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Thank you for this. I've seen that number system before in Agrippa for the purpose of crafting magic squares. I also think I've seen JMG associate 1 with Neptune and 2 with Uranus? Still, I've only scratched the surface with the Tree of Life, so I'll need to spend a lot more time there before I can make comparisons, myself...

Walter Gibson, oddly enough, happens to be the creator the The Shadow. He also wrote widely on occult topics. (Actually, he wrote widely on lots of things. The man just couldn't stop writing.) I found a used copy of The Complete Illustrated Book of the Psychic Sciences and remembered that JMG had written about it, and figured I'd give it a go.

I am intensely curious where these associations came from. I have noticed that Manly P. Hall mentions the system in The Secret Teachings of All Ages:

There is also a system of calculation in vogue for the English language, but its accuracy is a matter of legitimate dispute. It is comparatively modern and has no relationship either to the Hebrew Qabbalistic system or to the Greek procedure. The claim made by some that it is Pythagorean is not supported by any tangible evidence, and there are many reasons why such a contention is untenable. The fact that Pythagoras used 10 as the basis of calculation, while this system uses 9—an imperfect number—is in itself almost conclusive. Furthermore, the arrangement of the Greek and Hebrew letters does not agree closely enough with the English to permit the application of the number sequences of one language to the number sequences of the others. Further experimentation with the system may prove profitable, but it is without basis in antiquity.

He then goes on to describe the same method of numerological calculation that Gibson uses. So this system was in use at least a generation before Gibson wrote about it, but beyond that I have no ideas. It might be a worthy Magic Monday question.

In any case, it's a quiet Friday night, so let me take a few minutes paraphrase Gibson's description of the numbers and take a stab at the associations:

1. Purpose. Aggression. Action. Ambition. The drive to acquire fame or to rule by might. Strong will. This sounds like Mars to me.
   
2. Antithesis, balance, contrast, maintaining equilibrium through a mixture of positive and negative. Ambivalence. I agree with Gibson's Lunar designation.
   
3. Versatility, talent, gaity, adaptability, dilettantism. I would place Mercury here.
   
4. Steadiness, solidity, endurance, patience. Definitely Saturn.
   
5. Adventure, attainment through travel and experience, restlessness, instability, uncertainty, "good luck." Jupiter seems fine here.
   
6. Harmony, sincerity, sensuality, earthiness or naturalness. Venus seems reasonable enough to me, though I question Gibson's use of the term "dependable," here.
   
7. Mystery, intuition, fancifulness, imagination, delusion, depth, knowledge, secrecy. Neptune?
   
8. Business, seriousness, logistics, executive capacity, ruthlessness, detail-orientedness. Uranus?
   
9. Influence, creative capacity (arts, music, skills, inventive capacity, etc.), power, charisma, pride. Sol.

Still, this is just a guess based off of the things that Gibson says. I'd really love to trace this back to its roots to get a better sense of why the numbers are given the meanings they are...