“13” – The Principle of Death, Regeneration, and Birth

Posted On August 28, 2019 / Written by Dr. Linda Gadbois

There’s probably no number or idea that has been consistently misinterpreted to instill fear as a misunderstanding of the principle involved than this one. Yet by examining the occult meaning of this number we can gain a new understanding of the universal law it represents as the means of liberation for the human soul. The principle of death is called “Nun†and represents “motion†and its primary function is to walk, travel, depart, pass away, whirl, and to sail away or travel through water. The process of the soul’s transition at death is often depicted as traveling on a boat through water moving from one shore to another.

Movement produces life giving change and is the means for transformation as modifications that produce variations as a growth process. It’s represented by the symbol of the “fish†as the “Vesica Piscis†or “womb of the universe†out of which all things are born, and by the serpent, which is both the redeemer and the messiah. The fish and serpent (ligand and yoni) symbols are paramount to the doctrines of resurrection and reincarnation. Christ was represented by the symbol of the fish. Death is also symbolized by the sideways 8, the sign of infinity, and represents the “twin phases of life†as cyclical elastic movement between higher and lower planes. Only through death of the old can we be reborn in a higher form.

Sacred Geometry and the Principles of the Tarot

 All numbers provide us with a form of code as the laws involved in any process as a formula for how to work with it consciously. 1 + 3 = 4, as we withdraw attention (key 1) from an idea, it “frees up†the energy being used to give it life, making it available for directing into something else. As we direct the free energy as our attention into something else and develop it internally in our imagination (Key 3), we give life to the new idea and a form of transformation takes place. When we change our thoughts and what we give our energy to, we change what manifests as a result (Key 4). When we change the groundwork out of which we build our reality, the reality itself changes as a direct correspondence.

13 = “regenerative power†as fertility, fecundity, and productiveness that sprouts and grows new ideas as both internal and external realities. When we act to change a “cause†(mental awareness) we change the “effect†in exact proportion and equal measure. Whatever the nature of our most intimate thoughts always produce an equivalent outer reality. As we concentrate on an idea we bring it to life in our imagination and develop it into a detail scenario by shaping and defining it with specific attributes and qualities. As we develop ideas in our imagination by continuing to think about them we shape them into “internal representations†that serve as a metaphorical template that we look through in order to perceive the same type of ideas in our outer environment.

When we remove our attention from an idea and no longer act to give it life inside of us, it passes from our awareness freeing up our attention to be directed into something new. As we infuse a new idea with that same energy we adapt it to our current model to produce a new thought that gestates in our imagination until we eventually birth it as a new experience of reality. This principle is represented by a “swirling motion†(vibration) as a wheel or circular movement that symbolizes the life-cycle of an idea. Once an idea is manifest and its expression exhausted, a cycle is complete, and it lays the groundwork necessary for a new one to emerge in its place as a growth process of continuous transformation and regeneration.

13 is represented by the water element and is oriented in the south-west direction (of Metatron’s cube), and is often symbolized as a river and a boat sailing on the river as a means of crossing over from one side to the other. Water is symbolic of the “Mother substance†of life and is the ultimate symbol of transformation. It’s the Astral Light of the formative plane that’s elastic and fluid-like and is what shapes the etheric body as the blueprint for all living forms. Water rises from the sea (universal source) to become clouds that move across the landscape descending as rain, forming lakes and rivers that then flow back to the sea from whence it came. Life is a continuous process of transformation from one state to another, where we expand and express, then retract and process, then repeat the process indefinitely.

13 is associated with the zodiac sign of Scorpio, which is a water sign, and is exalted in Uranus (higher Soul), and governs the sex organs associated with reproduction and regeneration, and is connected with the 8^th house of death. Scorpio is symbolic of transformation as 3 phases or states that form 1 evolutionary cycle. These 3 phases of development are represented by a scorpion while in its lowest phase of development, a serpent in its middle phase, and the eagle in its highest phase. 13 comes as the completion of 11 (karma), the fulfillment of 12 (self-sacrifice of initiation), and the undulation of 14 (creating a new vibration). The serpent represents the male energy, and the fish represents the yoni as the womb through which we give birth.

The mode of intelligence represented by 13 is “imaginative intelligence†(3) and reveals that all causation is mental in nature (1), and is birthed, transformed, and evolved into new forms through the faculty of the imagination (Key 3) to produce an equivalent physical manifestation (Key 4) as its offspring. All change comes by evolving ideas in the imagination to form new variations, or by birthing new ideas in place of old ones. We change ourselves by changing the thoughts and memories we use as the means of shaping ourselves. All personal change comes as a change in mental imagery. If you change the mental image the external form will change accordingly.

When the forces of change are misunderstood by the very mind that’s designed to direct them, they tend to cause fear. These forces of Nature are connected with reproduction and by right use of the imagination may be tamed and transformed so they can be utilized for the prolongation of life. Through understanding and correct use of the laws involved we can consciously direct the forces of change in overcoming death. In order for the correct understanding to be achieved, fear of death and dying must be overcome through right knowledge and the proper interpretation of physical dissolution. It’s not the soul that dies with the body, but only the identity formed in association with the personality of the body. The etheric body used to construct and operate the physical body of the personality dies with the body, while the soul ascends to a parallel plane. The human soul is in a constant state of growth and development as a means of self-creation and considers the confinement of a mundane life within an animal body to be true death. When the body dies the soul that inhabits it and gives it life is set free.

The skeleton is the image associated with 13 and is considered the physical organ of the soul’s essence (marrow). The skeleton of the body is necessary for movement and change from one place to another and transformation. It’s the framework that supports the whole body of physical existence. The soul’s essence, so to speak, resides in the bone marrow and is what produces the blood cells that nourish all other organs and systems of the body. Our blood chemistry is formed as an expression of our soul’s mental state, perceptions, and memory. As we create experiences and form reactions to our own thoughts, we’re constantly transforming the chemistry of our body to be of the same nature. What we consider the “veil†or mask that lies between life and death is perpetuated through change, transformation, and the soul’s passage from lower to higher planes as an continuous flow of consciousness.

The word “Nun†has growth and development for its basic meaning, symbolizing perpetuity as a continuous evolutionary process. In Biblical texts, Joshua was the son of Nun, and the great hero that Jesus was named after. Jesus was known as having 12 disciples (archetypes of zodiac) and was the 13^th as the highest level of mastery that integrated them all in a harmonious state of self-perfection. In the 49^th (4+9=13) chapter of Genesis (genes of Isis), Jacob is referred to as the “blessing†and described as the fruitful bough by the well whose branches run over the wall. It takes 49 days for the pineal gland (seat of the soul) to fully develop in the fetus, which governs the sexual organs of regeneration and is the means for accessing the “well of divine knowledge†of the higher dimensions from which the soul originates. It takes at least 49 days for the soul to be reborn in another body. In the Tibetan Book of the Dead, the transition through the “death phase†of life takes 49 days to complete.

The number 7 represents a complete unit of light as well as a complete cycle necessary (7 x 7 = 49 = 13 = 4) as the means of transmigrating into a new physical body. The entire cosmic order that’s written in the stars has liberation as its basis. It always tends towards freedom of the soul from the confinement of a single personality. The most common ideal shared by all humans as a basic motivation is freedom. As we adopt an “ideal†it becomes the object of our worship and we strive to become it. Jesus represented the “ideal man†and demonstrated the path of liberation as purifying and perfecting ourselves by employing virtuous qualities as the means of creating our self. All universal wisdom reveals that the entire cosmic order is designed as a dynamic process of creative freedom. Those who develop themselves to be virtuous in nature work to liberate their own soul while also serving the greater good of all mankind. As our soul ascends to higher dimensions by way of our deeds we blaze the pathway for others to follow.

There isn’t any force in the universe that’s hostile towards man or that acts to produce insurmountable obstacles to our freedom. All universal laws, when properly understood, provide the intelligence necessary for liberating ourselves from the ignorance of our own conditioning. Fear inhibits our ability to understand and causes us to imprison our soul in illusions of our own making. We only truly love what we understand, and understanding casts out all fear. It’s only through love that all higher knowledge is revealed to us. Through a deeper understanding of the law of death, comes freedom from the fear of death. Death is what allows the passing away of old ideas allowing new ones to be born in their place, and is the instrument of growth and development as a continuous evolutionary process of becoming our highest potential.

Psychological Application

Psychologically the emphasis is on the will and our ability to choose what we focus on and dwell in mentally and emotionally. Whatever we imagine in vivid sensory detail and concentrate on we impregnate ourselves with. As we change the ideas we use to shape and define ourselves, our old conception dies allowing us to form a new one in its place, and we grow ourselves accordingly. As our body constantly undergoes a natural process of death and regeneration, we’re programming our new cells with our thoughts and perceptions. Every few years we have a completely new body. Even our skeleton completely regenerates every 7 years. With the passing away of old cells a new generation of cells are formed to take their place. In the nucleus of every cell is implanted a subconscious response to your new patterns that provide the impulse to realize a new thought in the body’s structure and how it functions. Any cells that don’t die naturally and continue to grow and multiply instead, becomes a cancer that eventually kills the whole system. Death is a necessary part of life.

Through the realization of Key 12 (the Initiate) as surrendering your lower self to a higher ideal, your personality dies and a complete transformation takes place. In reality we die daily and are constantly deciding, although usually without awareness, what is born in its place. As we go to sleep every night we die to the day that’s ending and are resurrected every morning to begin a new day. Through the natural process of cell death, all of our old motives, petty ambitions, foolish opinions and prejudices gradually die out and their memory eliminated in the normal course of physical repair and rejuvenation. Little by little through a gradual process of transformation there’s a complete adjustment of one’s personal conceptions and the values we use to give life its meaning.

As we change our perspective (Key 12) from a personal one to a more universal one, the change can be so drastic that mystics the world over have come to refer to it as the “death of the selfâ€. It’s by death and regeneration of the body cells that patterns created in the imagination become fixed in personal consciousness. Whatever consciousness we cultivate by way of imagined thoughts are literally embedded in our flesh. Our soul’s consciousness determines our health and nature of our physical existence. We know scientifically that our genes are programmed by our perceptions and our physical world is the manifestation of our soul’s consciousness. The key to creating within the material world lies in our ability to program our own subconscious mind.

Our subconscious is the unified mind that we share with all of humanity and the natural world. Our subconscious is constantly influencing the subconscious everyone and everything around us. As we telepathically influence the mind of everyone around us, they in turn act to program their own DNA so that everything forms a unified reality in a consistent and harmonious manner.  Memory as patterns of information imprinted in the astral light of the collective unconscious is what forms all physical structures and natural behaviors. By reforming our memory, we reform our mental and physical structure in a corresponding manner. Whatever we sow, we also reap. We experience every part and perspective of a much larger group dynamic. Every life time we play a different role in the same idea and develop ourselves accordingly. Death is the reaper where we turn the tables and experience life from a new perspective.

Interpreting the Numbers

In Sacred Geometry, which is the main mathematical system of the sacred sciences, all ideas formed as a well-defined sensory reality in the imagination produce an equivalent (and opposite) material manifestation. All numbers are a kind of code as a formula of the laws operating in a situation that provide us with the means for being able to work with it consciously. The formula is the intuitive basis for understanding the operation and process of creation that’s involved. We can only utilize intelligently what we understand practically. All conscious creation comes through practical use of universal laws.

1 + 3 = 4 – This code shows us the primary laws involved that are necessary for us to utilize in order to create in a conscious and intentional manner. 1 = Monad as the “mind†exists as a mental paradigm and has the ability to select an complementary idea that it then projects into the imagination of the subconscious where it’s concentrated on and developed into a coherent physical form. 3 = Triad as the imagination, which is the faculty of the mind used to develop an idea inwardly as a thought that becomes the etheric (shaped out of light-essence) template for projecting outwardly to form a corresponding physical manifestation. 4 = Tetrad, the number that represents material reality is produced as a “reflection†of the internal idea that becomes the “lens†through which we perceive that same idea as an outer reality. Both the inner and outer material world is the manifestation of the soul’s consciousness on multiple scales and planes simultaneously.

The same process that’s used to reshape reality as a correspondence to existing memory is also used to transform it. All memory is created by imagining a situation internally as a representation (personal interpretation) of an event, which becomes a kind of metaphorical theme that’s then replayed in the imagination over and over as a primary form of programming ourselves to consistently produce more realities of the same nature. All memory that’s continuously focused on and relived in the mind’s eye forms the perceptual lens that we use as the means of interpreting (organizing) all current events to be of the same nature and meaning as past events.

We use memory as the means of creating our self and our reality to be of the same metaphorical pattern. We transform our self and our life by working directly on our memories to adjust them by introducing new information that alters their pattern into a new configuration for producing a new version of reality as an experience. As we change our perspective our perception of reality changes accordingly. In order to grow and transform ourselves, we have to give up our story about things formed by continuing to live in the past and instead work creatively to form a new one. As we begin telling a new story we change our self as the author and main character of our own story and embody new qualities that form a new image of our self and a new way of life results. It’s only by mastering death that we learn how to truly live and create.

Death is a transformation of the soul that moves from one idea to another, as well as from one plane to another. If we fail to let ideas die in order to create something new in its place, we fail to grow. As we fail to grow we fail to thrive and it causes death for the soul. Change is necessary for growth, just as death of the cells is necessary for regeneration of new cells as a means of living. Death is the foundation of life which exists in a constant movement of birthing, maturing and transforming ideas as the means of creating new experiences of reality as a natural process of growth and development into higher states of being. Fear of death comes when we mistake our soul for being the temporary manifestation of the body instead of the consciousness that’s causing and producing it.

As we surrender the lower self and personality of the body to be a vehicle and instrument of the higher soul (12), we allow the old image of ourselves to die, and form a new one as an “ideal†in its place. We form an idea about ourselves that require us to strive and stretch in order to become it. As we transform our identity by reorienting ourselves to a new perspective of a higher nature, we alter the pattern being used and alter our vibratory frequency as a result (14). By changing the internal pattern and vibrating a new frequency, we change the outer world of appearances to become a correspondence to the new internal representation being used to experience it, and we reprogram the new cells of our body being generated to express in a new way. The mind always acts to shape the body to be a direct reflection and expression of it.

Dr. Linda Gadbois

Transpersonal Psychologist, Mind-Body Health Consultant, and Spiritual Teacher