First of all 6 is the archetype for structure, function, and order.

Vicarius Filii Dei (Latin: Vicar or Representative of the Son of God) is a phrase used in the forged medieval Donation of Constantine to refer to Saint Peter. It also features in the argument put forth by some Protestant groups who identify the phrase with the "number of the beast" (666) from the book of Revelation and subsequently the Pope with Antichrist, based on the counting method (gematria) of Roman numerals.

Sometimes a number is just a number...

And you base this on what exactly? What if I were to say that 3 is the archetype for structure, function,and order?

Kether? Malkuth? Tiphareth? Gibberish?

So 666: First please throw the entire Hebrew Cabala in the trashcan where it has always belonged, as what Anton called "occult pornography". Good. Now let's get going.

Start by reading Anton's "The Unknown Known" at the tail end of the Satanic Rituals. Notice the power of 9? Anton was a prize 'og for 9 in all of its semblances, manifestations, and radiations. Like the Pentagram, whose key is explained in Appendix #6 of The Temple of Set, 9 kicks far more Black Magical ass than RHP occultists ever imagined.

In this instance, and as used on the Church's original Seal of the Council of YouKnowWhat, 666 is merely a demonstration of 9: 6+6+6=18 and 1+8=9. 6x6x6=216 and 2+1+6=9. Wasn't that easy - and right there before you all the time. What the heck, why stop now: 18+216=234 and 2+3+4=9. 216-18=198 and 1+9+8=18 and 1+8= ... Isn't this fun?

Once sensitized to 9, the Black Magician can use its power in many ways - for calculation, prediction, suggestion, revelation. Here, I'll show you:

Think of any number between 1 and 10.
Multiply it times 9.
You now have a 2-digit number. Add the digits together to get a 1-digit number.
Subtract the Pentagram (5) from that number.
Now pick the letter of the alphabet that corresponds to your new number (example: 1=A, 2=B, etc.)
Think of a country whose name begins with that letter.
Think of an animal whose name begins with the last letter of that country's name.
Think of a fruit whose name begins with the last letter of that animal's name.

Now go to the thread "Read Concise Meaning 666 First" over in "Food & Drink".

That's the power of 9 in action. Now that you know, enjoy all sorts of experiments and operations with it.

I think at its core the linguistic trick mentioned above (which exists in many permutations, by the way!) is a good example of what we would term LBM.

I remember a course I took called "Mind Reading: Language, Cognition and Literature". It was an amazing course, and focused on cognitive mechanics and the mind's tendency toward certain imagery and linguistic models. The mathematical/linguistic trick played here is a perfect example of leading someone in a direction you want them to go. Sweet, sweet manipulation.

A simpler version is to write 'orange' on one side of a piece of paper and 'apple' on another, then asking people to mention a fruit. In more than 90% of all cases English-speaking subjects will respond with one of the two fruits. Simply pull out the note with the right side forward and ask how you could guess the fruit the person was thinking of.

The use of a piece of paper is a dramatic tool, much like Bergman's focus on fetishes and displays of physical aptitude in the theatre. A person eating a food item on stage will magically attract attention. A person tearing a newspaper into five exactly congruent shapes will attract attention. A person guiding your mind through an exercise will hold sway over your gullibility, since your critical faculties automatically switch off as you ride shotgun.

It's good fun, and good practice.

What? So you're saying sometimes a heptagon is just a square?

To me it is self-evident that 6 is structure, function, and order; that is like saying: "oh, so you think light (or heat) is required for life? And you base that on what exactly?"

... Don't mistake me for having the intelligence level of the profane ... besides no one really answered my question.

I have never given numerology the study I probably should. My interest in it really came from my study of the Kabbalah.

This may also be of interest:
[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia]Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia (fear of the number 666)

“Once sensitized to 9, the Black Magician can use its power in many ways - for calculation, prediction, suggestion, revelation.”

Time or history seem to be understandable or readable (at a very broad level) through a logic of the 9, and further human beings and their societies and their actions are possibly readable or understandable (at a very broad level), through a logic of the 9 as well.

I do not know if I am off track here or not ...

I am not sure how serious Dr. LaVey was about all this, or whether he was speaking tongue in cheek, but it is interesting that there is of course a Council of 9.

Does your example and your understanding of the power of the 9 have any sort of relevance to your work in Psy – ops?

I have a feeling that some vast and dark order is wrapped up in all this.

I know that LaVey publicly stated many times that Satan was a symbol. I have examined a large amount of Dr. LaVey’s public statements, including The Occult Explosion and I think I have quite a good grasp of The Churches public face.

How does ["The Unknown Known"] play out? I want to get into a deeper study of Set and the principles of the Temple, but would like to do that at a later time and am also not sure what I am authorised to read and study anyway.

At the conclusion of the Satanic Rituals there is a short epilogue entitled “The Unknown Known”. It touches obliquely on Hans Hörbiger’s Welteislehre, or Doctrine of Eternal Ice, in which the history of the universe consists of alternating cycles of fire and ice. The “Wel”, as it was termed, gained popularity in Nazi Germany because of Adolf Hitler’s enthusiasm for Hörbiger, whom he called “the German Copernicus”.

Anton LaVey, however, offers the theory in a social, not a cosmological context. The key number, he suggests, is nine - the number of the Devil because it always “returns to itself” when subjected to basic mathematical computations. [For example: 9x3=27 and 2+7=9. 92=81 and 8+1=9.]

History, says Anton, is divided into “Epochs” of 13,122 years. Each Epoch is divided into nine “Ages” (1,458 years), and each Age consists of nine “Eras” (162 years). An Era is divided into nine 18-year “Workings”.

A Working consists of nine years of “action” followed by nine years of “reaction”, with the mid-point year being a “zenith of intensity” and the beginning and ending years being “Working Years”. The initial Working Year sees the generation of the Working, while the final one is witness to its ultimate product.

Whether or not there is any external basis for this theory of social evolution, it is intriguing to note that the history of the Church of Satan itself adhered to it. At the mid-point of the mid-year of the “Working” begun in mid-1966, the Church went through a crisis which resulted in its transmutation into the Temple of Set.

Strictly speaking, the Temple is not so much a “reaction” to the doctrines or design of the Church as it is an “evolutionary succession” to them.

And what of the final Working Year (1983 CE)? At the Wewelsburg Castle in Westphalia in October 1982 CE, an appropriate Working was celebrated, the nature and results of which are beyond the scope of this volume and are discussed in the Jeweled Tablets of Set.

I’m sorry Dr. Aquino, you have probably been fielding questions of this sort for years.

During 1966-75 both Anton personally and the Church organizationally presented an unthreatening public face and a serious, literal private face (particularly within the Priesthood). There was no doubt that Anton believed in [and personally represented as his High Priest] Satan; indeed it would have been unthinkable to even ask such a question.

It was just as obvious to him and us that this is exactly what would scare the Great Unwashed and result in villager torchight parades as you see in the old Universal monster films. Therefore "symbolism" was standard practice when giving lectures, interviews, etc.

Post-1975, for reasons which I think are obvious in my Church of Satan ebook, Anton generally stopped commenting on Satan as an entity altogether.

I am very curious as to your opinion. Post-1975, do you believe that LaVey stopped believing in Satan as a literal entity all together??? Or simply stopped talking about it with others?

I mean that quite honestly. I do not question your integrity at all, but am curious if you feel that LaVey had a change of beliefs or simply decided to become quiet on the issue?

We have made serious mistakes. If I could have a fresh start, I would do many things differently now. But it is too late. We wanted greatness and security for Germany, and we are leaving behind us a pile of ruins, a fallen world ...

LaVey had a major effect when he was ALIVE.
Once he died, it became open to speculation and personal interpretation.

The idea of what LaVey thought and felt inside his own heart, is anyone's guess at this point. If two of his closest friends can not agree upon what he felt, then maybe that itself speaks volumns. The back and forth banter has gone beyond what is really necessary.

Aquino = LITERAL SATAN, and everything that comes with it.
Jake = FIGURATIVE SATAN and everything that come with it.
They stand apart on this issue and never the twain shall meet.

There is no need to take pot shots at who is more Satanic than the next guy. BECAUSE no one should care. As a Satanist, why should you give a fuck about what anyone says when you know the truth inside your own heart.

Cal, Please make up your mind, you contradict yourself.

"but the fact is that one either believes in a Theistic Satanism or doesnt.... There is either a literal Satan as an entity or not."

"Now of course, there can be varying degrees and interpretations to that... but its one of those things that either IS or ISNT... at least on some level."

So Cal, what are your own feelings?
Are you for a literal or figurative Satan in your life?

Morgan