H is the 8th letter of our alphabet. H stood for the number eight in many early alphabets such as the Greek, Phoenician,and Semetic which had no separate symbols for numbers.

The planet Mercury revolves around the sun in 88 days. Mercury was the messenger of the gods and Mercury has the swiftest orbital velocity. The Greek name for the Roman god Mercury is Hermes.

The liquid metal Mercury occupies the eightieth place in the periodic table of elements. Its chemical symbol is Hg.

A container of Mercury becomes a horizontal mirror reflecting below what is above.

The Hermetic axiom is; "As above, so below".

The figure eight is composed of a circle above and a circle below. It has the same horizontal geometrical symmetry as the letter H.

Hermes was also the physician to the gods. His symbol and the symbol for medicine is the caduceus; two serpents coiled about a winged staff in the figure eight. This is the symbol for healing. The Hippocratic oath is taken by physicians.

The musical alphabet is composed of seven notes: A B C D E F G. The eighth place (where H would be) is an octave higher. The same sequence of notes below is repeated above. (As above, so below – again.)

The frequency of the note A (below middle C on the piano) is 440 cycles per second. A an octave above has the pitch of 880 cycles per second.

The octave is the purest harmonic interval.

The shakuhatchi is a Japanese flute named after its length; one and eight tenths foot (shaku=foot, hatchi=eighth).

Sound comes to us through hearing.

In the Tree of Life of the Hebrew Kabbalists, the planet Mercury is assigned to the eighth sephiroth (emanation of God). The name of this sephiroth is Hod. The color given it is orange. (The musical tone A raised 40 octaves into the light spectrum becomes the color orange.)

In the Hindu system of chakras, (energy centers in the human body) the throat chakra. where sound and communication originate, has the seed mantra Ha.

The object of communication is to achieve Harmony. And, when you finally get it…

“Ah Ha!"