From: v085r6qm@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu (Erin D Markle)
Newsgroups: alt.magick
Subject: Re: The pentagram
Date: 8 Sep 92 05:59:00 GMT
Organization: University at Buffalo
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

In article <JOSHUA.92Sep7195530@bailey.cpac.washington.edu>, joshua@cpac.washington.edu (Joshua Geller) writes...
> 
>In article <1992Sep8.013839.20454@samba.oit.unc.edu> shava@hermes.oit.unc.edu 
>(Shava Nerad Averett) writes:
> 
>>   In article <186pvkINN6ns@maico.ksu.ksu.edu> lazarus@maico.ksu.ksu.edu 
>>   (Bart -Laz- Smith) writes:
> 
>>>>   [666 being a code for caesar]
> 
>>   Backwards, again, I'm afraid.  666 is listed as 'the number of the beast' 
>>  in John's Revelation.  It is associated in that work as a number having to 
>>  do with evil.  Since John set pen to paper, every enemy of christianity, 
>>  from the Caesars to Dan Quayle (don't ask...;) has been associated with the
>>   number 666 by some obscure path.
> 
>um, john wrote during either the neronic persecution or domitians persecution.
>it's pretty widely thought that 666 is a code for either nero or domitian.
> 
>josh
I don't know if this might shed a little insight or if
it's just going to blur things more...
(dubious source due to my unclear memory of the discussion)
     In a discussion with a friend, I was told that the
number seven is a number of Christian perfection. My friend
has assured me (can I trust him?) that 666 represents that
which falls short of the perfect 7. This is all he supplied
me with. After some cannaboid exploration, I began to think
about the possible applications of his theory (which I'm
sure came from a most ancient text of the British tounge...
or something like that). Though the thought of 666 being
a numerical representaion of perhaps Nero specifically
doesn't conflict with my present reality map, I think that
probably (as with most Biblical and other Mystery texts)
666 has a multiplicity of possible intended meanings. (yes,
I'm completely aware of this not being a clever and original
thought) 
      Given the possibilty that my friend did hear this
from a credible source and wasn't just trying to "one up me"
during our conversation, I suspect that the endless stream
of trinities may have something with 666. --stay with me,
I've never actually verbalized this so it may not be even approaching waterproof
oops. A completed trinity obviously needs it's three aspects
intact. Father, Son, and Holy Ghost is full realization of
Christian theory (bad word?). Though we can hardly escape
Father concept and Holy Ghost concept, we supposedly have
the choice of believing in the Son. To be UNCHRISTIAN is
to get 2/3 of the deal offered. Denying the Son is to be 
1/3 from perfection. 2/3 = .666 (.666666666666666...)
7 may possibly represent the Tetragammaton (4) plus the
Trinity (3) of Christian Doctrine. Can't escape the
Tetragrammaton, Father, Holy Ghost,... Son denied: 6.66
     Yeah, ther's the decimal thing, but if it's as
negotiable as I've mucked it up, then the mark of the
Beast has a much wider range of possibility. Generally,
those which deny the Son. Specifically, that manifest or
unmanifest force which denies our inclusion into the
Christian perfection. Revelations spoke of being a 
signpost of it's time of authorship and a sign of things
to come.(in my opinion, even if it's doomed to be an 
unrealized prophecy, that possible consequences are too
great to just blow off, it's simply worth the effort to
pay attention to. ---even if it's not worth the effort
to use the editer to clean up sloppy sentence structure)
     I guess it's wise to be aware of the fact the I talk
(post) too much. Oh well, as with all things, swallow or
spit.

                                  Friend of Erin