This is an excerpt from "The History and Practice Of Magic" by Paul
Christian, which gives the intimate details of the power of revelation and occult
gems hidden within the name each one of us is gifted with at birth, and carrying
with us throughout our lives.  Cagliostro was a master alchemist, and famed
occultist.
CAGLIOSTRO accepted this invitation to an interview with a picked audience. He presented himself on 10 May 1785*. From the
very beginning of the conference his great simplicity and perfect courtesy attracted the sympathies of the whole assembly. Court de
Gebelin, who as an oriental specialist was asked to speak first, was enchanted to recog¬nise in Cagliostro a traveller with wide
knowledge of the traditions of Greece, Egypt, Arabia and Persia. But when it became a question of discussing the points which were
to form the basis of the assembly's enquiry, the Sicilian's expansiveness was suddenly damped like a faulty firework; he became
cold, reserved, almost inattentive, answering only in vague terms and circumlocutions which avoided the sub¬ject under discussion.
Pressed by Court de Gebelin, by the Duc de Rochefoucauld and by Savatte kindly to explain himself without reserve before an
assembly which professed for him the utmost confidence and admiration, after a few moments of silent meditation he stood up to
speak.

* The date of this conference seems uncertain, since Court de Gebelin died in 1784. See A. E. Waite The Secret Tradition in
Freemasonry.-Ed..

'Gentlemen: he said, 'in accepting the invitation with which you have honoured me, I did not foresee as dearly as I do now- the
seriousness of such an interview. If I am not mistaken, you believe that Freemasonry should possess the key to the occult sciences,
and, not having been able to discover this key at your lodge meetings, you came here in the hope that I would be able to cast some
light on your researches. Well, gentlemen, honesty compels me to tell you that you can learn nothing from Freemasonry. The
so-¬called mystery of Hiram is no more than a grotesque absurdity, and the title of Great Architect of the Universe which you give to
God is only a name invented by an Eng¬lishman lacking entirely in common sense. You yourselves feel that the supreme Being
cannot be defined by such wretched anthropomorphism. The immense variety of the manifestations of Life at the centre of the
Universal Order reveals to our consciousness a First Absolute Cause which you are seeking to define in spite of the inadequacy of the
human language. Gentlemen, you need seek no longer for the symbolic expression of the divine idea: it was created 60 centuries ago
by the Magi of Egypt. Hermes-Thoth fixed the two terms. The first is the Rose,  because this flower is spherical in shape, symbol of
the most perfect unity, and because its perfume is a revelation of life. This rose was placed at the centre of a Cross,  a figure
expressing the point at which are united the apices of two right angles whose lines may be produced in our imaginations to infinity, in
the triple directions of height, breadth and depth. The material of this symbol was gold, which in occult science signifies light and
purity; and in his wisdom Hermes called it the Rose-Cross, that is, Sphere of the Infinite. Between the branches of the cross he
wrote the letters I N R I, each of which expresses a mystery.
'I [Ioithi in the sacred language] symbolises the active creative principle and the manifestation of divine power that fertilises matter.
'N' [Nain] symbolises passive matter, the mold of all forms.
'R [Rasith] symbolises the union of these two principles and the perpetual transformation of created things.
'I [Ioithi] symbolises again the divine creative principle and signifies that the creative strength which emanates from it ceaselessly
returns to it and springs from it everlastingly.
'The ancient Magi wore the Rose-Cross hung from the neck on a golden chain; but sO as not to reveal to the profane the sacred
word INRl they replaced these four letters by the four figures which are brought together in the Sphinx: rvlan, Bull, Lion and Eagle.
'Compare with this simple explanation of the Rose¬Cross of the ancients, the pitiful farce used at your rituals which makes your
so-called initiates say in explanation of the word INRI: "I come from Judea, 1 have passed through Nazareth led by Raphael; I am of
the tribe of Juda:' Gentle¬men, how could such stupid nonsense be accepted by intelligent Frenchmen? If you wish to revive among
you the majesty of the doctrines which illuminated the ancient world and rekindle on the heights of human intelligence the beacon of
divine radiance, you must first of all destroy the legend of Hiram and your meaningless rituals. You must give up these comic
decorations and these titles of Sublime Princes and Sovereign Commanders; four planks under a few feet of earth will show if you
are any more worthy than the lowest beggar.'
The assembly was stirred by this pronouncement of Cagliostro's. 'But is it enough,' cried Court de Gebelil, 'to destroy everything in
order to prove one's superiority? If Freemasonry is only phantasmagoria, by what signs can you prove to us that the light which is
refused to us shines from the mysteries to which you hold the key? If you are the inheritor of the ancient Magic, give us a proof, a
single proof, of its power-if you are the genius of the Past, what have you to say for the Future?'
'I reveal it,' replied Cagliostro coldly, 'and if you will give me the masonic oath, or better, if you will swear your¬selves to secrecy on
your word of honour, I will prove what I claim.'
'We swear secrecy,' everyone cried, and all hands were raised to confirm the oath.        .        .
'Gentlemen,' continued the Sicilian with a magnetic look, 'when a child is born, something has already preceded its entry into life.
That something is its Name. The name completes its birth, for, before naming, a king's child and a peasant's are no more than small
pieces of organized matter, just as the corpse of the most powerful ruler in the world, shorn of the brilliance of funeral pomps, has
nothing to distinguish it from the remains of the lowest slave.
'In modem society are three sorts of names: the family, the Christian and the surnames. The family name is the common impress of
race which is handed down, transmitted from one being to another. The Christian name is the sign that characterises the person and
distinguishes the sex. The surname is a secondary qualification, applied to any indi¬vidual in a family in particular cases. The family
name is imposed by civil requirements; the Christian mime is chosen by the affectionate intentions of father and mother. The
surname is an accidental title, sometimes used only in one lifetime, sometimes hereditary. There is finally the social title, such as
prince, count, duke. Now I can read in the ensemble of these personal designations the most outstanding features of any destiny; the
more numerous these designations are, the more clearly does the oracle within them speak.
'Do not smile, gentlemen. My conviction in this respect cannot falter, for it is based on fairly numerous experiments and on proofs
too striking to be ignored. Yes, each one of us is named in the heavens at the same time as on earth, that is, predestinated, bound, by
the occult laws of increate Wisdom, to a series of more or less fatal ordeals before he has even made the first step towards his
unknown future. Do not tell me that such certainty, if it existed, would be the certainty of despair. . . All your protests will not
prevent Predestination from being a fact and the Name a sign to be feared. The highest wisdom of the ancients believed in this
mysterious connection of the name and the being who holds it as if it were a divine or infernal talisman that could either illuminate his
passage through life or destroy it in flames. The Magi of Egypt confided this secret to Pythagoras, who transmitted it to the Greeks.
In the sacred alpha¬bet of Magism each letter is linked to a number; each number corresponds with an Arcanum: each Arcanum is
the sign of an occult power. The 22 letters of which the key¬board of the language is composed form all the names which,
according to the agreement or disagreement of the secret forces symbolised by the letters, destine the man so named to the
vicissitudes which we define by the vulgar terms of luck and misfortune.
'But what relationship, you will ask, can possibly exist between mute letters and abstract numbers and the tangible things of life?
Well, gentlemen, is it necessary for you to know the impenetrable secret of the mystery of generation before you will consent to
think, walk, will and act? God illuminates us by means compatible with wisdom, and He always prefers the most simple. Here it is
the Word, the work of God, which is the instrument of prophetic revelation.
'One experiment will serve to make me better understood. .
Est-il possible a l'esprit humain de chercher et de decouvrir les secrets de I' avenir, dans I' enonce litteral de l't!venement qui vient de
s' accomplir, ou dans la definition d'une personne par les noms, titres et actes qui constituent
son individualite'?
'Is it possible for the human mind to seek and discover the secrets of the future in a literal statement of the event which has just
taken place, or in the definition of a person by the names, tides and deeds which constitute his individuality?'
'You see only, gentlemen, the obvious or material sense of this question. But, while you ponder, the higher Magic has already read a
second meaning which gives the true answer. Here is the art of unravelling this occult meaning. Remember the invariable RULE.
'The text is made up of 203 letters, to which must be added a progression of numbers ascending from 1 to 203, as follows:
El S2 T3 I4 L5 P6 and so on.
'All these letters, with their numbers, are placed in a circle, so that the eye may take them all in at a glance. The alphabet of the Magi,
which I place before you, fixes the value of the letters. Note that the French language has no double consonants like Th or Ts; we
therefore can ignore these for our present purpose. But note also that the letters U and V, the letters I J and Y, the letters F and P, the
letters K and Q, are marked in this alphabet by the same sign; consequently they can be taken one for the other according to the
needs of our deciphering. If, for example, there are three U' s and one V in the visible text, and if we need two U's and two V's to
express' the occult text, the third U will do for the necessary second V. If there are three P's and no F’s, and if the occult text
demands two F's, two of the P's are transformed into F's, and vice versa. All the other letters retain their absolute value.
'With this rule kept in mind, we must let our eyes wander slowly round the circle in a vague contemplation of new groups that the
letters may form. Gradually a few words appear: we remove from the circle the letters of which they are composed and note them
down, with their corresponding figures. Then we continue the circular con¬templation until new words complete the new meaning
and exhaust the circle. This operation is accomplished more or less quickly according to the intuitive faculties of the mind -some will
be less practised than others. It often happens that the first words we find have no rational meaning or are contradictory. As soon as
this is perceived, the letters must be brought back into the circle and the study begun afresh. But as we become more and more
familiar with this sort of work the difficulty disappears and, by a mysterious instinct, the mind rejects words created by chance and
attracts those born in the light of a second examination.
'Proceeding in this manner, we are able to extricate from the question that occupies our thoughts the follow¬ing sibylline reply, the
metathesis or transposition of the letters in the original text, forming as follows the assembly of elements composing the occult
meaning:
"LE 5 13-VERBE 47 52 57 11 16 -HUMAIN 22 23 24 25 26 27-EST 29 53 59 -UN 102 107 -REFLET 120 130 131 154 155 3- DE
177 185 -LA 200 14 -LUMIERE 15 46 116 119 142 145 150-ETERNELLE 165 168 172 19 67 75 81 88 90- ECLAIRANT 92 113
118 124 132 153 169 182 187- ICI 105 114 136 -TOUTE 202 7 122 135 144-VIE 195 196 203- LE 12 32- SAGE 54 64 183 1
¬INITIE 4 72 82 83 103 106 - SAIT 111 112 134 161 ¬LIRE 51 68 69 80-ET 58 84- RETROUVER 86 96 108 37 158 198 104 98
50-DANS 139 152 157 160 - LES 63 66 67- MOTS 97 77 21 126 - ENOCES 167 186 188 190 30 36 60- LE 64 85- PRONOSTIC
117 164 139 192 45 146 163 176 34- NON 78 115 125- LOINT AIN 127 137 162 95 100 128 178 99- DES 109 110 156- DESTINS
193 38 166 171 181 133 173- QUI 174 175 191-DOIVENT 197 121 194 65 94 138 180- S'ACCOMPLIR 8 71 79 170 147 159 6 91
201 33- DANS 40 87 141 179- CHAQUE 44 31 199 101 140 41- SPHERE 2 18 35 43 48 55- DES 61 62 9- INDIVIDUS 10 148 28
49 93 20 42 184 17."
'Le Verbe humain est un reflet de la lumicre eternelle, eclairant ici toute vie. Le Sage initie sait lire et retrouver, dans les mots enonces,
le pronostic non lointain des destins qui doivent s'accomPlir dans chaque sPhere des individus. "The human Word is a reflection of
eternal light, illuminat¬ing all life here below. The wise initiate can read and recover, in the words pronounced, a prognostic not far
removed from the destinies which must be fulfilled in each individual sphere."
'Thus the Sage, the initiate, not only readsol1r fate as it is written in the stars; he also finds indications of these very destinies in the
simple words announcing a fact or which characterise a human individuality. This is the mean¬ing contained in the lYlosaic Genesis,
a work Egyptian in inspiration, where God makes all living beings pass before the first man, so that he might give each a suitable
name; for to name is to define.
'Returning to the elements of the occult text, you will see that there remain in the circle 10 letters, namely: T39 C56 D70 D89 N76
D123 D129 P143 N149 and P51. These letters are mute, that is, no word can be made out of them. To extract a meaning from them
we must use the procedure of the Sibyls who prophesied in the ancient Roman temples of F ortuna, at Preneste or Antium, and in
some way make a prophetic phrase, a human Word, spring from each initial. It will come to us after a few moments of meditation,
and, in order to imitate the ancient oracles as closely as possible, I shall think in Latin, and express myself in the
following terms:        .
Tacentes Casus Denuntiat Nomen;
Decreta Dei Per Numeros PrCEfantur
which means: "The Name announces the events that still remain in the silence of the future, and divine decrees are predicted by
Numbers." Names and Numbers: these are the foundations of, and the keys to, the sanctuary of the Oracles.
Power of Your Name
IF YOU WANT TO RESEARCH AND APPLY THIS KNOWLEDGE ON THE POWER OF NAMES AND THE POWER OF
NUMBERS, I STRONGLY SUGGEST YOU GET "The Book Of Numbers" by Cheiro, or  "The Cheiro Book Of
Fate And Fortune".  Regarding NAMES & NUMBERS, the most modern and WELL researched work of classic
import is, in my opinion, and very importantly so, CHEIRO's 'BOOK OF NUMBERS'.  
A recent study of an
outline of the Contact Notes (Plejaren) indicates that Cheiro's work has the most accurate set of numbers,
derived from a book gathered out of Egypt.
  Universal & Spiritual Law is revealed in great part, within
Cheiro's work.  This is a VERY important work in my opinion.  In my experience, most other systems lack, or
are not as revealing as this ancient fadic system is, tells it straight forward, and not rehashed and watered
down.  This system appears purest, and most accurate.  It is like a Lamp In The Dark of Night. Will YOU apply
the Science Of The Will to Steer the vicissitudes of fate, or navigate the winds of destiny?  I have found the
books more trustworthy, informing, and accurate than 'most' professionals in this science.