666 The Number of the Matter
Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast:
for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.
Revelations 13/18
The Number Six is the number of the material counterpart that represents the Spiritual essence in the three Planes of existence. Therefore 6-6-6.
The lowest material counterpart in man is his Astral Body, with its instincts and passions.
The lower ego is not evil, but at the middle point of its evolutions, the presence in the Form of an intelligence rationally and concretely linked to one’s own egocentrism and not influenced or enlightened by the presence of the superior Ego (the Triad) and continuously searching for an affirmation on the outside world, due to ignorance can make an action of wrong determination, by opening the Door behind which it is kept (sitting, say the sacred books) Evil (of error).
The evil that attacks, establishes itself and possess the mortal soul of man (the biblical nephesc or astral body) must be considered as an obsession (see the psychological and therapeutic aspects of the possessed man) and as such it must be treated and cured.
If we simplify the therapeutic journey we can state:
Immaturity = egocentrism = separation
So far everything is normal, but a pernicious process can start:
Unrestrained sense of self + ignorance + desire for predominance =
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act of pride – evocative desire for Power – delusion of Power and sense of Strength =
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Door of Evil – wickedness =
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obsession –slavery and fall of man.
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When the Initiate meets a Brother of the Order along the journey called the Path of the Left Hand, because it leads to the Black side of Life, he must invisibly intervene to break with determination a junction between those elements (represented in the image by the line); this must be lovingly done, even though his action is not required and even though that Brother is momentarily enjoying a state of inebriation and illusory euphoria. If that Brother had passed the left bank, though, the Initiate would undoubtedly meet him on the “Path of the Sword”.
This is the hidden meaning of 666, the Number of the Beast or rather of the fall into pure materialism of the primordial (angelic) conscience of the oblivious man in the lower counterparts, of his own true origins and who looks for those origins and thinks he will find themin the past, of the material cover that hides him.
I quote from a Commentary, where the Initiate is described as:
«...he who experienced and expressed the 666, who then found it empty and worthless, dropped the 6 (Personality) becoming therefore 66, finding himself on the PATH. Later on, dropping another 6 (the Triad) he became the perfect expression of the 6-Form, the instrument and expression of the spirit (the Monad)».
The Number Six-Form hides, with its attributes, the real three-fold inner Form of the Initiate expressed in the perfection of the Number Nine.
The Third Aspect (Intelligent Activity), which in its descent created a Cover and one for each element where it manifests itself, once become 6, it projects itself in the form of an Hexagram, which hides inside that “Point of Light” that expresses the last Aspect achieving manifestation. The Energy of the Will Aspect (1st Aspect).
The 3, now become 6, is ready to emanate through itself the 1.
This energetic development leads to the complete expression in the Worlds of manifestation of the 7 cosmic (energetic) Aspects.
At this point the Work of reintegration of all that was manifested can start, but at a much higher level of evolution (in vibration).
All this in the eastern tradition is described by the expression “The Breath of God”. Expiration-manifestation of the Words, Inspiration-Reintegration of the Universe. Pause. And the Work is repeated again but at a qualitatively purer level.
This is the method of Evolution of the Universe expressed in Cycles-Cadences and Rhythms (of manifestation and reintegration) of the 7 Cosmic Aspect (The Ritual of the G:.A:.).
Unfortunately I cannot go any deeper into this topic at this level.
We must point out that all the topics are constantly connected among them; quite evidently with the past ones and still invisibly with the future ones.
This is how the essential element of this number can contribute to the development of our long reasoning on the esoteric meanings of the Symbols.
Therefore I will comfortably omit a series of meanings that I would call “mundane”, because they belong to the “realm” of symbolism. I end this short journey in the Number Six with the “Seal of the Four Evangelists” and with an example of its practical application.
This Seal, emulator of the Seal of Solomon, has esoterically the value 6, although it exoterically represents the 4 Elements of Nature, represented by the Four Evangelists. The latter are represented by the Symbols of an Eagle, a Lion, a Bull and a Man, for a catholic version of the Egyptian Sphynx.
But that Seal, like the Hexagram, re-veils the Motion of the 6 Energies of Aspect emanated by the Archetype One. And the 7 reappears.
We can see below the representations of this Seal that Eliphas Levi left us.
The Seal instructs the researcher on the Motion of the Energy in the Four (energetic) Poles of the Matter (North, East, West, South, East, West and North), in its elements like in the Form, in the likeness of the Planetary Logos which we are part of:
The Seal of the Four Evangelists hides much more information than the Motion of the Form alone, but we will refrain from investigating meanings that are not connected to our present topic, in its esoteric perspective connected to Freemasonry.
A practical example of the use of the Hexagram not to be underestimated comes from the motion of the Occult Instruction to the Lesser Adepts, which can be recapped in the next image.
Let’s comment, in a few words, the image above; rather than a symbol it appears to the Initiate as a journey.
We are now aware that what more evidently separates the Initiates from an ordinary man is the ability to dominate the Act of Will such that it becomes a creative Act, changing those rules that for profanes dominate effects, making them subjected to the events that they have caused themselves.
We will delve deeper into this concept in the section dedicated to the “Psyche as the first occult instrument of the Mason Initiated to the masterhood of the Art” (see article).
The Initiate, once abandoned the opinions deriving from too personal interpretations of the Sciences of the Order, learns to use the Will to create that Tension (the energy of the Psyche) that leads him to the practice esoterically called To Know how to Do.
But what kind of practice? This first question is answered by a crowd of interpretations; I would like to add one as well, obviously leaving, as usual, the acceptance of this suggestion to the judgment of the masons that follow me on this journey.
One of the fundamental qualities of the Initiate that starts the operative stage of his minister, the Work at the Service of the Humankind, as the Rituals state, is to “be able to move” (Motion-Work-Service, synonyms of Intelligent Activity 3rd Aspect, see), grasping all the advantages of “knowing and respecting” the Rules of the Great Book of Nature.
But this erudite quotation, as well, would be worthless if we didn’t recognize that the fundament of the Great Book of Nature is the understanding of the Motion Aspect in the Matter (3rd Aspect of the Energy in our Solar System) inside as well as outside all its forms of manifestation in the microcosm and by analogy in the macrocosm.
Matter and Form are both effects deriving from the activity of that 3rd Aspect.
In order to allow the Lesser Adept the mental absorption of that knowledge, the School of Initiation coined some rules (the Great Book) based on the knowledge of the power of Cycles – Cadences – Rhythms (of Nature) in the 7th Energetic Aspect (see).
Since we cannot linger on this topic which, you will agree, is ‘fundamental’, I would specify better the indication given by adding an image of, for example, how cycles – cadences and rhythms act on the physical plane of two days, two years or two lives.
By abiding by the natural regularity of the motion of the wave of Life that moves Nature with its evolutional drive, the Initiate is harmonized inside, whilst at the same time he externally regulates his own Times of Work by it.
Many parables refer to this “time of the Work” when they talk about “vine”, “field” or “garden”, where the man of goodwill wisely farms and then harvests at the right time the fruits of his work.
But this would not be sufficient for the Initiate in order to reach the complete understanding of the “practice of Knowing How to Do”, which must also, necessarily, take into account the influence on “that Book”, the characteristics and qualities that rule the manifestation of the 7 Energies, passed on from the Great Lives of the Solar System that are the Sacred Planets, which we will deal with further on.
Those influences have become Rules, or more precisely Laws, for the Initiatory School that gathered them in a text known in the lesser Catechisms as the Book of the Seven Seals. This Name comes from the Symbol of the Seven Sacred Planets, each of which oversees a group of Laws.
Going back to the last diagram, the Initiate, who reached through the means we mentioned the Know How to Do, discovers in himself the ability to Be Able to Do a part of the general Plan through the use of Intelligent Activity.
But the question to ask oneself is: where to channel that personal activity that the Service to the Humankind or even just to the Brothers, requires?
If the Initiate chooses to “illuminate” one of the many works in the profane world, he will leave that framework to pursue a personal one.
If he chooses to dedicate himself to the Brothers, he will remain in the Temple and will undoubtedly become a master of wisdom. There is no “real” alternative in an Initiatory System for those who reached their inner maturity and want to remain and operatewithin it.
That master who stayed on the Path will create a progressive acceleration in the advancing of the Brother who confided in him. That thorough selection of knowledge and morality will lead him, under an experienced guide, to embark on the path of Wanting to Do, even more and even better for his own initiatory growth.
The building of his own inner Temple.
Once abandoned the passive Path of receiving, the Brother will be gradually pushed on the Active Path of researching, progressively learning the use of the will.
When he manages, with the constant use of all the material gathered:
a) what was offered by his master and gathered through him, b) all the material derived by the clear knowledge of the 33 levels of the Initiatory Pyramid, c) of the knowledge that interact with all these topics, d) all the material that he will be able to draw from inside himself, result of deep and complete elaboration of what he has learnt,
to achieve that synthesis of knowledge and intuition that is symbolically the Inner Temple, thanks to himself, his master and the invisible Ritual Path hidden in the Floor of the Temple, this Brother will have achieved a Work that very few know, even amongst his Brothers. 
