey with a famous rock band are so prolific, so freaking mind-blowing, that it left no doubt that our consciousness expands beyond our physical mind.

Mini-"Mystical"-Me: Is The Next Dalai Lama Living Under My Roof?

I recently discovered "Dalai Lama" means "spiritual teacher." It would have been nice to know that seventeen years ago, for the day I discovered a fetus was forming in my uterus, I asked Goddess to send me not only a healthy baby, but an enlightened one: A mystical leader who would break down old walls of constricted thought while leading the masses to a new level of personal and spiritual insights. I also hoped for a child who’d recall her past lives and share my passion for metaphysical subjects and alternative healing.

I got a teacher all right, but she certainly doesn't appear to be next Dalai Lama. Nor does her sister seem destined to become another Louise Hay or DeepakChopra. However, their mother has learned that master teachers sometimes don’t look or act one bit mystical. There’s no halo, no special intuitive powers or the ability to bend spoons with their mind, just one quality that supersedes all: love.

My older daughter Ayla was born with a deformed, non-functioning left kidney. According to body/mind therapies, when something goes awry with a kidney, it often related to fear. I wondered what issues she incarnated with that would cause the birth defect. One day, it hit me. What if the kidney wasn’t about her issues, but mine? What if her soul willingly chose to be wonky because I needed to heal my own fears of believing I was totally not cut out for this mommy thing?

When I discovered daughter #2 was unexpectedly on her way 18 months later, fear once again ripped through me. Raising one bambino was challenging enough. How would I ever follow my spiritual life path if two young children needed my attention?

I asked an intuitive healer for guidance. “There are times when life presents challenges you don’t believe you are up to" she said. "These are tests for you to make a choice and see if you have the strength and courage to overcome adversity. If you decide to keep the baby, you will be guided and supported from our realm, and if you decide not to keep the baby, you will still be guided and supported. You are loved no matter what choices you make.”

Her words melted the fear of being not enough, and in that moment, I embraced the unknown and welcomed the soul that would soon join our family. And my, what an amazing journey it’s been.

All journeys of self-discovery have their incredulous AHA! moments. One of those goliath AHA!s occurred when recalling the day I pleaded with Goddess for my fetal unit to recall her past lives. All the attributes I asked to blossom in my children actually occurred in ME!

Since my daughters’ births, I’ve recalled past lifetimes with a famous rock band, come to understand the spiritual healing power of music, and wrote a book which braids these concepts together and challenges our society’s old walls of constricted thought. Before having children, I felt like the Grinch Who Stole Christmas: my heart was two sizes two small.  But it was the jaw-dropping realization that the wishes for my unborn daughter years ago to be a spiritual leader were actually aspirations for myself, that my heart grew three sizes that day.

Who knows what surprises lie in store for my daughters’ lives? At this point in time, it appears they don’t have a metaphysical bone in their body. Their days are consumed with mastering the art of geometry and constantly checking their iPhones. But enlightened beings don’t necessarily have halos or bend spoons with their minds. My daughters are master teachers, emissaries of light from another realm, sent to allow their mother to learn some major kick-ass lessons.

Being a parent allowed me to finally get in touch with my true essence, and learn what being a woo-woo mom was really all about. It’s all about having the courage to address my fears and feelings of inadequacy in order to be the light. And from what my psychic amigos tell me, enlightenment is a state of pure bliss, where the only emotion that remains is a sense of oneness, which at its core is the essence of LOVE.

The Dalai Lama once said, "With realization of one's own potential and self-confidence in one's ability, one can build a better world." Perhaps the next great "spiritual teacher" really is living under my roof.

Anxiety: A Well Rounded Approach Towards Balance

Anxiety issues are certainly a complex subject to tackle. A manic phase (of bipolar disorder) can also induce anxiety, and that's what happened to me. I had never taken meds before, but in January 2011 I had anxiety attacks due to high cortisol surges. It felt as though someone was injecting fear into my body every 20 minutes. Currently, I'm on low doses of medication (Seroquel, Depakote and Zyprexa) to help me calm down and sleep.  I was working with a psychologist who specializes in biofeedback as well as a psychiatrist and an Ayuervedic doctor. I've gone to numerous alternative healers over the years, and try to approach anxiety from a holistic point of view.


For me, alternative medicine has also helped my body begin to heal so that the anxiety/panic is diminished and better handled. Most western doctors don't address how adrenal fatigue can contribute to general anxiety disorder (GAD), but it's a huge factor for many people, especially women. If the adrenal glands are burned out (as what happened to me), anxiety can be a side-effect. In my case, my adrenals were pushing out way too much cortisol so I became manic. The other end of the spectrum is adrenal fatigue when cortisol is too low, so the person feels tired. Either too much or too little cortisol can cause anxiety/panic attacks. Also, a blood test won't usually show cortisol out of normal range. A saliva test taken at specific times throughout the day will reveal more accurate cortisol levels (saliva tests are usually prescribed by alternative docs and some chiropractors).

As for supplements that help with anxiety, my Ayuervedic doctor prescribed several forms of Ashwagandha. It's also sold in the health food store, and considered essential for helping the adrenal glands heal. Holy Basil  supplements are beneficial as well. Another supplement that helps bring high cortisol levels down is phosphatidylserine (aka PS). It's supposed to be very effective in balancing cortisol levels after taking it for several months. When night cortisol levels begin to drop, sleep improves, and when sleep improves, anxiety often diminishes.

I've also found breathing exercises that my biofeedback and Auyervedic docs have given me helpful in working with anxiety and insomnia. Meditation is also beneficial and there are some yoga poses I have done, such as cobra pose and legs up the wall which are relaxing.

Overall, I feel that it's a combination of things: medication, supplements, change in lifestyle (like trying to get 8-10 hours of sleep instead of my former 6-7 hours), and breathing/meditation/yoga, that have helped me lessen my anxiety and focus on my path to better health.

The Healing Power of Rock and Roll

36 years ago, the rock music of Cheap Trick intertwined with my soul, and believe it or not, more recently helped heal my emotional childhood wounds.
As a 6-foot-tall, awkward, female adolescent with 2-inch-high self-esteem, Trick’s teenage anthem "Surrender" reflected the internal angst we all face about giving our power away. But it was the intoxicating bass riffs of songs like "Ballad of T.V. Violence" that instilled a sense of fearlessness in my self-deprecating pubescent mind. The intense vibrations of the drum and bass guitar actually calcified my spine, and generated the strength to face any challenge.

When mom launched a torpedo that dad was dying of pancreatic cancer, Cheap Trick’s sonic force field helped shield my heart as I helplessly watched my father wither away. He never discussed his illness or impending death, nor did I ever possess enough courage to look into his pain-filled eyes and utter, “I love you, and will miss you daddy.” He died without either of us saying good-bye, and for nearly three decades, I remained totally unaware how our lack of communication left my psyche hanging, begging for completion.

Over the years, a compulsion to see Cheap Trick in concert grew more acute. However, whenever any band member made eye contact from the stage, strange feelings shot out of me like a howitzer canon and I’d instantly avert my gaze. Though numerous fans have met the band, a bizarre fear they’d never want to meet or talk to me kept rock girl at a distance, so asking for an autograph was unthinkable.

Several years ago, the band themselves illuminated the source of these atypical feelings. They released a single entitled “Perfect Stranger,” and surges of anxiety and guilt swelled whenever I heard the song. For months I wondered, “Why does this tune impact me so profoundly?” The answer came in an intuitive flash: Dad and I were “perfect strangers.” The lyrics mirrored aspects of our relationship, and like a humongous backhoe, dug up painful feelings locked within my subconscious mind surrounding my father's death.

Finally, my uncomfortable feelings around Cheap Trick made perfect sense. “Perfect Stranger” let me see how I transferred unresolved psychological issues with dad onto the band. I couldn’t look him in the eye and share my feelings, nor could I look the band in the eye or request an autograph because in the recesses of my brain, they symbolically represented my emotionally distant father.

It was time for my psyche to become whole again. With the help of a good therapist, I made amends with the soul of my father, and told him all the things I wanted to say, but never did. Cheap Trick’s music sheltered my heart when it most needed protection, and years later, helped bring my teenage trauma to light. Who’d ever think a fan could gain a sense of resolution, forgiveness and healing from a rock band and their music? Strange but true. I’m a believer. How ‘bout you?

Orbs Among Us

Several years ago, I attended a belly dancing showcase. The women were dancing in a small restaurant, and I knew several of them as I had been taking lessons for about a year. One of the dancers, Fern, asked me to take pictures of her with her camera, and I happily obliged. After her dance was over, she asked me if I had seen the orbs in the viewfinder, and I had no idea what she was talking about. She took the digital camera and scrolled through and showed me a picture of a woman who had just danced. She pointed to several small circular balls at the bottom of the image and then showed me several other pictures with blobs on them. That definitely piqued my curiosity.

 (image from Celtic Gardens website)

I'd studied spiritual phenomenon for years, but had never heard of orbs. What were these little balls that seemed to float in the air? According to Wikipedia, orb artifacts are captured during low-light instances where the camera's flash is used, such as at night or underwater—or where a bright light source is near the camera. "There is no doubt that dust particles, pollen, or moisture droplets in the air can produce images that may in some respects resemble true orb photographs, and care must be taken to assess the evidence," writes Miceal Ledwith in the book The Orb Project. Then what is a true orb? Some people think they are spiritual balls of energy, ghosts, or angels.

I asked Fern if she knew why the orbs appeared only on her camera, and she answered that she wore here camera whenever she could and asked for the orbs to appear. It was as though she "trained" her camera and attracted the orbs. I checked out some other websites discussing orbs and they claim the same thing: "Ask and ye shall receive." It seems orbs follow the Law of Attraction, which I discussed in my previous blog. Of course they show up at times when the photographer doesn't ask for them, so is there any theme as to when they appear? 

"It's not uncommon for dozens of orbs to appear in a photograph where there is a happy or healing event taking place" says Ledwith. Fern commented that they tend to show up when people dance or are joyous. I was still skeptical about these little spots on the digital screen until a few weeks later when I was discussing orbs with a neighbor. I described what they looked like and she exclaimed, "I'll be back in a minute!" She returned with her camera and started to go through her stored pictures. Then she yelled, "Look! Is that an orb?" And sure enough, there was the floating drop on the lower half of the image. It appeared in several shots of her daughter dancing in a restaurant while they were waiting for a table.

It does seem as though nature, music, dancing, joyous or healing situations tend to attract orbs. Sometimes there are only one or two, other times there are dozens in a photograph. But Dr. Ledwith points on his Amazon website out that once you develop a keen and sustained interest in photographing spirit entities, some quite interesting things begin to happen: the brain stops censoring these images, and you can begin to see with orbs with the naked eye -- in more color and detail than is visible to even a digital camera. Sounds cool! 

I watched a DVD, Orbs: The Veil is Lifting, when I was learning about them, and saw it in my DVD case today. It reminded me to try and capture orbs of my own. I'll use one of my old digital cameras to see if setting an intention to draw them to me works, and will post here if I see any orbs in photos of our upcoming trip to Mexico (where I hope to take lots of pictures of happy people and magnetize some balls of light!).