Figure 11.
It is stated that the perpendicular of the Pyramid is the radius of a circle whose area exactly equals the area of the square base. If this be the fact, then we may conclude that the ancients successfully negotiated the problem of “squaring the circle.”
The cyclic order of the planets according to the ancients was thus: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon. This order is not haphazard, as one might suppose who only knew the order of the days of the week bearing the Planets’ names, or the apparent order of the planetary orbits as seen from the Earth. There is nevertheless a very good reason for this order, and it consists in the orbital periods of the several bodies, that is, the times in which they appear to traverse the zodiac. Thus Saturn’s apparent period is about 30 years, Jupiter 12, Mars 2 years save forty-three days, the Sun one year, Venus about 7½ months, Mercury about 3 months, and the Moon one month. Applying the numerical test to this order, and retaining as before the same numbers for each of the planets, we have—
Figure 12.
If we begin the cycle with the Sun and follow with Venus, Mercury, etc., we shall have a resolution in terms of the Moon, thus—
Figure 13.
Again, if we take the positive Sun number and the negative Moon number, we have Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, 1295, equals 17 or 8, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn 368, equals 17 or 8, and 8 plus 8 equals 16, which is of unit value 7.