One hundred thirty-six is the triangular number of 16, the sum of all integers from 1 to 16. As a mystic number, it signifies the completion of a cycle of expansion and return, a number of synthesis and integration. Its root, 1+3+6=10, reduces to Malkuth, the Kingdom, grounding the spiritual energies of the upper paths into the material world.

Position on the Tree of Life

This number corresponds to the 16th Path, which connects Tiphareth (Beauty) to Chokmah (Wisdom). This path is the Vau of the Tetragrammaton, the Son, and represents the harmonious union of the microcosm and macrocosm.

Astrological and planetary correspondence

While 136 itself is not directly astrological, its reduction to 10 (Malkuth) and its position on the Path of Vau (Taurus) links it to the fixed, earthy, and receptive qualities of the Bull. The number 16 is also associated with the astrological sign of Taurus in some systems.

Historical context

The use of triangular numbers in Qabalistic numerology is ancient, rooted in the Pythagorean tradition that saw numbers as the principles of all things. The Sepher Yetzirah, the foundational text of Jewish mysticism, describes the 32 Paths of Wisdom, and later Qabalists like the authors of the Zohar and the 16th-century Safed school elaborated on the numerical correspondences of the sephiroth and paths. The specific assignment of 136 to the 16th Path appears in the 19th-century Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn's teachings, which systematized these correspondences for practical magical work. Crowley's Liber 777 codified this system, making 136 the standard mystic number for this path in modern Western esotericism.

In the table of Liber 777, at the scale step of the 16th Path, the number 136 appears as the Mystic Number of the Sephiroth, representing the sum of the path's own number and the completion of its inner cycle.