Fraternity Sororities & Secret Societies

Image via WikipediaImage via Wikipedia
Image via Wikipedia

Fraternity or brotherhood may refer to various types of societies that can be found in colleges, Universities, political parties, religious sects and other social or friendly societies.

The term may refer to secrecy, and sometimes linked to a binding pact not to break secrets.

Fraternities can be organized for many purposes, including university education, work skills, ethics, ethnicity, religion, politics, charity, chivalry, other standards of personal conduct, asceticism, service, performing arts, family command of territory, and even crime. There is almost always an explicit goal of mutual support, and while there have been fraternal orders for the well-off there have also been many fraternities for those in the lower ranks of society, especially for national or religious minorities. Trade unions also grew out of fraternities such as the Knights of Labor.

The ability to organize freely, apart from the institutions of government and religion, was a fundamental part of the establishment of the modern world. In Living the Enlightenment, Margaret C. Jacobs showed the development of Jurgen Habermas' 'public space' in 17th century Netherlands was closely related to the establishment of lodges of Freemasons.

The development of fraternities can be traced from guilds that emerged in England as the forerunners of trade unions and friendly societies. These guilds were set up to protect and care for their members at a time when there was no welfare state, trade unions or National Health Service. Various secret signs and handshakes were created to serve as proof of their membership allowing them to visit guilds in distant places that are associated with the guild they belong.

Image via WikipediaA secret society is a club or organization whose activities and inner functioning are concealed from non-members. The society may or may not attempt to conceal its existence. The term usually excludes covert groups, such as intelligence agencies or guerrilla insurgencies, which hide their activities and memberships but maintain a public presence. The exact qualifications for labeling a group as a secret society are disputed, but definitions generally rely on the degree to which the organization insists on secrecy, and might involve the retention and transmission of secret knowledge, denial of membership in or knowledge of the group, the creation of personal bonds between members of the organization, and the use of secret rites or rituals which solidify members of the group.

Chivalric orders are societies and fellowships of knights that have been created by European monarchs in imitation of the military orders of the Crusades. After the crusades, the memory of these crusading military orders became idealized and romanticized, resulting in the late medieval notion of chivalry, and is reflected in the Arthurian romances of the time.

Modern historiography tends to take the fall of Acre in 1291 as the final end of the age of the crusades. But in contemporary understanding, many further crusades against the Turks were planned and partly executed throughout the 14th century and well into the 15th century. The late medieval chivalric orders thus very much understood themselves as reflecting an ongoing military effort against Islam, even though such an effort with the rise of the Ottoman Empire and the fall of Constantinople in the 1450s was without realistic hope of success. During the 15th century, orders of chivalry became more and more a mere courtly fashion and could be created ad-hoc, some of them purely honorific, consisting of nothing but the badge. These institutions in turn gave rise to the modern-day orders of merit.

The term fraternity often colloquially shortened to "frat"; typically refers to an all-male group, while the term "sorority", typically refers to an all-female group. Some women's groups define themselves as fraternities for women or women's fraternities, such as Alpha Phi and Phi Mu.

Additionally, some groups that define themselves as "fraternities" may be mixed-sex, such as Alpha Phi Omega, Phi Sigma Pi, Alpha Delta Phi Society, Kappa Kappa Psi or Mu Phi Epsilon; the same is true of groups that define themselves as "sororities", such as Tau Beta Sigma.

Due to the ambiguous nature of the terms "fraternity" and "sorority" with respect to gender, and due to the inaccuracy and potentially sexist nature of the use "fraternity" to describe aforementioned organizations, it has become commonplace to use the synonym “Greek letter organization”, since the vast majority of fraternities and sororities identify themselves using Greek letters.

Image via Wikipedia 

The term social fraternity is used to differentiate four-year, undergraduate, and frequently residential groups from other organizations, many of which also have Greek-letter names, such as honor societies, academic societies, or service fraternities and sororities.

Greek letters

The names of North American fraternities and sororities generally consist of two or three Greek letters, often the initials of a Greek motto, which may be secret. For example: Phi Beta Kappa (Society), from phi (φ) + beta (β) + kappa (κ), initials of the society's Greek motto, "φιλοσοφια βιου κυβερνητης" (philosophia biou kybernētēs), meaning "philosophy is the guide of life".

The main thought behind the use of Greek letters is that the fraternities and sororities have a Hellenic way of thinking.

An individual fraternity or sorority is often called a "Greek house" or simply "house," terms that may be misleading, since it could be taken to refer to a chapter's physical property, whereas many fraternities and sororities do not have a chapter house. "Chapter" and "organization" are used in these contexts, with the latter referring to the group as a collective entity, and the former referring to a specific division of such entity, though not all fraternities and sororities have multiple chapters.

Several groups, however, do not use Greek letters. Examples include Acacia, Farm House, and Triangle, as well as final clubs, eating clubs, secret societies at some Ivy League colleges, such as Skull and Bones at Yale and the military affiliated fraternity the National Society of Pershing Rifles.

Image via WikipediaCertain organizations were established for specific religious or ethnic groups, while others focus on numerous qualifications.

Jewish fraternities, such as Alpha Epsilon Pi, Zeta Beta Tau, and Sigma Alpha Mu (historically Jewish, but has been non-sectarian since the 1950s) were established, in part, in response to restrictive clauses that existed in many social fraternities' laws barring Jewish membership, which were removed in the mid-20th century.

There are also organizations with a cultural or multicultural emphasis.

Most Greek letter organizations maintain traditions, sometimes accompanied by secret rituals, which are generally symbolic in nature.

Meetings of active members are generally kept private and not discussed without formal approval of the chapter as a whole.

Greek letter organizations often have a number of distinctive emblems, such as colors, flags, flowers, in addition to a badge (or pin), coat of arms, and/or seal. An open motto (indicating that the organization has a "secret motto" as well) is used to express the unique ideals of a fraternity or sorority.

Jewelers' initials and stampings are typically found on the back of pins along with the member name and/or chapter information. The history of fraternal jewelers is important when determining age of non-dated jewelry pieces.

Since fraternity and sorority pins are used as the primary symbols for societies, licensing and marketing concerns have developed. As a result, many of the larger organizations have had to put a legal team on retainer as consultants

Fraternities and Sororities have coat of arms that represent the familial aspect of brotherhood and sisterhood.

 Image via Wikipedia

The process of joining a Greek letter organization varies from organization to organization. Organizations commonly begin their process with a formal recruitment period, often called "rush week," or formal recruitment, which usually consists of events and activities designed for members and potential members to learn about each other and the organization. At the end of the formal recruitment period, organizations give "bids", or invitations to membership.

Upon completion of the pledge-ship and all its requirements, the active members will invite the pledges to be initiated and become full members. Initiation often includes secret ceremonies and rituals.

Oftentimes the fraternities and sororities do not participate in a typical recruitment process nor do they host a rush week. Instead interested students must formally express their interest to a member, or more oftentimes than not, members of the particular organization they are interested in.

Requirements may be imposed on those wishing to pledge either by the school or the organization itself, often including a minimum grade point average, wearing a pledge pin, learning about the history and structure of the organization, and performing public service.

Hazing is the harassment of new members as a rite of passage, by giving them meaningless, difficult, dangerous or humiliating tasks to perform, exposing them to ridicule, or playing practical jokes on them.

Due to the nature of hazing and the secretive nature of Greek letter organizations, hazing is largely underreported. Most, if not all, hazing activities take place either during pledge (or "interest") activities.

In the 1967 movie The Graduate, Ben (Dustin Hoffman) runs into the Theta Delta Chi house at Berkeley while searching for Elaine and her fiancé, Carl - supposedly a member living there prior to his nuptials. (The flag for the fraternity is visible over the ivy covered entry.)

The 1978 comedy movie National Lampoon's Animal House portrayed members of a fictitious fraternity at a fictitious college.Image via Wikipedia

The 1984 comedy movie Revenge of the Nerds portrayed 'rejected' fraternity members taking revenge on popular fraternities by setting up their own fraternity and the change in power from the jocks and cheerleaders to the nerds.   

The 1994 comedy movie PCU also portrays members of a student group at a fictitious college where fraternities have been prohibited.

The 1997 movie Scream 2 includes fictional Greek organizations. The character Derek gives a lettered necklace to his girlfriend, prompting an angry response from his fraternity brothers.

The 2001 film Legally Blonde features the sorority 'Delta Nu'. Several of the characters, including Elle Woods and Brooke Wyndham, are members.

The 2002 film National Lampoon's Van Wilder features the fraternity 'Delta Iota Kappa', which Van's love rival leads.

Image via WikipediaThe 2002 film Drumline includes the real Kappa Kappa Psi fraternity and the fictional Sigma Phi Alpha sorority. Images of Tau Beta Sigma appear throughout the film.

The 2006 film Stomp the Yard depicts African American Greek life centered around the tradition of stepping, made popular by Black Greek Letter Organizations.

The 2007 film Sydney White features the sorority 'Kappa Phi Nu'. Amanda Bynes was one of their members.

The 2007–2011 ABC Family television series Greek depicts students of the fictional Cyprus-Rhodes University (CRU) who participate in the school's Greek system.

The 2008 season of Degrassi: The Next Generation features the sorority 'Phi Gamma Phi'. Liberty was trying to apply to the sorority.

The 2008 film The House Bunny features the sorority 'Phi Iota Mu' competing with 'Zeta Alpha Zeta'.

The 2009 slasher film Sorority Row features the sorority 'Theta Pi' in which Audrina Patridge was one of their members.

The 2009 movie "Sorority Wars" revolves around sorority experience in college.

The 2010 television series Glory Daze depicts students of the fictional Hayes University who participate in the school's Greek system.

The 2010 film Brotherhood directed by Will Canon depicts hazing which gets out of hand.

Why Freemasonry members are now over 6 million?

Freemasons claim that hey are not a secret society, but rather a private esoteric society. It is indeed a society with many secrets. Despite the organization’s great diversity, Freemasonry's central preoccupations remain charitable work within a local or wider community, moral uprightness as well as the development and maintenance of fraternal friendship.

Some Lodges and rituals explain these tools as lessons in conduct: for example, that Masons should "square their actions by the square of virtue" and to learn to "circumscribe their desires and keep their passions within due bounds toward all mankind." However, as Freemasonry is non-dogmatic, there is no general interpretation for these tools or any Masonic emblem that is used by Freemasonry as a whole.

Candidates for regular Freemasonry are required to declare a belief in a Supreme Being. However, the candidate is not asked to expand on, or explain, his interpretation of Supreme Being. The discussion of politics and religion is forbidden within a Masonic Lodge, in part so a Mason will not be placed in the situation of having to justify his personal interpretation. Thus, reference to the Supreme Being can mean the Christian Trinity to a Christian Mason, Allah to a Muslim Mason, Para Brahman to a Hindu Mason, etc. While most Freemasons would take the view that the term Supreme Being equates to God, others may hold a more complex or philosophical interpretation of the term.

In the ritual, the Supreme Being is referred to as the Great Architect of the Universe, which alludes to the use of architectural symbolism within Freemasonry.

A Volume of the Sacred Law is always displayed in an open Lodge in those jurisdictions which require a belief in the Supreme Being. In English-speaking countries, this is frequently the King James Version of the Bible or another standard translation; there is no such thing as an exclusive "Masonic Bible.

Freemasons use signs (gestures), grips or tokens (handshakes) and words to gain admission to meetings and identify legitimate visitors.

From the early 18th century onwards, many exposés have been written claiming to reveal these signs, grips and passwords to the uninitiated. A classic response was deliberately to transpose certain words in the ritual, so as to catch out anyone relying on the exposé. However, since each Grand Lodge is free to create its own rituals, the signs, grips and passwords can and do differ from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.

Although members of various faiths cite objections, certain Christian denominations have had high profile negative attitudes to Masonry, banning or discouraging their members from being Freemasons.

Image via Wikipedia 

Many Islamic anti-Masonic arguments are closely tied to both Anti-Semitism and Anti-Zionism, though other criticisms are made such as linking Freemasonry to Dajjal

Some Muslim anti-Masons argue that Freemasonry promotes the interests of the Jews around the world and that one of its aims is to rebuild the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem after destroying the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

In article 28 of its Covenant, Hamas states that Freemasonry, Rotary, and other similar groups "work in the interest of Zionism and according to its instructions ..."Many countries with a significant Muslim population do not allow Masonic establishments within their jurisdictions.

Regular Freemasonry has in its core ritual a formal obligation: to be quiet and peaceable citizens, true to the lawful government of the country in which they live, and not to countenance disloyalty or rebellion. A Freemason makes a further obligation, before being made Master of his Lodge, to pay a proper respect to the civil magistrates. The words may be varied across Grand Lodges, but the sense in the obligation taken is always there. Nevertheless, much of the political opposition to Freemasonry is based upon the idea that Masonry will foment (or sometimes prevent) rebellion.

Conspiracy theorists have long associated Freemasonry with the New World Order and the Illuminati, and state that Freemasonry as an organization is either bent on world domination or already secretly in control of world politics.

Historically, Freemasonry has attracted criticism – and suppression – from both the politically extreme right (e.g. Nazi Germany) and the extreme left (e.g. the former Communist states in Eastern Europe).

The fraternity has met with approval for supposedly founding, and opposition for supposedly thwarting, liberal democracy (such as in the United States of America).

In some countries anti-Masonry is often related to anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism. For example, In 1980, the Iraqi legal and penal code was changed by Saddam Hussein's ruling Ba'ath Party, making it a felony to "promote or acclaim Zionist principles, including Freemasonry, or who associate themselves with Zionist organizations.

Professor Andrew Prescott of the University of Sheffield writes: "Since at least the time of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, anti-Semitism has gone hand in hand with anti-masonry, so it is not surprising that allegations that 11 September was a Zionist plot have been accompanied by suggestions that the attacks were inspired by a Masonic world order.

The small blue forget-me-not flower was first used by the Grand Lodge Zur Sonne, in 1926, as a Masonic emblem at the annual convention in Bremen, Germany. In 1938 the forget-me-not badge – made by the same factory as the Masonic badge – was chosen for the annual Nazi Party Winterhilfswerk, a Nazi charitable organization which collected money so that other state funds could be freed up and used for rearmament. This coincidence enabled Freemasons to wear the forget-me-not badge as a secret sign of membership.

After World War II, the forget-me-not dead link flower was again used as a Masonic emblem at the first Annual Convention of the United Grand Lodges of Germany in 1948. The badge is now worn in the coat lapel by Freemasons around the world to remember all those that have suffered in the name of Freemasonry, especially those during the Nazi era.

People love secrets, and love to discuss it, analyze it and take it to the open.

Youngsters surround themselves with secrets, bind themselves with secret rituals.

Politicians are possessed with the concept of secrets and adore practicing secrecy within the politics they play publicly.

A firm look to our world now will let us see how this world is captured by many secret orders, which are all fighting to have control or part of that.

People remain the victims…publicly

Sami Cherkaoui

The Middle East Before & After WW2

Past, Present and Future of Cradle of Civilizations (9)

A direct result and impact of WW1 in the Middle East region was the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, and the creation of what is called Modern Middle East. However the result of such Middle East proved to be also the creation of new and major conflicts in the region.

The League of Nations granted Class A mandates for the French Mandate of Syria and Lebanon and British Mandate of Mesopotamia and Palestine.

Parts of the Ottoman Empire on the Arabian Peninsula became what is today Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

 Image via Wikipedia

In September 1939, after Britain and France declared war on Germany following its invasion to Poland, the German Forces crossed Maginot Line and pushed deep into France. Italy joined Germany and declared war on France. The French government fled to Bordeaux and Paris was occupied on June 14, the same year.

France then was divided into a German occupation Zone in the North and West and Italian occupation in the southeast, with a free Zone in the south.

Metropolitan France remained under Axis occupation and ruled by a rump state called Vichy France.

The Allies, after France fell under Germany, rushed to prevent the Nazis from using Vichy French-controlled Mandate of Syria and Mandate of Lebanon as springboards for attacks on the Allied stronghold of Egypt. They fought a major campaign against Axis forces further west, in North Africa.

Although the French had ceded autonomy to Syria in September 1936, they had retained treaty rights to maintain armed forces and to maintain two airfields in the territory

The Germans requested permission from the Vichy authorities to use Syrian railways to send armaments to Iraqi rebels in Mosul. The Allies considered the support of Axis for anti-British parties in Iraq as a real threat, thus endangering strategic oil supplies and communications.

The Mediterranean Sea was a traditional focus of British maritime power, and the Mediterranean Fleet was Britain's instrument of this maritime power.

Allied forces in reserve called for reinforcements from their forces in the region, including their Brigades and infantry battalions that were positioned in Central Europe. In mid-June, those reinforcements came into the line, mainly on the Damascus front.

The Allied planned four lines of attacks:

On Damascus from Palestine.

On Beirut from Palestine.

On northern Syria from Iraq,

On Palmyra (in central Syria) and Tripoli from Iraq.

The 5th Indian Brigade Group ordered to cross the Syrian border from Palestine and take Quneitra and Deraa.

It was anticipated that this would open the way for the 1st Free French Division forces to advance to Damascus. Four days after the commencement of the operation, this force was bought under unified command and was named Gentforce after its French commander, Major-General Paul Louis Le Gentilhomme.

The operation was also to include a supporting commando landing from Cyprus at the south of the Litani River.

Once the two southern prongs were well engaged, it was planned that a third force, comprising formations drawn from Iraq Command, would attack Syria from Iraq.

Image via WikipediaAllied Forces were to advance the Euphrates River from Haditha in Iraq (upstream from Baghdad) toward Deir el Zor and thence to Raqqa and Aleppo to threaten the communication and supply lines of the Vichy forces mainly the railway line running northwards through Aleppo to Turkey (at the time, Turkey was thought by some to be sympathetic to the Vichy government and to Germany).

The plan also was to capture all the territory in north-east Syria, and make a link between Aleppo and Baghdad via Mosul.

A Habforce would gather in western Iraq between Rutbah and the Transjordan border, to secure the oil pipeline from Haditha to Tripoli.

The relations between the United Kingdom and the French Vichy government were difficult but hardened more after the Royal Navy sank French ships in Alegeria in 1940.

When In June 1941, a revolt in Iraq was put off by British forces, Britain then had unlimited rights to station and transit troops through Iraq. And in a move that displaced disapproval of Vichy government, of the British policy in Iraq, the French base in the Syrian Mandate gave some assistance to pro-Axi nationalists and even to the Germans by providing stages basis for the German aircraft that launched an attack on the British Forces in Iraq.

This had led the Royal Air Forces to attack French air basis in Syria, and that was followed by a full scale invasion of Vichy-occupied Syria and Lebanon during the Syria-Lebanon Campaign.

In 1942 British Forces invaded Syria, Lebanon and Persia.

Fearing the Germans would attack the area through Turkey or via Cyprus into Lebanon or launching a full scale war in Egypt,

Image via WikipediaIn 1940 Italian Dictator Mussolini stationed his forces in Libya to invade into the British held Egypt, however Allies Forces defeated them. Hitler sent his army to North Africa in early 1941 and took Tobruk a border town between Libya and Egypt, under the command of General Rommel, who managed to push the British forces back to Egypt.

The British General Bernard Montgomery was able to stop Rommel's forces, with the support of the British Forces in Malta, who cut Rommel's supply lines at sea, but he failed to keep the city of Alamein position that he took shortly before.

With the defeat of Hitler in Egypt, the Germans lost to achieve a strategic goal to slice through Egypt, capture Suez Canal, enter the British Mandate of Palestine, activate an Arab uprising against the British and link up with German forces thrusting south from Russia. The Vichy French forces, who were Nazi's allies, controlled Algeria to the west and Syria to the north of Palestine.

After World War 2, demands for independence from people across the Middle East increased, and the oil discovery made the geographic location of this part of the world tremendously important to the Superpowers, mainly USA and USSR who both had extremely opposite ideologies and strategies, and both wanted strong footholds to influence and protect their interests.

Image by ЯAFIK ♋ BERLIN via FlickrWhen the Jews pushed their demands for a homeland and shelter for the Holocaust survivors, the 1947 UN divided Palestine into two separate Jewish and Arab states, that led to a series of wars between Arabs and Israel.

Later Israel held more lands, took Jerusalem and forced around 1 Million Palestinians to flee their homes and homeland.

More Jews from all over the world arrived to settle in their new country.

More Arab Nations were given their independence, but remained under regimes that are controlled by the occupiers mainly France and Britain.

President Nasser of Egypt called for Pan-Arabism, and nationalized Canal Suez in 1956, causing a very painful hit to Britain, which was benefiting still from the Canal revenues.

England, France and the new country of Israel, launched a fierce war against Egypt in an attempt to retake Suez Canal. 

Image via WikipediaHowever under brave resistance of Nasser's army and the Egyptian people, and under heavy pressure from USA (which was emerging a strongest power after the last 2 wars that made France and Britain and Europe in general tired and very weak), the invaders were forced to accept a ceasefire and pulled their forces from the region. Suez Canal remained an Egyptian property and under Egypt full control and management.

In Syria, France refused to ratify the 1936 Treaty, suspended elected legislature and the constitution and ceded Alexandretta to Turkey in 1939. 

With the fall of France and the installation of the Vichy government, Britain decided that it cannot accept a Vichy government in Syria and Lebanon. The British Forces occupied the area, along with Free French troops, in 1941.

in Egypt, as Germans were pushing across North Africa, in 1942 British stepped in and forced the king to accept a Wafd government.

In Iraq, pro-German Rashid Ali al-Kailani launched military coup in 1942.  Regent and pro-British politicians fled to Jordan.  British troops from India and Palestine converged on Iraq, supported by the Trans-Jordanian Arab Legion. 

After the Nazi invasion of USSR and Moscow coming in with the Allies, Iran became a key to Allied strategy.  The British army invaded Iran from the south and the Soviet troops entered from the north. The US forces joined the operations and Reza Shah who was (mostly pro-German) abdicated in favor of his son Muhammad Reza.

Ruling circles around Reza Shah were mostly pro-German, so Allies militarily occupy the Allied forces stayed until the end of the war (Teheran Conference of 1943 commitment).

The Wafd government in Egypt, King Faisal in Iraq and Muhammad Reza in Iran, all served to undermine the nationalist credentials of local parties, which co-operated with the allies.

However, War represented a reversal of trend toward more local control, with reassertion of colonial power.  But in many ways a last gasp, as both Britain and France are drained by the war.

France in effect lost its Middle Eastern (not North African) possessions, with Syria and Lebanon becoming independent in 1943/4.

Britain could no longer maintain its role in Turkey or Iran (formally ceded that to USA), and gave up on Palestine in 1948 and had troubles in Egypt and Iraq as their client governments fell in 1950's.

The War saw the entrance of both the USSR and U.S. into the region in a major way:

USSR worked to set up pro-Soviet local governments in the region mainly in Iran which was in a way under their control. They had the same designs for Turkey, and succeeded to inject the Communist ideologies in Egypt, Syria and Palestine and supported the Communist parties to play political roles in these countries.

USA with its troops in Iran, paid specific attention and committed more to Saudi Arabia, which was for them a strategic importance, being an oil-fields country and also a religious center to the Muslim world.

Image via WikipediaWhen the Saudis were trapped for resources during the War, US stepped in with Lend-Lease Aid (first through Britain, then directly).  As an appreciation gesture, the Saudis granted USA the right to build an airbase in the oil area of Dhahran and a military US mission arrived to train the Saudi armed forces. 

Oil started flowing from Saudi Arabia immediately after the War, and US role grew tremendously and rapidly. 

Under terms of Teheran Declaration of 1943, US, UK and USSR must evacuate Iran within 6 months after the war was ended. 

USA and UK did, but Soviets remained, helping to set up pro-Communist regional governments in Azerbaijan and Iranian Kurdistan.  Iran raised the issue at the new United Nations Security Council; however The US made strong but private representations to the Soviet government calling for a Soviet withdrawal. 

The Iranian government offered USSR oil concessions in the northern part of the country in an attempt to make them leave the country. The Soviets accepted and withdrew, but the Iranian parliament refused to ratify the oil concession. 

USA began limited military and economic aid to Iran in 1949.

The stand off between USA and USSR started in the region and the cold war began between the two powers.

At the conclusion of the War, USSR demanded territorial concessions from Turkey; a Soviet base in Turkish Straits and revision of the Montreaux Convention and the international agreement governing the Straits. 

Soviet diplomatic pressure on Turkey through 1946 coupled with agitation by pro-Communist forces in Turkey. 

Britain informed USA that it could not offer military support to Turkey if the crisis escalated, and Greece was engaged in a civil war.

March 1947, the US President Truman announced the “Truman Doctrine” of support to countries threatened by Communism.  He offered $100 million in military aid to Turkey immediately, much more followed. In May 1947 US fleet visited Istanbul and in 1951 Turkey joined NATO. 

Coming on heals of Azerbaijan crisis, US increasingly involved in defense commitments to Middle Eastern countries bordering the Soviet Union.

In wake of 50-50 deal for Saudi, Iran pushed for a similar deal with British Petroleum,

but the British government was not in a position to subsidize such a deal and BP refused the offer. 

The National Front group in Iranian parliament, headed by Qajar noble Muhammad Mossadeq, pushed for nationalization of the oil industry.  Parliament passed a nationalization law in 1951, and Mossadeq was appointed prime minister by a reluctant Shah.  BP persuaded other oil companies not to buy oil from Iran, enforcing an effective boycott on Iranian oil.  Other oil producers increased production. With increasingly difficult economic situation and pressing political unrest, Mossadeq and the Shah struggled over control of policy and the military, and looked to the Tudeh (Communist) Party of Iran for support.

Truman Administration had urged the British to find some accommodation between BP and Iran, to avoid crisis.  With new Eisenhower Administration, there was more willingness for USA to get directly involved, alleging that Mossadeq was increasingly in league with Communist forces.

In league with British secret service (MI6), CIA worked with Iranian officers loyal to the Shah to depose Mossadeq in 1953.  The plot almost went awry, as Mossadeq refused to accept the Shah’s order of his dismissal, and the Shah left the country.  Units of the military were mobilized under US and British plans; along with street mobs mobilized out of mosques by religious leaders who feared the growth of Communist power in the country.  Eventually the royalist forces gained control of Teheran, Mossadeq was arrested and the Shah returned to the capital.  The US military and civilian aids increased to Iran, and Iran became a centerpiece of US Cold War strategy.

As those events were unfolding, in another area of the Middle East the decline of British imperial power was creating a new crisis, in which the United States, the Soviet Union and all the regional powers were becoming enmeshed.

Those events in the Middle East region, which happened before and after WW2, can give more lights on what is going on presently in the region.

The Regimes that were left to govern the countries in the Middle East, contributed fully in bringing the West another time to control the region.

Why and on what grounds the West is struggling to directly dominate the region again.

However the West, remains only a term; there is even more hidden struggles between the Western countries on how to dominate the region.

A look on post WW2 events, explains somehow why Russia is opposing all West’s policy and roles in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Iran, Palestine, Egypt and Yemen.

A glance on Arab and Iranian regimes after WW2 will give more lights.

This is what we will try to do in the next article.

Sami Cherkaoui

The Middle East Before & After WWI

Past, Present & Future of the Cradle of Civilizations (8)

The Middle East is a region that spreads from Western Asia to North Africa, including Mesopotamia, Arabian Peninsula and the Levant up to Canaan Land of Palestine and Jordan.

The area is famous in being rich with large quantities of crude oil and gas, and it is also the historical origin of major religions such as Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. This perhaps explains why it remains a strategically, economically, politically and religiously sensitive region.

The Ottoman Empire was the one of the largest and longest lasting Empires in history. It was an empire inspired and sustained by Islam, and Islamic institutions.

The Ottomans established the strongest Islamic State in modern history, which was able to defeat the Crusaders and take control of all Canaan Land, the Arabian Peninsula and North Africa (practically all Middle East). They were also able to occupy most of Central Europe all the way to the Balkans, and their Armies invaded Southern Italy, took Cyprus and besieged Vienna the Capital of Austria.

Their Naval Fleet controlled all marine trade routes in the Black Sea, the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, the Persian/Arabia Gulf and Sea of India.

Western European states began to avoid the Ottoman trade monopoly by establishing their own naval routes to Asia.

The strength of the Ottoman Empire reached its maximum weakness in the beginning of the Twentieth Century, and that encouraged European States to conspire for defeating it politically and militarily.

Certain areas of the Empire, such as Egypt and Algeria, became independent in all but name, and later came under the influence of Britain and France.

Muhammad Ali of Egypt came into open conflict with the Ottoman Empire.

His first military campaign was an expedition into the Arabian Peninsula. The holy cities of Mecca, and Medina had been captured by the House of Saud, who had recently embraced a form of Islam called Wahhabism.

Armed with their newfound religious zeal, Muhammad bin Saud began conquering parts of Arabia. This Ottoman–Saudi War culminated in the capture of the Hejaz region from the Ottoman Empire in 1803.

In 1821 the First Hellenic Republic became the first Balkan country to achieve its independence from the Ottoman Empire. It was officially recognized by the Porte (The Sultan the Highest Gate or The Greatest Chest) in 1829, after the end of the Greek War of Independence.

With his own army proving ineffective, Sultan Mahmud II offered Muhammad Ali the island of Crete in exchange for his support in putting down the Greek revolt. Britain, France, and Russia intervened to protect the Greeks.

Ali desired to control Bilad al-Sham (the Levant), both for its strategic value, its natural resources; and its well developed markets throughout the Levant. In addition, it would be a captive market for the goods now being produced in Egypt. Most of all, Syria was desirable as a buffer state between Egypt and the Ottoman Sultan.

The Egyptians overran most of Syria and its hinterland with ease.

After the fall of Acre the Egyptian army marched north into Anatolia and defeated the Ottoman army. There were now no military obstacles between Ibrahim's forces and Constantinople itself.

Sensing that Muhammad Ali was not content with his gains, the sultan attempted to preempt further action against the Ottoman Empire by offering him hereditary rule in Egypt and Arabia if he withdrew from Syria and Crete and renounced any desire for full independence. Muhammad Ali rejected the offer, knowing that Mahmud could not force the Egyptian presence from Syria and Crete.

On 25 May 1838, Muhammad Ali informed Britain, and France that he intended to declare independence from the Ottoman Empire. The European powers, particularly Russia, attempted to moderate the situation and prevent conflict.

Within the Empire, however, both sides were gearing for war.

On 15 July 1840, the British Government, offered Muhammad Ali hereditary rule of Egypt as part of the Ottoman Empire if he withdrew from the Syrian hinterland and the coastal regions of Mount Lebanon. Muhammad Ali hesitated, believing he had support from France. His hesitation proved costly; when French support failed to materialize. British naval forces moved against Syria, and Alexandria. In the face of European military might, Muhammad Ali acquiesced.

After the British, and Austrian navies blockaded the Nile delta coastline, shelled Beirut (11 September 1840) and took Acre (3 November 1840), Muhammad Ali agreed to the terms of the Convention on 27 November 1840. These terms included renouncing his claims over Crete and Hejaz and downsizing his navy, provided that he and his descendants would enjoy hereditary rule over Egypt and Sudan.

By the mid-19th century, the Ottoman Empire was called the "sick man". And the rise of nationalism swept through many countries and affected territories within the Ottoman Empire. The number of revolutionary political parties rose dramatically.

The 1840 Lebanon conflict began in the north of Lebanon as a rebellion of Maronite peasants against their Druze overlords.

Representatives of the European powers proposed to the sultan that Lebanon be partitioned into Christian and Druze sections.

The sultan adopted the proposal and divided the region, then known as "State of Lebanon", into two districts: a northern district under a Christian deputy governor and a southern district under a Druze deputy governor. This arrangement came to be known as the Double Qaimaqamate (Two States and Two Governors in one country under the Ottoman rule).

Both officials were to be responsible to the governor of Sidon, who resided in Beirut. The Beirut-Damascus highway was the dividing line between the two districts.

The French supported the Christians, while the British supported the Druzes, and the Ottomans fomented strife to increase their control on the divided State.

Consequently, the European powers requested that the Ottoman sultan establish order in Lebanon, and he attempted to do so by establishing a new council in each of the districts. Each council was composed of members who represented the different religious communities and was intended to assist the deputy governor.

This system failed to keep order. In 1858 Tanyus Shahin, a Maronite peasant leader, demanded that the feudal class abolish its privileges. When this demand was refused, the poor peasants began to prepare for a revolt. In January 1859, an armed uprising headed by Shahin flared up.

The disturbances spread to Latakia and central Lebanon. Maronite peasants, actively supported by their clergies, began to prepare for an armed uprising against their Druze masters. The Druze lords in their turn began to arm the Druze irregulars.

In July 1860, fighting spilled over into Damascus.

The bloody events offered France the opportunity to intervene, claiming its ancient role as protector of Christians in the Ottoman Empire.

Following the massacre and an international outcry, the Ottoman Empire agreed on 3 August 1860 to the dispatch of up to 12,000 European soldiers to reestablish order.

On October 5, 1860, an international commission composed of France, the UK, Austria, Prussia, and the Ottoman Empire met to investigate the causes of the events of 1860 and to recommend a new administrative and judicial system for Lebanon that would prevent the recurrence of such events.

The commission members agreed that the partition of Lebanon Emirate in 1842 between Druzes and Christians had been responsible for the massacre. Hence, in the Statute of 1861 Lebanon was separated from Syria and reunited under a non-Lebanese Christian Mutasarrif (governor) appointed by the Ottoman sultan, with the approval of the European powers. The Mutasarrif was to be assisted by an administrative council of twelve members from the various religious communities in Lebanon.

Although the troubles had already been quelled by the Ottoman Empire, the French expeditionary corps remained in Syria from August 1860 to June 1861. The French intervention has been described as one of the first humanitarian interventions.

In 1878, Austria-Hungary unilaterally occupied the Ottoman provinces of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Novi Pazar, but the Ottoman government contested this move and maintained its troops in both provinces.

The stalemate lasted for 30 years (Austrian and Ottoman forces coexisted in Bosnia and Novi Pazar for three decades) until 1908, when the Austrians took advantage of the political turmoil in the Ottoman Empire that stemmed from the Young Turk Revolution and annexed Bosnia-Herzegovina, but pulled their troops out of Novi Pazar in order to reach a compromise and avoid a war with the Turks.

In 1882 British forces occupied Egypt on the pretext of bringing order. Egypt and Sudan remained as Ottoman provinces de jure until 1914, when the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers of World War I.

Great Britain officially annexed these two provinces and Cyprus in response. Other Ottoman provinces in North Africa were lost between 1830 and 1912, starting with Algeria (occupied by France in 1830), Tunisia (occupied by France in 1881) and Libya (occupied by Italy in 1912).

Following pressure from the European powers and Armenians, Sultan Abdul Hamid II, in response, assigned the Hamidian regiments to eastern Anatolia (Ottoman Armenia). The regiments were formed mostly of irregular cavalry units of recruited Kurds.

Between 1894 and 1896, large numbers of Armenians living throughout the empire were killed in what became known as the Hamidian massacres.

Armenian militants seized the Ottoman Bank headquarters in Constantinople in 1896 to bring European attention to the massacres, but they failed to gain any help.

The Second Constitutional Era began after the Young Turk Revolution (July 3, 1908) with the sultan's announcement of the restoration of the 1876 constitution and the reconvening of the Ottoman Parliament. It marks the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. This era was dominated by the politics of the Committee of Union and Progress, and the movement that would become known as the Young Turks.

During the Italo-Turkish War (1911–12) in which the Ottoman Empire lost Libya, the Balkan League declared war against the Ottoman Empire, which lost its Balkan territories except East Thrace and the historic Ottoman capital city of Edirne (Adrianople) during the Balkan Wars (1912–13).

Many Muslims, out of fear for Greek, Serbian or Bulgarian atrocities, left with the retreating Ottoman army.

The Young Turk government had signed a secret treaty with Germany and established the Ottoman-German Alliance in August 1914, aimed against the common Russian enemy but aligning the Empire with the German side.This Alliance threatened Russia's Caucasian territories and Britain's communications with India via the Suez Canal.

The Ottoman Empire entered World War I after the Goeben and Breslau incident, in which it gave safe harbor to two German ships that were fleeing British ships. These ships then attacked the Russian port of Sevastopol, thus dragging the Empire into the war on the side of the Central Powers, in which it took part in the Middle Eastern theatre.

There were several important Ottoman victories in the early years of the war, such as the Battle of Gallipoli and the Siege of Kut, but there were setbacks as well, like the disastrous Caucasus Campaign against the Russians.

The United States never declared war against the Ottoman Empire

The British and French opened overseas fronts with the Gallipoli (1915) and Mesopotamian campaigns.

In Gallipoli, the Ottoman Empire successfully repelled the British, French and Australian and New Zealand Army Corps.

In Mesopotamia, by contrast, after the disastrous Siege of Kut (1915–16), British Imperial forces reorganized and captured Baghdad in March 1917.

Further to the west, in Sinai and Palestine Campaign, initial British setbacks were overcome when they captured Jerusalem in December 1917. The Egyptian Expeditionary Force, under Field Marshal Edmund Allenby, broke the Ottoman forces at the Battle of Megiddo in September 1918.

The Middle Eastern theatre of World War I had five main campaigns: the Sinai and Palestine Campaign, the Mesopotamian Campaign, the Caucasus Campaign, the Persian Campaign and the Gallipoli Campaign.

There were the minor North African Campaign (World War I), the Arab Campaign and South Arabia Campaign.

Besides their regular forces, the Allies used asymmetrical forces in the region. Participating on the Allied side were Arabs who participated in the Arab Revolt, and Armenian militia who participated in the Armenian Resistance. The Armenian volunteer units and Armenian militia formed the Armenian Corps of the Democratic Republic of Armenia in 1918. This theatre encompassed the largest territory of all the theatres of the war.

The Ottomans accepted the Armistice of Mudros with the Allies on 30 October 1918, and signed the Treaty of Sèvres on 10 August 1920 and later the Treaty of Lausanne on July 24, 1923.

In 1914, The British established the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, British Dardanelles Army and Egyptian Expeditionary Forces to oppose Ottoman and German forces in the Caucasus.

In 1916, an Arab Revolt began in Hejaz (Arabia) under the direction of Emir Feisal and British advisers, of whom T.E. Lawrence is the best known.

France sent the French Armenian Legion to this theatre as part of its larger French Foreign Legion. Foreign Minister Aristide Briand needed to provide troops for French commitment made in Sykes-Picot Agreement, which was still secret.

The Armenian Legion fought in Palestine and Syria. Many of the volunteers in Foreign Legion who managed to survive the first years of the war were generally released from the Legion to join their respective national armies.

During World War I, Hussein initially remained allied with the Ottomans but began secret negotiations with the British on the advice of his son, Abdullah, who had served in the Ottoman parliament up to 1914 and was convinced that it was necessary to separate from the increasingly nationalistic Ottoman administration.

Further, evidence that the Ottoman government was planning to depose him at the end of the war helped sour this alliance.

The British Secretary of State for War, Lord Kitchener, appealed to him for assistance in the conflict on the side of the Triple Entente. Hussein seized the opportunity and demanded recognition of an Arab nation that included the Hejaz and other adjacent territories as well as approval for the proclamation of an Arab Caliphate of Islam.

Britain accepted and assured him that his assistance would be rewarded by an Arab empire encompassing the entire span between Egypt and Persia, with the exception of imperial possessions and interests in Kuwait, Aden, and the Syrian coast.

But after protracted negotiations, with neither side committing to clear terms, including on key matters such as the fate of Palestine, Hussein became impatient and commenced with what would become known as The Great Arab Revolt against Ottoman control in 1916.

In the aftermath of the war, the Arabs found themselves freed from centuries of Ottoman Sultanate rule, but under the mandate colonial rule of France and the United Kingdom. As these mandates ended, the sons of Husain were made the kings of Transjordan (later Jordan), Syria and Iraq.

However, the monarchy in Syria was short-lived, and consequently Hussein’s son (Faisal) instead presided over the newly-established Iraq as King of Hejaz.

When Hussein declared himself King of the Hejaz, he also declared himself King of all Arabs (malik bilad-al-Arab).

This aggravated his conflict with Ibn Saud, with whom he had fought before WWI on the side of the Ottomans in 1910.

Two days after the Turkish Caliphate was abolished by the Turkish Grand National Assembly on March 3, 1924, Hussein declared himself Caliph.

The claim to the title had a mixed reception, and he was soon ousted and driven out of Arabia by the Saudis, a rival clan that had no interest in the Caliphate. Saud defeated Hussein in 1924.

Hussein continued to use the title of Caliph when living in Transjordan.

The Committee of Union and Progress was an umbrella name for different underground factions, some of which were generally referred to as the "Young Turks".

It built an extensive organization, having presence in towns, in the capital, and throughout Europe. Under this umbrella name one could find ethnic Albanians, Bulgarians, Arabs, Serbians, Jews, Greeks, Turks, Kurds and Armenians united by the common goal of changing the régime.

After the 1908 revolution, in the absence of this goal the revolution began to fracture and different allegiances began to emerge.

Abdul Hamid II was quite successful in suppressing the organization, and even approached the French and German governments to assist in the suppression of this political movement.

The Young Turk Revolution played a significant role in the evolution of Committee of Union and Progress from a revolutionary organization to a political party.

Following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I, Mustafa Kamal Ataturk a young Ottoman Army Officer, led the Turkish national movement in the Turkish War of Independence.

Having established a provisional government in Ankara, he defeated the forces sent by the Allies. His military campaigns gained Turkey independence. Atatürk then embarked upon a program of political, economic, and cultural reforms, seeking to transform the former Ottoman Empire into a modern, westernized and secular nation-state. The principles of Atatürk's reforms, upon which modern Turkey was established, are referred to as Kemalism.

On 29 October 1923, the Republic of Turkey was proclaimed.

During this time another important incident was building up in the region. When in1897 Theodore Herzl established the Zionist Movement, he was actually encouraging Jews around the world, to re-establish their national state, within Palestine. 

He called on all Jews to immigrate to the territory. Turkey banded the Jewish Immigration but later eased its rule under enormous pressure from Europe.

By the end of the First World War, Great Britain had the British Mandate for Palestine. The issuance of the Balfour Declaration greatly increased the immigration of Jews to Palestine. In 1947, Great Britain decided to turn its Mandate over to the United Nations, which, in the same year, adopted Resolution 181, partitioning the land into two states, one Arab and one Jewish.

The Jewish community agreed to the partition, but Arab countries and Palestinian Arabs did not, resulting in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the first in a series of wars fought between Israel and the Arab world.

On October 30, 1918, The Armistice of Mudros, signed on aboard the HMS Agamemnon in Mudros port on the island of Lemnos between the Ottoman Empire and the Triple Entente. Ottoman operations in the active combat theaters ceased.

The occupation of Istanbul along with the occupation of İzmir, mobilized the establishment of the Turkish national movement and led to the Turkish War of Independence.

On 18 January 1919, peace negotiations began, however it took definite shape only after the premiers' meeting at the San Remo conference in April 1920. France, Italy, and Great Britain, on the other hand, had been secretly partitioning of the Ottoman Empire as early as 1915.

The Ottoman Government representatives signed the Treaty of Sèvres on August 10, 1920, however, treaty was not sent to Ottoman Parliament for ratification, as Parliament was abolished on March 18, 1920 by the British, during the occupation of Istanbul.

The Treaty of Sèvres was annulled in the course of the Turkish War of Independence and the parties signed and ratified the superseding Treaty of Lausanne in 1923.

On March 3, 1924, the Caliphate was abolished when Mustafa Kamal Ataturk deposed the last Ottoman caliph, Abdul Mejid II.

The Lausanne Treaty formally acknowledged the new League of Nations mandates in the Middle East, the cession of their territories on the Arabian Peninsula, and British sovereignty over Cyprus.

The League of Nations granted Class A mandates for the French Mandate of Syria and Lebanon and British Mandate of Mesopotamia and Palestine, the later comprising two autonomous regions: Mandate Palestine and Transjordan.

Parts of the Ottoman Empire on the Arabian Peninsula became part of what is today Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

The dissolution of the Ottoman Empire became a pivotal milestone in the creation of the modern Middle East, the result of which bore witness to the creation of new conflicts and hostilities in the region.

By the first discoveries of petroleum in 1914, the Middle East turned suddenly from a strategic region only, to a rich and strategic region.

The major fields were found in southwestern Persia, in the river valleys of Iraq, and along the Persian Gulf. These new-found riches heightened the interest of the European powers, and in the 1930s, America entered the area to compete with the well-established French and British interests.

After World War I, Arab territories of the old Ottoman Empire were administered as Western mandates, not annexed as Western colonies. The French had received the mandates for Syria and for Syria’s half-Christian neighbor, Lebanon.

The British, who already held a protectorate over Egypt, were given the mandates for Palestine and Iraq. The only major Arab state enjoying anything like full independence was Saudi Arabia.

Arab nationalism was already focused on the special problem of Palestine, for by the Balfour Declaration of 1917 the British had promised to open this largely Arab-populated territory as a “national home for the Jewish people.”

The immigration of Jews into Palestine (especially after the Nazis took power in Germany), raised their proportion of the population from about 10 percent to about 30 percent and caused repeated clashes between Arabs and Jews.

The French made few concessions to Arab nationalism, infuriating the Syrians by bombarding their capital of Damascus while quelling an insurrection in 1925 and 1926. A decade later the expectations aroused by the Popular Front’s willingness to grant at least some independence to Syria and Lebanon were nullified when the French parliament rejected the draft treaties, intensifying the Arab sense of betrayal.

In Egypt nationalist agitation after World War I led Britain to proclaim that country an independent monarchy under King Fuad I (1868-1936). The British, however, still retained the right to station troops there.

The Iranian revolution began in 1905-1906 in response to imperialist encroachments by Britain and Russia. The political structure inherited from the Middle Ages was changed into a limited monarchy with an elected parliament.

However, the country did not adapt itself readily to modern Western political institutions. The shah was unwilling to give up his traditional powers, and the British and Russians were unwilling to give up their spheres of influence. During World War I, therefore, they both stationed troops in an ostensibly neutral Persia.

The Russian Revolution eased the czarist threat to Persian sovereignty, and at the end of the war Persian nationalists forced their government to reject a British attempt to negotiate a treaty that would have made the country a virtual British protectorate. The leader of the nationalists was Reza Khan (1878-1944), an able army officer of little education who deeply distrusted the Russians.

He used his military successes to become, first, minister of war and then, in 1923, prime minister. Thereafter he tried to manipulate the Majles, or parliament, to his purposes, and he won the support of the army and the cabinet. After conferring with the clergy in the holy city of Qum, the forces of Islam also fell into line behind him. In 1925 the Majles deposed the Qajar dynasty and proclaimed Reza to be Reza Shah Pahlavi.

Reza Shah lacked familiarity with the West, and his erratic attempts to modernize his isolated country often failed. He ruled in increasingly arbitrary fashion, also demonstrating mounting sympathy for the Nazis. In 1941, after Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union, the British and Soviets sent troops into Iran and forced Reza Shah’s abdication in order to secure the important trans-Iranian supply route to the Soviet Union.

The fate of Reza Shah was a reminder that some of the seemingly sovereign states of the non-Western world were not yet strong enough to maintain their independence against great powers. By World War II imperial ties had been loosened but by no means severed or dissolved; the full revolution against imperialism was yet to come.

At the end of World War I, the League of Nations granted the area to the United Kingdom as a mandate. It initially formed two former Ottoman vilayets (regions): Baghdad and Basra into a single country in August 1921. Five years later, in 1926, the northern Vilayet of Mosul was added, forming the territorial boundaries of the modern Iraqi state.

During the mandate, British colonial administrators ruled the country, and through the use of British armed forces, suppressed Arab and Kurdish rebellions against the occupation. They established the Hashemite king, Faisal, who had been forced out of Syria by the French, as their client ruler.

Likewise, British authorities selected Sunni Arab elites from the region for appointments to government and ministry offices.

Britain granted independence to Iraq in 1932, on the urging of King Faisal, though the British retained military bases and transit rights for their forces. King Ghazi ruled as a figurehead after King Faisal's death in 1933, while undermined by attempted military coups, until his death in 1939. Ghazi was followed by his under age son, Faisal II. Abdullah served as Regent during Faisal's minority.

On 1 April 1941, Rashid Ali al-Gaylani and members of the Golden Square staged a coup d'état and overthrew the government of Abdullah.

During the subsequent Anglo-Iraqi War, the United Kingdom invaded Iraq for fear that Rashid Ali’s government might cut oil supplies to Western nations because of his links to the Axis powers. The war started on 2 May and an armistice was signed 31 May.

A military occupation followed the restoration of the pre-coup government of the Hashemite monarchy. The occupation ended on 26 October 1947.

What's behind Numbers, Colors and Symbols?

Why most of political parties choose certain colors and symbols for their logos and slogans?

How countries select their flags’ colors and some put symbols on them?

Why it is important to a country or a political party to have specified colors and symbols reflect their political trends?

How does religion interact with politics through numbers, colors and symbols?

What do numbers mean to religions and societies?

Cultural, religious, political, social individuals and groups use colors to represent their traditional concepts or feelings, or to evoke physical reactions. They express in colors some kind of communication or gestures.

Generally speaking colors refer to certain personal moods, or reflect certain resemblance; for instance, BLACK is the color of night and its mysteries. Sometimes represent evil, and can also be relating to elegance or class. It may also refer to power, sophistication, wealth, sadness, depth, anger and mourning. It is taken to symbolize Anarchism, Fascism and Catholicism.

WHITE on the other hand is sacred and pure, and is the color of Gods, Angels, peace, purity, simplicity, youth, but can also refer to sadness and mourning. It can be symbol to humility, winter, cold and sterile and refers to Monarchism.

Whereas BLUE is mostly known as Virgin Mary's color, accompanies pure and innocent females. It is the color of oceans, skies and indicates life, calmness, stability, security, loyalty, technology and depression.

BROWN is always associated with Earth, Home, comfort, endurance, simplicity. GREEN represents nature, environment, good luck, youth also jealousy and misfortune. It is also associated with some Islamic groups and countries.

ORANGE associates with balance, warmth, enthusiasm and demanding of attention. PINK goes with innocence and child-like character. It is also considered as color of good health. Sometimes it accompanies love, femininity, sexuality and purity. PURPLE can be color of royalty, nobility, wisdom, enlightenment, also cruelty and arrogance. RED is the color of blood and can symbolize strong emotions, life and vitality. It indicates to the Sun as symbol of energy. RED and WHITE together mean happiness, and used in weddings and ceremonies mainly in far eastern countries. The combination is also the color of bond and commitment. It is associated with Socialism, Communism and Nationalism.

YELLOW is joy and happiness and signifies optimism, idealism, gold and also dishonesty, cowardice, deceit, illness and danger. It also signifies Liberalism, and symbolizes extremity.

Symbols in general are signs or marks that define certain brand or idea and represent some information. Most of old languages started as symbols before they were developed to characters and words. Symbols are found in Religious, Artistic, Alchemical, Astronomical, Chemical, Electrical and Mathematical works. Maybe symbols go back to the time of creation when they were perhaps the only means of communication.

By the time ancient civilizations were founded, nations started to choose certain colors and symbols to indicate their identity. The same ancient symbols and colors resemble today the political or religious or social definitions.

Symbols surround us in many forms and most of them are taken for granted today as static signs of religious or secular life that was created long ago. Over time, they have acquired layers of increasingly complex meaning, and this evolution of meaning tells us many ideas about how the nature of life and universe was developed.

The CIRCLE for example is the most common and universal signs, found in all cultures. It is the symbol of the sun in its limitless or boundless aspect. It has no beginning or end, and no divisions, making it the perfect symbol of completeness, eternity, and the soul. It is also the symbol of boundary and enclosure, of completion, and returning cycles. The wedding ring symbolizes not just a pledge of eternal love, but the enclosure of the heart- a pledge of fidelity.

The equal armed SOLAR CROSS is another universal symbol, and the first truly theological emblem, marking not only the points of the solar calendar, but the juxtaposition of the realm of the material with the realm of the divine.

The ARC is found in more complex symbols, especially planetary symbols, represents ascension or striving. It is a traditional element of architecture and often figures in commemorative monuments of triumph and achievement.

The CRESCENT represents the powers of the moon- reflective and receptive. A reversed crescent often represents emptiness and illusion.

The TRIANGLE is associated with Christian trinity or Freemasonry. To the ancient Pythagoreans, the triangle was, as the first complete polygon, the womb of number and the essence of stability.  The upward moving triangle is sometimes called the blade and it is a symbol of aspiration or rising up, male force, and fire. The downward pointing triangle maybe referred to as the chalice. It is the symbol of water, the grace of heaven, and the womb, a representation of the genitalia of the goddess.

The ARROW is known to be a symbol of power and also shows swiftness and knowledge. It was used by the Greek goddess Artemis and the Greek god Apollo who were both known as hunters.  Also used by Greek god Eros, Roman god Cupid, and the Hindu god Kama – all are known as gods of sexual attraction.

The LION is a symbol of power, also indicates bravery and ferocity.

A CRESCENT MOON is a symbol of the aging goddess (crone) to contemporary witches and victory over death. In Islamic lands, crescent can be seen enclosing a lone pentagram.

DRAGON is a mythical monster made up of many animals: serpent, lizard, bird, lion... It may have many heads and breathes fire. To medieval Europe, it was dangerous and evil, but people in Eastern Asia believe it has power to help them against more hostile spiritual forces. In the Bible it represents Satan, the devil.

HEXAGRAM or Six-pointed Star when surrounded by a circle, it represents the "divine mind" (a counterfeit of God's wisdom) to numerous occult groups through the centuries. Many still use it in occult rituals. But to Jewish people, it is their Star of David.

SPIRAL is linked to the "circle". It is as ancient symbol of the goddess, the womb, fertility, feminine serpent force, continual change, and the evolution of the universe.

The square represents the physical world. Like the quartered circle, it points pagans to the four compass directions: north, east, south and west. While the circle and "spiral" symbolize female sexuality in many earth-centered cultures, the square represents male qualities.

SWASTIKA 1 is an ancient occult symbol of the sun and the four directions. Revived by Hitler, it represents racism and the "white supremacy" of Neo-Nazis. Like other occult symbols, it is often placed inside a "circle".

UNICORN means power, purification, healing, wisdom, self-knowledge, renewal and eternal life. Medieval myths suggested it could only be caught with help from a virgin who would befriend it.

All-seeing EYE in the PYRAMID is the official symbol for DARPA Total Information Awareness, a surveillance and information system established by they U.S. government.

CADUCEUS is a figure of two serpents wrapped a center rod where the rod is a symbol of transforming alchemical power. The two serpents represent polarity or duality. Together with the sprouted wings depict the caduceus having an alchemical meaning of balance, duality and following the alchemical process leading to unity. The caduceus is also seen in medical circles.

PENTACLE is a symbol of harmony, health and mystic powers. The Pythagoreans adopted it as a sign of health and the marriage of heaven and earth. As a sign of heaven, earth, as well as human body and mind, the pentacle holds great power.

The LABYRINTH is a winding, maze-like path, often resembling a spiral and almost always has spiritual significance.

The Symbol of SCIENTOLOGY consists of the letter “S” interlaced with two triangles. Each triangle represents three inseparably linked concepts; the KRC (Knowledge, Responsibility and Control) and the ARC” (Affinity, Reality and Communication).The S, stands for “Scientology.”

The ASCLEPIUS (Aesculapius) Wand is the true symbol of the medical profession. It dates to antiquity, and was a symbol of the Greek God of healing, Aesculapius. The symbol of a serpent entwined staff also appears in the biblical book of Exodus, wherein Moses is instructed to erect a brass pole with a serpent; whoever looked upon it was healed. It is the symbol of medicine and pharmacists.

The eight points in the STAR OF ISHTAR represent the movements of the planet Venus associated with this Goddess, and the eight gates of the city of Babylon.

BABYLONIAN TREE OF LIFE (Mesopotamian Tree of Life) in Babylonian mythology was a magical tree that grew in the center of paradise. The Apsu, or primordial waters, flowed from its roots. It is the prototype of the tree described in Genesis: the biblical Tree of Paradise evolved directly from this ancient symbol; it is the symbol from which the Egyptian, Islamic and Kabalistic tree of life concepts originated.

The Four letters in the TETRAGRAMMATON (Greek, ‘four letters’) is the 

true’ name of the God of the Hebrew Scriptures. It never appears complete in written form; only the four consonant letters, YHVH (Hebrew, Yod Heh Vau Heh, read right to left), or in the Latin version, IHVH. In modern Judaism, the Tetragrammaton is commonly referred to as “HaShem,” meaning, “The Name,” and the pronunciation rules still apply.

The TRIQUETRA makes an ideal Christian symbol. It is a perfect representation of the concept of “three in one” in Christian trinity beliefs, and incorporates another popular Christian symbol, the fish, in its original form of the Vesica Pisces. It is sometimes enclosed within a circle to emphasize the unity aspect.

The right EYE OF HORUS/Eye of Ra (Udjat, Wedjat) reflects solar, masculine energy, as well as reason and mathematics. The left eye reflects fluid, feminine, lunar energy, and rules intuition and magic. Together, they represent the combined transcendent power of Horus. The Masonic all seeing eye, the Eye of Providence symbol found on American money, and the modern Rx pharmaceutical symbol are all descended from the this symbol.

The STAR AND CRESCENT OF ISLAM emblem is commonly recognized as the symbol of the Islamic faith, is very ancient, dating back to early Sumerian civilization. The symbol was adopted by the Ottoman Dynasty, who is mainly responsible for its association with Islam. Today, the star and crescent is widely accepted as a symbol of the Islamic faith, and is used in decorative arts, jewelry, and national flags- much like the cross in Christian countries.

The HAMSA, Hand of Fatima is an ancient symbol, used as a protective amulet by both Jews and Muslims. The name Hamsa is derived from the Semitic root meaning “five.” The hand symbol is called the Hand of Fatima by Muslims, named for the daughter of Mohamed, and is sometimes said to symbolize the five pillars or tenets of Islam. In Jewish use, it is sometimes called the hand of Miriam, after the biblical heroine. The eye in hand is considered a powerful talisman against the ‘evil eye,’ and is usually worn around the neck or hung on walls or over the doors of homes and businesses.

The WINGED HEART is a symbol of the Sufi movement, a mystic branch of Islam. The symbol is a heart with wings, symbolizing ascension; the five pointed star represents divine light, the moon responsiveness to this light.

The MASONIC SQUARE AND COMPASS is one of the most common symbols of Freemasonry. The compass and square are architect’s tools, and symbolize God as the architect of the universe, among other things. As measuring instruments, the tools represent judgment and discernment. The compass, which is used to draw circles, represents the realm of the spiritual- eternity. It is symbolic of the defining and limiting principle, and also of infinite boundaries. The angle measures the square, the symbol of earth and the realm of the material. The square represents fairness, balance, firmness, etc.

Together, the compass and square represent the convergence of matter and spirit, and the convergence of earthly and spiritual responsibilities. The two symbols together form a hexagram, the union of earth with the heavens, matter and mind, etc.

Image via WikipediaThe DOUBLE-HEADED EAGLE is the emblem of the thirty second and thirty-third (and highest) degrees of Scottish Rite Freemasonry. Alchemically, the eagle was a symbol of purified sulfur, and was used in alchemical images to portray the ascending spirit. The double heads are often emblematic of the reconciliation of matter and spirit. Other elements in the Masonic eagle reinforce the alchemical symbolism- a sword representing heavenly fire, and the crown of spiritual attainment.

The point within the CIRCUMPUNCT is a symbol used in Freemasonry. It is a solar-phallic symbol used in ancient Egypt to represent the eternal nature of the sun god Ra. The lines which enclose the circle call to mind the Akhet, the ancient ‘gate’ of the sun, a symbol of rebirth and resurrection. To the Pythagoreans, the point and circle represented eternity, whose “center is everywhere and the circumference nowhere.”

The Greek mathematician Pythagoras is credited with the discovery of the GOLDEN RECTANGLE. The Golden Rectangle is built on the “golden ratio” or “golden proportion,” which is determined by the irrational number known as Phi. (Symbolized by its namesake, the Greek letter phi.). To put it simply, a golden rectangle is a rectangle divided in such a way as to create a square and a smaller rectangle that retains the same proportions as the original rectangle. To do this, one must create a rectangle based on the golden ratio. To find the Golden Ratio, one must divide a line so that the ratio of the line to the larger segment is equal to the ratio of the larger segment to the smaller:

There’s an enormous range of symbolic roles that numbers have played in various cultures, religions, and other systems of human thought.

(ONE) is a number, numeral, and the name of the glyph representing that number. It represents a single entity. It is considered to be a primordial unity. The beginning. The Creator. It is the First Cause or the First Mover. One is the sum of all possibilities. It is essence, the Center and refers to isolation. It is seen as the number that gives cause to duality as multiplicity and back to final unity.

Chinese refer to one as Yang, masculine; celestial. For the Christians ONE is the God the Father.  For Hebrews it is Adonai, the Lord, the Most High, the I am. For Muslims it is ONE GOD as unity; the Absolute; self sufficient.

TWO is: Duality- Alteration - Diversity – Conflict - Dependence. It is a static condition. It is rooted, seen as balance (two sides); stability; reflection. Two are the opposite poles. It represents the dual nature of the human being. It is desire, since all that is manifest in duality is in pairs of opposites. The Buddhists see two as the duality of Samsara; male and female. Two is theory and practice; wisdom and method. It is blind and the lame united to see the way and to walk it. For the Chinese it is Yin , feminine; terrestrial; inauspicious. For Christians it is Christ with two natures as God and human. For Hebrews TWO is The life-force. In Kabala it is wisdom and self-consciousness. The Hindu’s Two is duality, the Shakta-Shakti.

THREE is the third dimension. It's roots stem from the meaning of multiplicity. Three is a moving forward of energy, overcoming duality, expression, manifestation and synthesis. Three is the first number to which the meaning "all" was given. It is The Triad, being the number of the whole as it contains the beginning, middle and an end.

The power of three is universal and is the Tripartide nature of the world as heaven, earth, and waters. It is human as body, soul and spirit. Three is birth, life, death. It is the beginning, middle and end. Three is a complete cycle unto itself. It is past, present and future. The symbol of three is the triangle. Pythagorean’s three means completion.

Egyptian’s Hermetic tradition, Thoth is the Thrice Great, 'Trismegistus'. The Supreme Power.

FOUR represents the cardinal points; four seasons; four winds; four directions (as in North, South, East, And West); four elements (Fire, Water, Air, Earth).

There are four sides to a square; four arms to a cross. There are four rivers to Paradise. There are four watches of the night and day, quarters of the moon. There are four quarters to the earth. Four is a symbolic number used throughout in the Old Testament. The quaternary can be depicted as the quatre-foil as well as the square and the cross.The Buddhist’s Damba Tree of Life has four limbs and from its roots four sacred streams of Paradise that represent the four boundless wishes of compassion, affection, love impartiality. In Buddhism there are four celestial guardians of cardinal points are Mo-li Ch'ing, the East, with the jade ring and spear; Virupaksha, the West, the Far-gazer, with the four-stringed quitar; Virudhaka, the South, with the umbrella of choas and darkness and earthquakes; Vaisravenna, the North, with the whips, leopard-skin bag, snake and pearl. The Chinese Four is the number of the Earth, symbolized by the square. There are four streams of immortality. It is Yin in polarity. Christian’s Four is the number representing the body, with three representing the soul. Again we see the theme of the four rivers in Paradise. There are four Gospels, Evangelists, chef arch-angels, chef-devils, four Fathers of the Church, Great Prophets. There are four cardinal virtues--prudence, fortitude, justice, temperance. There are four winds from which the One Spirit is said to come. There are four horsemen of the Apocalypse. The Egyptian Four is the sacred number of Time, measurement of the sun. Four pillars support the vault of heaven. Greek Four is the sacred number of Hermes. Four in Hebrew represents measurement; beneficence; intelligence. In the Kabbalah four is memory; four represents the four worlds of the Kabbalah. It also represents the four directions of space and the four levels of the hierarchical organism of the Torah. It is Totality; plenitude; perfection in Hindu. The Four faced Creator in Brahma. The temple is based on the four sides of the square, symbolizing order and finality. Mayan’s Four giants support the celestial roof. Four is seen as the number of support. Pythagorean’s Four is Perfection; harmonious proportion; justice; the Earth. Four is the number of the Pythagorean oath. Four and ten are divinities. The Tetraktys 1+2+3+4 =10.

FIVE is the symbol of human microcosm. It is the number of the human being. Human forms the pentagon when arms and legs are out stretched. The pentagon is endless ---sharing the symbolism of perfection and power of the circle. Five is a circular number as it produces itself in its last digit when raised to its own power. Five in Hindu is a circle. The pentacle, like the circle symbolizes whole, the quincunx being the number of its center and the meeting point of heaven, earth, and the four cardinal points plus the center point. Five is also representative of the Godhead - Central Creator of the four fours plus itself equaling five. The number five symbolizes meditation; religion; versatility. It represents the five senses (taste, touch, smell, sight, and hearing) everywhere except in the East The five pointed star depicts individuality and spiritual aspiration, and education when it points upward. If pointed downward it represents witchcraft, and it is used in black magic. Chinese five elements. Five atmospheres; conditions; planets; sacred mountains; grains, colors, tastes, poisons; powerful charms; cardinal virtues; blessings; eternal ideas; relations to human kind.

Christians’ Five senses; Five points to the cross; Five wounds of Christ; fishes feeding five thousand; and Five books of Moses. Five is the nuptial number of love and union.. It is the number of Venus. Venus years are completed in groups of five. Apollo as god of light has five qualities: omniscience, omnipresence; omnipotence, eternity, and unity. Hebrew’s Five represents strength and severity; radical intelligence. In kabala five represents fear. Hindu’s Five elements of the subtle and coarse states; their primary colors; of senses; five faces of Siva and the twice-five incarnations of Vishnu. Islam’s Five pillars of religion; five Divine Presences; five fundamental dogmas; five actions; and five daily times of prayer.

SIX represents equilibrium; harmony - balance. It is the perfect number 1+2+3=6. It is the most productive of all numbers. It symbolizes union of polarity, the hermaphrodite being represented by the two  interlaced triangles, the upward- pointing as male, fire and the heavens, and the downward-pointing as female, the waters and the earth. Six is the symbol of luck; love; health; beauty; chance. Chinese Six represents Universe. Chinese’ six senses: taste, touch, smell, sight, hearing, the sixth being mind. The day and night each have six periods. Christian’s Six is perfection; completion because man was created on the sixth day. Six is man's number The most obvious use of this number is in the notorious passage containing 666. (Rev 13:18 NIV) This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man's number. His number is 666. In Hebrew and Islam There are six days of creation. It symbolizes meditation and intelligence. It is beauty and creation in Kabala. Luck for Pythagoreans.

SEVEN is the number of the Universe. It is the three of the heavens (soul) combined with the four (body) of the earth; being the first number containing both the spiritual and the temporal. It represents the virginity of the Great Mother - feminine archetype - She who creates. There are 7 ages of man. 7 ancient wonders of the world. 7 circles of Universe. 7 cosmic stages. 7 days of the week 7 heavens 7 hells 7 pillars of wisdom 7 rays of the sun 7 musical notes. In Alchemy there are seven metals involved with the Work.

There are seven stars of the Great Bear which are indestructible. There are seven Pleiades-- sometimes referred to as the, Seven Sisters. Buddhist’s Seven is the number of ascent and of ascending to the highest; attaining the center. The seven steps of Buddha symbolize the ascent of the seven cosmic stages transcending time and space.

In Christianity there are seven sacraments; 7 gifts of spirit; the seven of 3+4 theological and cardinal virtues; 7 deadly sins. There are 7 councils of the early church – 7 crystal spheres containing the planets - 7 devils cast out by Christ – 7 joys and sorrows of Mary - 7 liberal arts – 7 major prophets – 7 periods of fasting and penitence - seventh day after the six of creation In the Old Testament there are the seven altars of Baalam; 7 oxen and 7 rams for sacrifice; 7 trumpets; 7 circuits of Jericho; seven times Naaman bathed in the Jordan. The Ark rested on the seventh month and the dove was sent out after seven days.

The Egyptian priestesses of Hathor have seven jars in their seven tunics. Ra has seven hawks representing the seven Wise Ones. Six cows and a bull represent fertility. There are seven houses of the underworld and Seven is the sacred number of Osiris. Apollo’s lyre has seven strings, Pan had seven pipes and there are seven Wise Men of Greece.

Seven is the number of occult intelligence. There are seven Great Holy Days in the Jewish year; the Menorah has seven branches; the Temple took seven years to build; and there are seven pillars of wisdom. Hinduism’s Seven Jewels of the Brahmans, seven gods before the floods and seven Wise Men saved from it. It is the perfect number in Islam; 7 heavens, 7 climates, 7 earths, 7 seas, 7 color.

Seven is a cosmic number with three of heaven and four of the world. There are seven lunar divisions and days of the week. There are seven zones of earth; heavens, symbolized by the planes of ziggurat. There are seven branches to the Tree of Life each having seven leaves There are seven gates of hell, seven demons of Tiamat and seven winds to destroy her. Seven is a mystic number traditionally associated with Venus and more recently with Neptune.

Spiritually EIGHT is the goal of the initiate, having gone through the seven stages.

Eight is Infinity - Paradise regained. Eight is solidarity as the first cube and it denotes perfection by virtue of it's six surfaces. There are eight winds and intermediate directions of space. Eight represents the pairs of opposites. The octagon is the beginning of the transformation of the square into a circle and vice versa. Eight is Felicity, Perfect rhythm, Regeneration, Resurrection

Buddhist Eight is completion, all possibilities. There are eight symbols of good augury. In China Eight represents the whole. It is all possibilities in manifestation. Eight is seen as a good luck number. Eight is significant in the  trigrams and pairs of opposites in the PAKUA. There are eight delights of human existence. Eight in Christianity is rebirth and regeneration. Eight is perfect intelligence; splendor. The digit value of "IHVH" is the "Number of the Lord". Hindu: 8x8 symbolism is the order of the celestial world established on earth. Temples are built on the pattern of the MANDALA, which is the 8x8 symbol. In their belief system there are eight regions of the world, suns, divisions of the day, and eight Chakras. The Throne in Islam, which encompasses the world, is supported by eight angels, corresponding to both the eight divisions of space and the groups of letters in the Arabic alphabet. Japanese Eight is the "many". There are eight Gods in the heavens. Plato has eight spheres of different colors surrounding the luminous pillars of the heavens. Pythagorean’s Eight is solidarity and stability.

NINE is composed of the all-powerful 3x3. It is the Triple Triad - Completion; fulfillment; attainment; beginning and the end; the whole number; a celestial and angelic number - the Earthly Paradise. It is the number of the circumference, its division into 90 degrees and into 360 for the entire circumference. Nine is symbolized by the two triangles which are a symbol of male, fire, mountain and female, water, and cave principles. Buddhist tradition holds nine to be the supreme spiritual power, and a celestial number. Chinese Nine is a celestial power. It is 3x3 being the most auspicious of all the numbers. Nine also signifies the eight directions with the center as the ninth point known as the Hall of Light. There are nine great social laws and classes of officials. In land divisions for Feng Shui there are eight exterior squares for cultivation of the land by holders and the central, and ninth, square is a "god's acre", dedicated to Shang-ti, the supreme ruler. It is also known as the Emperor's Field, giving homage and respect denoting the position of heavenly power.

Christians’ Nine is the triple triads of choirs of angels and nine spheres and nine rings around hell. Egyptian mythology nine represents The Ennead. There are nine Greek/Roman Gods and nine muses. Hebrew Nine is pure intelligence (eight was perfect intelligence). Also represents truth, since it reproduces itself when multiplied. Kabbalism nine symbolizes foundation. Hindu Nine is the number of Agni, fire. The square of the nine forms the mandala of eighty-one squares and leads to, and encloses the Universe. Mayan Nine underworlds each ruled by a God. Pythagorean Nine is the limit of all numbers, all others existing and coming from the same.

TEN is the number of the cosmos---the paradigm of creation. All things and possibilities. It is the radix or turning point of all counting. Ten is all-inclusive representing law; order and dominion. The Tetraktys 1+2+3+4= 10 symbolizes divinity and one represents a point; two, length; three, a plane or surface (as a triangle); four, solidity or space. It is seen as the perfect--the return to unity. When based on the digits of the two hands, it is completeness and the foundation of all counting. Its highest ranges of completeness, 100 and 1000, are the basis of all Hindu cosmology and in China the Ten Thousand Things, ie: the uncountable, symbolize the whole of manifestation. Ten is also the number of completion of journeys and returns to origins. Ten is the sum of the number nine of the circumference with the one of the center---being perfection. Chinese character chi, symbolizing the self facing both ways as both Yin and Yang, which is considered to be the perfect figure. The Ten Celestial Stems (Kan) are possibly connected with the names of the ten-day week on the prevailing cyclic calculations, as evident in the number sixty.

There are Ten Commandments of the Decalogue; as there are ten parables of the ten lamps, 10 virgins, and 10 talents. In Solomon¹s Temple there were ten layers, 10 tables and 10 candlesticks. The cherubim were ten cubits high and ten Levites minister before the Ark.  

The number ELEVEN is double digit that repeats itself - therefore is considered as a Master or Power Number. In Numerology - 11 represents impractical idealism, visionary, refinement of ideals, intuition, revelation, artistic and inventive genius, avant-garde, androgynous, film, fame, refinement fulfilled when working with a practical partner.

Eleven is a higher octave of the number two. It carries psychic vibrations and has an equal balance of masculine and feminine properties. Because eleven contains many gifts such as psychic awareness and a keen sense of sensitivity, it also has negative effects such as treachery and betrayal from secret enemies.

11:11 is a digital code for awakening. 11 represent balance. It is the Spiraling Twin DNA

In systems such as Astrology and basic Numerology, eleven is considered to be a Master Number. Ten being the perfect number, eleven represents the exceeding of both. When broken down (1+1=2) It comprises the Two of duality.

TWELVE is the number of Illusion. 12:12 references the digital code for the illusion of time. 2012 in the Mayan Calendar, 12 is the end. The 12 Around 1 to create a matrix or consciousness programs of reality. 12=3 = third dimension = 3D.

Reality is created by 12 a source. 12 is a measure of time - the calendar months - clocks - astrology - etc.

There are twelve signs in the standard Zodiac and twelve months in our year. Twelve hours of the day and night. 12 is a higher octave of the number three and is an indicator of great understanding and wisdom. There were twelve tribes in Israel, twelve disciples, twelve astrological signs in the zodiac, twelve months in the year, and the modern clock is divided into two groups of twelve hours. It is considered to be the ancient number of completion as it signals the end of childhood and the beginning stages of adulthood. The ancient numbering and measuring systems are based on this number, as evidenced by terms such as a dozen (12), a gross (12 times 12), a shilling (12 pence) and a foot (12 inches). There are twelve fruits of the Cosmic Tree, twelve members of the council of the Dalai Lama, twelve paladins or peers of Charlemagne and twelve knights of the Round Table at King Arthur's court. There are twelve Chinese Terrestrial Branches: (chih) Boar- Cock – Dog – Dragon- Goat- Hare – Horse – Monkey – Ox – Rat – Snake –Tiger These are the Beasts of the Constellations and are under the six branches of the Year Tree; there are six wild,---Yin and six domestic---Yang animals represented. There are twelve gates and foundation stones of the Holy City. Herodotus says there are twelve gods and goddesses of Olympus. Aaron had twelve precious stones in his breastplate. There were twelve sons of Jacob. There are twelve months of the year and there were twelve torments.There are Twelve descendants of Ali the cousin of Muhammad. Zodiac has six northern (wet) and six southern (dry) signs: Aries, Leo, Sagittarius are fire, hot and dry, East. Taurus, Virgo, Capricorns are earth, cold, dry, South. Gemini, Libra, Aquarius are air, hot, wet, West. Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces are water, cold, wet, North.

The number THIRTEEN is probably the most common of all superstitions, considered a bad luck number. 13 is a Fibonacci Number (F7). 13 is the second Star Number. There are 13 circles in Metatron's Cube. 13 is the atomic number of aluminum. The Luna-solar calendar generally has 12 months but every second or third year has 13. With the 12 around 1 = 13 people at the Last Supper, 12 disciples around Jesus, his death creating bad luck, until he returns. Some streets do not contain a house number 13. In some forms of motor sport, for example Formula One, there is no number 13 car. The legion with which Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon was the Legio XIII Gemina or the 13th legion. The Code of Hammurabi does not contain a thirteenth law. The Apollo 13 spacecraft malfunctioned after being launched on April 11th at 13:13 CST, forcing it to return to Earth without a landing on the moon and imperiling its crew.

TWENTY-ONE is a number of mystical import, partly because it is the product of 3 and 7, the most sacred of the odd numbers, but especially because it is the sum of the numerical value of the letters of the Divine Name, Eheyeil, thus:5+ 10+ 5+ 1 = 21.

It is little valued in Freemasonry, but is deemed of great importance in the Cabala and in Alchemy; in the latter, because it refers to the twenty-one days of distillation necessary for the conversion of the grosser metals into silver.

THIRTY-SIX In the Pythagorean doctrines of numbers, it symbolized the male and female powers of nature united, because it is composed of the sum of the four odd numbers, 1 + 3 + 5 + 7 = 16, added to the sum of the four even numbers, 2 + 4 + 6 + 8 = 20, for 16 + 20 = 36.

FORTY is the multiple of two perfect numbers four and ten. The alleged period of probation of our Adam and Eve in Eden; the continuous deluge of forty days and nights, and the same number of days in which the maters remained upon the face of the earth; the Lenten season of forty days' fast observed by Christians with reference to the fast of Jesus in the Wilderness, and by the Hebrews to the earlier desert fast for a similar period; of the forty years spent in the Desert by Moses and Elijah and the Israelites, which succeeded the concealment of Moses the same number of years in the land of Midian. Moses was forty days and nights on the Mount. The days for embalming the dead were forty.

The forty years of the reign of Saul, of David, and of Solomon; the forty days of grace allotted to Nineveh for repentance; the forty days' fast before Christmas in the Greek Church; as well as its being the number of days of mourning in Assyria, Phoenicia, and Egypt, to commemorate the death and burial of their Sun God; and as well the period in the festivals of the resurrection of Adonis and Osiris; the period of forty days thus being a bond by which the whole world, ancient and modern, Pagan, Jewish, and Christian, is united in religious sympathy.

Well there is more in this strange mystic life.

What do we know!

Sami Cherkaoui

www.samicherkaouiarabicblog.com