music could be masonic
Stage 10 = 1+0 = 1 Cycle Completed
Solfège is introduced into the minds of all young music students at an early age. This post will be the beginning of a lengthy symbolic treatment of WHY we use the words Do - Re - Mi - Fa - So - La - Ti in conjunction with our Diatonic scale.
The word DIATONIC comes from DIA (to stretch, dialate) and TONIC (Tone) meaning to stretch a single tone (vibration) and its overtones out over the course of a linear, ascending scale without any chromatic alterations. Major and minor scales are both examples of scales without chromatic alterations. They are simple, unaltered seven note scales. There are other tonal modes which would also come under the title “Diatonic”.
If you Will, please imagine a laundry line strung up horizontally between two fences on either side of your house. This line represents a musical string which you are free to pluck. Upon doing so, you hear a sound which vibrates and oscilates in your ears.
Now that you understand what is meant by “Diatonic”, I am prepared to move into an analysis of Solfège. The Major Diatonic scale is traditionally associated with happiness, light, and ascension. So, I begin my analysis of Solfege with this optomistic, Major Key symbol as a starting point. Of the seven notes in a major scale, it seems appropriate to begin with the first note, “Do”.
In the process I will be discussing several parallel symbolic themes that pop up regularly in pop occulture. Enjoy!
What are you looking at in the above image?
1. Homer Simpson is our launching pad. D’OH!
2. Of the various Simpson episodes with “d’oh” in the title, I have chosen to launch from episode 322, I D’OH!Bot because it interlocks with I ROBOT (Featuring Will Smith, an actor of prior Synchromystic value). INVESTIGATE THE WILL SMITH SYMBOL HERE: 1 2 3
3. The number 322 resonates with the famous SKULL AND BONES motif. For those not familiar with Skull and Bones, this was the secret society to which John Kerry and George Bush both belonged prior to their running for presidency.
4. Top-Right is an 18th century engraving based on the work of the famous alchemist BASIL VALENTINE.
The simpson episode that I will be referencing is available for free HERE in case you want to follow along.
LET THE GAMES BEGIN!
The number 322 resolves numerologically to 7 (3+2+2). The number 7 has been called the number of God, equated with the days of the week, planets in hermetic magick, and the notes of a diatonic scale (solfege). Alternatively, (32)x(2)=64 and 64=(8×8) as previously paired with the Freemasonic checkerboard motif. The theme of secret societies employing black and white in their symbolism is echoed by the SKULL AND BONES society of Yale. They infamously make use of the number 322 in their rituals.
Skull and Bones was a key symbol of Secrecy during the 2004 elections between George w. Bush and John Kerry. In American politics, each party is associated with a color: Democrats are blue and Republicans are red. There is also the Green party. The Acronym “RoyGBiv” (7 Colors of the rainbow) clue us in to the three colors of greatest importance.
From the Green, grassy mound of Basil Valentine’s Alchemical Emblem grow seven flowers. The two flowers nearest the center are Red and Blue. Between them is a WHITE CUBE with a BLACK SHADOW. A cube is made up of 4 sides. 4 CUBED (four raised to the third power or 4×4x4) = 64. The white box therefore resonates with the Secretive Checkerboard of Freemasonry and with the Skull and Bones Society.
The placement of our Checkerboard Resonating Cube in between the Red and Blue (Republican and Democratic) Forces is no coincidence. It is part of a recurring symbolic theme in Western Culture.
When the musical CIRCLE OF FIFTHS, discussed in previous posts, is superimposed onto the COLOR WHEEL, we find that the pitches A flat, E, and C line up with Blue Red and Yellow respectively. These are the three primary colors present in our Millhouse character. Returning to the previous image, at 0:32 seconds into the episode we see millhouse hanging from a MONOCHORD, holding the mysterious WHITE CUBE, wearing RED PANTS while being attacked by a ferocious dog, looking back towards BLUE Pants and WHITE socks (w/red patches) hanging from SEVEN Clothespins (frets).
10 Seconds later we find Millhouse in red and blue cothes laying on green grass next to the white box. He was knocked over by Homer (the One who speaks D’OH! - The fundamental tone of our Solfege scale). Hovering above Millhouse are three black birds circling counter-clockwise (reversal of time). The phrase FOUR HOURS LATER appears on the screen simultaneously, implying that time is moving forward. When time moves forward and backwards, does it stop all together? Or can time move forward and backwards at the same time?
The superimposition of a C AUGMENTED triad over a D AUGMENTED triad generates the “Star of David” or SOLOMON’S SEAL. I will continue from here on with images.. It’s easier that way.
The funeral scene of this episode begins at 3:22. We see Lisa as the little girl in pink representing youthful female innocence (Mona Lisa/Purity). She recites a poem called “Cat Math” as if to verify that numbers play a part in this Death Ritual. The numerical difference between One Special Cat (Life) and One Sad Little Girl (Death) is 6. The number six has been connected to SOLOMON’S SEAL as symbol for TIMELESSNESS and the harmony of upward (above) and downward (below) triangles united as one. The word FOX is displayed in the bottom right corner of the frame. F=6, O=15=1+5=6, and X =24=2+4=6 thus we see the infamous 666 sigil resting underground by the black cat’s grave. Wow!
Between Bart’s blue suit and Maggie’s red pacifier is a WHITE BOX (poem paper and numerical incantation). Reflected directly below Lisa’s white box of Timeless Existence is the dark side of the box.
Marge tries to comfort Lisa with a story about a dead pet from her past, but is gripped by the pain of her own memories. We see Marge grip her heart with FOUR fingers as the word FOX (666) brushes her left arm. The gripping of this green cloth symbolizes the death of green in favor of red and blue. This interpretation is confirmed by the GREEN triangle earing pointing towards her teeth (WHITE BOXES/GRAVE RESONATORS). The RED necklace and BLUE Hair are positioned opposite one another with the white boxes in the middle. The green cap on Marge’s blue head represents the “radical” democratic ideals which exist at the extremities of this political dichotomy.
Earlier in the post you witnessed three birds circling counter clockwise above unconscious red, white, and blue elements below (Millhouse + Grave).
The White Box Above Ground and Seven Flowers represents the use of Colorful Music to ressurect the Human Spirit. We see Solomon’s Seal mirrored in the heavens. On the left side are blue, feminine forces and on the right side are firey, masculine forces. At the top and bottom are symbols for Mercury, Keeper of True Knowledge. At the center of the Six-Pointed Star is an Eagle in an Ascending triangle, resonating with the themes of TIME, ASCENSION, and TRIPLICITY.
Of course, we are reminded by the show that life is a vicious karmic cycle. Bart summoned the beast (666) through the intentional destruction of his bike. In the process, he attracted the death of his innocent sister’s pet cat Snowball 2. Bart gets his new bike in a box (rebirth of the grave box) and homer is meant to put it together. Lisa follows the advice of a book on recovering from the death of a child’s pet (Written by a Rabbi - Star of David) and gets her new cat Snowball 3. Bart goes to show off his new bike to the DIMINISHED 7th bike gang but it falls apart mid-ride. Homer comes rushing out with a MEDICAL BOX (Dr. Higgins) which has been spring loaded. Instead of aiding Bart’s wounds, the box plunges a series of sharp tools into Homer’s Third Eye.
Posted on: October 27th, 2008 Stage 9
Tonight I went to the theater for the first time in several months to watch a documentary on Phillipe Petit, the French tightrope walker who illegally bridged the gaps between NYC’s Twin Towers on August 7th, 1974.
The film went back and forth between English and French with subtitles. This linguistic exchange awoke in me a sensitivity to the other dichotomous relationships at play. In deed, the linear motion of a tightrope walker moving across our country’s most potent symbolic structures was enjoyable enough, but It was the musickal revelations that really got me excited.
As established in previous posts, the Bass and Treble clefs of a Master Staff (piano staff) may be rotated by 90 degrees to form the shape of two towers. Between the Two Towers stands an invisible line representing the pitch of Middle C(4). I have demonstrated how this hidden, middle line connects to Da’at, the 11th orb of the Kabalistic Tree of Life, and with the middle pillar of Freemasonry. This middle pillar has been tagged, by various researchers in the SYNCHROMYSTIC circle, as a symbol representing the Third Eye chakra.
When in its natural position, the Master Stave is connected by a single piece called the BARLINE. The image featured on the Movie Poster for Man On Wire displays Phillipe Petit, our PP resonator, uniting the bass and treble clefs (WTC 1&2) via tightrope. He is shown holding a bar, walking the line. Thus we may consider this connecting piece the BARLINE of the musickal tradition. (See the above image)
P is the 16th letter of the alphabet. The number 16 is synonymous with the mathematical statement (4×4). Phillipe Petit may be abbreviated PP or 2P. When we insert (4×4) for the value of P we get 2(4×4). The number 2 is distributed evenly and we are left with 8×8. Thus PP = 8×8 or 88. If you refer to the previous blog post you will see that there are 88 keys on a piano and 8×8 is the “Dimension” of a Checkerboard. Therefore Phillipe Petit and his tightrope clearly represent the uniting of the white and black, solar and lunar, masculine and feminine energies.
Petite is French for small, but this man accomplished no small feat! Over the course of the movie he manages to gather a crew of bandits, befriend corporate execs from within the WTC buildings, sneak past security guards, shoot an arrow of thread from one building to the other in the dead of night, and walk back and forth across the line a total of EIGHT (octave) times while being shouted at by police and security guards.
The grand event took place on a date of numerological significance: August 7, 1974 or 8/7/74. Month, Day, and Year are often separated in this fashion. Interestingly, the slash symbol ( / ) is synonymous with the mathematical symbol for division. If we take the date of August seventh to literally mean 8 Divided By 7 then we come across our first interesting anomoly.
When 8 is divided by 7, the quotient is 1.142857,142857,142857 etc…
I first came across this number 142857 in a book called THE MYSTIC THESAURUS by Willis E. Whitehead on pages 46 through 52. The author delves DEEP into the occult significance of this number. It is called SOLOMON’S SEAL. Were the text not copywritten and the number of people who read my blog so few, I would type these pages out for you and show you just how deep this number goes. For a purely mathematical and spiritless description of this number’s allure, you may check the wikipedia entry here.
Solomon’s seal places the 6 digit number 142857 on a rotating wheel. You may recognize the shape from an earlier picture in which I oriented the diatonic C major scale to Da’at, the 11th orb which unites the TEN spheres of the tree of life. At the center of this 6 digit wheel is the number 9.
To understand why the number 9 is placed at the center of this figure, we must consider the six-pointed star shape which has been given the same name of Solomon’s Seal. Many associate this shape with Israel, Judaism, and Zionism.
The occult idiom “As Above So Below” may be represented visually by the philosophers diamond - two triangles that mirror each other. One points upwards towards “heaven” and light while the other points “Below” towards darkness. Another interpretation is that the two triangles are reflexive of one another, like the mirror reflection of your face in water. The upper triangle reflects your higher spiritual nature while the downward triangle represents your material and animalistic nature. It is through the uniting of your material body with your spiritual body that the SEAL OF SOLOMON is created. Such balanced union of opposites is ideal in occult practices. Both the idealistic and material worlds are bound to one another by nature.
The reason that we choose to place the NUMBER 9 AT THE CENTER is coming in a moment. First, please notice that the united form, solomon’s seal, is composed outwardly of 6 projecting triangles, and inwardly of 6 additional triangles. Notice that, of the inner 6 triangles, two pairs are replicas of the initial “philosopher’s diamond” and the third pair is of a similar, reflexive nature. This represents the HOLOGRAPHIC NATURE OF SOLOMON’S SEAL. As soon as Above and Below are united initially, our hexagon demands that we unite three additional pairs, continuing ad infinitum. Thus the whole is contained in its parts (holographic).
The NUMBER 9 is the largest single digit number. It contains all other potential numbers. Similarly, the theoretical center of Solomon’s seal is infinite and contains all other potential numbers.
Please take a moment to consider the SEPTEMBER 11th ATTACKS as a Magical (and perhaps musickal) ritual uniting the infinitude of Number 9 with the hidden and unifying nature of Da’at, the 11th sphere. 9+11 is 20 and as I have stated earlier, the word SCORE actually refers to the number 20. “Four score and seven years ago..”
TO SUMMARIZE: Phillipe Petit’s BARLINE act united the Two Towers through a Freemasonic checkerboard ritual on August 7th, a date which corresponds to the center of the Seal of Solomon, Middle C(4), Da’at, Cyclicity, and the 9/11 WTC attacks. PP is a magickal sigil resonating with the number 64.
Finally, if we consider August 7 (8/7) not as a divided symbol but instead as the double digit number 87, we find ourselves one note away from the total number of piano keys, 88. Where did the single unit go? Why, he is standing in between the two buildings (clefs) holding the BALANCING BAR of MIDDLE C of course. Phillipe Petit (PP) is the 64 resonator (8×8=64) whose presence transforms 87 into 88 and completes the square. PP REPRESENTS THE EXPLOSIVE POTENTIAL OF HUMANITY LIVING ON THE EDGE, MANIFESTED AS C(4) HIDDEN BETWEEN THE WORLD TRADE CENTER BUILDINGS.
Posted on: October 26th, 2008 Stage 8
I have uncovered the Hidden Line, Middle C, the Third Eye of Western “Musick”. Scientific notation refers to this pitch as C(4) because it occurs at the fourth octave of the piano. The alphanumeric combination “C4″ was popularized by the computer game franchise COUNTERSTRIKE as a powerful Plastic Explosive Weapon called the C4 Bomb.
The expression of a single note has the power to trigger an explosive, psychic awakening!
MIDDLE C(4) is the 40th Key. The word Middle implies half, yet there are 88 keys on the piano. When we cut this number in half we are left with the number 44 and the corresponding key of E(4). If you turn the capital letter E 90 degrees (1/4th full rotation) it becomes a symbol representing the splitting of a keyboard in half.
The E(4) key is 4 notes away from C(4) on the piano. Are you seeing the Tetra-Pattern yet?
The main compositional tool for musicians of the Western Tradition is the piano. It consists of 88 keys… 52 white and 36 black. These numbers share a common denominator of FOUR. Once divided by the denominator, the difference between white and black keys is FOUR. As demonstrated in the lower right corner of the above image, the ratio of white to black keys resonates with the 64 box checkerboard.
The checkerboard motif is a timeless symbol for Contraries in Balance. I have chosen to relate my observations to the checkboard because the predominance of the number 4 in the piano key ratios.
The numerological analysis reveals solar/lunar and masculine/feminine resonances.
The combined total of black and white keys is 88 or 8×11. Musically, the number Eight represents the beginning of a new Diatonic Scale Cycle. It is the OCTAVE. Eleven has been previously established as a MIDDLE C resonator, uniting the bass and treble clefs (the two towers) and the two pillars of the Tree of Life (as in Da’at, the 11th sephira).
Posted on: October 24th, 2008 Stage 6
Why is the Key of C Major the only diatonic scale that does not have any sharps or flats? (C-D-E-F-G-A-B)
Could it be that there is some esoteric meaning behind the selection of the letter “C”? After all, would it not be more intuitive to assign the first letter, A, the role of Diatonic Major Key? The picture above is a visual representation of the synchrologic employed throughout the following blog post. Enjoy!
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The piano covers a large range and requires two clefs, Bass and Treble, to cover the full 88 note span in conventional notation. Both clefs are always present in a piece of written piano music. I created the following diagram to illustrate the relationship between these two clefs. Bass is on the bottom and the lines represent the notes G, B, D, F, and A. The Treble clef is on top and ascends from E to G, B, D, and then F. Following this pattern, the letter C should be present either at the top of the bass clef or at the bottom rung of the treble clef. However it is not present in either. The “C” note is a HIDDEN BAR.
By turning the bass and treble clefs sideways you may notice that the C bar rests in between what closely resembles two towers. I choose to connect this visual similarity to the World Trade Center towers. The letter C is the third letter in the English alphabet and phonetically spells the word “See”. The two towers are identical in shape to the capital letter I. Thus, if we imagine that each tower IS the letter I and that there is a third, hidden tower, just as there is a hidden bar between the bass and treble clefs, an interesting synchronicity emerges. The third tower resonates with the hidden letter I and the Hidden letter C (3). A HIDDEN THIRD EYE.
Numerologically: i(9)x2 = 18 + c(3) = 21. 2 (visible) +1 (hidden) = 3 towers
The ten spheres of the Kabalastic Tree of Life are said to be united by the eleventh, hidden sphere called da’at. Likewise, the five bars of each musical staff are united by the “C” bar. By placing the C note in the position of Da’at I witnessed an interesting synchronicity. The six emanations from C may very well be the diatonic notes of the scale. If each orb of the Sephirot (tree of life) is meant to be an emanation of God, I should think that they are in their natural state, rather than flat or sharp.
C - D - E - F - G - A - B.
Click the image above to be linked to a book detailing the nature of this middle pillar. You may also want to check out some of Jake Kotze’s insights into this matter over at the Brave New World Order. Jake’s videos have taken this theme pretty far out by now. You can watch the whole series of you tube posts HERE.
Posted on: October 23rd, 2008 Stage 5
Why do major chords sound “Happy” and minor chords sound “Sad”? If 12ToneEqualTemperament is an artificial human construct, then why do our favorite songs which employ this method of tuning still manage to touch us so deeply?
I will approach the question of Emotional Effects of Tonal Music first from the perspective of Acoustic origins, taking on the more “occult” aspects in a later post.
Whenever a note is sung or a string is plucked, the listener perceives a FUNDAMENTAL tone. In musical notation, this fundamental tone is the “note” that we identify on staff paper. Although we only account for one note in written form, there are actually several additional notes vibrating simultaneously. These notes are called Harmonic Overtones. In the following image they are laid out in a series, according to a hierarchy of pitch.
Throat Singing, a folk technique popularized recently by the Tuvan musicians of Russia, is derived from an understanding of how the harmonic overtone series works. These vocalists are able to sound a fundamental tone and emphasize its most prominent harmonic overtones, resulting in a kind of whistling, humming sound. The listener might hear anywhere from two to four melodies expressed simultaneously.
Explore Tuvan Throat Singing Videos
You may have noticed that throat singers do not drone on consonant letters like K or P.
Vocal melodies are necessarily comprised of some combination of consonants and vowels. However, it is the vowel which carries the strongest harmonic overtones. Whereas a consonant is generally percussive and punctual, vowels are animated and musical. When we speak to one another, it is the inflections in our voice which expresses our mood and intention. The phrase “Oh yeah?” could express curiosity or animosity depending on how the vowels are executed.
B - C - D - F - G - H - J - K - L - M - N - P - Q - R - S - T - V - X - Z
A - E - I - O - U - W - Y
“The findings of acoustics compel one to admit the fact that every time one hears language, whether sung or spoken, one is consciously perceiving an intricate melody of high harmonics, and this is the very thing that carries meaning and enables us to understand one another.”
“Another conclusion to be drawn from the unconscious hearing of vowel-resonances is that we must have an inborn familiarity with the harmonic series. Somewhere in our perceptive mechanism, the harmonics of vocal tones are being analyzed and presented to our consciousness as vowels.”
-Joscelyn Godwin Mystery of the Seven Vowels
The human brain instantaneously perceives the presence of harmonic overtones in a spoken word or melody. Various shades of harmonic emphasis are intuitively measured. It is the presence of specific harmonic intervals which generates our notion of “tone quality”. It is likely the application of these natural, harmonic intervals to our own 12TET that evokes emotional responses like “Major chords sound happy”.
If you return to the harmonic series at the beginning of this post, you will find that it collectively expresses something close to a diatonic scale - The Root, Perfect 2nd, Major 3rd, Perfect 4th, Perfect 5th, Major 6, flat 7, and major 7 are present in a non-linear sequence.
Although the true overtone series does not land precisely at the intervals dictated on staff paper, it does get relatively close. The presence of Major rather than Minor sonorities in this harmonic overtone series offers one explanation for our emotional reactions to certain intervals present in the 12TET.
Posted on: October 23rd, 2008 Stage 4
I have established in previous entries that musical NOTES are singular and absolute. They represent whole numbers manifested as vibrational TONES. This anagrammatic relationship between the words notes and tones may be the reason that we symbolize notes as little black STONES on ledger lines.
The black stone theme has been elaborated on in depth by many Synchromystic enthusiasts.
1. See Jake Kotze’s work on the BLACK STONE here:
http://rundonotwalk.blogspot.com/2007/11/all-i-want-for-christmas.html
2. Radio Coverage on the BLACK STONE at REDICECREATIONS: http://www.redicecreations.com/radio/2007/03mar/RICR-070329-SUB.html
3. Jake’s Octagonal Stargate video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEmSy07ISOw
4. Goro Adachi’s original research into the Benben Stone here:
http://www.goroadachi.com/etemenanki/endgame-2-p1.htm
MOVING ON…
If we consider the notes of the musical structure as building blocks (Stone/notes/tones) then we need to take DURATION into account. Traditionally this is done with the use of “flags” attached to a pole, attached to the stone/notes. We’ll get back to this point later in the post.
For now, the duration of a note can be accurately represented by the use of bricks. In the music editing program FRUITY LOOPS we find this brick motif in plain sight. Bricks are stacked within a matrix, elongated or diminished in length to establish the duration of the (s)tone.
Notes represent ABSOLUTE forms (one designated pitch and duration) and are the cousins to mathematical units of measurement. Although notes do not traditionally have an associated number, such as C=1 Db=2 D=3 and so on, we do find the emergence of a musical movement called SERIALISM emerging in the late 1940’s. This approach basically demolishes the notion of Septenary Keys and ushers in a TWELVE-TONE system of “Tone Rows”.
As you can see in the images above, the composer of 12-tone serial music assigns a number to each musical pitch. Next, a tone “row” is established and placed on a square matrix. The composer follows pre-established guidelines to derive his melodies and harmonic counterparts.
Where else do we see NUMBERS operating in a MATRIX?
That’s right. Popular musical forms mirror the collective philosophy of the ages.
If we look back in time, the oriental musical traditions were founded on pentatonic (five note) modes. Japanese Haiku forms generally take on a musical rhythm of 5-7-5 syllables, going a little something like-a this…
Music Mystifies Number and Geometry Rhythm, Harmony.
The haiku is an expression of the 5/7 Mystery (see previous posts). From the five emerges the seven and to the five it then returns.
Likewise, Serialism is an expression of our Collective Expansion during this Cosmic Awakening. In the Astrotheology mp3 lectures, Manly P. Hall describes how our number 7 emerges from 12 in the planetary mysteries.
THE TWELVE:
THE SEVEN:
As our planet moves into the age of Aquarius and completes its 12th Cycle, the Western human’s music reflects this re-connecting process through an exposition on all that has come to pass during the last 25,700 years.
Posted on: October 23rd, 2008 Stage 3
We speak of writing a piece of music in a “Key”.
Just what does this “key” unlock or activate? We have no musical term called “Door” or “Motor Vehicle Ignition” so why do we use the word key and to what does it grant us access?
My first inclination is to study the function of a non-musical key.. It usually goes into a hole of some kind and then you turn it. The result? Something is unlocked or turned on…
Q: Where do we find all 24 musical keys present?
A: The Circle of Fifths. To understand why, please refer to the previous Blog post.
Notice that we do not say that we are playing “with” a certain key, such as C major. We use the phrase “In” the key of C. Therefore, musical Keys must occupy some kind of fixed domain which can be explored and navigated from within, while simultaneously serving the function of opening or activating something external to its own nature. This makes sense… The key of C has a domain comprised of C-D-E-F-G-A-B which may be expressed via one of seven different “Modes”. However, C Major also exists within the larger framework of our 12-tone system (circle of fifths).
In Physics, the word Mode refers to “any of the distinct patterns of oscillation that a given periodically varying system can have.”
I’ve thrown together a little diagram here to try to illustrate how one navigates through a Key via different Musical Modes:
To operate “IN” the Key of C is to explore the septenary (sevenfold) course by whatever means - whether you explore the tonal elements in stepwise or disjunctive motion, it makes no difference as long as you don’t step outside the boundaries of the Key. To operate a “mode” of the C major Key is to begin at any single note in this diagram and travel clockwise or counterclockwise without jumping around. That is to say, you may only move in stepwise motion.
But what does the key DO? A physical/material key is INSERTED into a complex system and ROTATED. Likewise, I might guess that a musical key is meant to be inserted into the 12 tone system and “turned” in some way, perhaps along the 24 rungs of the circle of fifths, until it returns to its original point of entrance.
If we imagine that the septenary is being inserted into the circle of fifths rather than already existing there, then we can rotate the Key in a “Cranking motion” and watch it operate IN RELATION to the other “Key Potentials” or keyholes.
For those of you familiar with the circle of fifths model, I would ask you to be open minded and try to imagine this modified form. Rather than the circle of fifths being a fixed display of 24 keys, I am painting it as a sort of “rotary dial pad”. Rather than 9 positions as in the rotary dial phone, the rotary circle of fifths has 24 positions and full rotation potential.
Imagine that each spot on this color wheel is a musical keyhole. We may “insert” the key of C and TURN it through the wheel to measure it in relation to the 23 other keyholes.
There is still one problem… If we are traveling via circular rotation, how are we meant to turn from the outer (Major) Keys to the inner (Minor) keys without disrupting the continuity of the rotation? The relative major and minor keys both exist on separate, perfect circular planes. Rather than dealing with concentric circles, we might adjust our rotary dial to allow for SPIRAL MOTION.
The spiral of fifths is a more accurate model for what I’m describing.
Our chosen Key will never quite match up with any of the other keyholes. It will be comprised of too few or two many sharps/flats, or in the case of its relative minor, it will be oriented to a Major rather than minor orientation. So the “Key” is a musical archetype journeying through different potentialities (keyholes) until it finally completes a full, spiral rotation and arrives back home, at a higher point than it was before.
The Circle of fifths is not a KEY CHAIN but a Series of KEYHOLES…
Posted on: October 23rd, 2008 Stage 2
Why does the Western Musical Tradition subdivide a perfect octave into Twelve Notes?
Sure, there are acoustic reasons…
According to the official records, Pythagoras studied the overtone series of a plucked string and cut the string by whole-number ratios to derive the additional notes.
These whole number ratios can be set against one another on the Kabbalistic Tree of Life to derive all 12 tones. Click the following image to enlarge:
Still… The number Twelve has too much weight in Western culture to merely be a sonic accident. There must be some highly symbolic, mythological backstory to the selection of this number. After all, I believe that music is THE MOST POWERFUL MAGICAL TOOL IN THE UNIVERSE.
The number twelve pops up in astrology, color theory, human physiology, architecture, government, and our models for time. I am particularly interested in the connection between the clock and the CIRCLE OF FIFTHS.
However, before we get into the music/time connection, allow me to provide a little bit of background for non-musicians who are reading this blog.
The circle of fifths is a cycle of notes which ascend consistently at an interval called the “Perfect Fifth”. The fifth is considered perfect because of its function in traditional musical patterns called “Scales”. Astrologically, we see scale as a matter of temperance brought out in LIBRA. In freemasonry, balance is measured not by weight but by length. The compass and square is a measurement of balance, whereby any extension in the arc length of the compass results in an equal distance from the crux of the square ruler.
Likewise, in the most common musical scales we begin from the “Root” and move one of two paths (ideally) - Either we travel towards a Major or Minor mode. Regardless of which path we take, the FIFTH note of the scale remains the same.
For example, if we begin in the key of C…
C Major is composed of: C - D - E - F - G - A - B - C
C Minor is composed of: C - D - Eb - F - G - Ab - Bb - C
In either case, the root is C (analagous to the CRUX of the square in our masonic emblem). The fifth note of both of these scales is G regardless of the major or minor path. Thus it is “perfect”.
Are you following this so far? Keep up the good work!
We return to the CIRCLE OF FIFTHS, the name of which should be more clear now.
Notice that at the pinnacle we have the note “C” and moving one spot to the right (implying ascension via clockwise motion) we have the perfect fifth “G”. Isn’t it interesting that G is at the center of the freemason’s compass!!!
Even more fascinating is the “Role” that the Perfect Fifth plays in Western Tonality. The Root - Fifth relationship is the most common musical “progression” in this entire system. The fifth is known as the “Dominant” note..
(By the way, I was just taking a shower earlier tonight when I realized for the first time that the Freemasonic G can be interpreted as a musical reference. I almost slipped in the tub, running to my computer to type this blog entry)
What are the freemasons telling us musically about their utter DOMINANCE in our society? In case there is any doubt that the G in this compass is a musical reference, remember that G is the highest “Scale Degree” in the ascension of diatonic notes. We all know how masons love their classical music and how they love their climbing up the DEGREES.
That is to say, our twelve tones are actually only made up of seven letters: A - B - C - D - E - F - G
In addition to these seven letters we may reach 5 additional notes through half-step motion. There are several different enharmonic articulations possible, but the prime examples would be:
Articulated in Flats: A - Bb - B - C - Db - D - Eb - E - F - Gb - G - Ab
or
Articulated in Sharps: A - A# - B - C - C# - D - D# - E - F - F# - G - G#
This phenomenon resonates with my previous post in reference to Manly P. Hall’s explanation of the 5/7 split in the Mystery Traditions. See below for links to free mp3 lectures on his website.
TO SUMMARIZE SO FAR, the letter G in the center of our Freemasonic compass resonates as the dominant note in the Key of C and the Seventh Scale degree of a diatonic (all white keys) A minor scale. The Seventh Scale Degree resonates with the Seventh Day of the week, the last day of the WEEK-END, Sunday, which is of course the DAY OF THE SUN. Oh how our freemasonic brothers love to disguise their luciferian obsession in clever symbolism..
Moving right along…
Notice that in comparing these two systems, C lines up with 12 and G with 1. So while G is seen to resonate with 7 in terms of a diatonic scale minor scale, it also resonates with one. This makes sense when we consider that on a calendar, our week begins on Sunday and not Monday, and that the sun is one.
From calendar time we can transition into daily time cycles… I would like to point out another mythological aspect of this circle of fifths.
Every major key has what is called a “relative minor”. This is demonstrated above as the Major keys in purple outer circle and relative minor keys in blue inner circle. C major, therefore, has a relative minor key of A minor. This means that for every note that you play in c major, the exact same notes are present in a minor.
Now it is time to connect the circle of fifths to our daily clock time. Why is it that we have 24 hours in a day and yet only 12 hours on a clock? Simple! There must symbolically be a balance of black and white, and thus a balance of day and night. Twelve hours of day and twelve hours of night. Likewise, in the circle of fifths we have 12 cycles of Major chords and 12 cycles of Minor chords, correlating to light and dark, happy and sad.
It’s really quite brilliant, actually… If you begin at C and keep ascending in fifths, after 12 rotations you wind up at C again. Now we know that the pythagorean number cult had something to do with this clever design, given the obsession with the pythagorean triangle. You know the one… A2 + B2 = C2
The only way to make this equation work using whole numbers in single digit form with squares of 3, 4, and 5 units, as displayed below. 3 squared + 4 squared = 5 squared because 9+16=25
3+4+5 = 12
In case you doubt that the freemasons appreciate pythagorean numerology, here’s a horseshoe they made commemorating the triangle… 9+16=25
25 = 2+5 = 7
And what is the triange pointing to in the horseshoe? Why G, the seventh letter, of course.
Posted on: October 23rd, 2008 Stage 1
Welcome to my HIDDEN ORIGINS OF WESTERN MUSIC Blog.
We talk about composing sheet music on “staff” paper:
Who else do we know that uses a staff for musical and magical purposes?
Oh sure… Composers, conductors, sorcerers and magicians… What’s the difference?
After all, the Italian and Spanish word for the musical “Staff” is PENTAGRAMMA.
Source: http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentagramma_(musica)
What else does the word pentagram imply?
Penta means five and gramma is at the root of our English word Grammar (that which relates to structure of LANGUAGE)… It is no stretch to say that the musical STAFF is chiefly concerned with the conduct of FIVE GRAMMA(TICAL) elements.
The roman numeral for five is V. The five primary (V)owels of our English LANGUAGE are the musical animators of speech. There are two additional hidden vowels (y and w).
“The seven (V)owels which we use every day in speech depend on the phenomenon of harmonics which is at the very basis of music. When we hear (V)owels we are hearing the laws of harmony which are ultimately the laws of number that are said to govern the universe.”
This mystery of the 5/7 split is addressed by 33 degree freemason MANLY P. HALL in his free astrotheology mp3 lectures here: http://www.manlyphall.org/audio/astrotheology-2/
But back to the prefix ‘Penta’…
There are five “ledger lines” that make our musical “staff”. In common masonry, the word ledger refers to a horizontal timber in a scaffold.
Is our musical staff not a series of horizontal lines attached to a perpendicular shaft? Is the term “ledger line” then not derived from masonry? Perhaps FREEMASONRY? After all, the black and white theme is all over our western musical tradition, resonating with the freemasonic CHECKERBOARD motif.
(Piano Keys - Staff Paper - Formal Orchestra Attire)
Dictionary.com also defines the word ledger as a slab of stone laid flat over a grave… And while we’re on the topic of death and ledger, Heath Ledger (Joker) died on the 22nd day of the first month of 2008. Interestingly, the 22nd card of the Tarot’s Major Arcana is the FOOL, and this card was the inspiration for the JOKER card in common playing card decks. An honest, random coinciboogie, or is the universe letting us in on a little secret…
Notice heath’s BLACK AND WHITE face make-up… It ties us back into a discussion of esoteric musical components.
On these pentagramma we write our notes. The word NOTE is an anagram of TONE. Interestingly, a perfect musical tone is signified by the written note. Both of these words contain the word ONE. The notion of singularity (ONEness) is foundational to the idea of A Tone and A Note as they are precise, mathematical absolutes. Any musician has (A)NOTATED his sheet music with performance specifications and alternative fingerings… We likewise witness the ATONEment of Christ, the Son(Sun) of god, as there is of course, only one sun. Notice how the sun looks like a “Whole” NOTE in standard musical notation.
The (A)n(A)GR(A)M of Note/Tone has been introduced to the letter A in Annotate and Atone. The letter A is the FIRST LETTER in the English alphabet and implies singularity, as in “A Conspiracy” or “A Dream”.
If you trace the negative space on the Dolla dolla bill’s All Seeing Eye pyramid, capstone included, you will derive the magical sigil which we call “letter A”.
Could this have something to do with the reason A440 is our standard point of reference for tuning musical instruments?
NUMERO-LOGICALLY….
4 is a masonic number, implicating the SQUARE as well as the 4th dimension (time). Multiples of 11 are considered to be “Master numbers” and so 440 is clearly a magical number, as it multiplies 11 by 4 to create 44 AND goes even further to multiply the whole thing by 10 (The magickal number of perfection and completion).
Ledger Line resonates with a Ledger stone that lays on a grave - Heath Ledger died on 1/22/2008.
2008 = 2+0+0+8 = 10
10 + January (1) = 11
11+ 22nd day of january = 33
It seems our Freemasonic suspicions have been confirmed by a simple numerological analysis…
Meneame
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