Six
Continuing the pattern of self and other – with five being the human individual – the number six is other people. The sixth sign of the zodiac is Virgo which represents customs, duties and regulations: the constructs that allow groups of people to live together in relative harmony. Virgo is the sign of the harvest when the wheat is separated from the chaff, symbolic of the way a society separates its citizens into their classes, or separates its undesirables entirely.
Virgo is the sign of mutable earth. This is malleable clay, and useful metals such as iron, tin and copper, which can be shaped and moulded into form. With clay we make the bricks and tiles with which we build houses, make pots and crockery, build ovens and furnaces, and the crucibles with which we smelt our ore. Clays and metals form the backbone of civilization. Without them we are left to fend for ourselves amongst the beasts and the elements.
Six sides has a cube. Four gave us the cardinal directions, six adds up and down – right and wrong. The boundaries of reality are complete. It is at the same time a prison, a playpen, a playhouse, and paradise. It is the sporting ground for the greatest and grandest, most glorious of games.
Six points makes a Star of David, formed by two triangles. One pointing up, the feminine, looking up toward the heavens from the earth. The other masculine, pointing down from the heavens toward the earth. Again we have the ‘as above so below’ motif, representing the recreation of the structure of the cosmos in the form of the society. It is also a combination of the symbology of both Taurus and Gemini, with man and woman each represented in triune form. They each come from different places and face different directions, but both work towards the same goal. Man seeks to bring the heavens to earth, while woman seeks to elevate earth up to the heavens.
Arranged differently the six points form a triangle, representing a three- tiered society: a lower-class, an upper-class, and a ruling-class. Together these classes form a body. The lower class are the feet, legs, the genitals, and digestive system. The upper-class are the arms, the heart and lungs, and the voice. The ruling class are the senses, the mind, the conscious elements of the body.
At this point we have reached the end of the first half of the zodiacal wheel. If the wheel represents a day, we are at dusk, if a year, then at the end of autumn, if a lifetime, we are at its end.