“First the letters are “engraved” out of nothingness. Then they are “carved” out and separated. They are then “permuted,” so that a given combination appears in different sequences. They then are “weighed” and manipulated according to their numerical values. Finally, they can be “transformed” through the various ciphers.”

                        SEFER YETZIRAH, Aryeh Kaplan, Weiser Books 1997, pg. 100

Gematria is a Hebrew system of alphanumeric encoding that begins with converting each letter of the alphabet to the numerical equivalent as to its order in the alphabet. The Hebrew alphabet has twenty-two letters. The system being explored here is based on the modern English alphabet of twenty-six letters, A-Z, 1-26. The most common versions of gematria using the Hebrew alphabet I have seen do not follow through with the numerical order of the alphabet after the number nine. Admittedly, the modern English alphabet did not exist in antiquity, but somehow this alphanumeric system, based on the number 26 (364/14) seems to have provided for a certain amount of continuity over time and across the many languages whose words were often absorbed into English intact, to which I apply the formula evenly watching for what seems to work more than not, the names of gods for example. Though quite open to coincidence, some of these ‘coincidences’ are difficult to dismiss. It will be up to the individual to interpret for oneself the validity of a result within it’s own context. What’s interesting and very much worth mentioning here is what this new language of number and word associations does for memory. All numbers seem to be ultimately related, and the mind begins remembering certain mathematical relationships, or more specifically, in this case the recurring ratios involving the first nine single digit numbers. Much of the most apparent encoding seems to be using this particular universal ratio language.

The simplest encoding begins with arranging the letters of a word vertically in a column with the letter’s converted numerical equivalents in a column to the right and then adding them. I have not seen a system that progresses beyond this step. The system here involves a second column of numbers. Each number in this column is derived by the difference between each number pair in the first column, top to bottom, and then adding those. The first column is labeled, Column A, the second column is Column B, and the resulting number pair is called the ‘Primary Sequence’. It is most probable that some encoding was done by simply adding, subtracting, or multiplying this number pair, which will only result in whole numbers but by dividing them, we enter the world of rational and irrational numbers, the numbers of creation. Words with a ‘Primary Sequence’ ratio of 1 are in a class by themselves. A collection of letters that actually have meaning with Columns A and B being equal are the most compelling examples of word formation manipulation and encoding. There are many more examples listed down below.

The formula we end up using is (A+B)/(A-B). This formula is somehow related to the Law of Tangents which uses the reverse formula, (A-B)/(A+B) shown below.

This ‘Primary Sequence’ is probably most often the only encoding being done, but a second horizontal deconstruction using the number pairs from Column A is possible resulting in the ‘Secondary’ and ‘Tertiary’ Sequences and some very interesting mathematics and what I call, the ‘Portal Formulas’. It’s difficult to say how related, or premeditated the spelling of a word might be to the word’s actual meaning and to it’s final two sequences, but there are some very compelling examples of someone knowing and using this system to specifically encode something using the numbers from the Portal Formulas.

There are several groups of numbers most often encountered when using the (A+B)/(A-B) formula. One number group includes numbers associated with the Golden Mean and the Fibonacci Series named for Leonardo of Pisa and a book he published in 1202 CE. This is a series of numbers where successive number pairs are added then divided resulting in the mathematics that describe the spiral and are ratios of the Golden Mean, known as Phi, the Golden Ratio. Though there are few words whose ‘Primary Sequences’ result in exact Fibonacci Series pairs, many of the examples here are multiples of those number pairs.