The Number Twelve in Astrological Bible Interpretation - Daniel T. Ferrera

Introduction

The following article is a sample section from the book Studies In Astrological Bible Interpretation, by Daniel Ferrera available through the Institute of CosmoEconomics.

Studies in Astrological Bible Interpretation by Daniel T. Ferrera ( $75.00 )

The number 12 appears several times in the Bible, i.e., the twelve tribes of Israel, the twelve disciples of Christ, twelve stones, twelve princes, etc. It is my belief that these represent the twelve signs of the zodiac: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces.

The number twelve is symbolic of the creation of the universe as it represents the division or fractionating of unity (God) into twelve individual distinct vibrations or tones. This is most readily seen in music. If you take a string instrument, much in the same manner that Pythagorus did with the monochord, you will find that there are exactly 12 notes or tones before the series repeats. All repeats or octaves are related to the original note or vibration by powers of 2. That is to say that if you take a note and double its vibration frequency or cut it in half you will manifest exactly the same note in a higher or lower octave respectively.

The notes have been named: a, a-sharp, b, c, c-sharp, d, d-sharp, e, f, f-sharp, g, g-sharp in chromatic fashion. If I was trying to teach music, I would have included flats instead of making the notes all sharps but this is not important as the vibration or tone is the same. For example, c-flat is the same sound or note as b. Now that we know that there are twelve and only twelve notes we can start to see or imagine the process of creation as a fundamental division from unity into 12 unique qualities.

These fundamental qualities can also vibrate at faster or slower frequencies through the powers of 2 or duality. This is similar in concept to water existing as a gas, liquid, or solid based upon temperature. “In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless wasteland”.  First, God said “Let there be light” and this created (1) “day” & (2) “night”. Then God created the (3) earth and the (4) Sea. (5) Let the earth bring forth vegetation, (6) Lights in the sky for signs and seasons. (7) Then he creates two great lights, the greater to govern the day, (8) the lesser to govern the night. (9) Let the water teem with an abundance of living creatures. (10) Birds in the sky. (11) Let the earth bring forth-living creatures. (12) Let us make man in our own image, after our likeness. God created man in his image; in the divine image he created him; male and female he created them.

In the book of Genesis, we learn that all the fundamentals of creation form as they become defined out of the formless abyss of totality. We learn that definitions are only possible from the division into polar opposites. For example, how can you define light without darkness, good without evil, male without female, water without earth, sound without silence, hot without cold, etc.? Therefore, creation is made possible by dividing (powers of 2) a fundamental into two diametrically opposed qualities that allows for the comprehension of both through the existence of its opposite even though they sprang forth from the same source.

If we take white light as a model of creation, we can see that colors result from dividing the white light representing unity into multiple colors by shining it through a prism. This process divides the white light into three main colors symbolic of the trinity of Father, Son, Holy Spirit or Red, Blue and Green. Black is the absence of light or color, in other words, white light is completely absorbed by the darkness and no colors are reflected back. From the three colors red, blue and green, all other color sensations can be made.

So in this simple example of white light, we can see how unity was divided into individual unique qualities. Because white light can not exist without its opposite (darkness) black, we have the first duality or polar opposite from a common undefined source. Red, Blue and Green light are created when they are divided out from the unity or oneness they experience together as white light.

The speed of light is considered as one of the universal constants. It moves about 299,792.5 kilometers per second, or 186,282.4 miles per second. However, if you use nautical miles, which equal 1-minute of latitude at the earth’s equator. The speed of light travels 161,803.4 nautical miles per second, which is equal to the Golden ratio Phi or 1.618034. This ratio occurs in all types of life forms and growth processes. Mathematically, Phi is the division of something into two unequal parts, in such a way that the lesser is to the greater as the greater is to the whole. An interesting Biblical relationship to Phi is the number of the Beast 666.

First, let’s calculate phi. Phi is equal to the square root of 5 (diagonal of a one by two rectangle), which is equal to 2.2360679775. Next we add 1 which increases the number to 3.2360679775. The next step is to divide by 2, which equals 1.61803398875. If we divide Phi by two again (the musical octave) we get 0.8090169943749. Now here is where it gets interesting. If you take the sine of 666, you get negative -0.8090169943749 and multiplying this by 2 (musical octave) equals –1.61803398875! For anyone that needs a little refresher course, the sine function gives the ratio of the opposite side of a given angle in a right triangle to the hypotenuse. Also remember that Phi is calculated from the hypotenuse of a 1 by 2 rectangle. From this mathematical exercise, it appears that the Beast is the exact opposite process of Phi, where Phi represents growth, light and life and negative Phi represents decay, darkness and death.

Getting back to the number 12, 144 equals the square of 12, i.e. 12 x 12. We know that there are 24 hours in a day, which is divided into 12 hours of day and 12 hours of night. There are 60-minutes in an hour and 60 times 24 = 1440 (The 12 tribes of Israel is 144,000). Twenty-four equals two times twelve, which is the musical octave of 12 and is represented in the 24 elders, seated around the throne of God. The apparent declination of the sun is zero at the Vernal and Autumnal equinoxes and reaches its maximum declination on the summer solstice at +24-degrees. The minimum declination is reached on the winter solstice at negative 24-degrees.

The numbers 1, 2 and 3 are all prime numbers and are symbolic of creation through the holy trinity. The number 12 would be reduced in numerology as 1+2=3, which means that the number 12 is also symbolic of the trinity. According to the rules of music vibration, we know that octaves of the fundamental vibration are created through multiplication or division from the number two.

Two times twelve is 24 and half of 12 is 6. It is interesting to note that all prime numbers greater than 3 (the original trinity of prime numbers) are properties of the number six. The formula for creating prime numbers is 6n + 1 where n is any number and + 1 is symbolic of unity or the original cause. For example: 6*2 = 12 and 12 – 1 is 11 and 12 + 1 is 13 and 11 and 13 are prime numbers. 6 *3 is 18 and 18 – 1 is 17 and 18 + 1 is 19 and both 17 and 19 are prime numbers.

In Genesis, God creates Adam, the first man, which most likely represents the first sign of the zodiac, Aries. Aries is a masculine fire sign ruled by Mars ♂, which uses the astrological glyph of a male. Eve is created from Adam's rib (symbolic of a division from unity and opposites from a common source, i.e. male-female) and is the second person created by God. The second sign of the zodiac is Taurus, a feminine sign ruled by Venus ♀, which has the glyph of a woman as its symbol.

Next we learn that Adam and Eve had relations and that Eve conceived and bore Cain and Abel. The third sign of the zodiac is Gemini, the twins, which is ruled by Mercury. Gemini is a dual sign and is symbolically portrayed in the story of Abel, a good man and keeper of sheep, who was respected by God and his brother Cain, a tiller of the ground who murders his brother. This story gives us the first three signs of the zodiac: Adam (♈︎), Eve (♉︎), Cain & Abel (♊︎).

It is interesting to note that in Genesis, chapter 5, Generations of Adam to Noah, that Cain and Abel do not appear in Adam’s genealogy, even though it appears that these were his first children.  I believe that Genesis, verse 26 of chapter 1 contains the creation of the zodiac, where God says “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness”. Verse 27: “God created man in his image; in the divine image he created him; male and female he created them”. In verse 26, we find God talking in plural form “let us”, “in our image” and this likely refers to the creation of the entire zodiac. We later learn in Genesis chapter 5, that Adam has a son “in his own image, after his likeness” at the age of 130 years.

Looking at the zodiac in terms of planetary rulers, we find that the next sign ruled by Mars is Scorpio (the ancients also called this sign the Eagle) at 210-degrees of the circle. This sign also has Mars’s nature and is in my opinion the birthplace of Seth. In other words, Adam represents a cycle that starts with Mars in Aries and Seth is a cycle that starts with Mars in Scorpio and that is why they writer used the term “in his own image, after his likeness”. Since we know that Adam was 130 years old when Seth was born at 210 degrees of the zodiac, we can divide 210 by 130 in order to determine how long the length of a year is. Converting 210 degrees to minutes (multiply by 60) is 12,600 minutes in arc. Note that this value occurs often in the book of Revelations where it is used for days: chapters 11 verse 3 “I will commission my two witnesses to prophesy for those twelve hundred and sixty days, wearing sackcloth”.

This shows us that minutes are used and not degrees in calculating biblical days. 1260 minutes divided by 130 is equal to 96’ 55.3846” or 1° 36’ 55” and this is equal to one year in the Bible. Note that in the book of Ezekiel, we learn that the Lord appoints a year for a day. One month is therefore one twelfth or 8’ 4.615” and for a day we divide this value by 30 and find 16.154” seconds of arc. Therefore, to locate the birthplaces of the generations of Adam, we simply multiply the given years by 1° 36’ 55” and we can find the places in the zodiac where they begin and die.

Before beginning any calculations, we must turn the value of 1° 36’ 55” into seconds of arc and obtain 5815.3846”. The log of 5815.3846 is 3.7645784 and this is our fixed value for a year. Genesis chapter 5 verse 3 tells us that the whole lifetime of Adam was 930 years, then he died. The log of 930 is 2.9684829. Adding this to our fixed value for a year (3.7645784) gives 6.7330613; the inverse log of this figure is 5408307” seconds. Divide by 60 to convert to minutes is 90138’ 20”. Divide again by 60 to get the degrees which is 1502° 18’ 20” from Adams birth at 0° Aries to his death.

Removing the 4 circles of 360° leaves us with 62° 18’ 20” which means that Adams death is at 2° 18’ 20” in Gemini. I will give the births and deaths of the generations of Adam through Noah but I will not show the math involved, as you should be able to work it out yourself from the above explanation. It is also interesting that Cain and Abel do not show up in this part of Genesis, which gives the generations (revolutions) of Adam.

Shem, Ham & Japhet are born at 23°33’13” ♐︎ when Noah is 500 years old, Genesis 5 verse 32.

Note: that the Bible does not let us know the birth or death of the women. Therefore, these persons do not represent cycles.