The number 12 is the full circle of powers in a person, the 12 faculties by which the whole nature is governed, the same count carried in the tribes, the months, and the signs around the wheel. The 12 pillars are those powers set upright and made to stand, each faculty given its place at the base of the ascent. The altar under the hill is the point of offering at the foot of the climb, where the lower is surrendered before the higher ground is taken.
Rising early is the waking of awareness at the first light of a new state, and the writing down is the fixing of the higher word in the mind so it will hold. A person orders the whole company of inner powers and sets them upright before beginning the ascent within.
The altar: the point of offering at the foot of the climb, where the lower self is surrendered before the higher ground is entered
The hill: the rising ground of consciousness that must be ascended from below
12 pillars: the 12 faculties of a person set upright and made to stand, the full circle of inner powers
12 tribes: the complete company of faculties that govern the whole nature, the same count as the months and the signs of the wheel