Insightful Turtle

Gillian Helfgott

Description

Astrologer Gillian Helfgott unlocks the power of the 0, traditionally ignored by numerologists, and explores its impact when positioned with the nine numbers of the traditional Chinese Lo Shu grid. With simple instructions and many fascinating case histories, including that of her husband David Helfgott, she gives us a feel for the numbers, and how we can use them in a practical and effective way to understand our lives. Calculate your turtle, and learn how the numbers and cycles affect you, and see why a Big 0 Birthday is more than just the turning of another decade! Whilst medical astrology cannot take the place of advice from orthodox professionals, it can often throw light on prevailing problems.

Sujets

• Numerology

Informations

• Publié par: Flying Horse Books
• Date de parution: 06 mai 2005
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781902405865
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Published in 2012 by Flying Horse Books an imprint of The Wessex Astrologer 4A Woodside Road Bournemouth BH5 2AZ England
www.wessexastrologer.com
Copyright Gillian Helfgott 2012
Gillian Helfgott asserts the right to be recognised as the author of this work
ISBN 9781902405834 eISBN 9781902405865
A catalogue record of this book is available at The British Library
Cover and turtle illustrations: Colin Thompson, Robin Ellis
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission. A reviewer may quote brief passages.
For Faith Reid
With special thanks to Scott Murray, Darrelyn Gunzburg and Sue Murray for their editing skills, and Bernadette Brady for her guiding strength.
Contents
Preface
How the Journey Began
Part One: Exploring the Turtle
The Importance of Numbers
History of the Zero
Meeting the Turtle
How to Find Your Turtle Numbers
The Numbers 0 to 9
Three Interesting Case Studies
Practical Application of Numbers
Our First Decades
Big 0 Birthdays
Part Two: The Turtle in David Helfgott’s Life
David Helfgott’s Turtle
David’s Big 0 Birthdays
David’s Life Cycles
Conclusion
Appendix: Flipper or Moving Years
Preface


"The study of numbers is a beautiful one that has captured humankind’s imagination throughout the ages. It continues to inspire us to explore its endless frontiers."
Professor Burger 1
Picking up this book, your first thoughts may be: "Why another book on numerology? What is it offering that other books don’t?" Well, the most important reason for writing this book is to introduce more fully the power of the zero. Most numerology systems ignore it completely.
In his book, Chinese Numerology (1998), Richard Webster writes:


"The Number 0. There is no position in the chart for zeros. They are simply ignored." 2
In 1993’s The Life You Were Born to Live 3 , Dan Millman writes in a very interesting way about including the 0 with 1, 2 and 3, making 10, 20 and 30. But, as far as I know, the 0 has never been considered by itself or used in the final drawing up of numerology charts and grids in any published books.
I have always found this to be very mystifying. Even though the 0 does not appear to have any numerological power by itself, it is very powerful when positioned with other numbers.
Another reason for writing this book is that most numerology systems give assessments of the numbers and how they relate to a person’s personality, but very few (Tom Muldoon 4 is an exception) look at the power of numbers in our everyday lives in practical ways. However, we cannot move without using numbers to identify ourselves, from the number of our house, bank accounts, credit cards and PIN numbers to our membership of any organization … It goes on and on.
Do we ever stop to contemplate the power of these numbers and what energies they manifest? On the whole, most people do not.
Yet, my husband, David Helfgott, and I have found a consideration of numbers extremely helpful in dealing with the gifts and challenges that life presents us.
As you journey through this book, I trust you will find the company of numbers an interesting and useful exercise, and The Insightful Turtle a joyful companion.
How The Journey Began
Many thousands of years ago in China, there lived a remarkable man named Fu Xi. Also known as Wu of Hsia, he loved his country and was so disturbed by the annual flooding of the rivers that he worked as a labourer, trying to stem the devastation.
One day, he and his colleagues saw the shell of a tortoise lying on the bank of the Yellow River. On the shell was a grid of nine numbers, arranged in such a way that the numbers add to 15 (a magic constant) whether you total them vertically, horizontally or diagonally.

Fu Xi felt greatly inspired by this discovery as the tortoise is regarded as a most auspicious omen, the Chinese believing God lives inside tortoise shells.
As the Chinese use a Lunar Calendar, Fu Xi immediately associated the grid as tying in with the 15-day cycles of the waxing and waning moon.
Meditating over time on the grid, he eventually created the I Ching and other forms of Chinese numerology. 5 However, Fu Xi did not incorporate the 0.
Later scholars furthered Fu Xi’s work by developing divination sticks and coins, and Feng Shui.
According to traditional Chinese numerology, the tortoise shell grid (now known as the Lo Shu grid) is arranged in nine equal squares. 6

Fu Xi’s breakthrough discoveries led to his becoming a revered figure and the first of the Three Sovereigns of Ancient China.
A New Discovery
When I lived in Noosa Heads, Queensland, in the 1970s and ’80s, I taught astrology, saw clients, and presented lectures and radio programmes. One day, one of my students arrived with an article she had kept for more than eight years, written for the Woman’s Day by Judy Champ. 7 The student was keen to share it with the class.
Champ’s article was a three-page summary of the Fu Xi tortoise, briefly explaining the numerological meanings of the numbers 1 to 9, which she assigned one by one to the tortoise’s flippers, sides, head, tail and back according to the discoveries of Fu Xi.
Champ also placed the 0 around the tortoise, saying it wraps "the tortoise like a cocoon" and prevents "the power of the numbers, which have formed a distinct personality pattern, from dispersing. It keeps them focussed, and provides the necessary drive." 8
Champ called the little creature both a turtle and a tortoise. However, "turtle" appealed to me as it is a far more universal figure than the tortoise, moving on land and sea, and representing wisdom and self-knowledge. So, "turtle" it has remained and a great companion it has been.
At home that night, I drew a turtle and started to place the numbers on the flippers as described by Champ. I began with the 4 and 2 on the front or forward flippers.

Even without understanding the meaning of these numbers, I could see how the drawing gives an image of the ways in which a turtle is motivated. With the front flippers occupied, for example, a movement forward is more easily achieved.
With just the numbers 8 and 6 on the back flippers, which are smaller in size, there is not the same sense of forward motivation.

When there are numbers on only one side of the turtle, a rather lopsided energy is manifested, making it harder to gain balance and fulfilment in life.

I was greatly excited by this turtle concept as I had always found the numerology grid less than helpful in getting a feel for the numbers and their relationship to each other. The turtle made everything much clearer to me.
As a result, when I did astrology charts for clients, I started putting their turtle, with the inclusion of the 0, at the bottom of their horoscope page.

I found that I was becoming very attached to the little fellow and I had it in the back of my mind to some day do research and write a fuller account of the turtle, rather than just rely on the three-page Woman’s Day article as a guide.
This was a situation that I knew needed to be addressed, but life had other plans.
Meeting David
My life changed dramatically in 1983 when I met and, a year later, married David Helfgott, an extremely gifted pianist and a truly gorgeous man.
In 1996, the film Shine was made by Scott Hicks and worldwide interest in David’s life was greatly stimulated.
Before touring the world for concerts completely took over our lives, I wrote a book of our time together, Love You to Bits and Pieces (1996) 9 , co-authored with my daughter-in-law, Alissa Tanskaya.
The little turtle continued to raise its head in my life without much effect until 2011, when I was suddenly motivated to return to my research.
My dear friends Darrelyn Gunzburg and Bernadette Brady were staying with David and me in Tuscany. Our many discussions about the turtle, numerology and astrology – when not suddenly dashing off to view some star pattern in the night sky that had Bernadette near jumping out of her skin with excitement – were instrumental in my ultimately writing this book.
The desire to share the turtle with others was also a great motivator. And the more I thought about the 0, the more I believed it should be included in numerology studies to get a more complete picture of the greater power of numbers. The 0 not only meant an accentuation of the numbers with which it was associated, but, by surrounding the turtle, gave added strength.
It was the 0 that was the final motivator for my getting pen to paper. How could the 0 have been omitted for so many centuries? I felt an ever-increasing desire to share my thoughts with others, and the final urge was when I sat and thought about the huge power of the 0, which represents infinity and completeness. It was the practical application that stirred me most.
Finding Faith
When I began writing this book, one of the biggest challenges was the fact that I had never met anyone else who had studied the turtle in depth. Indeed, hardly anyone had ever heard of it. I was isolated from sharing ideas. But, once again, the universe had other plans.
A few years previously, David had performed with a brilliant pianist-composer named Yantra de Vilder. Whilst she was staying with us recently, I mentioned my turtle project and she told me that her mother, Faith Reid, had studied the turtle for 60 years with an Asian numerologist. I immediately phoned Faith and she expressed her willingness to share her experiences and knowledge with me. One can only imagine my joy and gratitude.
When I told Faith that the Judy Champ article had stimulated my interest in the subject, she laughed, because it was none other than Faith whom Champ had interviewed for the article! I had been inexorably led back to the source of my inspiration. Synchronicity is a beautiful thing and this book is the result.
PART ONE
Exploring the Turtle
The Importance of Numbers
Why are numbers so importa