"all is quiet on new years day"
"a world in white, gets under way"

another year started. another lonely year gone by.

'we look before and after,
and pine for what is not:
our sincerest laughter
with some pain is fraught;
our sweetest songs are those that tell
of saddest thought...'

'Twas The Night Before Christmas,
He Lived All Alone,
In A One Bedroom House
Made Of Plaster And Stone.

I Had Come Down The Chimney
With Presents To Give,
And To See Just Who
In This Home Did Live.

I Looked All About,
A Strange Sight I Did See,
No Tinsel, No Presents,
Not Even A Tree.

No Stocking By Mantle,
Just Boots Filled With Sand,
On The Wall Hung Pictures
Of Far Distant Lands.

With Medals And Badges,
Awards Of All Kinds,
A Sober Thought
Came Through My Mind.

For This House Was Different,
It Was Dark And Dreary,
I Found The Home Of A Soldier,
Once I Could See Clearly.

The Soldier Lay Sleeping,
Silent, Alone,
Curled Up On The Floor
In This One Bedroom Home.

The Face Was So Gentle,
The Room In Such Disorder,
Not How I Pictured
A United States Soldier.

Was This The Hero
Of Whom I'd Just Read?
Curled Up On A Poncho,
The Floor For A Bed?

I Realized The Families
That I Saw This Night,
Owed Their Lives To These Soldiers
Who Were Willing To Fight.

Soon Round The World,
The Children Would Play,
And Grownups Would Celebrate
A Bright Christmas Day.

They All Enjoyed Freedom
Each Month Of The Year,
Because Of The Soldiers,
Like The One Lying Here.

I Couldn't Help Wonder
How Many Lay Alone,
On A Cold Christmas Eve
In A Land Far From Home.

The Very Thought
Brought A Tear To My Eye,
I Dropped To My Knees
And Started To Cry.

The Soldier Awakened
And I Heard A Rough Voice,
"Santa Don't Cry,
This Life Is My Choice;

I Fight For Freedom,
I Don't Ask For More,
My Life Is My God,
My Country, My Corps."

The Soldier Rolled Over
And Drifted To Sleep,
I Couldn't Control It,
I Continued To Weep.

I Kept Watch For Hours,
So Silent And Still
And We Both Shivered
From The Cold Night's Chill.

I Didn't Want To Leave
On That Cold, Dark, Night,
This Guardian Of Honor
So Willing To Fight.

Then The Soldier Rolled Over,
With A Voice Soft And Pure,
Whispered, "Carry On Santa,
It's Christmas Day, All Is Secure."

One Look At My Watch,
And I Knew He Was Right.
"Merry Christmas My Friend,
And To All A Good Night."

About 23

By Jim Fournier

This is about the synchronicity number 23, and thus about the phenomena of synchronicity in general. To write about this topic objectively is impossible, as all experiences are necessarily subjective, involving as they do the element of consciousness, which cannot be instrumented. This is perhaps a study in the affirmation that any assertion of an objective observer is inherently impossible, and yet at the same time there is a deeply imbedded pattern of coherency in all that we regard as random. Randomness itself is nothing more than a pattern of deeply imbedded complexity of order; an order so complex it is not immediately discernible or obvious. Indeed the often heard rational defense, "that was just a coincidence," is itself an acknowledgment that we have just discerned a pattern, but because there is no immediately obvious path of mechanistic causation behind it, we are consciously choosing to refuse to acknowledge the primary data. If we do this enough, of course we will never discern any deeper pattern of meaning. Yet, if we instead allow the content of such experiences to be observed often enough, the pattern may become so overwhelming that we cannot ignore it, and must attempt to formulate some new models of the nature of reality. When these experiences involve time, number and symmetry, I find the coherence of the pattern is more easily documented. Ironically, it may be through the language of numbers, which in recent centuries has been reserved as the exclusive domain of math and science in pursuit of the triumph of mechanistic rationalism, which may ultimately bring about its downfall. So it is with 23.

My first synchronicity experiences with numbers were not with 23, but with 2:22:22, first seen as the time on my digital watch on the Summer Solstice in 1981. I had checked the time for an entry in my notebook, recording what was already such a palpably strange experience that I had taken out my notebook to record it. I had just found three objects together on an otherwise wave swept and absolutely barren stretch of rocky coast line, and had a numinous feeling about the event. This was not my first synchronicity experience, but one of the first, and still in many ways the most powerful. It came about a week after by far the most powerful mystical psychedelic experience of my life, in which I had totally left my body and my identity as an individual. There does seem to be a high correlation between psychedelic experiences and synchronicity.

I suppose that the hard-core SCICOP types might take comfort in this, as evidence that they can write off these reports as nothing but drug induced hallucinations, but anyone who has worked with these states knows that is simply not the nature of these experiences. The synchronicities come, for the most part, not when one is deeply in the midst of non-ordinary reality, but later, when one is just at the threshold, or when one is completely down, but still open to the inter-penetration of some otherwise unseen, or unavailable, dimension. Almost as if we normally screen such experiences out, but in certain states, when we have let our guard down and dropped our filters, then they come through. There also seems to be some phenomena of opening a channel to these experiences. Once one begins to have them, they come more easily. Again, it is difficult to say what the change is exactly, but it is often associated with exposure to a spiritual teacher, practice, or discipline, a psychedelic experience, or even a conversation about the phenomena with someone who has had a lot of such experiences. It begins to seem almost as if the phenomena is in that sense contagious, but perhaps only if one already has the predisposition.

That is to some degree what happened with me and twenty three. As I said, I had already had a number of synchronicity experiences involving seeing 2:22:22 on my watch, not just once, but on a number of occasions over the course of the year or two following that initial experience on the Summer Solstice. Then, about two years later I had another overwhelming experience involving time, and number, and pattern.

Through my own investigation of pure geometric symmetry in the rational divisions of circles I had noticed that there are three fundamental families of symmetry. As a result of this Pythagorean insight, I had intuitively become convinced that if the circle itself, representing unity, and the symmetry family four, represented by the square, were present in Leonardo's Vitruvian Man, then the other two families should also be present. The missing families being three, represented by the equilateral triangle, and five, represented by the pentagram. In addition I had already confirmed the golden mean relationship between the radius of the circle and the side of the square in Leonardo's drawing by measuring them in the drawing. One night, after months of struggle, it came to me suddenly. I drew the complete diagram of the circle along with each of the three families of symmetry represented as one of the three regular polygons associated with the three Pythagorean numbers 3, 4 and 5. When I looked at my watch to record the time, it was 3:45 am.

I experienced this as an affirmation of some larger pattern of intelligence and order which I could discern but not understand. It was several years later I discovered Robert Anton Wilson's Illuminatus trilogy, involving themes of synchronicity and psychedelics. Wilson calls himself a guerrilla ontologist, and although he brings up a great deal of issues in his fictional works, he never really attempts to seriously speculate or theorize more deeply as to what these phenomena mean. He referred to 23 as "the" synchronicity number, and while he seemed to claim that he had not invented this idea himself, he gave no concrete reference as to where it came from. Wilson was the first person I had encountered who went on at length about synchronicity. I knew Karl Jung had coined the term synchronicity, and yet I had never heard anything which I found really meaningful about it attributed to him. After I read Wilson, twenty three started showing up with disturbing frequency, on the radio, in print and on my digital watch, as the minutes or even seconds function. But even more bizarre, I found it as the date of five different letters to girlfriends, each at the culmination of a difficult relationship. These were the most critical emotional points in my life spanning a period of many years prior to my ever reading Wilson. At the time I discovered the pattern I was in psychotherapy with a traditional Ph.D. One day, I described the series of synchronicity experiences involving 23 to him. At the end of the session he had just succeeded in convincing me that I must have subconsciously chosen that date, and was now able to sense time so well that I choose to look just at that moment. When the session ended I walked out to my car, and when I turned the key in the ignition, the radio came on saying, "June 23rd, 1973."

At one point, in exasperation and despair, I bundled up photocopies of all my notes and journals on the subject and sent them off to Wilson by FedEx. Only to have them delivered back to me several days later, at 1:23 p.m., after FedEx was unable to deliver them to Wilson. Along with 23, Wilson had mentioned another number, 17 being a lessor synchronicity number. This one did not proceed to haunt me, but one day I had gone to visit Norman Derby, my Classical Physics professor at Bennington, to ask him about the probability of seeing a certain number on a digital watch. His answer that the mathematical probability of seeing any number was the same, seemed to miss my point. But when he asked me what number and I responded 23, he said, "Oh, yes, and the other number is 17." I was dumb founded, but he went on to explain that someone had done a study in which they asked people to name a random two digit number. Twenty three was the most common choice, and seventeen was the second most often picked. He explained that these were the first two prime numbers after thirteen, which has so many associations in most peoples minds that they would not think of it as totally random. I accepted this rational argument at the time, as he was rarely wrong when it came to rational explanations. But a few weeks later it occurred to me that nineteen is also prime.

During the same period I was also intensely interested in the golden mean. One of the first rational associations I discovered on my own about twenty three is that it is the inverse golden mean of sixty. Therefore twenty three minutes is the inverse golden mean of an hour, while twenty three seconds is the inverse golden mean of a minute. There are several other rather obvious attributes of twenty three. It is composed of the first two prime numbers, two and three, which are also, therefore, the first even and odd numbers respectively. The number very nearly says its component's names when spoken in English, as two-to-three, or closer yet, as two-went-to-three, or even as two-went-to-be-three. In this sequence it names the counting number sequence, but also the Fibonacci sequence, the former going on by iteration to four, while the latter goes to their sum, five. We will return to this theme later.

In late November of 1989 I was at Esalen at a workshop with Terence McKenna. I had just walked past the desk and noticed a big book with a large brass plate on the cover inscribed only with a large 23. When I inquired I was told it was a listing of all the therapists at Esalen, and because they originally had twenty three therapists, it came to be known as "The book of Twenty Three". In his recent tapes Terence had been talking about his "Time-wave" converging on an end point sometime in late November of 2012. But, in this workshop he had said nothing of it, so walking across the lawn with him on the way back toward the hall I asked him about it. In a jovial mood he said, "Better hurry, only twenty four years to get ready." I ran a quick calculation in my head and said, "Ugh, no, twenty three years... exactly," looking at the date on my watch. Then noticing it was 11-23 that day I added, "What do you know about twenty three?" "Oh that goes back to ancient Persia," he said obliquely as we reached the seminar room, ending the conversation.

I should mention something here about my particular understanding of number patters. The counting numbers start 0,1,2,3,4... but another sequence, called the Fibonacci numbers starts 0,1,1,2,3,5... Each term is the sum of the previous two. The Fibonacci sequence is most intimately related to the golden mean, 1.6180... and the inverse golden mean, .6180... The dividend of any two sequential Fibonacci numbers approximates the inverse golden mean, while the dividend of any two reverse sequential Fibonacci numbers approximates the golden mean. The fraction is simply inverted to yield its inverse. The larger the Fibonacci numbers, the more exact the approximation of the golden mean:
Thus 1/2 = .5 2/3 = .666... 3/5 = .6 5/8 = .625
But 8/13 = .615... 13/21 = .619... 21/34 = .6176... 34/55 = .6181818...
Thus the dates 1-23 and 11-23 have a more significant meaning within the associative matrix of my consciousness, as they make reference to the counting number sequence and Fibonacci sequence respectively. The dates 5-23 and 8-23 suggest meaning to a lesser extent as these are sets of Fibonacci digits.

Even before I studied the golden mean, I had studied passive solar design since my senior year in high school. Even before that, I have always had an intuitive sense of direction and time of day. It was when I started to do sun angle calculations for my solar designs in high school that I figured out in detail how my directional ability is based on a subconscious calculation of sun angles. I had this ability since my earliest memories, when I was two or three. My parents noticed it and wondered if it might be magnetic or what the mechanism was. It was actually during an Outward Bound course in high school, just before I started doing the solar study, that it was brought home to me, painfully clearly how my sense of direction worked. The entire group had become accustomed to following my sense of direction just as implicitly as I did. My map reading and experience in the high Sierra's also contributed to this. But, one night, on a twenty four hour hike, when the full Moon came up my subconscious sense of direction kicked in and treated it as if it were the Sun in my subconscious calculations. I led us in completely the wrong direction, sure I knew where I was going. Even after it was pointed out to me I could not shake my, now faulty, sense of direction. When I did start doing sun angle calculations the next year, I became aware of the Solstices and the Equinoxes. It was the Solstices I noticed most because the Sun angle at noon on these two days most determined the design parameters of any passive solar structure. These two Sun angles are the latitude plus and minus the angle at which the Earth is tipped relative to the plane of its rotation around the Sun. The Earth tip angle seemed to me at the time a very annoying and arbitrary number: twenty three degrees. If it had been twenty two and a half degrees (half of forty five degrees, which is one eighth of a circle) it would somehow have been more satisfying, a confirmation almost, that there was order to the design of the universe. But, instead it was this weird number which was so close, and yet not apparently related to anything. I forgot my initial reaction of annoyance to this number, and for the most part forgot about the number itself, even as I continued to be aware of it throughout years of solar design. It was not until years after reading Wilson that this association with it occurred to me again.

Although, on the day of the 2:22:22 synchronicity, as I was walking back, just as I reached the edge of town, there was a man sitting on the ocean wall with a book with geodesics on the cover. He was reading a book by Buckminster Fuller and the drawings were ones he had made on the cover of his dictionary. We got into a conversation and somehow I ended up explaining the Earth-Sun seasonal geometry to him, illustrating my description by drawing a diagram in my journal. The drawing included the twenty three degree Earth tip angle, as well as the dates of the Solstices and Equinoxes. Although, it was not until I returned to my room that night that I realized that it had been the Summer Solstice that very day. He in turn had told me that Buckminster Fuller lived on the next island south from there. I hitchhiked down there two days later, only to find that Fuller was in California. We never did meet. Perhaps it is just as well. I needed to follow my own path and he would have invariably diverted me with the power of his own intensity.

Somewhere along the line I learned that the angle at which the Earth is tipped relative to the plane of the ecliptic is really not 23 degrees, but 23.5 degrees. By the time I realized this I knew twenty three as a synchronicity number, and a Fibonacci number, so this confirmation of its Fibonacci nature was almost reassuring. Only recently it occurred to me to wonder what the next decimal place is. I was delighted to learn that it is 23.45 degrees. Thus the angle of the ecliptic names both the counting numbers, and the Fibonacci sequence, at their point of divergence, as 23.45 is rounded with very little loss of precision to 23.5 degrees. The next decimal place is actually zero, so the story does terminate naturally at 23.450 degrees. The angle, which is actually called the obliquity of the ecliptic is currently 23 27' which is exactly 23.45 degrees. One more observation about this angle. If one takes the angle of latitude swept out between the two tropics, it is twice the Earth tip angle, or 47 degrees (46 54' exactly). This wedge does almost perfectly describe a 45 zone, or one eighth of a circle centered on the Equator. Thus a forty five degree zone is perfectly bracketed, within the tropics, with one degree on either side.

There are several other random associations to twenty three which have emerged into my awareness over the years. One is the number of human chromosomes. Another relates to the number of tarot cards, and therefore letters in the short form of the ancient Hebrew alphabet, actually twenty two, or twenty one plus zero; making twenty three Ain Soph, the Void which surrounds and contains the whole system. Then there are the less profound expressions, like the number on Michael Jordan's jersey, which in turn has been reproduced on thousands of shirts and shoes, thus making it much more likely for me to have synchronicity experiences, as the number was in my face even more over these past years, long after first reading Wilson. When Jordan tried to change it coming out of retirement, they chose 45 (perhaps because it was the next autonomous pair of counting numbers after skipping 34 which contained three again). But this number failed miserably with the public, and his handlers were forced to return to the merchandising power of twenty three.

Switching from the ridiculous to the sublime, or at least esoteric; last year, inspired by Rick Tarnas I started investigating the coming Uranus-Neptune-Jupiter conjunction on my computer. Rick had pointed out that the sixties were a decade long expression of the slow moving conjunction of Uranus and Pluto, but that when Jupiter joined them in 1968-69, it was as if the volume were suddenly turned up and everything which marked the 60's came to a head. While the 60's represented Uranus liberating the Dionysian energy of Pluto giving rise to violent cathartic revolution, the 90's embody a very different, but perhaps equally potent energy. Uranus is now in conjunction with Neptune, perhaps liberating a boundary dissolving spirituality, and certainly already revolution by dissolution. Rick pointed out that in 1997 Jupiter will join Uranus and Neptune in a triple conjunction which may parallel the intensity, though certainly not the content, of what we saw in 1969. I noticed that there should be a day in early 1997, when Jupiter will be almost exactly half way between Neptune and Uranus, on which Jupiter will move into Aquarius. This change of sign by itself is not something I would be inclined to attach tremendous importance to, but I would consider the exact mid-point important, and I couldn't escape some conditioning by the song from Hair in the 60's about the dawning of the age of Aquarius (more about that later). So I went looking for the exact day. When I did, I was astounded! Not only are the three big planets in conjunction, but on that day the Sun joins them, with the Moon opposite. Saturn and Pluto are in trine to each other and in sextiles to the multiple conjunction. But what is more, Mars and the North Node are tightly conjoined opposite Saturn, and so in trine to the multiple conjunction! Thus by setting the time of day correctly the Ascendant completes a triple mystic rectangle! A perfect hexagon. A star of David in the sky naming a moment in time for each place on the Earth. I was awed by the perfection of the geometric pattern. But there was one other twist to the whole thing which would not have struck any other astrologer who might have discovered it quite the way it did me. The day when this all comes exact is January 23rd, 1997! 1-23-97 in American notation, at 12:35 p.m. EST.

To return to the point alluded to in that last section about the dawning of the age of Aquarius, what that phrase really refers to is the precession of the Equinoxes, the shift in the relationship between the fixed stars and the seasons over a very long span of time. At the time the Sidereal Zodiac used in western astrology was codified about two thousand years ago, the Sun entered the constellation Aries on the Vernal Equinox. The constellations which we actually see in the region of sky known as the Ecliptic form the Sidereal Zodiac, which is still used in Hindu Vedic astrology. The movement of the constellations with respect to the seasons is known as the precession of the Equinoxes, because while the Sun is now in the constellation Pisces on the Vernal Equinox, it will eventually move backward, by precession, into the constellation Aquarius; hence the now famous, "Dawning of the age of Aquarius." However, we still have a long way to go. It takes around twenty five hundred years per sign. The difference between the Tropical and Sidereal zodiacs is currently twenty three degrees. [NOTE: I had been told years ago that this was the difference between the two zodiacs, but when I checked it for this piece, the reference said that it is estimated that it had changed to twenty four degrees in April 1947, based on the two zodiacs having coincided in approximately 220 AD. I wonder if it might actually have been in August 1945, or perhaps it was at 23 degrees 58 minutes in August 1945?]

[COUNTER NOTE: When a Vedic astrologer mentioned (on 11-22-95) that the difference between the Tropical and Sidereal Zodiacs is twenty three degrees, and I answered that I it was now really twenty four degrees, she said it depends how you calculate it and vehemently insisted that it is twenty three degrees.]

I had known all this for many years when I met David Ulansey last year, and heard him explain his insight into the meaning of the Mithraic iconography. This cult flourished all over Europe, starting just before the birth of Christ, and continuing for several hundred years until it was apparently wiped out by emergent Roman State-Christianity. David recognized that the Mithraic iconography portrays a star map of the constellations lying in the Earth's equatorial plane, with the central figure representing Perseus. There is a linguistic identity between the line of kings of ancient Persia named Mithras and Perseus and Persia. Mithras is clearly Perseus in his Phrygian cap. The central figure, Mithras, Perseus is depicted putting a dagger into the neck of a bull, Taurus. This illustrated a point in time when the Earth's equatorial plane met the Ecliptic plane in Taurus, rather than Aires. Thus the iconography portrayed a time some two thousand years before the rise of the Mithraic cult. The secret of the cult was apparently the knowledge of the precession of the Equinoxes, which was first documented in Greece at about the same time the Mithraic cult first appeared. The movement of the fixed stars would have been a paradigm shattering revelation in the ancient world. The twin torch bearers, representing the Equinoxes, one with their torch up and one with it down, and their lower legs crossed at twenty three degrees, make it even more obvious what the imagery describes. But, why Taurus? It was the sign prior to Aries by precession, but what of that exact point in time, I wondered? It was David himself who mentioned that the eye of Taurus, a very bright star named Aldebaran, and another star, Antares, which lies almost exactly opposite it in the sky, form an almost perfect line, or axis through the heavens. It seemed immediately obvious to me that if such a line lay in the plane of the Zodiac, and one knew about the precession of the Equinoxes, then it would be clear that at some point in time that line would have defined the intersection of the plane of the Zodiac with the plane of the Earth's Equator. That line, still visible as those two perfectly opposed stars, would seem to have marked some sort of zero point in time two thousand years earlier. Thus I proposed to David that perhaps this is why the Mithraic cult made reference to Taurus so explicitly. He was apparently well aware of this but had not been emphasizing it in his presentations.

But there was one other dimension to David's work which suddenly made the whole puzzle make sense to me, Terence McKenna's comment about twenty three going back to ancient Persia. Even before anyone knew about the procession of the Equinoxes, thousands of years before, as soon as they had angle measuration in degree's, the first number they would encounter in mystery and wonder would be that same one I encountered, the angle at which the Ecliptic plane itself is tipped, which gives rise to the seasons, and thus the dynamic diversity of life on Earth. From the time of the first angle menstruation in ancient Babylon twenty three has been with us in our collective human consciousness.

It is hard to say what any of this has to do with anything else at the level of mechanistic causation. All links fail at this level. It seems that this has somehow to do with the nature of number, time and associative cognition itself. It points to a puzzle embedded in the fabric of both material reality, pure number as related to inevitable scales of menstruation and our own consciousness. That such connections should exist are either, as the mechanistic rationalists hold, noise on the otherwise coherent signal, or perhaps a signal to us from the depths of an enfolded order as to the overall intelligence of the interrelatedness of everything.

As I was once a rationalist I know that I have pushed the limits pretty far by now, well beyond their breaking point. The trick to playing this game is to suspend your expectation that things must be linked only by a chain of mechanistic causality, but to instead look for an associative map in ones conscious awareness. The connections become quite startling as a pattern appears to emerge. But attachment to what it means or whether it means anything must be suspended in favor of just allowing the primary data of experience to accumulate. It is as if existence is signaling to one through mind, and matter, at their point of intersection, but what if anything is being said is difficult to ascertain.

To return to the question of degrees in a circle. What about angle measure? Why are there 360 degrees in a circle? Is this an inevitable expression of numerical symmetry, or an arbitrary artifact of random human culture? One must start with pure geometric construction. If one follows such thinking, but always with Oakum's Razor close at hand, then one soon asks whether many things are arbitrary or inevitable. With only a string, one may draw a circle. Its own radius will walk around its circumference exactly six times, so there is something most fundamental about the relation ship between six (and therefore three) and the nature of circles. Any segment may be easily bisected, and so from six comes twelve, and within it four. Or done another way the whole circle may be divided in half by any line through its center, and then halved again into four, and eight and sixteen etc... The circle may only be divided equally by five if one knows a trick, and thus the pentagram is the first expression of magic in geometry. The magic of the golden mean, of dynamic form of life which the Pythagorean brotherhood most likely held as their sacred symbol. Each of these divisions represents one of the three fundamental families of symmetry. They may be represented by the lengths of the three sides of the most fundamental Pythagorean 3, 4, 5 triangle. This triangle itself may be constructed with nothing but a closed circle of string knotted into twelve equal segments. By pulling this string taught into a triangle with lengths 3, 4 and 5 one can create a right angle. A second piece of geometric magic and I suspect the reason why Pythagoras would have warned his followers against wearing knotted strings around their necks, lest they give themselves away to those who were persecuting them in later years. So, by dividing the circle into twelve, one has both the family three and four, as the twelve hours of the twelve houses of the zodiac have the trine and the square. But five is missing, the family of the nature of our own organic digital symmetry, quite literally found in the ten digits on our hands and feet. Five and ten are so fundamental that we as moderns have chosen them over twelve, glorifying our digital decimal system at the expense of three and four which would have fit better into twelve. But four emerges out of two, so in a sense the three families could better be named by Fibonacci numbers 2, 3, 5 rather than the Pythagorean counting number sequence 3, 4, 5. In either case it is the harmony of trinity which has been excluded in the modern age.

The first number which is divisible by 2, 3, and 5 is 30. While the first divisible by 3, 4 and 5 is 60. Thus we have 60 minutes in a circular hour and 60 seconds in a minute on the same face. We might stop dividing the circle there, but if we did, we would only be able to divide it into 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10 & 12 parts. Notice that 7, 8, 9 and 11 are missing. Seven and eleven are impossible no matter what we do. They are outside of this system of rational plane geometry. But eight is so fundamental it cannot be left out. Eight is only the double of four, the midpoints of the four directions, too obvious and natural to be excluded. A symmetrical division of a circle into nine cannot be constructed by pure geometry, and yet nine is so closely associated with three (and four through the square) that it seems as if it should lie within any orderly system. 120 would fit 8, but an odd number of times, and 9 would still not fit. 180 would fit 9 but not 8. So, 360 is the first number divisible by 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10 & 12. Seven, eleven and thirteen remain outside the system. The case for 360 is helped by the empirical fact that there are 365.25 days in a year, but the point of the previous exercise is to show the pure relationship between number, shape and measurement. The convergence of this realm and the apparently randomly arbitrary natural realm is a deeper question. Seven and even thirteen re-enter the measurement of time through the Moon cycle. It is about twenty nine days between full Moons and thus there are between twelve and thirteen moons per year. The seven day week is one Moon phase, one quarter Moon, while the "moonth" was once one Moon cycle, but was shifted to a more rational division of the twelfth part of the solar year.

One more personal digression illustrating how this has appeared in my day to day life recently:
The day after I finished the first draft of this text, traveling in Italy with my girlfriend, we pooled our cash to see how much we had and whether we needed to cash a travelers check. We had exactly 23,000 lire between us. That was in early August. In late August I was back in San Francisco while she was still in Italy. I had missed a chance to reach her on the phone in Rome and realized that the next chance I would have was when she was in Milan on the Twenty Third. I couldn't reach her, but I took a ride on the San Francisco Muni for the first time that day. Signs make it clear that you should ask for a transfer if you need one, and I didn't, but as I was getting off a trolley for the second time, the driver rather forcefully pushed a transfer into my hand bearing a large 23. I did reach Michelle the next day, but she was rushing to get a train, so she called me the next morning. When she did, she told me the story of traveling to Milan with friends a few days before. On the toll highway they pooled their cash. They had exactly twenty three thousand lire between the three of them. When they reached the toll both their toll was exactly twenty three thousand lire! I spoke with no one else that day as drove up to the Sierra's to go backpacking. The only other conversation I had that day was when as I was getting my wilderness permit. It was late on a Friday afternoon so I asked how many people had already gone in from that roadhead that day. "Twenty three," the ranger said.

One last obscure piece of the puzzle. I was visiting my friend and fellow western mystic Chris Farris. He had been reading a lot of quantum mechanics and super string theory. He mentioned a theory which claimed there were twenty six dimensions which can be reduced to ten. I mentioned that Stan Tenen had been making connections between a topological model which described a twenty seven and eleven dimensional reality and the twenty seven letters of the sacred Hebrew, Arabic and Greek alphabets. I wondered whether the difference was that what Chris had been reading might describe twenty six and ten dimensions of space, without time, while what Stan was referencing might describe twenty seven and eleven dimensions of space-time. Thus, if there are really twenty six spacial dimensions, then there are actually twenty three hidden dimensions in space. It might be that the whole phenomenon of synchronicity may be understood through these twenty three enfolded dimensions. Thus the three dimensional reality which we inhabit might be seen as merely a section through this hyper dimensional interconnectedness.

Shortly after I finished the last entry on this I left for my cousin Michael's wedding. It was on the Autumnal Equinox which fell on September 23rd this year. On the way home, my parents flight left early on Sunday morning, but I had a reservation on a later flight, so I flew standby out of Albany. In Chicago, the connecting flight was leaving from gate 23, so I went over there and waited for a while, only to be told that the gate had been changed to 11. In Albany I had been told there was plenty of room on the connecting flight out of Chicago, but when I reached gate 11 I was told that the flight was overbooked. I waited while they boarded the whole plane, but it was full. So, they sent me back to gate 23 where the next flight was to leave from. Because I was waiting to go standby I again had to wait for the whole plane to be boarded, but this particular agent called the rows emphasizing the gate number. "Please do not get up and proceed through the doorway marked 23 until your row number is called indicating that you may enter through the doorway marked 23...etc." He must have called it almost two dozen times before I finally boarded the plane. Normally I get on first because I have high mileage status, but I can't ever remember hearing anyone repeat the gate number so much.

When I did arrive home there was a message from my now ex-girlfriend in Italy who had just read a draft of this piece which I had sent to her. She had intentionally called on the 23rd, and commented on this essay in her message. I was at the wedding, but at the end of her message it was the time stamp which came on saying: "Saturday... seven...twenty three...am." It still gives me a chill.
Reading about ancient Chaldean astrology for David Ulansey's class I ran across 23 again, not in the way I expected to in relation to the Earth tip angle, but in relation to Mercury. The first number mentioned as explicitly recorded in astronomical observation was the fact that Mercury is never more than 23 degrees away from the Sun. How odd to find it where I expected in ancient Persia, but with regard to the planet which rules my Sun sign Gemini, rather than in the context of the Earth tip angle as I had expected.

There is one more entry I cannot make in the detail I would like to because I can't remember the reference exactly. In October I was at the late Arthur Young's house which is also the Institute for the Study of Consciousness in Berekely. (Arthur died on my birthday last year, while I was in a non ordinary state completing Stan Grof's training that day). An itinerant physicist and general mad genius there named Manuel ____ was talking about five dimensional physics. When I asked him about dimensionality numbers in super string theory, he went into a detailed discussion which I could only follow very roughly, but the core of it seemed to be along the following lines. A five by five matrix suggests twenty five dimensional terms. He interprets the five dimensions as time plus three space dimensions plus a radius associated with each point which might be thought of as equivalent to the angular momentum in quantum mechanics. He maintains that topologically the radius is different than simple coordinates in three space in that it allows quantum energetic interactions to be treated as dimensional transformations in geometry. He then went on to talk about two different types of error correcting codes (from computer programming I believe). In one, the ______ type, there can be any iteration of two bits (2,4,8,16,32 etc...), anyway he chose thirty two as an example for which there are five error correcting bits and one parity bit. He apparently related this math to the twenty six dimensions of super string theory. In a second type of more robust error correcting code there are always twenty four bits of which one is a parity bit so there are always twenty three data bits. But of these only twelve are available for information and the remaining eleven are for error correction. I wondered about the twenty three in relation to the number of human chromosomes and the zodiac.

It was perhaps inevitable if I went looking into the Great Pyramid at Giza that I would find 23. The Pyramid is, after all, plastered all over Robert Anton Wilson's works, but that seems to have more to do with his general fascination with Illuminati and/or Freemason related iconography and symbols. There does seem to be a long and deep connection between 23 and these types of somewhat hermetic secret societies. However, aside from the fact that each of the sides of the Great Pyramid is 23.0 decameters long, the most important ancient Egyptian association with twenty three centers around the triangle mr. According to Livio Catullo Stecchini, in his appendix in Peter Tompkins Book, ancient Egypt itself was called the land of mr or Tumrah. This word was derived from a mr triangle, a right triangle with angles of 36 and 54. These are also the angles found in a pentagram, so this triangle immediately suggests the golden mean and thus, possibly even the Fibonacci Sequence. However, because the ancient Egyptians did not have trigonometry, in the modern sense, they used a slight variation on this triangle as a functional approximation in practice. The rational triangle which was thus used as the basis not only for their construction, but for the very foundation of their cosmology was a mr triangle with edge lengths of 100 units and 72 units, perpendicular to each other, and with a hypotenuse of 123 units. If the angle were exactly 36 and one side were exactly 100 units, then the other side would be 72.6542 units, while the hypotenuse would be 123.6068 units. Thus the mr triangle with rational unit length sides was a useful representation. Stecchini claims that while the Great Pyramid incorporates both p and j (the golden mean), the Second Pyramid is based solely on j through the application of the mr right triangle with an edge length of 100 and a hypotenuse of 123. Compared to the Great Pyramid, the geometry of the Second Pyramid is less complex and sophisticated, and more single minded in its pure expression of the golden mean. Its orientation is also apparently more straight forward with both its north west and south west corners held perfectly square, while only its east face is rotated slightly north of east, thus very slightly shortening the north edge with respect to the south. In contrast, there are several more sophisticated manipulations in evidence in the Great Pyramid with respect to the orientation of both its east and south faces, as well as a very slight rotation of the overall structure by exactly 0 00' 03". This suggests an exceedingly precise manipulation of its orientation expressing some very sophisticated intentional information. The Second Pyramid is by all measures less sophisticated in comparison with the Great Pyramid. When one also considers the fact that the southern edge of the Second Pyramid lines up with the Sphinx, and that it occupies the highest, most obvious, and most central building site on the Giza Plateau, it becomes obvious that it was most likely built first. The Great Pyramid's site is by contrast absolutely as far north, and east, as it would be feasible to go on the site. Both pyramids at Giza are slightly south of the true 30 meridian they were apparently meant to represent, but the Great Pyramid comes as close as it is possible to get given the geology and topography of the site. All of this suggests to me that the Second Pyramid was built before the Great Pyramid. When we also consider that the 123 dimension, and the 72 by 100 by 123 mr triangle are found throughout the design of the pyramid complex at Saqqara, attributed to Imhotep, and widely agreed to immediately predate the construction of the pyramid complex at Giza, it becomes even more plausible that the Second Pyramid, was built sometime after the Step Pyramid at Saqqara, but just before the Great Pyramid at Giza.

In process... at least until January 23rd.

The "23 Enigma" refers to the belief that all incidents and events are directly connected to the number 23. The number 23. Think am crazy? Think again. Heres some examples, skim through them, or read them all if intrigued. What I want you to read really is below all this sh!t.

***2/3= .666 the number of the beast
The New York Yankees won the World Series 23 times
The Uranium isotope used in Nuclear bombs is U235
AOL chat rooms only allow 23 people at a time
In the film Airport, the mad bomber has seat 23
***There are exactly 23 charicters, numbers and letters, on the face of all U.S. coins
***Every 23rd wave crashing on a beach averages twice the size as normal
In the film Airplane II, the name of the spaceship is XR-2300
230 people died in the conspiracy plagued TWA flight 800 disaster
The Unibomber killed or wounded 23 people
The address of the Freemasons lodge in Stafford, England, is 23 Jaol Road. In New York City it's on 23rd street.
***The letter W is the 23rd in the alphabet and has 2 points down and 3 points up
The first Apollo landing on the moon was at 23.63 degrees east; the second was 23.42 degrees west.
April 19th the date of the battle of Lexington, the holocaust at Waco, and the Oclahoma city bombing is written 4/19 by Americans and 19/4 by Europeans. Either way it adds up to 23.
In Star Wars Princess Lea was held in cell AA-23
***Shakespeare was 46(2*23) when the King James Bible was published. Psalm 46(2*23) has it's 46th word "shake" and the 46th word back from the end is "spear".
On the Seinfeld show, Kramer hides an Air-Conditioner on levl purple 23 of a parking garrage.
***William Shakespeare was born on April 23,1556 and died on April 23, 1616.
51, as in Area 51 breaks down to 23 + 23 + (2*3)=51
August 23,1305 William Wallace was exicuted for treason.
August 23, 1970 River Pheonix was born.
The original Star Trek, as well as Babylon Five are set in the 23rd century
***The human Biorhythm cycle is 23 days

***It takes 23 seconds for blood to circulate through the human body
***Julius Ceasar was stabbed 23 times by the assasans.
X-Files: 10.13 productions.10 + 13 = 23
"Scottish Rite Freemasonry" has 23 letters.
A technological singularity has been predicted by "experts" in the near future. It is expected around 2030 AD.
***Geosynchronous orbit occurs at 23,000 miles above Earth's surface.
Psychic Edgar Cayce started having visions of lost Atlantis in 1923.
Hitler joined a secret society in 1923.
Avagadro's number as used in the ideal gas law is 6.02 * 10^23
The CIA headquarters in McLean, VA is located on rt. 123.
***The tilt of Earth's axis is roughly 23o accounting for the changing seasons and the procession of the Zodiac.
***Homo sapiens are given 46 chromosomes from their parents, 23 male and 23 female.
***The Dog Days of Summer begin on July 23 when Sirius the Dogstar rises from behind the sun.
Sydney Carton was the 23rd man beheaded in the climax of Dickens' Tale of Two Cities
Accordidng to Noam Chomsky over half of the national media is owned by 23 companies
The average smoker inhales 23 ciggarettes a day
There are 23 chapters of the Cult Awareness Network
Joseph Smith, the founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints was born on December 23, 1805.
On December 23, 1805 the Federal Reserve Act passed in congress.
***According to ancient Mayan prophesy on December 23, 2012 the world will end.
***In both ancient Sumaria and Egypt July 23 is the start of the new year.
The Nissan car takes its name from "Ni" which means 2 in Japaneese and "san" which means 3. Nissan means 23.
The articles of Impeechment used against Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton are under Article 2, section 3 of the constitution.
The United States set off 23 atomic bombs at Bikini Atoll in the Pacific.
Lines 22-23 of Book I of Milton's Paradice Lost "What in me is dark/ Illumine, what is low raise and support."
In a recent film version of Alice in Wonderland a stuffed Rabbit comes alive and runs away from a case numbered 23.
***The first prime number in which both digits are prime and add up to make annother prime is 23.


It is believed that Adam and Eve had 23 daughters. [citation needed]
It is believed that the verses of the Qur'an were revealed over a period of 23 years. There exist hadith that support this figure, but many more that give other lengths of time.
Psalms, the longest book of the Bible, is the 23rd book of the Old Testament, and the famous "Divine Shepherd" psalm is Psalm 23. Those repeating this popular claim overlook that it is only true in a handful of very specific modern Catholic translations. The famous psalm is actually number 22 in the Septuagint and traditional Catholic Bibles, while the books of the Old Testament appear in several different orders; Psalms is number 23 only in modern Catholic Bibles, being book 21 in the traditional Vulgate, book 26 in the Greek Orthodox Bible, book 19 in most Protestant Bibles, and book 14 in the Jewish Tanakh. It is therefore completely false for the Vulgate (chapter 22 of book 21), and only partly true for the King James Version (chapter 23 of book 19).
December 23, 2012 is the date on which the Mayan calendar ends, predicting an apocalyptic event.
Both the ancient Egyptian and Sumerian calendars begin on 23 July. Both calendars were apparently calculated from the date of the heliacal rising of Sirius, which occurs at that latitude around that time of year.

The list goes on and on.
They say that once you reasearch heavily into the 23 mystery, they say that the number starts appearing in your life everywhere. You become obessed, paranoid, it comes after you. It...haunts you. I am living proof. Heres my diary of how the number 23, is coming after me. It can mean many things, patterns, messages, clues to future events, many things. In theory anyway.

The physical biorhythm cycle is said to be 23 days. It takes 23 seconds for blood to circulate through the human body. The male and female each contribute 23 chromosomes during conception. A full turn of the DNA helix occurs every 23 angstroms. The number of joints in the human arm is 23. There are 23 vertebrae in the human body. Tantrists believe the male sex cycle is 23 days.

Shakespeare was born on April 23. Shakespeare died on April 23. Two 23's equals 46 and, that's how old Shakespeare was when the KJV was published. Grab a King James Version of the Bible and turn to Psalm 46. Count 46 words and you arrive at the word 'shake'. Turn to the end of the chapter and count 46 words backwards and the word you end on is 'spear'.

The Ancient Egyptians hailed the New Year on July 23 - the day Sirius rises behind the sun.

The ideal orbit, Clarke's Orbit, for a satellite is 23,000 miles above the earth.

The first prime number wherein both of the digits are prime and add up to another prime number is 23.

The 23rd letter of the alphabet, W, has 3 points up and 2 points down.

Two-thirds or, 2/3, is equal to .666.

The first Morse code transmission is reported to have been “What hath god wrought?”. A Biblical quote from Numbers 23:23.

Alexander the Great was 23 when he cut the Gordian Knot and Caesar is reported to have been stabbed 23 times. The Knights Templar had 23 Grand Masters.

The “Day the Music Died” was February 3 or, 2-3. This was of course the day Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper died.

Devin Hester, whose jersey number is 23, becomes the first person to return the opening kickoff for a touchdown in a Super Bowl ( XLI ).

Throughout history, the number 23 has had mystical significance., as its the Pentagram: 2 & 3 points. This number appears too frequently for it to be a co-incidence. 23 has an energy field that is resonating all around us. Also 2+3=5, in binary: '101'which is another number you see everywhere. The human body consists of 46 chromosomes, 23 from each parent. Geometry is based on 23 natural laws. There are many examples that describe the power of this number. However, many believe that the number is cursed with dark and evil properties. I believe that It means something if you empower it to by believing that it has some mystical power over you. The way you use it is the key to understand it.

Kurt Cobain died in the year 1994 (1 + 9 + 9 +4 = 23)
Humans have 23 chromosome pairs

Find the 23rd letter on your keyboard. That is the letter “W” now look above it. 23 again.

I Ching

TheI Ching Hexagram 23 means "Break Apart". Telegrapher's use 23 as the code for 'break the line'.

irplane disaster

230 people died on TWA Flight 800.

Aleister Crowley

In Aleister Crowley'sCabalistic Dictionary, he defines the number 23 as the number of "parting, removal, separation, joy, a thread, and life.

Aliens

23 Annunaki, the number of the original advance team of "aliens" who aided in the seeding of life on this planet.

Allen Ginsberg

Allen Ginsberg died at 2:39pm April 5: 2+3+9+4+5=23. The code at the bottom of theReuter's article about Ginsberg's death reads: '23:28'. (28=23+5).

Alphabet

E is the fifth letter of the alphabet, and also the most commonly used in the English language. W is the 23rd letter of the alphabet. Half of W is V, which is the roman numeral for 5. Once again, therefore, the inherent connection between 5 and 23 is proven.Relent ye skeptics!

Apollo Lunar Landings 1 & 2

First landing on the Moon was in the Sea of Tranquility, 23.63 degrees East. Second landing was in the Ocean of Storms, 23.42 degrees West. Notice the names of the picked sights and how they contrast. Note: First two landings were Apollo 11 & 12 (11+12= 23!). Justexactly what does NASA know?

April 19th

As in 4-19... 4 + 19 = 23. April 19 is the date the Battle of Lexington, Waco, and the Oklahoma City Bombing... (4+19=23).You connect the dots.

Astronomy: March 23, 1997

The comet Hale Bopp was at her closest point to Earth, 123 million miles.

Astronomy: Sirius

Sirius A has a luminosity of 23.5.

Astronomy: Sirius

The "Dog Days" of summer begin on July 23rd when the star Sirius, in the Constellation of Orion, first rises from behind the sun.

Astronomy

On the evening of March 23, 1997 in the US, not only was the comet Hale-Bopp clearly visible, but there was also a lunar eclipse. Mars was also at its closest distance to Earth.

Astronomy

The axis of the planet Earth is 23.5 degrees.As it is above, so below.

Astronomy

The distance from the center of the planet Mars to the center of it's farthest moon is 23,500 kilometers.

Astronomy

The number of days in a year on Earth is 365.2422.

August 23, 1305

The day William Wallace, whose life is fictionalized in the movieBraveheart, was executed for treason to the crown by leading a Scottish revolt. Interestingly, this was the pre-cursor to the underground Knights Templar refugees' involvement with Robert the Bruce at the Battle of Bannockburn. Now it's starting to make sense, isn't it?

August 23, 1970

Birth date of River Phoenix, actor. Died of drug overdose,"You call him Dr. Bones, doll!"

August 23

Birth date of Keith Moon, original drummer for the Who. Also died from drug overdose,"my decomposition".

August 23rd, 1995

David Gottel, a member of Skinny Puppy, died. Huh.

Average Lunar Cycle

Average Lunar Cycle is 28 (23+5) days.

Average Menstrual Cycle

An average menstrual cycle is 28 (23+5) days.

Avogadro's Number

The number of atoms of an element in one mole (cf. Atomic Weight) is 6.21x10²³.

BCE	Politically correct term meaning "Before Common Era", or more to the point, before the supposed birth of Christ the Zealot. B, C, E: the 2nd, 3rd, and 5th letters of the alphabet

Base 3

The number 23, written in base 3, is 212 (2+1+2=5)

Base 4

23 written to the base 4 is 113 (1+1+3=5).

Base 7

23 written to the base 7 is 32 (3+2=5).

Beer	Rolling Rock beer labels have a mysteriously marketed "33" (2 3's) on the back of every bottle. Sure they have an innocent story about the number of letters and blah blah, but what's thereal Masonic meaning behind all this?

Bible: Revelations

Revelations ofThe New Testament has 22 sections the 22nd having 21 lines; implying a progression to 23

Bible: Revelations

The most frequent numbers in the Book of Revelations are 4 (the powerful beasts), 7(seven seals, seven churches, etc.), and 12 (12 apostles, etc.). 4+7+12=23!

Bible: Revelations

There is no known 23rd Chapter to Revelations.

Bible

I Corinthians 15:56, Paul said "The sting of death [23] is sin and the strength of sin [13] is the law [10]."

Bible

Daniel 8:14And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.

Bible

Psalm 23:The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want...

Binary Digits

10111 is the binary equivalent to 23. Note the five digits, yet another connection to the Law of Fives

Biorythm

biorhythm cycle is generally 23 days. One measures a circle beginning anywhere.

Blood Circulation

It takes 23 seconds for blood to circulate through the human body.

Boy Scouts

The Order of the Arrow: a secret organization within the Boy Scouts of America uses "WWW" as one of their symbols. W is the 23rd letter of the alphabet. Hmmm... 'w w w' has a ring to it.

Buddha

2x2x3x3x3 or 2 to the power of 2 times 3 to the power of three = 108, the number of auspicious signs by which the Buddha is known.

Burrough's 23 Enigma

In the early '60's in Tangiers, William Burroughs knew a certain "Captain Clark" who ran a ferry from Tangiers to Spain. One day, Clark said to Burroughs that he'd been running the ferry23 years without an accident. That very day the ferry sank, killing Clark and everyone aboard. In the evening, Burroughs was thinking about this when he turned on the radio. The first newscast headlined the crash of an airline plane on the New York-Miami route. The pilot was anotherCaptain Clark and the flight was listed asFlight 23 (ala the line "Captain Clark welcomes you aboard.").

CB Channels

There were originally 23 channels of Citizens Band (CB) radio in the US. There are now 40.

Cartoons: Bugs Bunny

Bug Bunny says in one cartoon "frick-a-frack-a fire-crack-er siss boom bah! Bugs Bunn-y Bugs Bunn-y Rah Rah Rah!" There are 19 syllables in this cryptic statement. 1-9=-8, or -2³, the prime number before 23. Wow... people are funny.

Ceasar

Ceasar was stabbed 23 times when he was assassinated.

Charly

The Academy Award winning filmCharly is the story of a low-grade moron (IQ around Dan Quayle's) who is transformed by neuro-surgery into a superhuman genius (IQ 200 plus). In the crucial operation scene, the number on the operating room is visible, and it is 23.

Chomsky and 23

Over 50% of the national media is owned by 23 major corporations, as reported by Noam Chomsky. To recapitulate... more than half of the information thrust upon the American people is controlled by only 23 corporations.

Chromosome Pairs

The human body has 46 chromosomes, which are paired, in somatic cells. Generative cells have half this number, 23, which is the number of chromosomes each parents gives to human deoxyribonucleic acid.

Church of Zypgx

7.32 is the Holy Number of the First Church of Zypgx, which gives all of its members a number between 7.32 and 8. (7 being the number of luck, 32 being 23 backwards and 8 being approximately the symbol for infinity. 3.1415 is of course, the mathematical enigma which is pi. Multiply these two numbers and you get almost exactly 23. The followers of the First Church of Zypgx also believe that when pi is found to the last decimal place, the number of their Savior timesexact pi will be precisely 23. And you thought the Heaven's Gate people were a bit kooky?

Church of the Process

Famed church, espoused by Skinny Puppy and Psychic TV, which regards 23 as a special number of great significance.

Cigarettes

The average smoker smokes 23 butts a day.

Clinton

Bill Clinton's numerical initials are B=2 C=3.

Clinton

The number of letters in William Jefferson Clinton is 23.

Clinton

William, W being the 23rd letter of the alphabet.

Comics: Superman

Superman got his new 'electric' look inSuperman issue #123.

Computers: 32 bit bus

The fifth generation is the 32 bit bus, 32 being the fifth power os 2, and 2³ * 2².

Computers: TCP/IP

Standard TCP/IP port for Telnet is 23.

Computers: URLs

Most URLs for the web contain 2 "/"s and 3 W's..

Computers: World Wide Web

23+23+23=WWW, the World Wide Web is referred by "WWW." W, of course, occupies the 23rd position in the alphabet. Tim Berners-Lee, at CERN, created the Web. CERN=3,5,18,14. 24=(18+14)-(3+5). Close one.

Computers

Computers communicate in 2³ bits (bytes).

Cults: L. Ron Hubbard

His Axiom 23: All thought is concerned with motion.

Cults

There are 23 chapters of the Cult Awareness Network. Incidentally, the over-zealous law firm which for years has represented the "Church" of Scientology, a more successful joke religion than even Discordianism, purchased the logo and license agreement of the Cult Awareness Network (CAN). The Heaven's Gate Away Team nerds were really happy about this according to some of their USENET posts.

December 23, 1805

Birth date of Joseph Smith, founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (or as the better marketing name goes, Mormons).

December 23, 1913

Passage of the Federal Reserve Act by 3 members of Congress, 2 of which were stockholders of the parent firms of the Federal Reserve Bank. Another example that conspiracies are nothing more than a good ol' boy network of elitist college buddies. You do the same thing all the time... this just happens to affect more people.

December 23, 2012

A huge cycle ends in the Mayan calendar. Terence McKenna thinks the Eschaton will Immanetize. Other theories suggest the ice caps, having become wobbly from the gravitational pull exerted by the alignment offive planets directly opposing the Spaceship Earth on 5-5-2005, will cause the crust of the Earth to slip over the soggy innards, causing the ice caps to melt, and new ones to form. Of course, this will cause massive flooding, earthquakes, general mayhem and undoubtedly affect the quarterly earnings of Nike. All because the earth is slightly tilted, averaging about 23.5 degrees! (Refer to Graham Hancock'sFingerprints of the Gods for more background on this phenomenon. It ties in the Egyptians and other ancient civilizations, Atlantis, Osiris, star-charts, geological evidence, and hard physical evidence of the remnants of a lost, technologically superior pre-historic race.)

December 23, 2012

The date the Mayans believed the world will end. Hence why they werereally obsessed with time and it's observance.

December 23, 679

The date that Dagobert II, a Merovingian King was murdered. Speculation, derived from the research of the highly controversial book entitledHoly Blood, Holy Grail , leads one to conclude this assassination was performed in connivance with the Catholic Church. The church leaders, unhappy with Dagobert's apparent policy of religious tolerance in his kingdom, located in the south of France, allegedly got him out of the way to best serve their own interests. A predecessor of Dagobert, Clovis, had an alliance with the Catholic church, so it is possible that church leaders saw Dagobert's actions as a betrayal of what was considered a long standing policy of pro-Catholic reforms.

Descartes

2+3=5 is the equation Descartes chooses to theorize about as being an objective truth that he is possibly being fooled into believing is true in hisMeditations on First Philosophy.

Dillinger

2323 Clark St. Chicago, IL: this is the theater where John Dillinger was allegedly shot while leaving after the flick Manhattan Melodrama ended. Also, have you noticed that in most movies hotel room numbers are based on five, with many of them being 23, or some variation that breaks down to 5? Oh sure, go ahead and roll your eyes, but you can't escape it.

Dillinger

John Dillinger robbed 26 banks, but only 23 for money. Now that's a statement.

Dutch Shultz

Arthur Flengenheimer (a.k.a. Dutch Schultz) died in a New York hospital on October 23, 1934 and uttered: "A boy has never wept nor dashed a thousand kim... French Canadian bean soup... The bears are in trouble and the sidewalks are in trouble..."

Dvorák's Symphony No. 9

In Dvoráks Symphony No. 9 in E Minor (5th letter of the alphabet, btw), you hear the morse code for V, the Roman Numeral Symbol for 5. TitledFrom the New World, probably as in "The New World Order". You also hear the same BA BA BA BUUUMMMMMM (Dot Dot Dot Dash) in Beethoven's 5th Symphony, which he wrote after being "Illuminated" by Adam Weishaupt.

Fallen Angels

Two-thirds of the angels decided to stick it out in Heaven with God after Lucifer and the other third fell.

Film: Blue Meenies

In the epic cartoonYellow Submarine the Blue Meenies are comprised of a wild pack of destructive anti-music villains. Among them is a character named the Butterfly Stomper (butterfly being a symbol of transformation). The Butterfly Stomper is one who destroys all things of beauty. On his shirt is the number 23... and you know what that means.

Film:Airplane II: The Sequel

In the movieAirplane II the name of the space ship is theXR - 2300.

Film:Airport

In the movie Airport, the mad bomber has Seat 23.

Film:Babe

In the movieBabe, the little piggy is the 23rd contestant for the Sheep Dog contest. Kind of takes the innocence of the flick away doesn't it?

Film:Die Hard III

In the movieDie Hard III the train derails in subway station 23.

Film:Hackers

In the movieHackers, the data which causes all the action is take from 'data bank 23'.

Film:Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)

The first trash truck seen transporting pods is labled number 23.

Film:Lawrence of Arabia

Anthony Quinn's character proclaims he has 23 wounds upon his body.

Film:Lost Highway

In David Lynch's film,Lost Highway, Fred's number in the jail is 47516 (4+7+5+1+6=23).

Film:Nixon

In Oliver Stone'sNixon, Tricky Dick's football jersey at Whittier is number 23.

Film:Quiz Show

A waiter chooses 23 when asked for a random number, and the contestant follows with a list of 23 related facts to show his knowledge base.

Film:Star Wars

TheMillennium Falcon escapes Mos Eisley spaceport from docking bay 94 (9/3=3 and 4/2=2 reverse it and you get 23).

Film:Star Wars

In the final assault on the Death Star, Luke Skywalker is in Red 5. Red 2 and Red 3 start the bomb runs at 23 degrees. "Stay on target!"

Film:Star Wars

R2-D2 and C-3PO: R2+C3=RC (Rosy Cross, Rosicrucian) and 23.

Film:Star Wars

TK421, the only stormtrooper called by name in theStar Wars trilogy. T(20)+k(11)+4-2-1=32. The reverse of 23.Now that's the spirit! Why aren't you at you're post?

Film:Star Wars

The cell block where Princess Leia was held on the Death Star was AA-23 on Level 5. A.'.A.'.?

Film:Star Wars

When Luke Skywalker is in the trench during his bombing run, the first number you see on the targeting computer is 23. The next scene that shows the computer shows the number 32.

Film:Support Your Local Gunslingler

James Garner's character, who despises roulette, announces that he has "an irresistible urge to bet on the number 23." 23 becomes a running gag throughout the comedy-western.

Film:THX-1138

George Lucas' first real movie, in alphabetic order, T=20, H=8, X=24. (T)20-(H)8=12; 1+3+8=12; reconcile: 12-12=0 which leaves (X)24-1=23.

Film:The Prophecy

In the movieThe Prophecy, the Bible belonging to the dead angel Uziel is bookmarked on the 23rd chapter of Revelations.

Film	The number on Adam Sandler's helmet inHappy Gilmore is 23.

Flight 800

The two recovered seats from TWA Flight 800 with shrapnel damage were Seats 23J and 23K. The explosion is theorized to have occurred at this location.

Freemason Henry Price

Henry Price is buried in the cemetery of Townsend, Massachusetts. His monument is an obelisk that measures 69" tall (69 / 3 = 23). On the side of the monument facing west it says:Henry Price "Founder of Duly Constituted Masonry in America." On the east face it says:Born in London about 1697, removed to Boston about 1723, appointed Provincial Grand Master of New England in 1733. The monument is carved on 2 faces, made of 3 pieces - base, block, and cap stone.

Freemasons

The address of the Freemasons lodge in Stafford, England is 23 Jaol Rd. In New York it is on 23rd street.

General Custer

Custer achieved the rank of General at the young age of 23, the youngest general in the U.S. army at the time.

Geometry: Pentagons

The angle between the rays of a symmetrical-pointed star is 72 degrees. Also, the angle between legs of a pentagon is 108 degrees (the complementary angle of 108 is 72(108+72=180)). (2^3)*(3^2)=2*3*2*3*2=72. (Note that 5 (2^2)*(3^3)=3*2*3*2*3=58. Numbers are 2*3*2*3*5=180 multiplied in each equation.)

Great Pyramid

Supposedly there are 2,300 stones comprising the Great Pyramid. Uh-huh... sure.

Harmonic Convergence

The harmonic convergence occurs every 23,000 years.

Health: Centrum Silver

There are 23 vitamins and minerals in a Centrum Silver tablet.

Hiroshima

Hiroshima was bombed on August 6, 1945 (8+6+4+5=23).

Human Lifespan

63 years, the average lifespan of a human being on the planet Earth, is roughly 23,000 days.

Human body

The number of joints in the human arm is 23.

January 23

Adolf Hitler organized the National Socialist Congress on January 23. On November 23 he tried to seize power.

January 23rd

On January 23, 1968 theUSS Pueblo was hijacked off of North Korea. The crew was held exactly 11 months until December 23, 1968 when they were released after being beaten by soviets to give back an intercepted USSR message stating plans to start a nuclear war with Red China.

July 23, 1996

"Mysterious Eyes" of comet Hale-Bopp first sighted.

July 23

More reported UFO sightings on this day than any other day of the year. This is the flapday of the year.

July 23rd

July 23rd is both the Sumerian and Egyptian New Years.

June 1, 1996

The day Tim Leary died. The date 6-1-1996 provides 6+1+1+9+9+6=32, or 23 backwards.

June 15th, 1904

(19 + 04 = 23) The date the ship "General Slocum " catches fire and over a thousand die.

June 16th, 1904

(19 + 04 = 23) The day James Joyce uses inUlysses, who mentions theGeneral Slocum disaster the day before repeatedly within this book.

Knights Templar

October 13 (10+13=23) is the month and day that the Knight Templars were arrested in France... hence Friday the 13th being considered a day of bad luck. Amazing how it all starts to fit together, isn't it?

Knights Templar

The Templars had only 23 Grandmasters. Jacques de Molay was the 23rd and last of the Templar Grandmasters."Jacques de Molay, thou art unhinged!"

Latin Alphabet

There are 23 letters in the Latin alphabet.

Level of ONE

The newest front society of the Illuminated, the 23rd level of the ONE is reported to be the last level attainable (achieving departure from Earth). Remind you of something else?

Literature: Charles Dickens

In Dickens' Tale of Two Cities, Sidney Carlton, the 23rd man, is guillotined in the final scene." The murmuring of many voices, the upturning of many faces, the pressing on of many footsteps in the outskirts of the crowd, so that it swells forward in a mass, like one great heave of water, all flashes away. Twenty-Three."

Literature:Catch-22

The Catch-22 of Joseph Heller's book/film: "If a bomber-pilot don´t want to fly missions then he´s sane, for mission-flying is deadly dangerous. If a bomber does want to fly missions then he´s insane for missions-flying is deadly dangerous. The only way to stop flying missions is to be insane, but if the flyer does want to fly missions then why shouldn't he go on? No way out (23)."

Literature:Paradise Lost

Lines 22-23 of Book I of Milton'sParadise Lost read, ".... what in me is dark Illumine, what is low raise and support..."

Male Sex Cycle

23 days in the male sex cycle (according to Tantrists).

Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe's former address is 12305 Helena Drive.

Mathematics: Hexadecimal

The Hex equivalent of 23 is 17, therefore all references to the number 17 are indirect references to the number 23.

Mathematics: Primes

23 is the first prime number in which both digits are prime numbers and add up to another prime number.

Mathematics: Primes

Two (2), three (3), and five(5) are the first three prime numbers in our counting system. (1 is not prime, it's an identity.)

Mathematics: Square Roots

Square root(s) of 2,3, and 5 are used in respect to tetrahedral hyperdimensional physics and perfect form in design. Square root(s)of 2, 3, and 5 supposedly relative to D&M Pyramid on Mars and other similar relationships. Also these square roots were quite common in early architecture and considered the most aesthetically pleasing in design.

Mathematics

23 Axioms in Euclid's Geometry.

Mathematics

In base 5, 23 = 2x5 +3 = 13 in decimal notation. 13 is an amazingly significant number being theactual level of most floors labeled 14 in American hotels.

Mathematics

Two-thirds of numbers which are divisible by 2 are not multiples of 3.

Microsoft

There are 23 buildings on the Microsoft campus in Redmond, Washington. Where do you want Bill Gates to go today?

Mob

Gangster "Mad Dog" Coll was shot on 23rd Street when he was 23 years old; a year later, Dutch Schultz (who paid for the Coll assassination) was himself fatally shot on October 23, 1935. Marty Krompier, king of the Harlem numbers racket, was non-fatally shot on the same October 23, 1935. ("It's got to be one of them coincidences," he told the police.) Shultz's killer, Charlie Workman, served 23 years of a life sentence and was then paroled. Coll is buried in St. Raymond's Cemetery.

Money: U.S. Coinage

There are exactly 23 plainly visible characters (letters & numbers) on the front of U.S. Coins.

Nissan brand cars

Nissan is a brand of Japanese cars. In Japanese, "ni" is 2, and "san" is 3. So Nissan would be 23.

Nixon's Articles of Impeachment

The Articles of Impeachment meant for Richard Nixon were under Article 2, Section 3 of the Constitution. In the sweetest irony, Our Beloved First Lady, Hillary Rodham Clinton, was one of the young lawyers who helped research the constitutionality of impeaching a reigning President. Nice of her to do all the groundwork for us...

November 22, 1963

The day Kennedy was shot.

November 24, 1963

The day Oswald wasallegedly shot.

Nuclear Tests

The USA performed 23 tests of atomic detonations at Bikini Atoll in the South Pacific.

Numerology

Two (2) and Three (3) are next to each other in our numbering system (e.g. 1,2,3...). Takethat!

October 23, 1956

The day the Hungarian revolution began against the Russians. Not to be confused with any of the many previous Hungarian revolutions.

October 23, 4004 BC

According to Bishop Usher in hisAnnales Veteris Testament (Annals of the Old Testament), the supposed date of God's creation of the world is October 23, 4004 BC. Thus the 6th Millennium is this year. Gonna pa-arrrrrrrrrr-ty likes it's 5999!

Parliamentary Procedure

23 votes are required to rescind a Motion.

Pepsi Cans

Calories: 150 = one 5 Carbohydrates: 41 = 5 As % Daily Value: 14% = 5 Sugars: 41g = 5 1 Can: 12Fl (355 mL) = two 5s, 1, 3, & 2: 1(3+5) = 5, = three 5's. The Pepsi sigil is a corruption of the Holy Chao... also directly to the left of the ingredients you'll find a bold "K" = Kallisti?

Pepsi

The advertisementSecurity Camera, in which a Coke worker tries to take a Pepsi in a convenience store and knocks down the shelf, displays the time in the upper right hand corner as 6:23.

Physics: Tidal Wave Frequency

On average every 23rd wave crashing to shore is twice as large as the average wave.

Physics: Uranium Isotopes

The name of the Uranium isotope used in bombs is U235.

Physics: Vanadium

The symbol for the 23rd element is V (roman numeral 5).

Pookah!

In the film version (titledAlice) of Charlie Dodgson's classicAlice in Wonderland by the Czech director/animator Jan Svankmejer, Alice's taxidermically stuffed rabbit flings open the door by dressing itself and running 'away'. The case that holds the white rabbit (i.e. Pookah (i.e. one who takes you OUT)) is labeled "No. 23".

Qabala

In the Qabalistic Tree of Life, the 23rd path is associated with the Hanged Man Tarot Card. Aleister Crowley also states that this card represents the concept that the only way OUT is WITHIN!

Rave scene

23 HOP is the club where the Toronto rave scene was created.

September 23

Rosicrucian (AMORC): Annual Outdoor Fete is held on September 23, when the sun enters the sign of Libra.

September 23

The Fall Equinox.

September 23

Yom Kippur.

Sex: Positions

69 (23*3) is one of the many loved sexual positions of humans. The Zodiac sign for Cancer looks like a sideways 69. Cancers are born between June 21 and July 21 and 21+2 (the number of characters in 69)=23

Shakespeare

Shakespeare was born on April 23, 1564 and died on April 23, 1616. 23+23=46. Shakespeare was 46 years old in the year 1610 (1+6+1+0=8, 8=2³), the year the King James Bible was published. Psalm 46 in that translation has as its 46th word "shake" while the 46th word from the end is "spear." Go ahead, explain that one. I dare ya. It's also a fun party trick!

Space Program, Russian

On March 14, 1997, NASA representative states that MIR 23 space station is having problems resulting from the February 23, 1997 fire and has used 23 of their oxygen-generating canisters. It is the 23rd day aboard for the Russian crew. Progress 233 supply vehicle has problems of its own and cannot redock with MIR.

Space Program, US

Saturn V (2+3=5) rockets were used to launch the Apollo missions to the moon.

Space Program, US

The longitudinal coordinates of the Apollo 11 moon landing were 23.63 degrees. (2+3=5 while 6+3=9=3²)

Sports: Car 23 Camel Cigarettes racing machine bears the number 23. And what is up with Tom Robbins anyway?

Sports: Darts

23 is the lowest positive integer number not scoreable with one dart on a dartboard.

Sports: Ryne Sandberg

Number 23 on the Chicago Cubs, holds MLB record for consecutive errorless innings, 123. The 1 in 123 added to 4, the numerical designation for second base equals 5, adhering to the law of fives.

Sports: World Series

23 World Series have been won by the New York Yankees. Also they won their first World Series in 1923. Ah, statistics.

Sports

Michael Jordan's shirt number is 23, which is also the day of his father's murder.

TV: Cartoons

Popeye is seen repeatedly pondering the number 23 in many of his 1970's TV Cartoons.

TV:Babylon 5

A 5 mile long space station, a 5 year story line, set in the 23rd century, naturally. And if you watch closely, you'll notice it's all parable for Clinton and Whitewater.

TV:Seinfeld

Kramer hides his air conditioner on Level Purple 23 in a shopping carpark. This episode was played in Australia on 23 September 1996.

TV:Sesame Street

Bert is a member of the National Association of W Lovers. W is the 23rd letter of the alphabet, if you haven't had that driven into your head by now.

TV:Star Trek: The Next Generation

In most every episode of ST:TNG, if a number is given it will usually be a 23 (or 23,000).

TV:X-Files

Ten-Thirteen (10+13=23) is the name of the production company famed for producing shows like theX-files andMillennium. 10-13 is the Birth date of creator Chris Carter and the day the Knights Templar were arrested in France in 1307.Aha! you exclaim,More proof!

TV:X-Files

1013 (10+13=23) is the number on the abandoned nuclear missile silo where a UFO is contained and Crycek is locked up by the Men in Black in an episode of X-Files.

TV:X-Files

Agent Mulder goes to the apartment of a recently deceased man in one episode, and we see the number 23 on the door as he is let in.

TV	Max Headroom broadcast on Network 23.

Tarot

2 is the number of balance, 3 is the number of synergy and 5 is the number of strife in the Tarot deck. Presumably, therefore, if things always changed, or if things never changed we would be all right, but when both happen, we experience troubling times.

Tarot

The trump cards, or the Major Arcana of the Tarot represent a cycle, or wheel. The cards are 22 in number, "beginning" with the fool and "ending" with the universe. But, as the standard musical scale of western music is an octave (seven notes (ABCDEFG) with the first repeated as the last (ABCDEFGA) to represent the progressive cycle of the musical scale), the 22 trumps, when arranged with the fool at the "beginning and end", actually form a cycle of 23.

Tarot

There is no 23rd card in the Major Arcana.

The Artists Formerly Engaged as The Police

Their songSynchronicity I is 3:23 long.

Timothy Leary

Fortean Times #97 reported that Timothy Leary's ashes were to be launched into space the 2nd week of March (the third month). The launch contained the ashes of Timothy Leary,Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and23 others...

UFO's: Roswell, NM

The date of the 'weather balloon' crash at Roswell, New Mexico was July 3, 1947. 7+3+1+9+4+7=32. The reverse of 23.

UFOs	Regarding UFOs, the myth-inspiring Hangar 18 is yet another alien parts store. (23-5=18)

Unabomber

The Unabomberallegedly hurt or killed 23 people.

V	In filing systems which make a special place for the symbol 'Mc', V is the 23rd letter of that system.

Victory/Peace hand sign

Consisting of five fingers: 2 up to form a Roman Number V, 3 fingers down. Hippies and Nixon: willing dupes for THEM.

Video

After the Rodney King verdict, a Korean shopkeeper during the L.A riots can be clearly seen shooting at looters from the roof of a building in front of a large sign proclaiming the number 23 and nothing else.

W	W is the 23rd letter in the alphabet and is also the shape a woman's legs form while copulating in the missionary position. W is also the first letter in the names of many important historic figures (Washington or Weishaupt for example).

W	W, the only letter in the English language to be renounced polysyllabically, is 23rd in line. Note also that it is a double(2)-u and that t has three(3) syllables.

Washington, D.C.

Washington starts with the letter "W" which is the 23rd letter in the alphabet. The Pentagon (5 sides) building is located in Washington D.C.