#the magic square

[tarot-reader]

Magic Square Spread 01, 02, 03 01 – 03 What they're thinking or planning. 04, 05, 06 04 – 06 What they're doing, actions. 07, 08, 09 07 – 09 Undercurrent. Emotional undercurrent and how it affects querent or situation. Round 1: Mind 01, What you were thinking. 02, What you are thinking. 03, What you will be thinking. 04, What you were doing. 05, What you are doing. 06, What you will be doing. 07, What you were feeling. 08, What you are feeling. 09, What you will be feeling. Round 2: Circumstance 01, Wealth & Prosperity 02, Fame & Reputation 03, Love & Relationships 04, Children & Creativity 05, Spiritual Health, Well-being 06, Family & Physical Health 07, Wisdom, Knowledge, Epiphany 08, Career, Travel, Moving 09, Helpful people, Luck Round 3: Undercurrent 01, Individuality, What affects the situation now 02, External Influences, Unexpected factors 03, Environmental factors, Family Home, Friends 04, Hopes & Fears of the consultant 05, Alternatives, Options to problem, Opportunity 06, Belieds & Aspirations regarding query 07, Limiting Factors, Contrarian factors 08. Positive Influences, Key to success 09. Strength. Power in face of a problem This spread adds many layers of information and context to only nine cards. This is a great spread to try with majors only tarot decks, full tarot decks, playing card decks, lenormand decks, and some oracles.

[tarot-reader]

Magic Square of Nine Three of Wands. A short duration, waiting a few days. Three days time, or within a week. Being expectant of time passing, people coming your way, anticipating an event or a visit. Thinking about where you are at this point in time, possibly while pausing for a break or spending some leisurely time. Two of Wands. Making quick decisions. Either one or the other. Polarized opinions, events, problems, people, moods or mindsets. A short wait. Keeping things in balance. Considering two major paths or options. Ten of Cups. Joy. Happiness. Being elated or at a point of deep love and satisfaction for life, family, circumstances, mindset, existence. Sharing the love with others is easy when you have it in abundance. Hearts sing together, it brings everybody closer into a tight knit community. Helping each other out in groups or moving forward with the assurance you have one another's' backs. Ace of Wands. A dash of energy, a jolt of inspiration. Effort and energy in a burst, about to be spent. Being impassioned in speech or craft. Passion as a feeling or an action. Knight of Wands. Quickly, in a flash. Quick, impassioned circumstances. Hot, albeit sometimes inconsistent lovers. There in a moment, in swift motion the next. Circumstances changing quickly before your eyes. Being in action. Open and immense. Take advantage of personal potential. Authoritarian. Strong willpower. Non-tolerant or impatient. The burning torch in his hand symbolizes the vision of introducing ways to recognize the new world. The symbol of innovation and the ability to move towards new goals. The unicorn is the instinct that was tamed. Six of Coins. A sense of finding balance. An exchange, business deals or trades. Commerce, bargaining, currency exchanges or items. A helpful hand or person. Overcoming a difficult period. Gaining material. Harmony and abundance. Helping others, getting help when needed. The Devil. Allure, desire. Fun, at times getting rowdy. Finances. Spending lots. Giving in to temptations. Living an alternate course or path in life. What are you willing to sacrifice in order to achieve your desired outcome? Are you willing to enslave yourself to it? The limiting circumstances or people barring the way forward. Responsibilities and enslavement. The concern of finances dominating my choices. Temptations. Strong power or craving. Awareness of a complete and authentic self. Bringing light into the not-so pretty aspects of it. Ace of Coins. A gain, trinket or gift. Something small. A literal coin or piece of gold/jewelry. Currency. The ability to spend or invest in something. Ideas taking physical form. Embodiment of concepts, the birth of ideas from the ethereal realm of thought and into a tangible existence. Nine of Coins: Goals being materialized. Satisfaction and happiness from all the wealth and prosperity achieved. Material success, luxury. Financial luck. Achievements. Satisfaction with circumstances. It pleased me to see this card come out last because it leaves you with a sweet aftertaste. The promise that long years of arduous effort will be worth it. Tomorrow I'll list all the houses of the magic square.

[chicagoif]

Magic Squares

While designing The Magic Cube, we spent quite some time studying the number sequences that are featured on each of the cube’s six faces. We’d like to share some of the interesting facts we learned about them & today we’re focusing on the history of The Magic Square: 

Magic Squares

 A magic square is an arrangement of numbers in a square grid in which all the rows, columns and diagonals add up to the same total.  In the Innovation Factory Magic Cube we use the following arrangement on one of the faces:

As you can see, every row, column and diagonal of the square add up to the number 15. 

The constant that is the sum of every row, column and diagonal is called the magic constant or magic sum, M. Every normal magic square has a unique constant determined solely by the value of n, which can be calculated using this formula:

For example, if n = 3, the formula says M = [3 (32 + 1)]/2, which simplifies to 15. For normal magic squares of order n = 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8, the magic constants are, respectively: 15, 34, 65, 111, 175, and 260.

It turns out that there is only one, unique 3 x 3 magic square, having three rows and columns. There 880  distinct 4x 4 magic squares (excluding those obtained by rotation and reflection).  After that, the number of possibilities goes up very quickly:  for example there are 275305224 distinct 5 x 5 magic squares.

Flood Protection

 The arrangement shown above is known as Lo Shu’s magic square.  According to ancient Chinese legend, the square was used to control the river Lo and protect people from flooding.  Incidentally, the number 15 equates to the number of days in each of the 24 cycles of the Chinese solar year.

The Lo Shu square on the back of a small turtle (in the center), surrounded by the signs of the Chinese zodiac and theEight trigrams, all carried by a large turtle (which, presumably, stands for the Dragon horse that had earlier revealed the trigrams to Fu Xi). A Tibetan design.

The Templars

The Templar magic square  is an arrangement of the words in the Latin sentence "Sator Arepo tenet opera rotas" ("the farmer Arepo keeps the world rolling"). This square has been found in excavations of ancient Pompeii.

 Dürer's magic square is a magic square with magic constant 34 used in an engraving entitled Melancholia I by Albrecht Dürer (The British Museum, Burton 1989, Gellert et al. 1989). The engraving shows a disorganized jumble of scientific equipment lying unused while an intellectual sits absorbed in thought. Dürer's magic square is located in the upper right-hand corner of the engraving. The numbers 15 and 14 appear in the middle of the bottom row, indicating the date of the engraving, 1514.

Dürer's magic square has the additional property that the sums in any of the four quadrants, as well as the sum of the middle four numbers, are all 34 (Hunter and Madachy 1975, p. 24). It is thus a gnomon magic square. In addition, any pair of numbers symmetrically placed about the center of the square sums to 17, a property making the square even more magical.

GeoMagic Squares

Lee Sallows has introduced a new, fascinating kind of magic squares. Instead of numbers which add to a constant sum in each row, column and diagonal, this “geomagic squares” contain geometrical shapes which can be put together into a constant shape!

Consider backing The Magic Cube on Kickstarter you have an interest in numbers, math or logic puzzles.We’re currently raising funds on Kickstarter so we can manufacture the metal cubes, a book about the number sequences & develop an online solution software.