By: Walter C. Cambra, M.A.  (F. R. C.)

The last unsolved riddle in The Sibylline Oracles suggests there is an arcane name for the Heavenly Father of Jesus-the-Christ.  The numerical value total for the letters of the Heavenly Father’s name conceals two occult features which, when elucidated, reveal the Heavenly Father to be the source of light in its physical and metaphysical aspects.

The proposed solution to the last unsolved riddle explains the solar/astronomical context for the riddle and its connection with the magic square of the sun, from which are generated significant numerical triplicities such as 666 in The Book of Revelation 13:18 in the New English Bible, 888 in Book One of The Sibylline Oracles, and 999 mentioned in The Kabala of Numbers.

A solar orientation for the numerical triplicities relates not only to the magic square of the sun but to the triplicities generated by Isopsephia/Gematria.  (Isopsephia refers to the numerical values assigned to the Greek alphabet, while Gematria refers to the numerical values assigned to the Hebrew alphabet.)  The Hebrew Kabbalah, as cited in David R. Fideler’s work Jesus Christ Sun of God, attests to the physical as well as the metaphysical manifestation of light regarding the numerical triplicities.

Introduction

The notion of numerical values in this paper revolves around the values that were assigned to each letter of the Greek alphabet (called Isopsephia) around the 8th to 6th centuries B.C. as suggested by David Fideler [6] (pp. 26-27, 207).  These numerical values are employed in a set of writings translated by Milton Terry titled The Sibylline Oracles[9].

Sibylline oracles from the ancient world are attested to and found in epic Greek hexameters; however, their existence was not particular to Greece.  According to J. J. Collins [3], the earliest records are from the fifth to fourth centuries B.C. (p. 317).  The word “Sibyl” refers to a single individual and it may have originally been the proper name of a prophetess (p. 317).

The most noticeable feature of Sibylline oracles is the prediction of disasters to fall upon mankind.  The most famous collection of Sibylline oracles in the ancient world was the official one housed in Rome.  They were consulted only in times of State crises.  According to Collins [3], no other body of literature was given this degree of authority in the Greco-Roman world (p. 319).  When the temple of Jupiter was burned down in 83 B.C., the Sibylline books were destroyed.  When the temple was rebuilt in 76 B.C., oracles were collected from various Sibylline centers, such as the one at Erythrea (p. 320).

Of course, the Sibylline oracles were essentially religious.  The prestige of the Sibylline oracles was enormous, and their high esteem is evidenced through their use by Jewish and Christian writers.  According to Collins [3], the theological importance of the Sibylline oracles lies more in what they purport to be—the attribution of inspired Jewish and Christian oracles to the Pagan Sibyls (p. 322).  However, even before Christian writers adapted the Sibyls for their apologetic purposes, the oracles represented a remarkable attempt to find a mode of expression common to Jews and Gentiles (p. 322).

An important feature for Christianity of these Sibylline writings translated by Terry [9] is that the numerical value total for Jesus’ name spelled in Greek finds it precedent therein (pp. 29-30).  Fideler [6] cited the numerical value for Jesus’ name spelled in Greek as 888 (p. 29).

All the riddles in The Sibylline Oracles have been solved except the first one regarding the enigmatic nine-lettered name for the Heavenly Father of Jesus.  The Sibylline writings translated by Terry [9] state that the arcane name for the Heavenly Father of Jesus has a numerical value total of 1,697 (p. 21).

Method

The method employed in rendering an intelligible meaning for the numerical value of the name of the Heavenly Father of Jesus is based upon a kabalistic numerology that gives the esoteric meaning of the numerical value of 888 as well as the mysterious 666.

Discussion

Although The Bible gives us the number of the beast (666) in The Book of revelation 13:18, nowhere does it give us the number for the name of Jesus (888).  According to Sepharial [8], author of The Kabala of Numbers, the number 666 denotes the lower/animal nature, while the number 888 denotes the higher/divine nature (p. 11).  What, then, does the numerical value total of 1,697 denote for the Heavenly Father of Jesus?

This author wishes to propose that the numerical value total of 1,697 for some arcane name of the Heavenly Father of Jesus conceals two occult features surrounding the notion of light in its physical and metaphysical aspects.

The first occult feature of the numerical value of 1,697 is that it is a cipher for “The Messenger God of Light.”  This is made intelligible in the following manner.  First, add each integer of 1,697 together; namely, 1 + 6 + 9 + 7 = 23.  Next, add each integer of 23; namely, 2 + 3 = 5.  This last integer then corresponds with a cosmic principle; namely, “The Messenger God of Light.”  The above Kabalistic processes were discussed by Sepharial [8] (pp. 10, 15, 42, 68, 90, 119, 140).

Recall that both the Old and New Testaments symbolize the “Godhead” as light.  The following are examples:  Psalm 104:2, 1st Letter of John 1:5-6, II Corinthians 4:6.  Also, The Gospel of John 12:44-46 in The New English Bible [7] has Jesus stating:  “I have come into the world as light”  (p.129)

The second occult feature of the numerical value of 1,697 is that it conceals the knowledge of the time it takes sunlight to reach the earth when the earth is farthest in its orbit from the sun.

The second occult feature is made intelligible in the following manner:

(1) By this author [2]:  It takes sunlight eight minutes and 29 seconds to reach the earth when the earth is farthest in its orbit from the sun (p. 10).

(2) By Fielder [6]:  The numbers 1, 10, 100, and 1,000 are all symbolic of unity or the source (pp. 83, 206, 255).

(3) Therefore, let one minute (60 seconds) be equivalent to stating 100.

(4) It follows that 29 seconds would be equivalent to stating 48.5.

(5) Eight minutes and 29 seconds would be equivalent to stating:  800 + 48.5 = 848.5.

(6) Using earth as the midpoint in the sunlight’s journey from its source, and then reflected back to its source, would be equivalent to stating:  848.5 + 848.5 = 1,697 (the numerical value total of some arcane name for the Heavenly Father of Jesus).

The use of minutes and seconds in the argument as units of time is not artificial; rather, it is related to a symbol for totality/unity—namely, the circle.  Sixty minutes or 60 seconds is equivalent to 360 degrees (or a complete circle).

The following citation from Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa [1] attested to the symbolic status of the circle:

“Geometrical Figures also arising from numbers, are conceived to be of no less power.  Of these first of all, a Circle doth answer to Unity, and the number ten; for Unity is the Center, and circumference of all things and the number ten being heaped together retuens [sic] into a Unity from whence it had its beginning, being the end, and complements of all numbers.”  (Book 2, Celestial Magic, Part 3, Chapter xxiii)

The use of 100 in the argument is also not arbitrary; rather, it is a “conversion factor” for relating two distinct orders whereby one is made intelligible in terms of the other.  The use of 100 is also a symbol for unity/totality, just as the circle was a symbol for unity/totality.  The number 100 is used in the sense of 100%.  When Fideler [6] stated that the numbers 1, 10, 100, and 1,000 are all symbolic of unity/totality, he was stating that unity/totality can be represented in different scales/properties.

Agrippa [1] attested to this feature of differing scales:

“Now let us treat particularly of numbers themselves:  and because number is els [else]but a repetition of Unity, let us first consider Unity it self.  For Unity doth most simply go through every number, contains every number joined [joined] together in it self intirely, the beginner of every multitude, always the same, and unchangeable:  whence also being multiplied into it self, produceth nothing but it self.”  (Book Two, Celestial Magic, Part 2, Chapter iv)

The following Agrippa [1] citation is most relevant to this discussion:

“The number ten is called every number, or an universall number, compleat, signifying the full course of life:  for beyond that we cannot number, but by replication; and it either implies all numbers within it self, or explains them by it self, and its own, by multiplying them:  wherefore it is accounted to be of a manifold Religion, and power. . . .”  (Book Two, Celestial Magic, Part 2, Chapter xiii)

According to Fideler [6], the number 666 denotes the physical sun, while the number 888 denotes the spiritual sun/solar logos (pp. 29, 30, 240, 265).  Interestingly, the Gospel of Matthew 5:43-48 has Jesus using the physical sun as a metaphor for His Heavenly Father.  Is it a coincidence that the context for the last unsolved riddle in The Sibylline Oracles is one of an astronomical nature?  The Sibylline riddle translated by Terry {9] states:

“I clothe me with the heaven, and cast the sea around me, And for me, Earth is a footstool, and the air is poured around my body, and on every side around runs the chorus of the stars.”
(p. 21)

The astronomical context for the riddle suggests that God is the center or hub around which everything revolves, just like a sun in a physical solar system.

The Magic Square of the Sun

The figure on the left is called “the magic square of the sun.”  The numbers ranging from 1 through 36 are so arranged that a line of numbers from top to bottom, across or diagonally, will always add up to 111.  According to Fideler [6], the sum of all the numbers from 1 through 36 adds up to 666 (pp. 242-243).

In the Hebrew Kabbalah cited by Fideler [6] (through the process called Gematria), the intelligence of the sun contains the letters:  Nun (50) + Kaph (20) + Yod (10) + Aleph (1) + Lamed (30) = 111 [“Nakiel”]   (p. 242).  Also, according to Fideler [6], in the Hebrew Kabbalah, the spirit of the sun contains the letters:  Samech (60) + Vav (6) + Resh (200) + Tav (400) = 666 [“Sorath”] (p. 242).

If you draw a diagonal line from the top, right corner to the bottom, left corner and then from the top, left corner to the bottom, right corner, you form the Greek letter “Chi” (X).  Furthermore, if you superimpose the Greek letter “Rho” (P) through the vertex of the “Chi,” you form the monogram “Chi-Rho” for Christ.

In the first instance, you raise the total numerical value of the magic square from 666 to 888 (666 + 111 + 111 = 888).  Fideler [6] listed the numerical value total for Jesus’ name spelled in Greek as 888; namely, Iota (10) + Eta (8) + Sigma (200) + Omicron (70) + Upsilon (400) + Sigma (200) = 888 [“Jesus”] (pp. 29, 265).

In the second instance, you raise the numerical value of the magic square from 888 to 999 (888 + 111 = 999).  According to Sepharial [8], the numerical value total of 999 denotes the indwelling or intuitive wisdom (p. 11).
Furthermore, Fideler [6] remarked upon the solar nature of numerical triplicities:

“888, the number of Jesus, the Spiritual Sun of the early Christians, like 666 and other ‘triple numbers,’ may be derived from the magic square of the sun, and for this reason ‘triple numbers’ were apparently thought to have a solar significance.”
(p. 30)

The numerical triplicity of 999 was derived by adding 666 (the sum of all the numbers in the magic square of the sun) to the value of the two diagonals forming “Chi” (each diagonal having a value of 111) plus the straight line forming “Rho” (a value of 111).

The Greek word for sun, “Helios,” is composed of the letters Eta (8) + Lambda (30) + Iota (10) + Omicron (70) + Sigma (200) = 318 [Helios”]. According to Fideler [6], the Greek letter “Theta” was a symbol for the sun (pp. 224, 360).  It also has a numerical value of 318; namely, Theta (9) + Eta (8) + Tau (300) + Alpha (1) = 318 [“Theta”].  Interestingly, a circle with a diameter of 318 when multiplied by pi (n) (3.1415) will have a circumference of 999.

Conclusion

The last unsolved riddle in The Sibylline Oracles regarding some arcane name for the Heavenly Father of Jesus has a numerical value total of 1,697 that conceals, as demonstrated, the notion of light in its physical and metaphysical aspects.  The remaining portion of the last unsolved Sibylline oracle riddle (as translated by Terry [9]), regarding the arcane name of the Heavenly Father of Jesus, stated:

“Nine letters have I; of four syllables I am; discern me.  The first three have each Two letters, the remaining one the rest, And five are mutes [consonants]; and of the entire sum The hundreds are twice eight and thrice three tens Along with seven.”  (p. 21)

This author proposes “Theochristu” as the intended solution to the last unsolved riddle in The Sibylline Oracles composed of the Greek letters:  Theta (9) + Eta (8) + Omicron (70) + Chi (600) + Rho (100) + Iota (10) + Sigma (200) + Tau (300) + Upsilon (400) = 1,697 [“Theochristu”].

The proposed solution to the last unsolved riddle in The Sibylline Oracles regarding the enigmatic nine-lettered name for the Heavenly Father of Jesus-the-Christ is the cornerstone/capstone not only for the edifice of the Sibyllines but also as the connecting thread for Jews, Christians, and Gentiles.

The argument of this paper is supported by the claim of the French visionary Guillame Postel (1510-1581), as presented by the Da Vinci Code Rosicrucians [4], regarding the cosmographic idea concerning the double sources of prophecy:  “. . . the Old Testament prophets are completed by the Sibylline Oracles. . . .”

The failure to solve the cornerstone riddle of The Sibylline Oracles since before the dawn of Christianity down through our era (21st Century C.E.) gives testimony to the words attributed to Jesus in The New English Bible [7]:  “It is the Father who glorifies me, He of whom you say, ‘He is our God’, though you do not know Him.”  (Gospel of John 8:54-55)

This author offers the following quotes by Fideler [6] and Ralph Waldo Emerson [5], respectively, as his concluding remarks:

“In antiquity, the nature of the Logos was represented in many ways, but its most central emblem was the Sun, symbolizing the source of Reality, the source of Light and Life.  Yet, in addition to the mystical approach, which is well documented in many surviving texts, the nature of the Logos was also studied in a scientific sense, long before the appearance of Christianity.”   (p. 2)

“When we live by principles instead of traditions, by obedience to the law of the mind instead of by passion, the Great Mind will enter into us, not as now in fragments and detached thoughts, but the light of today will shine backward and forward.”  (p. 284)

REFERENCES
[1]  Agrippa, Heinrich Cornelius.  (1651).  Three Books of Occult Philosophy.  Book Two: Celestial Magic.  Source:  http://www.esotericarchives.com/agrippa/index.html.
Digital edition by Joseph H. Peterson (2000).
[2]  Cambra, Walter C.  (2003)  “Astrological Theology.”  Today’s Astrologer, 65 (12), 9-11.
[3]  Collins, J. J.  “The Sibylline Oracles.”  In James H. Charlesworth, Ed.  (1983).  The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, Apocalyptic Literature & Testaments, Vol. 1.  New York, NY:  Doubleday – Anchor Bible Reference Library.
[4]  The Da Vinci Code Rosicrucians.  Lectures.  Source:
http://www.epwijnants-lectures.com/davincicr.html.
[5]  Emerson, Ralph Waldo.  (1979)  The Portable Emerson.  New York, NY:  Penguin.
[6]  Fideler, David R.  (1993)  Jesus Christ Sun of God.  Wheaton, IL:  Quest Books, The Theosophical Publishing House.
[7]  The New English Bible.  1972.  Cambridge, MA:  Cambridge University Press.
[8]  Sepharial.  (1920)  The Kabala of Numbers.  Philadelphia, PA:  Kessinger Publishing’s rare mystical reprints.
[9]  Terry, Milton S.  (1989)  The Sibylline Oracles.  New York:  Eaton and Mains.

This article presents a theosophical and esoteric Christian perspective. For an alternate perspective, you might want to look at the 1995 BBC documentary entitled, “The Naked Truth (found on You-Tube).” This two-hour program, hosted by Derek Partridge, roused controversy by presenting historical and contemporary documentation of the origins of Judaism, Christianity and other ancient religions.