FIGURING OUT THE FIGURE 8
Searching for the deeper symbolism of the 8, as it seems to echo through the mechanics of our Universe.
Numerologically, the year 2024 is an “8” year and the 8th day of the 8th month has popularly become known as the Lion’s Gate Portal. In fact, this year, it will make it a triple 8 Lion’s Gate Portal. In Gematria, Christ the Redeemer is 888, we have 88 constellations dancing above us, the 8th element is Oxygen, the merkaba is an eight pointed star (stella octangula) and our wisdom teeth are known as the eighths in dentistry.
So I thought what better time than on a triple 8 Lion’s Gate to examine some of the symbolism and magic surrounding the number 8, as it appears in nature, science and culture.
Before you read on, just a warning that this post has absolutely nothing to do with the Lion’s Gate Portal, to save you from any disappointment.
The Geometry and Morphology
A child would instinctively draw an 8 as two circles stacked on top of the other, if they intersect then right away we have the mystical Vesica Pisces held between them. In vortex mathematics, we get a mathematical heart curve, called a cardioid. This formed by having two circles of equal size, then taking one of the circles and rotating it around the edge of the other circle, essentially giving us what resembles a lily pad.
See illustrative animation of Cardioid formed from 2 circles.
In geometry, one could even compare a nephroid (kidney shaped) to an 8 as this visual aid demonstrates.
Universally, the 8 has come to symbolise cosmic balance, as it proportionately mirrors as above so below, by the two loops that cross at the X point. If we think of the X as the centre point, comparing it to the Tree of Life structure, then the loop above would be the heavens, while the loop below would be representative of the underworld. The 8 reflects this dualistic, cyclic nature of our reality.
The 8 reflects this dualistic, cyclic nature of our reality.
With one fluid, continuous hand movement, we can draw the 8. It is this very flowing nature of the 8 that deems it a feminine number, much like the curves of the hourglass mimic the soft curves of a woman’s body. Flip the 8 on it’s side, to lie on a horizontal plane (∞), and we get the polarity - the left loop and the right loop extremities, whilst the X, once again, at the centre, acts like ground zero.
The 8 is a but a link in a chain. In fact, the basic principle of weaving on a loom, is the rhythmic movement of over and under, then looping back over from the opposite direction, in perpetually interlocking ∞. Primordially, women were the weavers of fate, not just sitting at their looms, but also within their wombs, as the 2 strands of DNA twist like a corkscrew into a double helix structure, much like the caduceus illustrates with the two snakes intertwining together on a pole.
The Cosmic Dance
The Whirling Dervish dance is about embracing balance and unbalance, admist the multiplicity of the whirling world. Anchored by the left foot, the right foot turns your body in a circle. The right side is encompassing, while the left side is rootedness through the heart. Much like the contraction of the 8 twisting inwards and then expanding outwards again.
There is no doubt that dance is a transcendental movement that can create trance-like, meditative states in our brains. The 8 is prolifically found throughout dance culture, from the rhythmic 8 count, the whirling, twisting movements, to the figure 8 movement through the hips, arms and hands. We particularly notice it in Belly Dancing and Latin Salsa as they are well known for the figure 8 hip oscillation. This manoeuvre is also exhibited in the intricate, undulating and twisting hand and arm gestures. In fact, I often recognise the “as above, so below” symbolism reflected in many dances like the Flamenco, Whirling Dervish, Belly Dance and Indian Classical dance forms, especially visible in the arm positions.
Belly Dance Horizontal Figure 8 Hip Demo
It is theorised that “belly dancing” is one of the oldest forms of dance, a fertility dance only performed by women in secret, that served to tone and prepare the body for childbirth. This dance would have also occurred within the birthing tents, as part of a ritual, surrounded by other women both celebrating the birth of new life and assisting in the delivery. The breathwork, undulating belly rolls, hip circles and figure eights emulate birthing contractions and help tone the pelvis muscles in readiness for childbirth. Having studied Raqs Sharqi (Egyptian Belly Dance) many years ago, I can attest to it being one of the most intuitive dance movements I’ve ever done and it becomes quite obvious how it could be connected to the birthing process. No doubt our ancestors integrated this dance as a way to relax the mother and help the baby rotate its head into position. In fact, we find this “figure 8” movement practiced in many modern day birthing classes, sometimes referred to as “dip the hip”. Moving the pelvis in a figure 8 works to release the quadratus lumborum (the deepest abdominal muscle which connects the lumbar spine and 12th rib to the iliac crest) and relax any tightness around the spine, legs and pelvis. An added bonus to this movement, is it helps make room in the pelvis for the baby to rotate from right to left, and from posterior to anterior. Both sex and childbirth require the undulating and gyrating pelvic movement as part of the cycle of life.
According to Sufi dancer, Rana Gorgani:-
“It helps to be connected to your heart, but also your soul. In this mystic tradition, we say that spinning on the side of your heart, whirling is like spinning around the sun, and it helps you to connect between the earth and the sky, so it’s a way to emancipate the body”
For a moment, imagine arms raised like the curves of chalice cup, your body is the axis, as your feet turn you around and around, your skirt balloons out like an umbrella, emulating a double challice form. As your skirt spins and arms raised, you are in fact creating a toroidal field around you.
Now, reflecting on the belief of the Sufi mysticism, one cannot ignore that the heart also creates a powerful toroidal field.
The human heart’s physiology is as follows:-
First, the heart as it is, contracts in systole, also rotates and produces torsion due to the structure of the myocardium. Second, the heart produces a significant electromagnetic field with each contraction due to the coordinated depolarisation of myocytes producing a current flow. Unlike the electric cardiogram, the magnetic field is not limited to volume conduction and extends outside the body”
Extracted from Cardiac torsion and electromagnetic fields: the cardiac bioinformation hypothesis Katharine O Burleson, Gary E Schwartz
The tetrahedral shape of the heart is one of the most efficient and stable geometric shapes found in nature. The above diagram illustrates how the cardiac muscles resemble a torus knot.
Growth is non-linear, there is a continual oscillation between contracting and expanding forces. It is a dance between contraction and expansion which the figure 8 so elegantly embodies.
Let’s consider this cosmic dance of the Earth’s electromagnetism as it spins on it’’s magnetic polar axis. The Sun, the Earth and other planetary bodies have a magnetic field around them, some much stronger than others due to the nature of their core. It is this magnetic core, which physicists coined the “dynamo effect” to explain the process through which a rotating, convecting, and electrically conducting fluid can maintain a magnetic field over astronomical time scales (Harvard University).
We can “see” the Earth’s magnetic currents near both poles by way of the aurora lights, when there is increased intensity of ionisation after a geomagnetic storm.
Similarly, our ocean currents also move in this looping pattern, moving away from the poles towards the equatorial centre, then circling back to the poles. The oceans, also emit a magnetism, albeit much smaller compared to the Earth’s core, due to their high salt content which produces electrical currents. Instantly, we can see the similarities with the human body’s own electromagnetic field, with the heart acting like the magnetic core, creating vortex blood flow expanding centripetally and contracting back to the heart.
Even our Sun delineates in the sky an asymmetrical figure 8, known as an analemma. It can be calculated from a fixed point on the Earth and if observed over the course of a year, the sun would have traced an analemma.
An 8 inche Rand, McNally & Co from 1909. Image: David Rumsey Map Collection, CC BY-NC-SA 3.0.
Fun Fact: It takes approximately 8 minutes for the sunlight to reach the earth.
The Magic is in the Motion
What is it about the figure 8 motion that gives an athlete power and a dancer grace? Perhaps it’s potency lies in the dynamic movement that originates from the centripetal force emanating from the X centerpoint. Sports trainers call this “the dynamic balance”, which assists athletes to achieve optimum performance, through the figure 8 movement. By using one’s core body rotation, one generates a centripetal force and inertia. For instance, a professional tennis player understands this figure 8 motion, as the swing of the racket actually originates from their core, as it sweeps through their hips, creating a coiled /toroidal effect, whereby the energy becomes expansive through centripetal forces, intensifying upon the apex of the hit. Further reference can be made to the lemniscates of Bernoulli. Bernoulli named this curve shaped like a figure 8, or a knot, or the bow of a ribbon - the Latin word lemniscus ('a pendant ribbon').
Sea turtles, auks and penguins rotate their flippers/ wings through a figure 8 configuration, giving them a propulsion through the water, especially for the birds whose bodies are more streamlined for speed compared to turtles. Flies, bees, dragonflies and butterflies all rotate their wings in a figure 8 pattern, and in doing so, they are spinning the air around them, allowing them to hover. Bees even do a “waggle dance” in a figure 8, which scientists infer is actually how they communicate the location of food.
Perhaps the most exceptional example is the smallest bird in the world - the hummingbird. It is the only bird whose wings beat in a continuous, non-linear figure 8 motion, giving the hummingbird speed, control and superb maneuverability such a hovering back and forth.
The fOOl’s Tarot symbolism
Finally, I may just wrap up with the symbolism of the 8 in the Tarot card system. There are three cards in the Major Arcana that strongly reflect this notion of the whirling action. The most obvious one, being the World card, with the dancer in the middle of a braided oval wreath, poised on one foot (axis symbolism) and the fabric coiling around the body as she spins. The second, less obvious card is the Magician card, as I’ve broken down below.
Of course, the Wheel also holds strong symbolic reference to the 8, as it resembles the Wheel of Dharma. Coincidentally or not, the 8th card in the Major Arcana (the Strength card) also depicts ∞ above the head of the woman.
There is probably an infinite number of other things I could talk about the mystical figure 8. If anything, the symbolism of the 8 teaches us that in order to find balance, one must find their centre point from which a natural flow orbits. However, we must also remember that rest and contraction are also needed for propulsion and expansion, as growth is a non-linear process. As we coil back inwards to our anchor point, it creates a tension, like an arrow being pulled back, awaiting for the explosive evolution.
In conclusion, I can’t help but wonder if our ancestors (before the development of the modern day numeral 8), had an intuitively deeper understanding of the mechanics of the figure 8 motion and perhaps explains why dance was so sacred to them. The figure 8 as a movement, creates a flow state and a transcendental connection through our bodies’ with the universal forces that surround us. Maybe it is a lucky number after all!
Thank you for your time, if you got this far. I appreciate you!
Very thoughtful post, I love it!
The Cosmic Octave is a very interesting book.
thank you for this. 8/8 is my birthday. What a gift this post is to me.