The Day of Elevens

People get all riled up/spooked about calendar dates that, when written in numerals, repeat only the same number, and it’s likely 11-11-11 will be the last one any of us see in our lifetime. What is so special about this day though? Who gives a crap if all the numbers are the same, and they all happen to be 11s, or 1s?

We asked white witch Maja D’Aoust about this, and she told us that “a lot of people don’t understand the significance of numbers, or ‘numerology,’ and think it is retarded to use the date of an event to get information on its nature. For some reason it is quite a leap to think a number could represent, say, a habitual behavior pattern, but to say a number represent the letter Z in an algebra equation is perfectly normal. Numbers really kind of represent everything, and are the gnarliest symbolic language we have.”

In numerology, 11 is a psychic number, a sort of gateway to higher knowledge or a spiritual path. If you look at the Tree of Life (the guide to the Kabbalah, not that terrible Terrence Malick movie), you’ll see there are appear to be ten official sephirot, or the emanations through which the world manifests.

See that huge space up in that top-most “square” though? The square below it has a sephirot, and the rest of this thing looks pretty balanced—so why is there that gaping space? It’s a not-super-well-kept secret that there’s another one chilling in there behind the scenes. This is sort of the 11th sephirot, called Da’at (or Da'ath), and it stands for knowledge. Deep knowledge, an inner dimension of thought itself, like intuition on steroids. It powers memory and activates those sensitive parts of consciousness that know without tangible, rational proof. So it makes sense this sephirot would be hidden.

There are two parts to Da’at: higher and hidden knowledge. The former deals with soul and oversoul purposes, connection to Source, that kind of stuff. The latter is about connecting the intellect with emotion, knowledge of the self through exploration of the heart. And there are occult overtones in there too, knowing that which is purposely obscured in order to find a larger truth. So 11/11/11 is Da’at Day: the day to seek knowledge.

Artist and fellow witch Dame Darcy pointed out that it’s also Armistice Day, the day of peace, which took effect at eleven o'clock in the morning of the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918. This was the official day to end World War I. “It was also the birthday of my beloved grandpa, who was a cowboy, and whom I also consider to be a pagan, and an artist,” Dame Darcy says. “I can only assume for this personal and worldwide assertation that the tripling up of the 11's means bringing in a new era of peace and magic, "eleven" and "elven" being in some ways one and the same. 1 meaning the beginning, 11 being the one after 10 (the completion), so it is even better than completion, it is completion with a cherry on top, it is the number of genius, because it encompasses not ‘just enough’ but all of ‘more than enough.’ An A++.”

Please, tell us more, Dame Darcy.

“Eleven is the place beyond the mere nice mundane. 111 equals the holy trinity (Mother, Father, and Child), among many other trinities, so 11/11/11 is the power of the trinity squared, and a marvelous time to manifest your true heart's desire! Give yourself a booster shot of magic and do a full moon empowerment circle to manifest peace, inner peace, and empowerment. Now is a great new start, the first first full moon of the witches’ new year.”

Maja D’Aoust told us what’s astrologically happening today:

“The Sun will be sitting right on top of a rather notorious point, known as Serpentis. Serpentis is a spot at 19 degrees Scorpio in the heavens, and is known in Greek antiquity as ‘the cursed point in the cursed sign.’ All Scorpio-hating aside, there are some curious patterns to back this up: Charles Manson had his Sun and Venus here and Ted Bundy had his Venus conjunct it, so there have been some epically bad dudes with affiliations of the Serpentine. (I have Mars and Mercury there so shoooot.) However, deeper penetration to this point shows it is part of a constellation known as 'the Serpent bearer,' or Ophiuchus, based on a healer in Greek Mythology called Ascelepius.

“To find out more about what this day is about I think lies hidden somewhere within that persnickety Luciferian character, the snake. The point of this story is about the power of a snake, a seemingly venomous creature, to heal, renew, and rejuvenate. The tale of Asclepius is what gives us the symbol we see every time we go into the doctor’s office, the two snakes cruising up a stick, called the Caduceus. Asclepius had a temple filled with horrifying snakes of all kinds, and the sick person would go right into the middle of it and fall asleep, to dream with the slithery scenery. When he woke up, his illness would be remedied. The idea is that conquering fear is the base of healing all disease. A snake can kill you, it is true, but every poison is a cure. The same Serpentis sickness that drove Charles Manson to murder also gave Mark Twain, who had his Mercury there, his venomous wit. How a poison cures or kills is in the application and the dose. So what do we do on 11-11-11? Will it kill us all, or save us all? It’s all in how we handle our snakes and how much we let our fear of them penetrate into our hearts.”

So let’s bring this all back around. Today the sun is right on top of Serpentis, and it is also the day of Da’at. The story of Eden centers around a snake offering Eve secret knowledge. So today, will you eat that apple? And if you do, what do you gain by knowing?

Maja D'Aoust
@damedarcy
@lizzyarmstrong