All of our rituals, practices, and studies are intended to lead us to one thing: Communion with the Divine. There are many ways of looking at both of these terms but through the rituals I see a valid praxis, of actually seeing these terms in a spiritual technology, a way of recognition with All That Is. So how does one teach a concept that there is no physical proof or corollary to? (Notice I did not say any physical manifestation of.) How does an Initiate begin to understand the subtle communication between what is called The One and the Individual? And what is the practical value of this Communion?

Let us begin by defining our terms, beginning with Communion. It is from Middle English, from Latin communion-, communio mutual participation, from communis, common
 
1: an act or instance of sharing

2 a capitalized: a Christian sacrament in which consecrated bread and wine are consumed as memorials of Christ's death or as symbols for the realization of a spiritual union between Christ and communicant or as the body and blood of Christ

3: intimate fellowship or rapport: COMMUNICATION =>
 
          1: an act or instance of transmitting
          2 a: information communicated b: a verbal or written message
          3 a: a process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs, or behavior 
          5 plural but singular or plural in construction a : a technique for expressing ideas effectively (as in speech) b : the technology of the transmission of information (as by print or telecommunication)
 

Common or communis
 
Etymology: Middle English commun, from Old French, from Latin communis –

1 a: of or relating to a community at large
2 a: belonging to or shared by two or more individuals or things or by all members of a group

share
 
2 a : to partake of, use, experience, occupy, or enjoy with others

   b : to have in common

It is not hard to see in this word Communion, the sense of Unity, something held by each of us, together. Communion is the recognition of Something held in common, with the idea that this Something is transmissible from one to the other as Information or Knowledge and that It is the basis or foundation of a group. Communion is the Technology whereby this Something is communicated or made known.

The Hebrew for Communion is HShThThPVTh, participation or sharing. The gematria for this word is 1591, which reduces to 7, the value of ZAIN, depicted in the ROTA as the Lovers. Clearly it is seen here that Communion is the act of Union as well as the process to Unity.  This is a Common state or experience, shared by all, and a Common technology within us to bring forth the Unitive Condition. The Angel points to that Something mentioned earlier that shines forth Its Radiance, Its Knowledge to the two beings below who are in fact representations of the Emmanuel, God in Manifestation.

In The Great Seal of the United States Chapter III, our Frater, Paul Foster Case states: “By modern numerology the values of the words ‘In God We Trust,’ a peculiarly Masonic phrase used on our coinage, are as follows: IN (9 + 5 = 14) GOD (7 + 6 + 4 = 17) WE (5 + 5 = 10) TRUST (2 + 9 + 3 + 1 + 2 = 17), so that the sum of these values is 58, and 5 + 8 = 13.” Though almost a throwaway line in an otherwise astounding pamphlet, this small statement led me to assume that it could possibly lay the groundwork for an English gematria or at least a functioning Language of the Birds for English speaking Initiates. The table below gives the details for this gematria based on the above statement.

As with the Hebrew gematria, words that add up to the same numbers have some correlation with one another and through meditation one can find connections that allow one to espy the True Path of Return. Also reduction of these numbers to a Hebrew letter and from there a Tarot key provides the basis for even further enlightenment.

By applying this gematria, I was able to find that the word common has the value of 28, which is also the value of the Hebrew IChVD, Union or Unity. The number 28 reduces to 10, which is Malkuth, the 10^th sephirah, our common Palace. Yod has the value of 10 which points to the inescapable fact that we have the Eternal Ego, the Yekhidah, in common.

 The word share totaling 24 and reducing to 6 points to the sephirah Tiphareth and ABBA, the Supernal Father or Chokmah and shows me that the Inner Teacher of Key 5 is another Something that we have in common. According to the Sepher Sephiroth, that Something is He whom I love, AHVBI, and He who loves me, AVHBI.

Communion , according to this gematria equals 45 and reduces to 9. The number 45 is also for ADM, Adam , the Life Force enlivening the Blood, Humanity being the physical manifestation of the Breath or Spirit. And of course the 9 refers to Yesod, the Foundation of Manifested Existence, or as a Frater has recently divulged, The Secret of the YOD, and Teth, the Secret of All Spiritual Activities. Communion is That Which Is or Being.

Let us now turn our attention on the word Divine =>

divine (adj.) - c.1305 (implied in divinity), from O.Fr. devin, from L. divinus "of a god," from divus "a god," related to deus "god, deity," from PIE *deiwos, also the root of words for "sky" and "day."

(8) a lake of perfumed nectar or ambrosia (Skt., Amrita) which is the elixir vitae and the source of the divine lustre. The cup-bearer is Dhanwantari, the Indian Ganymede. Shining is a peculiarly divine attribute, and the etymology of the word "divinity", is the root Div, "to shine", the parent of the Skt. Deva and latin Deus."

Divinum, in Greek is theion, Divine. This term in Scripture: 1. Sometimes notes the divine essence, or God-head itself, to theion heinai homioi ("that the God head is like to" -- Acts 17:29). 2. Sometimes it signifies certain divine endowments , whether gracious or glorious, communicated to us from God, and in some sense comparing us unto God : "You should become partakers of the divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4).

[Middle English, from Old French devine, from Latin d v nus, divine, foreseeing, from d vus, god; see dyeu- in Indo-European Roots. V., Middle English divinen from Old French deviner, from Latin d v n re, from d v nus.]

\\Di*vine"\\, a. [Compar. Diviner; superl. Divinest.] [F. divin, L. divinus divine, divinely inspired, fr. divus, dius, belonging to a deity; akin to Gr. ?, and L. deus, God. See Deity.] 1. Of or belonging to God; as, divine perfections; the divine will. ``The immensity of the divine nature.'' --Paley.

4. Pertaining to, or proceeding from, a deity; partaking of the nature of a god or the gods. ``The divine Apollo said.'' --Shak.

5. Godlike; heavenly; excellent in the highest degree; supremely admirable; apparently above what is human. In this application, the word admits of comparison; as, the divinest mind. Sir J. Davies. ``The divine Desdemona.'' --Shak.

Etymology of the Word "God"

(Anglo-Saxon God; German Gott; akin to Persian khoda; Hindu khooda).

God can variously be defined as:

·        the proper name of the one Supreme and Infinite Personal Being, the Creator and Ruler of the universe, to whom man owes obedience and worship;

·         the common or generic name of the several supposed beings to whom, in polytheistic religions, Divine attributes are ascribed and Divine worship rendered;

·        the name sometimes applied to an idol as the image or dwelling-place of a god.

The root-meaning of the name (from Gothic root gheu; Sanskrit hub or emu, "to invoke or to sacrifice to") is either "the one invoked" or "the one sacrificed to." From different Indo-Germanic roots (div, "to shine" or "give light"; thes in thessasthai "to implore") come the Indo-Iranian deva, Sanskrit dyaus (gen. divas), Latin deus, Greek theos, Irish and Gaelic dia, all of which are generic names; also Greek Zeus (gen. Dios, Latin Jupiter (jovpater ), Old Teutonic Tiu or Tiw (surviving in Tuesday), Latin Janus, Diana, and other proper names of pagan deities. The common name most widely used in Semitic occurs as 'el in Hebrew, 'ilu in Babylonian, 'ilah in Arabic, etc.; and though scholars are not agreed on the point, the root-meaning most probably is "the strong or mighty one."

To shine brings us immediately to the concept of LVX, the Light. Shine means to emit Light. The Divine, gives forth light, Light is that Something we have in common. Notice that by our table shine equals 28, the number of common, Being, and IChVD, Union . LVX is our title or name for the Divine Influence or mezla and we are to understand that with the value of 13 it is connected to AChD, Unity, and AHBH, Love. The One is Love and Light. With the reduction to 10 we have a confirmation that the LVX is spread throughout the Kingdom.

Light can be connected back again to our share in that ABBA, a title of Chokmah is Light and Wisdom, in that both words equal 29 and reduce to 2, the sephirah Wisdom.

The Divine is All That Is, no matter whether we look from the mineral to the Superhuman, and all that is in between. From our Breath to our Blood, from Thought to Action, the Divine manifests through us. When we see with our eyes, we truly are gazing upon our true self, the Immanuel, God Manifest.

Communion with the Divine is a gematriac way of saying Union or Achud, a state of recognition of Oneness, Nirvana, At-one-ment. To claim with the Christos that I and the Father are One is to be in Communion, and the gematria for the phrase “Communion with the Divine” equals 120, the symbolic age of maturity for the adept, the opening of the vault, complete absorption into the One.

One final point. The godname  IAO can also point to this concept. Through my own personal insight and meditation I have projected the letters into the words I mmersion – to plunge into Something that surrounds or covers: to merge; Absorption – to suck up: to transform radiant energy into a different form; and Objectification – externalize; to cause to become an object. The 3 letters therefore hold a key as to how our relationship with the Divine is seem from Its view. The Personal Manifestation immerses itself into the Universal, absorbs/transforms this Energy, and then moves it out into the Arena of Maya, where again the process continues. The letters IAO equal 16, which reduces to 7. The words Immersion, Absorption, and Objectification add up to 169, which reduce to 7. A technique that we are taught behind the veil symbolically and actively portrays the technology of Union: we receive and project, continually manifesting the Mind of the One, as seen in Key 6, The Lovers, Zain, 7.