Meaning of the Number 12
“And the wall of the city had twelve foundation stones, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.” (Revelation 21:14).
The number 12 has had a significant meaning for many centuries in various cultures throughout the world. Many stories that have been passed down to us to help us understand exactly why this number is still so important to us all to this day. There must be a reason why we use this number to represent so many different things and I hope to explain to you in simple terms why this divine number is used so often in just about everything we do.
What is important to understand about this number is that throughout the ages, it has represented many “different” deities or things that our ancestors had communicated to us for a specific reason that I will attempt to explain below. It is the most reoccurring common number used in the Bible and also used in our society today to represent everything that is either whole or complete.
Why do we use this number 12 to represent so much of our lives?
The number twelve has a special meaning in nature which is representative in math and math can help you decipher the secret mysteries of nature. You will see the fact that there is only one true square number, (144) 12 x 12 = 144, which we know as Pure Math Harmony Vertically and Horizontally. This can be easily seen in music, but this also affects our DNA and how we react to these “vibrations.” What is very important in the “magic” of this divine number is that at 12 “symbolic of the creation of the universe” as it represents the division or fractionating of unity into twelve individual distinct sound vibrations or tones.
Hence, this is a magical or a divine number that affects us humans in many more ways than one for it is the perfect numeral to represent how vibrations affect our DNA and souls. Whether it be through the magic of music or using it for Templar purposes in the prophecies of the Apocalypse to signify the “end or a whole.”
The key into understanding why this number is divine is that it is “symbolic of the creation of the universe” as in the Twelve Apostles via Jesus Christ of the Apocalypse which in this 6th age, signify the “end or a whole.” As is well said by S. Augustine (de Doctrina Christiana), “The number Twelve multiplied into Twelve makes One Hundred and FortyFour, the number in the Apocalypse, which designates the traiversal Society of the Saints:” and so Aug. f here, “centum quadraginta quatuor Millia omnis omninb Ecclfsia eit.”
The Division of the Twelve Holy Apostles occurred when the Apostles before leaving Jerusalem to bring the Gospel to all nations determined by lot the portions of the world that each would evangelize.
The Apostles are what I like to call the legal representatives via the Universal Church under the New Testament as the twelve Zodiacal signs, with its head, or thirteenth, which, beginning with the Sun for they have dominion over the whole earth. Hence, this why the number is so important in our world today and we can thank the Apostles of the New Testament for making sure this was possible. Much of what we see today is the result of the magic created by our ancestors to make sure this divine connection to a divine number was never lost.
We can see this theme repeated throughout the ancient history like no other number:
- The oldest story that I could find is that of the tale of the twelve native princes (the Dodecarchy of Herodotus and Diodorus) where Psammeticus defeated his eleven co-regents at Momemphis. The number, 12, is derived from the twelve courts of columns in the Labyrinth, which, according to Herodotus and Diodorus, was built by the twelve princes, whereas this gigantic building had already been standing 1500 years .
- 12 hours of the night assigned to Osiris as his companions and assessors, and personifying gods at whose head was Horus the rising Sun:
- Izdubar of Ancient Babylon and his 12 great adventures
- Hercules the Sun-God and his 12 labours
- Council of 12 of the Areopagus, under which were besides subordinate councils of 12
- Alexander and his 12 Cheders
- 12 Drottars who presided over the Odinic Mysteries evidently personified the twelve holy and ineffable names of Odin
- 12 Sons of Romulus
- 12 Luperci, priests of Pan, were introduced into Rome by Romulus
- 12 Olympians
- 12 Bedesmen
- 12 Knights of the King Arthur’s Round Table (the zodiac circle)
- 12 satyrs or wild men, appointed by the witch Kalyb to accompany St. George
- 12 followers of Buddha
- 12 followers of Quetzalcoatl
- Charlemagne with his 12 peers, down to the electoral Chapter of the Temple with its Chief
Originally, the town’s Bedesmen consisted of 12 poor men over the age of 50 who were each paid a penny to pray every day for the souls of the King, Archbishop Henry Chichele and their benefactors. They were first appointed by the archbishop, who was born in the town, and used to live in the Bede House next to St Mary’s Church. – Evening Telegraph Link
The number twelve is mentioned several times in the Bible:
- 12 tribes of Israel
- 12 brothers of Joseph
- 12 judges of Israel
- 12 great patriarchs
- 12 old testament prophets
- 12 kings of Israel
- 12 princes of Israel
- 12 Jewels of the High Priest
The number Twelve in the Apocalypse:
- Jesus’ 12 disciples
- New set of 12 Apostles with the New Church via the New Testament to Represent this 6th Age
- Woman crowned with twelve stars
- Holy City has twelve foundations, and twelve gates;
- The tree of life bears twelve fruits
- The Elect of God consist of twelve thousand, sealed out of each of Twelve Tribes
Bible Verses:
- Apostles, “Ye shall sit on Twelve Thrones judging the Twelve Tribes of Israel.” (Matt. xix. 28.)
- Joshua iv. 2, 3, 9. – Take you Twelve men. Take you Twelve stones. And Joshua set up Twelve stones.
- “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world” (John xi. 9).
- “Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?” (Matt. xxvi. 53).
- In Matthew: “And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, that ye which have followed me in the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (xix. 28). And in Luke: “Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations. And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me; that ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (xxii. 28—30)
2012 Super Congress of 12
The number twelve has also been represented in the 20th and 21st Centuries up until now:
- U.S. Super Congress of 12
- 12 Masonic signs of recognition
- European Union Flag has a circle of 12 stars
- Himmler and his 12 knights in the Nazi SS
Then let us look at how this number affects are daily lives:
- 12 signs of the zodiac
- 12 months of the year
- 12 hours of day
- 12 hours of night
- 12 inches in a foot
- 12 days of Christmas
- 12 grades in school
- 12 step-programs
- 12 jurors
- 12 notes before the octave
- 12 eggs in a dozen
- 12 years of childhood before the “teens
The Breastplate of Judgment with 12 stones, worn only by the High Priest
In the book, Ideal metrology in nature, art, religion and history By Herman Gaylord WoodIt, the author states,
the breastplate was a linen fabric 1 span square, bearing 12 jewels which were arranged in rows across its face. It represented the supreme authority of God in the civil and religious government of the Hebrew people. It was to be used in religious ceremonies, and when important matters came before the High Priest for judgment. The manner of using it is uncertain, but probably it served to arrest the attention of the High Priest, assist him in fixing his mind wholly upon the subject before him and enable him under Divine inspiration to render just judgment. Thus in the presence of God he carried all Israel on his heart, the names of the 12 tribes being engraved upon the jewels. The solemnity of this use of the breastplate was called seeking judgment by Urim and Thummim.
In the A Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels: Labour-Zion By John Chisholm Lambert, he states,
In several passages a period of 12 years is referred to. 1 he woman healed by touching the fringe of the Lord’s garment had been ill for 12 years (Mt 980, Mk 5®, Lk 8«). The daughter of Jairus was 12 years old (Mk 5″, Lk 6a). Jesus was 12 years old when found in the Temple (Lk 2″). In all these cases the number must be understood literally, but the second and third admit of illustration from Oriental life. At 12 childhood ceased for the Jewish boy. In the addendum to the fifth chapter of ‘Abdth two of the rules run: ‘At 10 the Misnnah, at 13 the Commandments.’ A boy of 12, therefore, was on the threshold of manhood. A tradition recorded by Josephus affirms that Samuel was 12 years old when he received the Divine call {Ant. v. x. 4). Another tradition, found in a Christian writing, but probably of Jewish origin, represented Solomon as 12 years old when he gave his [famous judgment about the child (pseudoIgnatius, ad Magnesias, iii.). At 12 a girl was marriageable. According to the Book of Jubilees (302), Dinah was 12 years old at the time referred to in Gn 34s.
One more passage remains: ‘Are there not twelve hours in the day?’ (Jn ll9). Here, no doubt, Babylonian influence can be traced, although in the time of Christ most of the Jews living in Palestine will have been wholly unconscious of the fact. The full day was divided by the Babylonians, who in this matter as in so many points set the rule for all their neighbours, and through the Greeks for the whole Western world, into 12 parts. As this day consisted of two halves, the daylight portion and the night portion, the division into twelve was applied to each, without regard to the season of the year. An hour was one-twelfth of the day or the night (KAT [ZW~\ 328, 335 f.).The old way of speaking still survives in Syria. The day is regarded, as in the time of Christ, as consisting of 12 hours (Bauer, Vollcslcben im Landc dcr Bibel, pp. 274 f.).
The world’s story: a history of the world in story, song and art …, Volume 14 By Karl Julius Ploetz, William Hopkins Tillinghast, Horatio Willis Dresser
JOSHUA – It cannot, certainly, be said that Britain has no interest in the territory here delineated to Joshua. Joshua iv. 2, 3, 9.
_ Take you Twelve men.
Take you Twelve stones.
And Joshua set up Twelve stones.As the Speaker’s Commentary shows, one set of twelve stones were set up in Jordan, and another carried over and “pitched in Gilgal.” Nine and a-half tribes only were to find settlements on that side Jordan, while the other two and a-halt were to be located to their rear. But twelve was the number of the nation. Elijah was a prophet of Israel, the Ten-Tribe Kingdom, but the altar which he set up (1 Kings xviii. 31) was made of “twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of Jacob.” Then, again, in Ezra’s day, when the captivity of Judan was restored, ” twelve bullocks” (Ezra viii. 35) “for all Israel” were offered. Any sectional representative of the Twelve-Tribe nation claimed the number Twelve. Did the maritime tribe of Dan plant colonies along the shores of the seas leading out of the Levant—inevitably the number Twelve appears in their political confederacies. (See the interesting article on “Pytheas, the^Discoverer of Britain,” in the Geographical Journal for June, 1893.) Did the Tribes come, detachment by detachment, over the sea or across the continent of Europe—the number Twelve is found in the Druidic monuments of the Kymry; Twelve was the number of the judges whom Odin appointed to assist him in governing the advancing multitudes of the Scandinavian ancestors of the English (see Du Chaillu’s Viking Age, I. 48); Twelve equal chieftains ruled the continental territory of the Anglo-Saxons before they crossed into these Western Isles (Sharon Turner, History of the Anglo-Saxons, I. 124); and Twelve is the number of the British jury.
The Templars:
- The round table of twelve knights was symbolical of the twelve senior Templars, who presided over the Saint Graal
- In 1166 Amalric, the Latin king of Jerusalem, hanged twelve Templars on a charge of betraying a fortress beyond the Jordan to an emir of Nur al-Din of Damascus.
In Freemasonry:
In his most famous book, Secret Teachings of all Ages, Manly P Hall says this in regards to the number twelve;
The number twelve frequently occurs among ancient peoples, who in nearly every case had a pantheon consisting of twelve demigods and goddesses presided over by The Invincible One, who was Himself subject to the Incomprehensible All-Father. This use of the number twelve is especially noted in the Jewish and Christian writings. The twelve prophets, the twelve patriarchs, the twelve tribes, and the twelve Apostles–each group has a certain occult significance, for each refers to the Divine Duodecimo, or Twelvefold Deity, whose emanations are manifested in the tangible created Universe through twelve individualized channels.
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FREEMASONRY AND ITS KINDRED SCIENCES By ALBERT G. MACKEY, M.D.
Twelve Illustrious Knights. The eleventh degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite; more correctly Sublime Knight Elected, which see Twelve Original Points of Masonry. The old English lectures, which were abrogated by the United Grand Lodge of England in 1813, when it adopted the system of Hemming, contained the following passage:”There are in Freemasonry twelve original points, which form the basis of the system, and comprehend the whole ceremony of initiation. Without the existence of these points, no man ever was, or can be, legally and essentially received into the Order. Every person who is made a Mason must go through these twelve forms and ceremonies, not only in the first degree, but in every subsequent one.”Hence, it will be seen that our ancient Brethren deemed these “Twelve Original Points of Masonry,” as they were called, of the highest importance to the ceremony of initiation, and they consequently took much pains, and exercised much ingenuity, in giving them a symbolical explanation.
Mackey’s Ritualist, page 113.
“The number 12 was celebrated as a mystical number in the ancient systems of sun-worship, of which It has already been said that Masonry Is a philosophical development. The number there referred to the twelve signs of the zodiac, and in those Masonic rites in which the Builder Is made the symbol of the sun, the twelve Fellow Crafts refer to the twelve signs in which alone the sun is to be sought for.”
Let me leave you with the King of Rock and Roll who would have been a top Druid as an Ovate like no other, Mr. Elvis Presley and his twelve Apostles with badges 😉
Where else have you seen this number used and or do you feel that my research proves that this is a magical number that affects our souls in more ways than one? Please feel free to comment below and let me know your thoughts.
Moe is the founder of GnosticWarrior.com. He is a father, husband, author, martial arts black belt, and an expert in Gnosticism, the occult, and esotericism.