The chessboard is the world ;
the pieces are the phenomena of the universe ;
the rules of the game are what we call the laws of Nature.
The player on the other side is hidden from us.
We know that his play is always fair, just, and patient.
But also we know, to our cost, that he never overlooks a mistake, or makes the smallest allowance for ignorance.
The chessboard and the game of chess. The players are equivalent to the Demiurge
The chess floor has often been compared to a chessboard.
The game of chess is played on a chessboard with 64 squares : 32 white and 32 black, which alternate to form a set of 8 equal rows and 8 equal columns.
The number “64” represents the 8×8 square, whose squares are equal to the number of squares on the chessboard.
The same number 64 is the cube of 4 and the square of 8.
The Quaternary is the formal world with its 4 elements; the number “64” represents it to its 3rd power, that is, in the fullness of its expansion.
The 64 squares of the chessboard were not placed at random: the game of chess symbolises the struggle between spirit and matter, represented by the two players.
The Forces present at the beginning are equal :
The King is the Spirit which cannot disappear, which cannot destroy itself, which cannot be “taken”.
However, having descended into matter, imprisoned in a body of flesh, his possibilities are reduced and, although he moves in all senses, he cannot possibly move away from his starting point.
The Queen is the Soul which has greater possibilities in matter, but can be “taken”.
The Bishop is the higher spirit, the Genius, which moves “diagonally”.
The Rook the lower mind, Reason, which moves “vertically”.
The Knight is the astral, Imagination, jumping over obstacles.
The Pawn is the physical body, the Senses, which can deceive itself and to which it is forbidden to return, i.e. it is forbidden to deny sensation.
The Players, placed outside the chessboard, correspond to the Demiurge, who rules the earth but is outside the world.
