| arithmantra in nocturne_alley @ 2002-09-01 01:39:00 |
| Current mood: | Quite pleasant, thank you |
| Current music: | Hildegard Von Bingen, O Jerusalem, aurea civitas! |
Well, then, here I am.
No doubt my peers and colleagues, and perhaps a few pupils, are wondering why I chose to make my debut to this little project of Dumbledore's at such an exceedingly late date. I have even heard it the preposterous supposition that my prolonged absence from participation was due to my being so caught up in my work that I was unaware such a project was even in existence.
However accurate such assumptions may be, I, to quote another much wittier pen, deserve neither such praise nor such censure: it was not ineffectualness which kept me away from the pages of this very fascinating journal, which I have been reading with great interest these many months; it was professional integrity.
Allow me to explain further what I mean, since some of you, I have no doubt, are unenlightened about what goes on in my classroom. It is my practice as a teacher to school my pupils in the art of structuring their lives so that they may live more harmoniously with the natural laws of Magic, Mother Gaia, and their own Destinies. There exists no clearer nor more practical, tried and true method of ordering the world than with the incalculable logic and infallibility afforded to us by numbers. Numbers have enabled men to shape their world for echelons: since the first astronomers charted the skies and the first navigators mapped their courses by the heavens; since Pythagorus first received the epiphany of the Golden Mean.
Numbers enable us to analyse the magic within and around us, yet while the world around us remains ever in flux, the immutable numbers which allow us to define the dynamics or that world do not. Thus Arithmancy requires a rigidity of conformity that few magical disciplines ask for: and thus, as a teacher of that discipline, it would have been not only a grievous personal error, but a blatant hypocrisy, had I chosen to begin such a significant venture as this community journal, on any other occasion but the current.
The month of September, as all my students ought to know, is a highly potent one in terms of the Numerological Hierachy. Because of the way the epicyclical system falls September, as the 9th month of the year, will always reflect a monthly value that is equivalent to that of each individual's yearly cyclical value. For the slower among you let me again explain that this is simple math: 9 plus any number will always reduce down to that original number. Because of this mathematical rule the universal harmony of September is often a very vibrant one, with individual personalities clashing with or complementing one another in very striking ways. It was in September that William the Conqueror invaded this happy isle and so shaped our destiny forever; it was in September that our war with America came to an end; it was also in September that the Second World War began. Half of all the assassination attempts on the lives of American presidents (there have been 8 total) have occurred in September, not to mention Aaron Burr's now infamous duel with Alexander Hamilton.
Clearly the unusual intensity of September, the month, upon the lives of each of us is something that must be taken into careful consideration when mapping out the course of our daily and monthly activities. If, for instance, I planned to be in a bad mood, it would well behove me to remember not to be in a bad mood on days that also corresponded with the numerological value of the current year, since those values would be intensified by the month of September. It would also pay off very well to note that on the 9th, 18th, and 27th of the month, more turbulent emotions are likely to reign because such days are operating under a triple intensity due to the value of the year, month, and daily cycle all being one and the same. On such days the bad mood I would normally feel only to a certain degree, would more likely be magnified thrice over. (Note that this holds true for the 85% of wizard scholars who take the start of the yearly cycles at the start of the year rather than the day of one's birth: I too fully concur with their logic, though I recognise the validity of those 15% who feel that the cycle is represented more evenly when renewing itself on each birthday rather than at the start of every year.)
My own personal cycle happens to be quite propitious this year, as it is a 1 personal year coming in a Universal year of 7. (This is a factor which leads me to believe, incidentally, that all this unpleasantness with the Dark Lord will most likely have concluded by September 1998, as it will be not only be the end of the monthly cycles, but the end of the most recent Universal Yearly Epicycle, one of the 9-year cyclical patterns which governs each of our lives in a million vast, intrinsic ways. Oh, I do so love New Beginnings.) This means that if I had begun the journal at any other time in the last several months, I should have been in great danger of failing to continue it past the month of August. Had I begun in July I should have used up all my entries at the peak of my natural success, and therefore would have tapered off the next month and had nothing to say by this one. However, since September is, for me, a time of Cyclical renewal, what could be better for me than to begin this journal on a universal One, on a universal 8 day--the first day of the most personally favourable month of the year? Once again, the logic of math proves infallible.
Note: It is not normally my practice to explain my own personal Arithmantic profile, but as this journal is to be at least in part a personal one, I suppose I might, for the purposes of education, set down a portion of it. You may, if you wish,
Arithmantic Profile of Professor Vector:
Birthday: September 21, 1957
Primary pursuits: Arithmancy, teaching manuals and classroom guides for teachers, enjoying the sunshine, and reading. Also makes a very good bunt cake.
Astrological Sign: Virgo, earth sign, ruled by the comet Chiron, who was coincidentally, a teacher of Astrology
Life Path #: 7
Expression #: 7
Heart's Desire #: 9
Personality #: 8
Current (in 1996) cycle: #1
Comments:
| seekercho @ 2002-09-01 04:31 pm UTC |
I'm delighted to see that you've joined this project, Professor. After being forced to read the sleazy pseudo-journalism of that dishonest woman, I hope the clear logic of Arithmancy will calm some fevered heads around here. It's been my favourite subject for some time for precisely that reason.
But sadly, Arithmancers are known for their violent mood swings as well as their commitment to truth, aren't they, Professor? That love of numbers, of the scientific calibration of magical energies, was what led Pythagoras himself to worship of barbarian goddesses and to murder. One of his disciples proved beyond doubt the existence of irrational numbers, which form the very basis of the Calculatus Charm so ubiquitous in today's Arithmancy... and Pythagoras, who disliked the notion of irrational numbers, had the man drowned.
dum docit, discit, Professor. I look forward to our next class. It's always a relief to share a class with so many talented Ravenclaws.
| potterstinks @ 2002-09-01 05:04 pm UTC |
What an enlightening post, Professor Vector. I noticed your robes also complement your hair today. Welcome to livejournal.
Draco Malfoy
| onourbrooms @ 2002-09-01 05:06 pm UTC |
Hilda-- I'm sure after ingesting this stunningly dull piece of idiocy I shall indeed never wish to be more enlightened regarding Arithmancy. Congratulations on ruining any vague flicker of interest in your subject matter I may have ever entertained. I find it is more your practice as a teacher to put your students to sleep.
| hannahabbott @ 2002-09-01 06:33 pm UTC |
Some of my more attentive students are doubtless aware of the arithmantic fact that September 1st is a universal 8, the cyclical pinnacle of success. I hope these and other students will utilise the day to their fullest potential, especially with regard to certain of their classes, where one never knows what new challenges or surprises may arise.
You never know what surprises may arise because of the other poeple around you and their inflences either, Professor.
Welcome to LiveJournal, it is a pleasure to have you here.
~ Hannah Abbott