Winnie the Pooh as an Embodiment of the Canon

A newly discovered manuscript by William Stirling

Edited by Michael Behrend

We venture to suggest that an exposition of certain ancient mysteries was incorporated into the writings of the author generally referred to as A. A. Milne, whose works are intended to appear to the uninitiated as mere fancies for the amusement of children. 

The translation of English words into their numerical values may be achieved through either of two systems, based upon the Hebrew and Greek alphabets respectively.  For various reasons the former would appear to be the more appropriate in the present case, and for the convenience of the reader is appended below [1]. 

The three principal characters in these stories are Christopher Robin, 1225, Winnie the Pooh, 381, and Piglet, 137.  It appears that this Triad of symbolical persons is to be identified with the Christian Trinity, for if colel be added to each the total becomes the number of fusion, 1746 [2]. 

It is told moreover that Piglet was the descendant of one Trespassers Will, and this name, if the alternative spelling Wil is adopted, also equals 1746.  Now Piglet, 137, is equivalent by gematria to QBLH (qabalah) [3] and also, with the addition of colel, to the name A. A. Milne under which the author conceals his identity.  In such a circuitous way does the author set forth his claim to a divine inspiration behind the work.  And 137 is the side of the Holy Oblation, if the Sun’s distance be taken at 10, and is therefore equivalent to Christos, 1480, the second person of the Trinity [4].  Likewise Winnie the Pooh, 381, has the same number as Aiolos, who appears in the Odyssey as the god of winds, which seems to correspond to the pneuma, breath, or spirit of the Christian Trinity [5], the name Pooh being an onomatopœic indication of the divine afflatus.  Among his other epithets are Bear of Very Little Brain, 861, and Pooh Bear, 436.  Of these numbers the first, with a slight addition, gives 864, the number of ‘Ιερουσαλημ [6], while the second is the perimeter of the New Jerusalem in the Apocalypse [7].  Christopher Robin, 1225, may be taken as equivalent to the Father of the Christian Trinity, for 1225 is the measure of a cross whose limbs are 612½ feet long [8], and 612 is the number of Ζευς, or Dis Pater, the father of the gods [9].  Again, such a cross is formed by the diagonals of a square whose area equals that of a circle of diameter 489, the number of Πατηρ, the Father. 

Prominent among the other characters of the cycle are Owl or Wol, 106, and Eeyore, 295.  Now 106 is the diameter of a circle whose circumference is 333, the diagonal of the New Jerusalem in the Apocalypse [10], and at the same time is the diagonal of a square of side 75, or one less than the number of  ’Αθηνη or Athene [11], the goddess of wisdom to whom the Owl was sacred [12].  (Kanga, 75, is evidently to be regarded as a personification of Athene.)  Owl’s dwelling in the sacred grove is called the WOLERY, 321, and is thus by gematria equivalent to ναος, the Temple [13]; while the two notices before the entrance may be identified with the twin pillars Boaz and Jachin on which, according to the Alexandrian philosopher Polyorchidos [14], Noah and his sons engraved all the knowledge of mankind lest it should perish in the Flood.  The inscriptions upon these notices are given as PLES RING IF AN RNSER IS REQIRD, 2329, and PLEZ CNOKE IF AN RNSR IS NOT REQID, 1845.  Although the wording is obscure, it is plain that a mystical meaning is intended to be conveyed.  For 1845 is the circumference of a circle whose diameter is 587, which if colel be subtracted is equivalent to ‘ο θεος ’Ισαακ, the god of Isaac [15]; while 2329 is the circumference of a circle whose diameter is 741, the number of και πνευμα ‘αγιον, and the holy spirit [16].  The two inscriptions refer therefore to the knowledge revealed to mankind before and after the coming of Christ. 

Again, if colel be subtracted from the number of Eeyore, the residue 294 is the number of both ’Εκκλησια, the Church [17], and ‘Ροδον, the Rose [18].  Moreover 294 would appear suited to the saturnine or melancholic role played by Eeyore in the cycle, since the same digits, read from right to left, appear in the first row of the magic square of Saturn [19]; and 294 is the width of two intersecting circles forming a vesica of width 98, the radius of Saturn’s orbit if the Sun’s distance be taken at 10 [20]. 

Notes