Twelve Times the Mystery

When I made this heart, with its Roman numeral twelve on it, I was thinking of time. The twelve months in a year. Twelve strikes on a grandfather clock at noon, and at midnight.

The image reminds me of enameled metal in a green-blue color. Some antique clock faces had those enameled numbered dials, they last a long time and keep colorfast over time even in the sunlight. Enamel is glass, fused onto a metal backing that's usually copper.


I could picture a mantel clock, with its face decorated with all the Roman numerals, chiming the hours as they pass.


The other two hearts have the same shiny, faux enamel surface. One is a very folksy looking heart with a replica of a dutch design. The other is a fleur de lys pattern in a golden, glassy-looking finish.


I found this antique miniature french clock on an antiques website, doesn't it look like the mental image I had when I made the little heart, the face is enameled green? Neat, isn't it ...

The number twelve has many mystical and spiritual meanings and significance. Here are just a few I found.

The number twelve signifies faith, or the things of love and the derivative faith in one complex, such as the twelve sons of Jacob and their names, the twelve tribes of Israel, and the twelve apostles; the holy city, New Jerusalem, had twelve gates, and upon the gates twelve angels.

Measured by the passage of the twelve moons (29 days and half each time), the lunar year counts only 354 days.

Twelve is the first number known as "abundant" since the sum of its dividers (aliquot parts) gives a result higher than 12: 1+2+3+4+6=16.

The pure light would be made up, not of 7, but of 12 colors.

The twelve provinces that Râ visits each day by passing one hour in each one of them.

The twelve animals of the Chinese dances included in the ceremony of the change of year.

The twelve names of the Sun in Sanskrit, which are pronounced such as the mantras.

In the Japanese cosmology, the Creator is sat on twelve sacred cushions.

The twelve petals of the Anahata Chakra located in the area of the heart and the twelve petals of the corolla of the Sahasrara Chakra located a the top of the head.

The twelve animals of the Chinese horoscope: the Rat, the Ox, the Tiger, the Cat, the Dragon, the Snake, the Horse, the Goat, the Monkey, the Cock, the Dog and the Pig.

The twelve lunar years in the Chinese lunar calendar forming the complete cycle which lasts sixty years.

There are twelve principal divinities in the Greek mythology.

The twelve signs, or constellations, of the zodiac.

Receptacle of the good and the evil, the Egg of Osiris contained twelve white pyramids, symbol of the good, and twelve black pyramids, emblems of the evil, introduced by Typhoon.

The twelve "simple" letters of the Hebraic alphabet are the initials of the zodiacal names in Hebrew.

The Buddhists recognize twelve causes of existence or Nidanas.

All that in one numeral.