8-8-8

There are lots of news stories this week on the favorable or inauspicious promise of the upcoming date: 8-8-8.

China chose to start the Olympics at 8:08 pm on 08/08/08. Simultaneously thousands of Chinese couples will be married at that time believing that 8 is a prosperous number. Eight is revered in China because the word for eight, ba, sounds like the word for prosperity, fa. Eight is also a mystical number in Taoism and relates to the 8 directions (N,S,E,W,NE,NW,SE,SW) or bagua, familar to feng shui enthusiasts. The bagua are 8 sets of broken and/or straight lines called trigrams that symbolize how yin transforms into yang, and yang into yin. The I Ching, or Book of Changes, was created 4000 years ago and interprets the 64 (8 X 8) possible combinations of trigrams in reference to how energy changes.

In music there are 8 changes between octaves called notes. An octave is an interval of 8 diatonic degrees between two tones of same name, the higher of which has twice as many vibrations per second as the lower. An octave marks the place of transformation between musical intervals, like an evolutionary step up or down in frequency. When 8 is turned on its side, it becomes the symbol for infinity. We may consider the infinite intervals of an octave to be like the infinite levels of evolution for the soul.

According to Vedic astrological traditions, 8 is a powerful number of transformation and evolution. The 8th house in an astrological chart represents the field of activity relating to Scorpio such as hidden things, sex, the occult, death and longevity. According to some Vedic Numerological traditions Saturn rules the number 8 and also rules over death and darkness. [It is interesting to note that Mars is exalted in Saturn's sign, Capricorn, but Saturn is debilitated in Mars' sign of Aries.] The 8th house is also the house of spousal income, so getting married on that day may bring more energy to eighth house matters like sex and dowry.

The 8th house also rules over the occult and conspiracies and the internet is filled with speculation on possible terrorist attacks -- like those that occurred on 7-7-2005 (2+2005=7) in London. According to conspiracy authors secret societies like to use master numbers (any number multiplied by 11) as ritualistic dates, like 9-11. There was even a video posted on Youtube called 8-8-8 Olympic Conspiracy, but it was pulled. Hmm. The Olympics themselves are seen as an Illuminati controlled world event symbolized by the torch (see David Icke for more on Illuminati symbolism), so it is no surprise that this date intrigues many internet detectives.

If these secret societies are using numerology for some sort of ritual, they really should have consulted an astrologer, because start time of the Olympics, 8:08 pm, is at least a half hour too late to trigger any death inflicting event. So let's hope the good juju of the ancient Taoists still is resonnating in the land of China. May the spirits of these alchemists will turn the lead/dark shadows of current eclipse period into gold for the most talented Olympic athletes.