8-Ball

As previously mentioned, the 8 is indeed a wealth creating machine. But, there’s more to it. The 8 is like a vertical infinity sign, signifying the eternal nature of the spiritual facet of existence. Then, it’s also traditionally associated with the concept of karma and sowing what you reap according to your actions. We could also say it’s associated with a higher order of structure, grounding, and stability introduced in the 4. 

Everyone knows the 8 is associated with wealth according to mainstream numerology, and you’ll constantly be bombarded with terms like “abundance” and “success” when reading about 8. Indeed, this number has a connection with material wealth and prosperity. Alluding to the Sixth Sense, I referred to the 8 as a money-making machine cranking out gold tokens indefinitely, and I used such a metaphor because unlike the 6, the 8 represents wealth that can be constantly replenished. This is because not only does 8 represent the quality of wealth, but also the concept of success in terms of careers to continuously generate such wealth on a long term basis. It follows naturally then that steady, long-term career success cannot be reliant only upon luck, but would likely require some degree of hard-nosed business-like discipline, which is also why you’ve probably seen the words “business” and “executive” thrown around gratuitously when reading about the 8. I always like to take this idea of such success a step further and refer to it as the creation of an empire, because after reaching an exaltation of growth, it becomes necessary to maintain that peak of self-sustenance of power as long as possible through a constant influx of wealth into this money making engine. Of course, we must be reminded that abundance need not only be restricted to your finances, and can be measured by more intangible things like: a wealth of friends, a rich romantic relationship, and a generous supply of good physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health as some illustrations.

Next, we have an interesting correlation of the 8 with that of the concept of infinity. So we could almost depict the transition from the 7 to the 8 as if the 7‘s introduction to the “spiritual” world leads us onwards onto the “infinite” dimension of existence. Not only that, but the 8, being a symmetrical symbol with two loops of equal size on either side of the twist, leads us to a sense of balance (unsurprising again for an even number) between the material and spiritual worlds. Consequently then, this number is encouraging us to live a complete life devoid of the extreme of either pure hedonistic materialism with total blindness towards any higher purpose in life, versus the reclusive monk who has essentially renounced the physical human nature of existence and the human world at large, mistaking denial, repression, disconnection and fear of materialism as being aligned with following the “true” spiritual path. So, the 8 would want us to take the middle ground, live in the world and experience our full five senses anchored in our humanness whilst at the same time reaching upwards towards growth towards divinity, much like a large and sturdy tree which has deep roots in the ground, but constantly grows upwards.

Now, when we touch on the idea of receiving the results of our actions and karma, the 8 does come into play, especially in traditional Vedic numerology, which tends to strongly emphasize this point. Also, because we always tend to focus on negative karma and the negative consequences of it, this particular number has been associated with the planet Saturn, and whereas the Chinese have regarded the 4 as unlucky because of an association with death, some Vedic numerologists have always considered the 8 as being an unfortunate number precisely because of its linkages to karma and the planet Saturn. Again, I think it’s inaccurate and extreme to paint any particular number as lucky or unlucky, or good or bad because they all have good and bad points of their own; also, we must always be reminded that karma also is of both good and bad types. Anyways, if you remember from The Elusive Zero, I felt that it symbolized the circular nature of the consequences of our actions returning to us full circle. Well, in this situation, I would view the 8 as a step-up in complexity of the 0, where the 0 is taken and twisted laterally on its side so as to create the 8. To me, this is important because though we still roughly preserve a closed and cyclical structure of the 0, here we now have made this number convoluted with two loops on either side of the twist. Now, don’t lose me here: I see this twist with the loops as symbolic of the consequences of our actions still returning to us, albeit now with a “twist” in the sense that the twisted knot will slow down the return of such consequences so that we are forced to learn possible lessons whilst receiving the karma of our actions. This is in stark contrast to the 0 where you would likely have an instantaneous reaction produced from the initial action, much like the proverbial “instant karma,” where no real learning takes place. On the contrary, the 8 slows down the karmic “reaction” to a tedious and agonizing grind, much like decelerating a heavy deadlift to the point that the resulting burning in your muscles is enough to provoke nausea. And yet, this slow, torturous burn also bestows upon us the ability to learn from such consequences, grow, develop and strengthen, much like the literal bodybuilder who also accelerates their muscle growth through such a deliberate “slow burn.” An example of this could be something related to number 1 related themes such as: perhaps you weren’t the best friend to others in the past, so now it all boomerangs back to you to make you suffer a period in life where either you have a lot of fake and backstabbing “friends;” or, current life situations force you to experience disconnection from others and loneliness. Here then, the 8, acting through the 1, could act to slow down your passage through this difficult period and tell you: “Look, you have to go through this payback period anyways, so why not use it to your advantage and try to learn from it and grow as a person?” Here, the 8 would compel you to learn the art of being truly and genuinely happy alone in your own presence, so that you experience the power of your own aloneness as a powerful presence in and of itself, versus the absence of others as loneliness, and there is a profound difference between these two concepts; also, the 8 here (through the 1) would force you to really learn to value yourself directly, instead of through others.  Consequently, though both the 0 and 8 would be representative of the concept of karma, I would say that the 8 truly embodies this concept, even more so than the 0, which is more like a simple introduction to it.

Lastly, I would like to introduce the idea that the 8 is like a higher order structure of the 4, which of course would make sense mathematically as well since it’s the 4 doubled by a factor of two. But what do I really mean by a “higher order structure”? Well if the 4 is your basic grounding, structural, and foundational force upon which we can perform construction, whether that be of literal buildings or subtler structures like relationships, careers or habits etc., the 8 takes this foundational concept and makes it entirely self sustaining through the ability to generate wealth endlessly as aforementioned; hence, adding a limitless ability for regeneration of solid structures in the form of wealth. Interestingly then, this eternal quality of the 8 agrees nicely with the idea of it being a vertical infinity sign. Also, funnily enough, astrologers say that the 8th sign is associated with precisely these qualities of endless regeneration, resurrection and immortality as well, like the phoenix rising from the ashes, but I don’t want to delve too much into that right now. The point is that the 8 takes the solid, constructive quality of the 4 and transforms it into a presumably self-sustaining and limitless ability to create solid structures; here then, the 4 could be considered the original foundation, building ground and shelter but limited by its very nature of restriction and rigid control, whereas the 8 sheds such restrictions and possibly puts the construction aspect of the 4 on steroids. Now if we look at purely simple, literal, cave-person meanings of these two numbers, then the 4= buildings and the 8= money, because though both are tangible things, buildings are limited in their potential, whereas money has an almost infinite potential to it since it is easily converted to an innumerable measure of uses.

In conclusion, a good deal can be written about the 8 as it’s quite a comprehensive number closely related to many vital facets of our human existence. We started with the obvious connotation to wealth and money, which can be further extrapolated to things like success, achievement, power, and the building of an empire of sorts. So, seeing 8’s frequently could be heralding a time where these things are about to increase in our lives. Alternatively, it may be signifying a dearth of this area of our lives and the need to focus on these aspects urgently for our future wellbeing. Next, since the 8 is tied to the symbolism of infinity, and since it’s the spiritual nature that’s is considered to be immortal and eternal, this number’s appearance could be telling us that we need to be reminded of our innate spiritual immortality when faced with never-ending challenges during our lives here that make us feel that we must give in and give up hope. At the same time, it could be telling us to strike a balance between our spiritual and material human lives so that we are fulfilling both aspects of existence, something that could also be shared by the appearance of the 6. Now, when it comes to karma, the 8’s revelation may be serving as a possible signal of possible consequences of our actions, both good and bad, that are on their way to us, and that we need to gear-up and prepare for these. It could also be guiding us to think long-term prior to engaging in an act that we may later regret, or even as a gentle reminder to learn lessons to improve ourselves whilst enduring a difficult karmic payback time in our lives; in this way, the 8 may be conveying that our suffering is not wasted in vain and that we could potentially use it for our benefit to strengthen, evolve and grow ourselves in ways that we otherwise possibly would never have without the crisis creating by such a payback period, similar to the idea of “evolution through crisis” as introduced in the number 5. In ending, the number 8 constantly catching our eye could be saying to us that we need to take our basic ideas of building a foundation of something limited (the 4) and grow it into something much larger and long-lasting than we could have ever originally conceived (the 8), encouraging us to think bigger in our plans, whether that be starting an online business, creating a work of art or a literary piece, building a much grander and luxurious house than originally planned, or creating a humanitarian organization capable of helping a much more massive scope of people than originally designed.