Eleven, the number 11, or Elevenses is a sacred number is a measure and the Moon. Eleven is a mysterious underworldly number—in German, it goes by the appropriate name of Elf. Eleven is important as the first number that allows us to begin to comprehend the measure of a circle. This is because, for practical purposes, a circle measuring seven across will measure eleven halfway around (opposite top left). This relationship between eleven and seven was considered so profound by the ancient Egyptians that they used it as the basis for the design of the Great Pyramid. A circle drawn around the elevation of the Great Pyramid has the same perimeter as that of its square base. The intended seven-elevenfold conversion between square and curve is demonstrated by numerous surveys. The ancients were obsessed with measures, and the number eleven is central in their metrological scheme. Shown opposite is the extraordinary fact that the size of the Moon relates to the size of the Earth as does three to eleven. What this means is that if we draw down the Moon to the Earth, as shown, then a heavenly circle through the Moon will have a circumference equal to the perimeter of a square around the Earth. This is called 'squaring the circle'. Quite how the old druids worked this out we may never know, but they clearly did, for the Moon and the Earth are best measured in miles, as shown. Eleven, seven, and three are all Lucas numbers, sisters of the Fibonacci numbers, new numbers forming from the sum of the previous two numbers. The Fibonacci sequence begins 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, whereas the Lucas sequence begins 2, 1, 3, 4, 7, 11.

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• #numerology