Remember how Sesame Street was always brought to you by a letter and a number: "This show has been brought to you by the letter H and the number 9" and throughout the show various examples of both were illustrated? This website is brought to you by the number five.

Five: it doesn't seem like five should be any more or less important than any other number. Five -- we've got five fingers and toes. Five: it's four plus one or two plus three. Five -- we've got five senses.

In Taekwon-do there are five tenets, five lines of the student oath, five-colored belt levels. In the study of ki in Korea, there are considered to be only five emotions; there are five organs that correlate to those same emotions.

In Eastern cultures, five is a central figure. There are considered to be five elements: wood, metal, fire, water and air. In Gung-fu, there is a five-animal system, with five animals each representing aspects of the practitioner's character. One of the classic martial arts texts, written over 350 years ago, is a book called, "The Book of Five Rings," by Miyamoto Musashi, a Japanese samurai. In China and Korea, the art of geomancy is a form of fortune telling using the Earth. The art, known most commonly by its Chinese name, is feng shui. This art is centered around five colors, five directions, five animals, and five types of energy. Feng shui combines religious, philosophical, astrological, cosmological, mathematical, and geographical concepts.

Five appears in all major religions and philosophies as a number of sacred importance. There are five joyful mysteries, five sorrowful mysteries and five glorious mysteries in Catholicism, and five wounds of Christ's crucifixion. There are five archangels: Michael, Seraphiel, Gabriel, Azrael, and Suriyel. In Islam, there are five pillars of faith, five categories of law. Believers pray to Mecca five times each day. To the Hindu, there are five organs of sense, five organs of action, five energies, and five steps to enlightenment. The Buddhist seeks to know the five wisdoms, the five powers and the five rites of purification.  To the pagan it is the home of earth, fire, water, air and spirit.

The most widely recognized Olympic symbols is that of the five interlocked rings of blue, black, red, yellow and green. It is said that the interlocking rings represent the union of the five original major continents (Africa, America, Asia, Australia, and Europe) and that the five colors were chosen because at least one of these colors can be found in the flag of every nation represented.

The Pentagon in Arlington, VA is the five-sided headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense (Navy, Army, Air Force). It was designed by American architect George Bergstrom and was built in 1941. The Pentagon consists of five concentric pentagons, has five floors, five sides, and has an open central court that is five acres.

Five gave us the word "punch," as in drink. In the ancient Sanskrit language, panca means five. Panca was also the word for a refreshing drink from the East Indies, which was made by mixing five fruit juices. While most dictionaries list the origin of "punch," as in to hit, as first appearing in Middle English and coming from the French, poinconner, perhaps the fist of five fingers also came from panca.

Perhaps this is why it is written in the Taittireya Upanishad, "Whatever exists is fivefold." There seems to be an overwhelming magic, mystery and frequency of occurrence of the number five in nature, math, science and in most major religions, philosophies, and martial arts as well. This paper will barely scratch the surface of the intrigue of five.

The Pythagoreans called the number five "nature." When raised to any power of itself, (i.e., 5x5=25, 5x5x5=125), it will always produce a number ending in five. It is also the number that they associated with marriage, being the sum of the first even (female) number (2) and the first odd (male) number (3). To the Pythagoreans, "the number two was the first feminine number and represented the first stage of creation, the split into the mutually dependent opposites of positive/negative, hot/cold, moist/dry. The number three was the first masculine number and represented the second stage of creation, the productive union of negative and positive." It was also said in a piece called Piccolomini, that "Five is the human soul. Just as mankind is comprised of both good and evil, so the five is the first number of even and odd."

To the Pythagoreans there were also five essences: fire, water, earth, air, and the "quinta essentia" – or the fifth essence, ether, "the all embracing divinity." From this comes our word, quintessential, "the pure, highly concentrated essence of something."

The number five is also central to the magic square. In the magic square, all the integers 1 through 9 are put into a 3x3 grid. In all directions, the sum is 15. The discovery of the first magic square dates back to approximately 2205 BCE. "In Ancient China, a just and wise monarch ruled. This was the Emperor Yu. Kungfutse (Confucius) tells Emperor Yu had once been occupied with building a dam on the Yellow River to stop the floods. While sitting on the bank of the river, immersed in thought, a divine turtle named Hi appeared to him. On the turtle’s back there was a figure with number signs" which translated into modern numerals, looked like this:

The square is grouped around the number five, which was "highly esteemed in China. All the horizontal and vertical numbers lines produce the sum 15, as do the diagonals. The even numbers are placed in the corners, the odd ones between them."

The pentagram dates back as far as 3500 BC, where it was found on potsherds in Ancient Mesopotamia. In later Mesopotamian art, the pentagram is seen in royal inscriptions and was symbolic of the imperial power extending to the four corners of the known world. Amongst the Hebrews, the symbol meant "truth" and represented the Pentateuch, or the Five Books of Moses.

"Pythagoras had ideal numbers…five was the number of love, uniting the two (female) and the three (male)…five was also the symbol of health and harmony."

Early Christians associated the pentagram with the five wounds of Christ. It was an integral part of the seal and amulet of Emperor Constantine I. The seal was comprised of two adjacent circles, the one on the left featuring the chi-rho symbol (a symbolic form of the cross) and the one on the right with a pentagram. In the ensuing church that grew from Constantine’s takeover of the Roman Empire, it was the cross from this seal that became the chosen symbol of Christianity.

The pentagram was also the glyph of Gawain in the legend of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Inscribed in gold on his shield, the pentagram symbolized the five knightly virtues of generosity, courtesy, chastity, chivalry and piety.

The pentagram was historically, a device to ward off evil, rather than a symbol of it. In the Medieval era, the "Endless Knot" (another term for pentagram) was used as an amulet of personal protection, and used on windows and doors as well. In Goethe’s Faust, Mephistopheles was exorcised with a pentagram.

Five is "the most typical structure in living nature." It is found in plants, animals and almost everywhere, except for crystals – no naturally occurring crystal is known to have five sides.

"…They collide like protons and electrons, always in a five dimensional world, whose fundament is chaos," wrote Henry Miller in his novel, Plexus. Indeed, it would seem that even chaos has some order. "Although chaos seems totally random and unpredictable, it actually obeys strict mathematical rules that derive from equations that can be formulated and studied."

Mandelbrot and Julia are the names foremost in this field of study, now known as fractal geometry. Much like five raised to any power creates itself, they have found that "fractals are rough-edged objects that often appear self-similar; i.e., no matter what scale is used to view the pattern, the magnified portion of the fractal shape looks like the original."

The number five is an integral part of the Fibonacci series. The Fibonacci set is a series of numbers which on first glance seem to have no set pattern, resembling chaos (1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34,55,89,144…). The pattern to these numbers is that each is the sum of the two numbers prior. The series was first discovered by Fibonacci, and was the result of a study he conducted in 1209.

"Take two rabbits of the opposite sex. Rabbits can bear youth 2 months after their own birth. Assume a pair of rabbits produces another pair every month over a year….Fibonacci listed the total pairs of rabbits at the end of each month in this set." The sequence repeats itself throughout nature. The number of petals most flowers have fall into this series, as does the patterning of their leaves, for example, pine needles grow in clusters of 2, 3, or 5. Also, if each number after the initial 5 in the set is divided by the next highest, it comes out to be approximately 0.618, or the golden mean.

One striking example is the apple tree and apple. The apple tree bears blossoms of five petals and the apple itself, when sliced horizontally, has five seeds and a star-shaped design inside. "Imagine the perfect apple, ripe and bursting with life. Sliced in half, it reveals a beautiful five-point symmetry – a star formed by the seeds inside."

Gathered by the handful at beaches, the starfish and the sand dollar are the most obvious life forms with five-fold symmetry. With the sand dollar, it goes beyond the star-shaped design on the top: it also has five holes, a five-spoked design on the reverse, and inside, five white bones fall out when broken open (when a skeleton is found on the shoreline). As scientist and author Delta Willis said, "The sand dollar, for example is related to the starfish by their common radiation of pentagons. When you flip over a sea urchin, on the bottom is a five-petalled pointsetta (much as when you turn over a sand dollar)…it never occurred to me to relate these configurations of five to my own fingers…such a connection seemed dubious – as suspect as astrology."

The figure to the left is drawn by Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim (1486-1535) for a book entitled "The Magic of Arbatel." Here, man is depicted on a star, again showing the proportions of anatomy, perhaps not as artfully as daVinci, but in a way more clearly understood. This was the "microcosmic man" which represented the "four elements (earth, wind, fire, water) as the man’s limbs with his head representing the spirit."

The Islamic faith has five categories of law: duty, recommended, indifferent, disapproved and prohibited. They pray to Mecca five times daily. To the people of Islam, there are "five pillars of faith" or, the five ritual duties that mainstream Muslims view as central to their faith. These are:

1. Profession of faith
2. Ritual prayer
3. Fasting at Ramadan
4. Almsgiving
5. Pilgrimage to Mecca

The profession of faith is a statement in Arabic which says, "There is no god but the one God, and Muhammed is his Prophet." The act of ritual prayer is salah, and involves praying five times a day, always facing towards Mecca. Fasting, or saum, during Ramadan is for purification and goes from dawn to dusk, allowing for no food, drink or sexual relations. Almsgiving, or zakat, is that above and beyond taxes, 2.5% of income is to go to the poor. Finally, there is an obligation for all Islamic believers to make the hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca at least once.

The first of the fives in Judaism is the Pentateuch, or the five books of Moses. These books form the basis of Hebrew history and law. They are also represented in the five knots at each end of the tallit, or prayer shawl. The tallit is a highly respected object in Judaism which is a public declaration of one’s love, respect, and devotion to the faith. The knots are joined by a single strand, and together the knots and joining filament are also considered symbolic of first words of the "the Shema. ‘Shema Yisrael Adonai Elohenu Adonai Ecahd,’ or ‘Hear oh Israel, the Lord is Our God, the Lord is One.’ The recitation of this line (Deutoronomy 6:4) is an important part of the morning and evening services. The five knots can be viewed as representing the first five (Hebrew) words of the Shema. The last word, echad, is represented by the winding between the knots. Echad means one."

There are five major festivals in the Jewish year: Pesach (Passover), Sukkot (Tabernacles, celebrates the harvest), Shabuoth (Weeks, or Pentecost, celebrates the end of the barley harvest), Rosh Hashana (New Year) and Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement). The number five appears also in the celebration of Pesach, or Passover. "The first Pesach meal was eaten in haste as our people prepared for flight. On their lintels were painted tau symbols in lamb’s blood as instructed so when the Lord passed over, Egyptian first born males would be struck down instead of our own…during this period before the flight, there was no leaven. This law pertains to five specific grains."

Building on the above, five was also the number of loaves of bread and fish that Christ used to feed the masses. It is also the number of wounds that he endured in death on the cross: the two hands, the two feet and the spear that pierced his side.

In the Catholic Church, there are surrounding the life of Christ, a series of fives to be remembered: the five joyful mysteries, the five sorrowful mysteries, and the five glorious mysteries. Each mystery is meant to remind believers of various virtues as expressed in the life of Mary and Christ. The five joyful mysteries are the annunciation (love of humility), visitation (charity toward my neighbor), presentation (virtue of obedience), nativity (spirit of poverty), and finding in the temple (virtue of piety). The five sorrowful mysteries are the crowning with thorns (moral courage), agony in the garden (true contrition), carrying of the cross (virtue of patience), scourging at the pillar (virtue of purity), and crucifixion (final perseverance). The final five are the glorious mysteries: the resurrection (virtue of faith), the ascension (virtue of hope), the assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (devotion to Mary), the descent of the Holy Spirit (love of God), and the crowning of the Blessed Virgin Mary (eternal happiness).

As we have already seen, the apple and the sand dollar have five-fold symmetry, revealing a star, and in the case of the sand dollar, a star and a floral pattern on the reverse side. Both of these items have Christian legends surrounding their images of five. The apple it is said, "mirrors the spiritual aspects of…idea, sustenance, life, knowledge and the secret mysteries within the earth…the apple to Adam and Eve signified that which we should not attempt to know." The sand dollar is said to bear holes representing the five wounds of Christ, the star that led the shepherds to the manger, the pattern on the reverse side is said to be a poinsettia, and the five white bones are doves of peace. One can find this myth on postcards along almost any shoreline where sand dollars are found.

Even the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas," has its own set of fives, the five gold rings. The five gold rings are said to represent the five obligatory sacraments of baptism, communion, confirmation, penance, and last rites.

Manicheism is considered the "Gnostic Lighthouse of the East." It was started by Mani (216 – 277), and had many followers throughout Mesopotamia, including Augustine before his conversion. Much of what is known about Manicheism is through Augustine’s writings against it, but it is known that there were several core beliefs around the number five. Five was the number of parts of the body, virtues, clerical degrees, vices and elements of light (ether, wind, water, fire, light).

Wicca is commonly referred to as witchcraft.  It is an earth-based, Goddess religion that focuses on individual responsibilities and community commitments.  Some practice alone and are called solitaries, while others practice in a group referred to as a circle or coven.   One of the most identifiable symbols that practitioners wear or utilize for meditation purposes is the pentacle.  

These five points, or the five essences of fire, water, earth, air and spirit are said to be the five points of the star, a common symbol of Wiccan / pagan beliefs. The position of the star and whether it is enclosed or not represents different meanings. Traditionally, with the point up, it is said that the spirit is dominant over material things. Inverted, it is associated with the spirit being subservient to matter, representing carnal desire, as used by Anton LeVay. Inscribed in a circle, the pentacle is contained and is said to be an amulet of protection; without the circle, it is said that the wearer is prepared for change, conflict and active.

Among the other most common are the Feri Tradition Pentacles of Pearl and Iron.  These are utilized not only within the Feri Traditions established by the Victor and Cora Anderson, but by the Reclaiming Tradition, based out of San Francisco, CA.  Among the other most common are the Feri Tradition Pentacle of Pearl and Iron.  These are utilized not only within the Feri Traditions established by the Andersons, but by the Reclaiming Tradition, based out of San Francisco, CA.

There are a myriad of meditations that are associated with the pentacle in the Wiccan traditions.  There are examples in the chart at the bottom of the page.  The pentacle is a tool which becomes rote and stops thought process and allows for feeling, being and action.  The pentacle serves as a mandala for meditation, and a powerful amulet when worn.  The pentacle also serves as a connecting point for individuals to a pattern and energy that others have used, are using and will continue to use for generations.  It is the witch's rosary.  

Another tool commonly associated with the Wiccans is the use of the tarot.  Tarot cards are seen as a portal to other ways of knowing.  One author of this community, Lunaea Weatherstone has written that "the number 5 is usually about the tarot – the four suits of the Minor Arcana and the Major Arcana. The fives in the tarot itself are often about challenge or questioning – adding one more to the balance of four, throwing it off balance. Even numbers are balance, stillness, sometimes stagnation. Odd numbers are movement, change, conflict."   The four suits of the Minor Arcana, though varying from deck to deck, are the elements, while the Majora Arcana are the spirit, seen through archetypal imagery.  

The Dalai Lama wrote, "Many Eastern philosophies, and in particular Buddhism, speak of five elements: earth, water, fire, air and space. The first four are supported by the element of space which enables them to exist and to function. Space, or ‘ether,’ then, serves as the basis for the functioning of all of the other elements."

Wood is the tree. It is flexible, yet rooted, giving a strong base. Its energy goes

outward in all directions, and represents the liver, the organ responsible for the free flow of ki. The dragon, with its barely controlled rage is the animal of wood, and anger the emotion most associated with it.

The phoenix is the bird of fire. It is the season of summer, of energy at its strongest. But beware, fire brings both benefit and disaster. Fire lives in the heart and the emotion of joy. The heart home to the spirit, "might seem quaint to the scientifically oriented, but the fact is, reports published and broadcast on programs such as Dateline NBC have related experiences of heart transplant patients whose emotions and preferences changed markedly. Later it was discovered through surviving relatives that the donor had the same traits newly exhibited by the transplant recipient."

Earth is the center of our life, the core upon which every living thing depends. It is the yellow brown warmth of "Indian Summer." The organ of the earth is the stomach, and it is represented by the snake, an animal which spends its entire life on its stomach. Its mood is that of reflection and contemplation.

Metal is strength and substance. The inward energy of metal is that of grief and melancholy. The lung is the organ of metal. Tiger is the animal associated with metal. Able to both defend and attack, ready to spring into action when faced with any threat, the tiger is feared and revered around the world.

The water energy is downward, and it is at this phase of the cycle that "things reach their maximum rest and maximum concentration. It is the new moon, dark and about to give birth." The emotion associated with water is fear -- its color, black. Water may appear to be the weakest of the elements, but over time a steady stream of water can wear down the largest stones. The tortoise is the animal of water, representing security, wisdom, and longevity.

The Hindus have a great number of fives in their religion. There are the five organs of sense, five organs of action (for speaking, handling, walking, generating and excreting) and five vital airs. The process of enlightenment is fivefold: annamaya (immersed in food, or the corporeal body), pranaamaya (endowed with the five vital airs), manomaya (acts consciously), vigyaanamaya (endowed with knowledge) and finally, anandamaya (joyousness).

The Hindus also have five precepts for self restraint, which are the same in Buddhism: non-killing (ahimsa); truthfulness (satya); non-stealing (asteya); sexual continence (brahmacharya); and non-covetousness (aparigraha).

One faction of Hindu believers, the Shivaites, believes that God, or Shiva, has five faces, each representing an active energy. These five energies are: "srishti (which creates the world), sthiti (which preserves the world), sanhaara (which destroys the world), tirobhavva (which conceals the true characteristics of the world from the soul), and anugraha (which reveals the truth of the world to the soul)."

Another Hindi religion is that of Jain, which was founded by Mahavira (599-527 BC). It was most notably practiced by Gandhi. According to the Jains, there are five key stages in the life of Mahavira: his miraculous conception, his birth, his renunciation, his attainment of omniscience, and his liberation. The monastic orders of Jainism must follow the Hindu precepts of self-restraint as well.

It is also believed that the mountain where all the gods reside and from which all creation comes is the five-peaked Mount Meru. This is remembered in the architecture of Angkor Wat, a renowned Hindu temple complex in Cambodia in the 12^th century. "Taking more than 30 years to build, the layout of the complex was conceived as an architectural allegory of the Hindu cosmology. At the center of the complex stands a temple with five lotus-shaped towers representing the five peaks of Mount Meru."

Buddhists venerate five Buddha families, five Buddha wisdoms and the implements of each. They also believe in the existence of five elements (fire, water, earth, air and emptiness) and that there are five human powers (faith, effort, memory, concentration, and wisdom).

The first Buddha family is that of Akshobya, and is the mirror-like wisdom, the purification of hatred and anger. It is represented by a vajra, a ritual instrument. The second Buddha family is that of Vairocana, and is the wisdom of the ultimate reality, the purification of ignorance. It is represented by the prayer wheel. The third is the family of Ratnasambhava and is focused on the wisdom of equanimity and the purification of pride. It is symbolized by a jewel. The fourth family is that of Amitabha and gives us the wisdom of discrimination and the purification of attachment and desire. It is depicted by the lotus blossom. The final in the five families is the Amoghasiddhi, which gives the wisdom of accomplishment and the purification of jealousy, and is represented by the sword.

Tibetan Buddhist monks build giant, intricate sand mandalas as one way of honoring the Buddha. In the creation of the mandala there are five rituals to cleanse and prepare the site, and five rituals to honor the substances used in creation of the mandala. In the great Kalachakra Mandala, there are multiple fives, both in the mandala and the rituals to create it. The Kalachakra Mandala is constructed by five monks, who start by laying down a white chalk outline of the mandala on the surface it is to be drawn on. This is done by "snapping the wisdom string" – a string made up of five strings of differing colors, said to represent the five Buddha families. The Kalachakra consists of "five square mandalas within each other, representing the five levels of Kalachakra’s palace. Each of the square mandalas is said to represent one aspect or state of enlightenment: body, speech, mind, wisdom and great bliss. The five circles enclosing the square mandalas are said to represent the five elements" as viewed by the Buddhist – earth, water, fire, wind and emptiness. At the heart of the mandala is a lotus blossom, "five layers of colored sand are painted, one on top of the other…these layers serve as the cushions for the central deity of Kalachakra."

In Tibet, Buddhists fly prayer flags, which are left outside to fray. The idea is that the wind will carry the essence of prayer wherever it blows. These flags are often comprised of five-colored flags, together with printed images representing the prayer or a specific deity. "The traditional five colors (blue, white, red, green, and yellow) represent the five elements (space, water, fire, air/wind and earth)."

The Chinese felt the power of five, and "arranged accordingly the directions, seasons of the year, sounds, parts of the body, tastes and colors. The entire life in this world is built on five." This system of thought became the basis for feng shui, or the art of geomancy. In China (and Korea as well), the art of geomancy is a form of fortune telling using the earth. This art is centered around five colors, five directions, five animals, and five types of energy. Feng shui combines religious, philosophical, astrological, cosmological, mathematical, and geographical concepts.

When entering into the Forbidden City of Beijing, visitors arrive in an immense courtyard through the Meridan Gate, and find themselves faced with five bridges over the Golden Water. It is said that these bridges represent the five Confucian (or constant) virtues: humanity, sense of duty, wisdom, reliability and ceremonial propriety.

In Chinese art there are five symbols commonly referred to as the "five happinesses." These symbols are found in most ancient Chinese art and are considered to foretell good luck. They are the shou, Ch’i Lin (a mythical animal similar to the chimera), Lung ( A Chinese Dragon), the Feng Huang (or phoenix) and the Ju-I. Interestingly, the dragon was only depicted as having five claws when used by the emperor. Lesser princes could also use the dragon design, but only depicting three or four claws.

Gung-fu is an ancient Chinese martial art. Students of gung-fu study five animal forms: tiger, crane, leopard, dragon, and snake. There is a sixth form, that of the monkey, represented by the fist, which is said to symbolize that combination of the first five animals; it is also believed that each of the first five animals is a finger on a hand that makes the fist. Each animal had a strength or attitude that the practioner was to learn, as well as being associated with a specific technique. The tiger represents the passion and enthusiasm; it is associated with the horse stance. The crane is defense, its stance one where the lead leg is lifted, bent and cocked, ready for action. The leopard marks the final stage of the beginner, and combines the aggression of the tiger and the defense of the crane, focusing on acceleration, power and balance; its stance is that of the cat. The dragon represents controlled rage, and is associated with the twisted stance and claw hands rear above head and about a foot in front of midsection; the dragon is also associated with the ki-ai. The snake is the animal of ki; here the students study the cat stance with a stacked mantis-like forearm cover.

Tai chi chuan is a martial art originating from China, one that is considered "soft" and "internal." Wong Kiew Kit, a widely published author has said of tai chi that "all the critical lessons of tai chi chuan training can be summarized into five areas: mind – as in being mindful of the opponents movements; body or form – to flow with the opponent’s form; vital energy or chi – diffused all over the body; internal force – controlled at the waist; and spirit or shen – as a general preparation for the above four." This is further elaborated in the "Five Characters Formula," which refers to mind tranquil, body agile; energy full; force complete and spirit focused. Mind tranquil encourages the practitioner to remember that if the mind is not tranquil, then it is also not concentrated or focused. Body agile means that if body movement is sluggish, movement is not as efficient as possible. Energy full is harnessing the c’hi, or energy, so that it flows and connects every part of the body. Force complete is using the whole body as one force. When the spirit is focused, it is said that there is "abundant energy, mental freshness, and coordinated movement." There are also five fundamental leg movements in tai chi, or: jin (forward); tui (backward); ku (left); pan (right); and ding (remaining at the center). These are said to "symbolize the five elemental processes of the universe – metal, water, wood, fire and earth, are the processes or phases, not the elements."

There are theories that the number five in China "was the most common of the numerical categories used by the Chinese. It may symbolize the five happinesses, the five constant virtues, or the five great leaders of antiquity."

The number five appears to be central to Japan as well, perhaps imported from China. According to an ancient Chinese text (c. 250), the Empress Himiko of Japan eagerly learned of Taoism and the yin-and-yang theory, as well as the five elements. Five pentagonal stone monuments surround the burial site of Himiko, and are said to represent the five elements.

Abe-no-Seimei was an 11^th century government official and author in Japan. His symbol mark was a regular pentagram. Many pentagrams can be found in the Seimei-jinjya Shrine in Kyoto where he lived. "It is not clear why Seimei liked the pentagram. His pentagram may show a relationship to the Chinese five-elements, or he might have known about the famous relationship between a pentagram and Pythagoras."

Until recently, the pentagram was painted, engraved or embroidered on objects as diverse as swords, kimonos for the Hana-matsuri, on the tops of caps worn in the military (as late as the early 20^th century), and as a talisman after Abe-no-Seimei.

Miyamoto Musashi, a Japanese samurai and undefeated duelist who wrote the Book of Five Rings in the mid-1600s. This book, while about the martial arts, has come more recently to be used on the battlefield of corporate business. According to translator Stephen Mitchell, it would actually "more properly be translated as The Book of Five Spheres." Musashi admonishes those who practice the martial arts with showmanship and commercialism, and turns attention to the psychology of ruthless victory in battle.

"Martial arts are the warriors’ way of life," he opens in the Earth Scroll. "Let us illustrate the idea of a way of life. Buddhism is a way of helping people; Confucianism is a way of refining culture. For the physician, healing is a way of life…few people are fond of the martial way of life. The way of the warriors means familiarity with both cultural and martial arts. Even if they are clumsy at this, individual warriors should strengthen their own martial arts." His five scrolls are earth, water, fire, wind and emptiness, hailing more to the Pythagorean essences. He also writes of five types of guard or defensive stance: "upper position, middle position, lower position, right-hand guard, and left-hand guard. There are no other kinds of guard except these five." Similarly, he writes of five formal techniques of swordplay.

More recently, a new, "eclectic" martial art called Taido was formed in Japan. This art has "no economy of motion…the object is to perform a difficult and beautiful technique." It is an art form, not practical for self-defense. The movements are patterned after five forms of natural motion: "untai, the waves, representing the movement of ascent/descent, and containing all flying techniques; sentai, the tornado, representing all spinning actions; hentai, the clouds, representing all falling or topping techniques; nentai, the whirlpool, or all spiral movement; and finally tentai, lightning, or the motion of the spheres."

Five is still seen as an active and empowering number. This is why it has been said "The mystic power of five may overwhelm everything in Japan."

With all the invasions that Korea has undergone from both China and Japan, it is little wonder that the number five appears in many shapes and forms in their culture. Most trace back to China, Japan, Confucianism and Buddhism.

The ancient Koreans believed that there were five elements as well. To them, the five elements were those of gold (metal), earth, fire, water, and wood. According to them, "the universe is subject to ever changing mutual relations among the five elements, each representing certain symbols, basic to the composition of the universe."

As in other Asian cultures, the Koreans placed importance on fortune-telling. The instruments used for fortune telling were "five old coins. On each of the five pieces was inscribed an appropriate mark to indicate one of the five elements." Interpretation was done based on position and relation between elements. "To interpret properly symbols derived from this, the fortune teller has to be versed in the knowledge not only of the five elements, but also the theories of the taeguk (male and female / um and yang)."

It is little surprise then that the Hwarang-do warriors of Korea had five rules / guidelines for their organization. According to Korean folklore, these were devised by Wong Kwang Bopsa, a Buddhist high priest. Using the moral principles of Buddhism and the martial arts code of chivalry, his system, based on the belief that the martial artist needs to have something larger than ego and self-interest to sustain the commitment to study, came down to five rules. These were:

1. Serve the king with loyalty.
2. Tend your parents with filial piety.
3. Treat friends with sincerity.
4. Never retreat from the battlefield.
5. Be discriminate about the taking of a life.

During the Korean War, for the most part, martial arts training was suspended. However, it was during the Korean War that the five original kwans (or schools) got together and, under the leadership of General Choi, chose a unifying name for the arts practiced by the five kwans, or taekwon-do. In the oath of the Hwa-rang do youth are the roots for the five tenets and five lines of the student oath of modern day taekwon-do.

1. Courtesy
2. Integrity
3. Perseverance
4. Self Control
5. Indomitable Spirit

1. I shall observe the tenets of Taekwon-do.
2. I shall respect the Instructor and the seniors.
3. I shall never misuse Taekwon-do.
4. I shall be a champion of freedom and justice.
5. I shall build a more peaceful world.

Although music is arranged around the octave, in tuning, there is a theory called the "Circle of Fifths." "Sound-wave frequencies of the upper and lower notes in intervals form simple mathematical rations, such as 2:1 (octave), 5:4 (major third) and 3:2 (fifth)." This last ratio is called the "pure" or "natural" fifth, and is the basis for Pythagorean tuning, used in Ancient Greece, Ancient China, and Medieval Islamic and European countries. "Tuning a series of fifths, beginning on F, produces the seven notes of the C-major scale ( F C G D A E B), and then the five notes F#, C#, G#, D#, A#, and finally E# and B# (theoretically identical with F and C, hence the term ‘circle of fifths’ for this series."

In an Ancient Celtic myth known as "Cormac’s Cup of Gold," it is said that Cormac "saw a royal fortress with 4 houses in it and a bright well with nine ancient hazels growing over it. In the well were five salmons who ate the nuts that dropped from the purple hazels and sent the husks floating down the five streams that flowed therefrom. The spring was the well of knowledge and the five streams, the five senses through which knowledge is obtained."

The painting on below, I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold, is by Charles Demuth, an American painter who was a contemporary of Georgia O’Keefe. It was created in response to the William Carlos Williams poem The Great Figure.

Freemasons are a fraternal organization dating back hundreds of years. The world’s largest "secret" society – these men are the fraternal descendants of the Knights Templar. It is a society bonded by a series of secrets, rituals, and charitable works (for example, the Shriners Hospitals). As described by the Masons themselves, freemasonry is "a beautiful system of morality, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols. The mind of freemasonry is its ritual, its symbolism, its morality, its character building. What is its soul? It is that which is hidden behind its symbols and its ritual teachings; its inner meanings and its aspirations, its touch with that part of man which is immortal."

It is little surprise, given the long history of the Masons that the number five appears frequently in these rituals. Central to the appearance of the number five is "all that Freemasonry is, all that it teaches, all that is within it which is valuable, has come through the five senses…Without the five senses man would not really be alive, even if his body possessed life. His five senses are his sole and only contacts with the world. A man with no senses could know nothing, communicate nothing."

To have a lodge, there must be five members: "the worshipful master, the two wardens, and two fellows of the working class." These five are required to hold a lodge "in allusion to the five noble orders of architecture, namely the Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian and Composite," these are also sometimes referred to as the classical orders.

The Freemasons celebrate also the "Five Points of Felicity: and the "Five Lights on the New Testament." The five points of light on the New Testament are "The birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension" of Christ. Also associated with these five points is the five pointed star which appeared over Bethlehem at Christ’s birth. The five points of felicity are reminders "To walk, to intercede for, to pray, to love and to assist your Brethren, so as to be united with them in heart and mind."

It comes as little surprise that one way that masons recognize each other then, is through the five points of fellowship:

1. Grip with the right hand of each others’ wrist with the points of the fingers
2. Right foot parallel to right foot on the inside
3. Right knee to right knee
4. Right breast to right breast
5. Hand over shoulder supporting back

Each of these seemingly "meaningless" gestures is actually steeped with meaning and symbolism:

Five is the quintessential number – it appears in all major religions and philosophies around the world in many forms. It permeates nature, math, art, literature and music. The pentagram is a widespread sacred symbols used in Ancient and modern times throughout almost all cultures of the world. The sacred nature of five is attested to by one ancient philosopher who wrote, "All things happen in fives or are divisible by or are multiples of fives. I find the law of fives to be more and more manifest the harder I look."

The following table is a compilation of the fives included in the paper. The first section is primarily taken from the art of feng shui. The table is included as a quick, visual reminder of some of the commonalities running through most major religions and philosophies. It is also by no means complete.