There was no graphic sign in Hebrew for E since their alphabet contained no vowels. The Phoenicians took the consonant Hé (hay), which is equivalent to the English consonant H, and changed the symbol 
to 
for their own consonant. After 900 B.C. the Greeks borrowed the sign, reversed it 
to E, called it Epsilon, and used it for their short E vowel, in order to differentiate it from their long E vowel, Eta.
Like 5, E is open. It is open to talk, sing, and speak, so it is a letter of communication, of words. When negative it can be vocally critical of others. E-5 is open all around so it needs its freedom. It tends to have a nervous temperament and a temper. It is the 5 of the five senses so it is “open” to try, test, and taste everything. It may overdo things because it is so open.
The 5 is on a rocker so it is changeable, and will frequently change its mind. It has a tendency to lie. Negative 5’s can get into trouble with the law.
The E is so energetic and restless, it needs something worthwhile to keep it occupied. E can be openly affectionate and loving or the opposite, cold as ice. It is generally extroverted.
When the E is doubled it gives a wider expanse of expressions in either space or the senses. We see this in the words that suggest space: Freedom, Deep, Meet, Keep, Seep, Fleet, and Seek.
We see it in the sense words: See, Feel, Sleep, Speech, and Teeth.
The E is progressive. The letter is open to the future (the right). It doesn't look back, but looks forward to new experiences. It is important for E to have a good education.
There is a good balance line between the spiritual and physical, for the middle line is centered. This makes E interested in the occult as well as the material.
Since it is the fifth letter, the five senses predominate, and sensuality makes the E more worldly than spiritual. But those who do seek the higher level become idealistic and very intuitive.
E: Energetic. Effective.
Nun (noon) is the 14th letter of the Hebrew alphabet and the eighth of the 12 simple letters. Its governing influence is the sense of smell. Nun means fish and is the symbol of the Initiate. Nun also means growth, meaning spiritual growth.
Fish became representative of the deeper teachings for several reasons. Christianity was born in the Piscean Age, and the first letter of Jesus’ title in Greek, translated “Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior” (ΙΧΘΥΣ) spells out fish. And Jesus was able to live without sin while surrounded by it, just as fish live deep in cleansing waters.
In other faiths, fish were drawn in pictures of gods and goddesses to represent divinity.
The 5 is the mysterious middle of numbers that refers to man and his five senses. 14 is 5 on a higher level and is the number of the Sage (14/5) who has conquered the lower nature of the five senses and seeks the spiritual path by mastering his thoughts and actions.
Thoughts are like fish in the great sea of the mind, and it is important what fish we feed on or what thoughts we choose to make part of our being. The Initiate chooses to attain the Christ-consciousness and remain on that level.
Joshua, the son of Nun, was an Initiate of the Old Testament whom God appointed to take Moses’ place in leading the people. He promised He would be with him as He was with Moses. Later, those who chose to become disciples of Jesus were known as fishermen. There are always only a handful of individuals who seek the true wisdom, and out of the multitudes only 12 became disciples. In the Bible, bread and fish were related to spiritual teachings. The number 7, referring to the loaves, tells us that the teachings were of a spiritual nature. This bread, or teachings, filled the multitudes, while the few fishes were all that were needed to fill the 12 disciples, who sought something deeper. Jesus explained this point to them himself. He had told them to beware of the leavening of the Pharisees. The disciples thought it was because they had not brought bread with them, but Jesus was referring to the teachings of the Pharisees as leaven. Leaven is the yeast that changes the characteristics of the dough and causes the bread to rise. Teachings are like leaven in that they can change a person's attitudes and beliefs.
How is it that you did not understand that I was not talking to you about the bread, but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees? Then they understood, that he did not say that they should beware of the leaven of the bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees (Matthew 16:11–12).
The bread that Jesus gave was the bread of Heaven.
This is the bread which came down from Heaven; it is not like the manna which your forefathers ate and died; he who eats of this bread shall live forever (John 6:58).
It is Jesus’ teachings that are the “bread of Heaven.” According to Max Freedom Long's What Jesus Taught in Secret, whenever he says, “I am” or “I give you,” the correct translation is: “My teachings are,” because the direct translation has no “am.” The correct text of John 6:51 is:
My teachings are the living bread [not “I am the living bread”] because I came down from Heaven; if any man eats of this bread [meaning, “takes in knowledge of”] he shall live forever; and the bread which I will give is my body [the outer teachings for all but his disciples] which I am giving for the sake of the life of the world.
Max Freedom Long tells us that the code meaning for “No man cometh to the Father but by me” is really, “No man cometh to the Father but through what I teach.” And from this misinterpretation the Christian religions have used as dogmas, “only through me” and “in my name.”
Those who do seek higher consciousness have much revealed to them in meditation. Seldom is there a teacher of flesh and blood who appears out of nowhere to reveal the mysteries. True enlightenment is a very personal thing. The great spiritual teachers who have progressed beyond their earth's incarnations are ever ready to reach out to the true seeker—who is made known to them by the light of the seeker's aura. So it is true that when the student is ready, the teacher appears.
In order for the student to know he is in the presence of his spiritual teacher, he must have his senses under control, free and clear of any physical stimuli. Through the ages, students have noted that when a spiritual Master is near, there will be a lovely scent to signify his or her presence. This can never be detected in a room filled with heavy perfume, smoke, or even incense, nor is a Master attracted by them. These substances cannot overpower the physical sense of smell. This is why Nun refers to the sense of smell.
As the eighth of the simple letters, Nun is astrologically associated with the sign of Scorpio, which represents the reproductive area of man—the sacred center of generation and regeneration.
The low Scorpio seeks sensual gratification and stimulation. The high Scorpio is the eagle that soars above all the mundane, sensual desires and seeks the flight of the soul to the upper regions of wisdom and unfoldment. The difference is great—being merely mortal or being master of one's circumstances.
When the Greeks borrowed the glyph Nun from the Phoenicians, they changed the name to Nu, reversed the symbol, and then later made it symmetrical, as the present N in English. From there the Etruscans and then the Romans adopted it. When it came to us it kept its 14th place in the alphabet.
N is well balanced on the Earth plane and is the very same when reversed. It can be very sensual or spiritual since there is no line separating the two worlds as there is in A, B, or H.
Its inverted V on the left is open to the material world. Those who never develop their higher natures remain attached to the material, sensual world and never venture ahead to the V on the right that is open to something higher than themselves.
The right V is looking up to something greater: to ideas, spiritual understanding, and it is receptive to spiritual unfoldment. Hence Nun is either Scorpio or the Eagle.
Because N is open above and below, it is versatile and encounters many changes in life. It is associated with marriage and with travel.
On its side, N is a Z. This gives it psychic awareness that is subtle and often not used, but it is evident by the two intuitive 7’s that make up the Z.
These subtle 7’s also account for the great imaginations N's have. In fact, the ancients used this symbol to signify a scribe, as writers must be endowed with a good imagination.
N is able to pick up ideas out of the air just as an antenna captures radio and television waves. N even looks like an antenna. The word is pronounced “N-tenna,” and of the seven letters in that word, four of them are 5’s: N, E, N, N, so the predominating trait of the word reflects the qualities of the 5.
The W is a descendant of the letter V. The Phoenicians’ glyph was more like a Y, but they used it for the semi-consonant W (oo). They called it Vau or Waw and it signified the eye of man that sees light and the ear that hears the sound of Air and the wind.
In later Roman times, the W sound was written as a V. But the sounds U, V, and W were all shared by the same letter, and this caused confusion. So they formed a new graphic sign, W, by putting two V's together for the light “oo” sound, while the U retained its vowel form and V was used purely as a consonant. When used as a consonant, W was a picture of Water and represented the taste and the appetite. The symbol W was regarded as the likeness of deepest mystery because of the two deep valleys the letter stands on; the mystery is the point which sets apart being and non-being.
W is the 23rd letter of the English alphabet. This gives it a deep, sensitive nature, for both 2 and 3 are emotional number vibrations. They add up to 5, which represents the five physical senses and a need for freedom in order to cope with the changing aspects of the 5. Overindulgence in sensual pleasures, or expressing any of the other negative traits of the 5, is living in the valleys or pits of the W.
The peaks of the W are very high, and 5 is the middle of numbers, known by the ancients to be “the limited master.” The wise men of old called themselves sages for they had mastered themselves by overcoming the temptations of their five senses and touched on the spiritual.
Persons with a W in their names have a change of consciousness at some time in their lives. They have experienced the consonant form of indulgence, some in a lesser degree than others. Those who dissipate themselves are in the deep valleys, a pit that is difficult to ascend. Only through a change of consciousness can they pull out and scale the peaks, which are like arms upraised seeking the light.
This accomplished, it is indeed like the eye of man that sees the light and the ear that hears the Air and wind, for only the ear that is attuned to these subtle sounds hears the inner voice. That is experiencing the peaks of the W. (For more on W see Double-You, page 221.)
