Metaphysical correspondences

The first chapter of Music and the Power of Sound by Danielou: "The union of the ternary and the quaternary (4+3) symbol of the soul of the world, was represented by the seven pipes of the flute of Pan, the god of the universe. Assimilated to the seven planets, the seven notes move across the twelve regions of the octave, corresponding to the signs of the zodiac, in which, as we shall see later, these seven notes will occupy twenty-two main positions (a number that is in certain cases reduced to seventeen). We shall also why the twelve regions of the octave cannot be assimilated to twelve fixed sounds, as has been attempted in the tempered scale. They determine the space in which the notes move but can in no way be taken for the notes themselves." [...] 🤣 "In ancient times, music was something other than mere pleasure for the ear: it was an algebra of metaphysical abstractions, knowledge of which was only given to initiates, but by whose principles the masses were instinctively and unconsciously influenced. This is what made music one of the most powerful instruments of moral education, as Confucious had said before Plato. But there is an imperfection at the very basis of the world's existence, because if the world were perfect it would immediately be reabsorbed into the infinite perfection. The heart is not in the center of the chest, the axis of the earth is oblique, and the solar year does not coincide with the lunar year (thus creating the cycles by which all existence is conditioned and human destinies measured). In the same way the development of twelve fifths, instead of bringing us back precisely to the octave, leaves a difference - the comma - with which we shall have to negotiate. This will complicate every calculation and prevent us from formulating those rigid and simple laws, attractive but inaccurate, in which our vain reason delights. This comma, which the modern world tries so hard to ignore, represents, for those who can understand it, the essential difference between what is finite and what is infinite. The fifths form a spiral whose sounds, coiled around themselves, can never meet. For us, this limitless spiral can be the joint in the structure of the world, the narrow gate that will allow us to escape from the appearance of a closed universe, to travel in other worlds and explore their secrets. Only by respecting such subtle differences can the edifice of sounds become the image of reality and one of the ways of spiritual realisation." 😀 Totally unconscious, but yes, I open with Pan's Preludes with a 3+4 rhythm on 3 flutes.