The Deejay and the Shape of Five Lengths. (img source)
Preface of an anonymous compendium of hemp-scrolls, thought to be written by Deejay Agustin of Gila
ഗ In the dance of numbers the Californian vision-men be favored partners. Though they pile not stones so high as we, they see what a man may work in a day, and see what he must eat or drink. From this they derive the principle of re-addition, of how much one man does in ten days or ten men do in one. They see first how much water a vessel holds, and derive from this the principle of enclosure, that a circle of fathomed width and depth may capture the rain to slake a village’s thirst. Though we count not the instants so keen as they, we have treasured the First Deejay’s Calendar of the Large and Small Sevens for half an Age. Hungry are we for certainty in space, in matter, that our pyramids caress the clouds and stars. Hungry are they for certainty in time, in spirit, that their vision-men may furl out the full writ of a man’s deeds in life and lives previous and at last declare him good. ⪮
ഗ If this be true, then we of the Sentximund’ are loosetongue liars. We cry out in so many words that our vision is the purest of all men, for we turn in contemplation to the Age that we may see the miracles and secrets long-lost twinkling as jewels in the light of the Sixth Sun. Our numbers prove us false; if the cloudheaded Californian thinking be the rattlesnake’s first skin, ours be no more than the second or third. ⪮
ഗ Stay your hand; I despise not the glories of our kind. I fear only that the pyramids, though they once moved men’s hearts, becalm now their hearts and work their limbs. The builders of the pyramids move great numbers of men, water, and stone, but the kinships of re-addition and enclosure among these numbers has persisted half an Age. Monuments add not one sentau’ to true wealth— the fruits of contemplating the Age. The miracles of the Age are as the grains of sand, as the miracles of numbers show. ⪮
Treatise 5 of the Gila Scrolls
ഗ It is known that we may enclose a length twice to make a square, thrice a cube. From a cube, space may be taken away to make a pyramid, and so a pyramid is a shape of three lengths though it fill only one third the space of its parent the cube. We may enclose a length four or even five times. Though such shapes are beheld only by the mind’s eye of those who have dwelled long in a Vortex and become its wandering vessels, all may guess at their sizes with one number and one principle. How marvelous, that every man keeps a pebble of the Vortexes’ greatness in the folds of his tunic! I say to you such miracles come in pairs; if we take any number as the size of a Shape of Five Lengths, we may take its lengths into our hands as simply as the ribs of a tent. Two truths you know well; two I put forward. ⪮
ഗ It is known that to divide a cube by a square gives a length.
ᓌ It is suggested that to divide a shape of five lengths from a shape of four lengths gives a length. ⪮
ഗ It is known that for a list where all but the last member are known to be the same, if the average is known to be the same as the known members then the last member must be the same as the others.
ᓌ It is suggested that if by splendid chance I guess a number which is enclosed five times to give the number targeted, then the Trial of the Average must show that the target divided by this guess enclosed four times is the same as the original guess. ⪮
ഗ The course is as follows. Construct a list of five numbers wherein four are the same as the number you guess to be the answer, and the fifth is the size of the Shape divided by the guess enclosed four times. Take the average of this list. Unless you are blessed in the eyes of gods and men, this average is likely not the same as your guess. Take this average as your new guess and repeat the trial; the second result will without fail be smaller than the first. Repeat the trial again, and the third result is again smaller— though the third will be closer to the second, than the second to the first. Repeat again, and again, and you will come upon a result only a hair away from the previous. This result is what we have sought, and you may enclose it five times for yourself to see the truth of my word. ⪮
ഗ The proof of this marvelous trial is as follows—
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Conclusion of the Gila Scrolls
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—where the Threshing Wind dwells, where the evil air turns men to husks, there were once found old books of numbers. They are burned now, but a god is not maimed by the crushing of its sacred stones. A fool is he who doubts their power. ESU TUD’. ⪮
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I imagine the Deejays as a social group of philosophers and charismatic preachers, whose number might be limited by official or unofficial preferences for hereditary membership. Some are wanderers in search of revelations, others pursue rational and consistent theories amid the comforts of monasteries and libraries. The First Deejay’s Calendar of Large and Small Sevens divides the year into 7 months of 51 days (because Area 51 and all) and then 7 leap days (364 days total).
The Californian “unfurling of deeds” is either a reference to Scientologist clearings or security checks. Both involve questioning a person to uncover details about them, but clearing aims to continue a person’s spiritual evolution while sec-checks investigate them for sins (note: definitions of sin include thinking bad things about Scientology or its leaders). Medieval Scientology just wouldn’t be Scientology without continued use of questioning/interviews, which may also lend itself to a view of time as naturally divided into small units corresponding to lengths of human actions.
“Centro del Mundo”/”Center of the World” seems like a good poetic name for the land the New Mexico confederacy sits on. When the New Mexicans, Arizonans, and Dineh look out they will see Californians and their ocean to the West, the Sonorans and their ocean to the South, the Texas Cowboys and their ocean to the East, and the Deseretis and their “ocean” (Great Salt Lake) to the North. What else could New Mexico be but the geographic center of this world— and that’s before you consider how the Gray uniquely graced New Mexico with their presence, making it the spiritual center of the world too.
