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Coming after the 7, the number 8 is, like the 7, also a principle that seems to stand beyond the tangible world (see also The Meaning of Number 7). It acts, in a sense, from what’s hidden. And yet it still has an influence on our concrete world. While the 7 represents the unpredictable, unity-creating force from a supernatural realm that seems opaque to us (chance), the 8 appears as an ordering, higher power. In the philosophy of numbers, the principle of 8 symbolizes the eternal order in the background that everything is subject to. In myths and fairy tales, the number 8 often also acts as a destructive principle. It dissolves a world that has fallen out of balance and brings it back into order. What does that mean? Take, for example, the 8 people who survive the flood in Noah’s Ark. Symbolically, the 8 is what remains, a kind of “divine” order. It’s the stable structure in the background. Jesus rises on the 8th day: the 8 symbolizes what endures (see also: The Meaning of Numbers in the Bible). The octagon is the base shape of many sacred buildings.

Baptismal fonts, in particular, are often octagonal. They point to the day of the resurrection and the new orientation that came with it. The ritual of baptism symbolizes the baptized person’s immersion into the dark, otherworldly realm, and their resurrection as someone cleansed, whose faith is meant to give them orientation from then on and bring divine order into their life. In Judaism, boys are traditionally circumcised on the eighth day after birth. Only through this do boys enter into the order of the Jewish faith. In the spirit of the symbolism of 8, both the baptized and the circumcised experience direction and orientation through the ritual. In Buddhism, there’s the so-called Dharmachakra, the Wheel of the Law, a kind of steering wheel with 8 spokes meant to symbolize the “Noble Eightfold Path.” It gives believers orientation toward divine order. In the hero myth, it’s symbolized by the mentor, the figure every hero meets when they no longer know what to do, who leads them back onto the right path. Well-known examples are Master Yoda from “Star Wars,” Falkor from “The Neverending Story,” and Gandalf from “The Lord of the Rings” (more in the post Numbers in Fairy Tales, Myths, and Literature). The 8 symbolizes a higher, eternal order. It’s indestructible. The symbol of the tilted 8, the lemniscate, expresses exactly that.

Quotes on the Meaning of Number 8:

Orientation, divine order, stability.
Symbols include: the dragon, the mentor, and the infinity symbol (lemniscate).

Question:

Do you know the octet rule from the periodic table of elements?

Zitate zur Symbolik der Zahl 8:

„Strictly speaking, the eight is also, in the Western world, the ordering principle of scholarship.“
(Harald Haarmann)

Related Topics:

For the meaning of the other numbers, see: The Principle of Numbers.

Image credit: iStock.com/LagartoFilm (numbers on a green background)
shutterstock.com/Gear Digital (Dharmachakra-Rad)