Numerology and the Number 7

[preston crawford]

Since time immemorial the number 7 has fascinated humankind. Mystics
of all religions have attempted to reduce all natural phenomenon to
the number 7. Medieval scholars interpreted it as consisting of two
principles: the material 4 and the spiritual 3. This distinction
formed the basis of the 7 liberal arts. Christianity followed this
practice with its 7 sacraments: the material, or practical, being
unction, marriage, penance, and the holy orders and the spiritual
triad of confirmation, baptism, and the eucharist.
This practice of organizing according to heptads may arise from
repeated observation of nature. Consider that there are 7 notes to the
musical scale, the octave being simultaneously a return to the
precious order and a transcendence of that order. This same principle
may be observed in the periodic table of elements. There is an ancient
philosophical idea that human development occurs in heptads, an idea
which Shakespeare famously dramatized with his '7 Ages of Man'
soliloquy from As You Like It.
The mystery of the number 7 is not limited to the Christian tradition.
It may have been the Pagans who first noticed the phenomenon in the
phases of the moon, 4 to be exact, which can clearly be seen to change
every 7 days. Of course there are the 7 planets of the ancients: Sun,
Moon, Mercury, Mars, Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn. The number 7 was
influential to the Iranian god Mithras in the form of the 7 gates
through which the soul must pass. Zoroastrianism includes the heptad
of the 6 guiding spirits and Ahura Mazda while Islam is rife in 7's:
the world is created in 7 layers, there are 7 mu'allaqat, and 7
Sleepers.
Some other interesting observations of the number 7 include:
In Nature
7 colors of the rainbow.
7 ancient metals ( lead, tin, iron, quicksilver, gold, copper,
silver ).
The Lunar Cycle ( 28 days or 2 x 7 ).
In Humans
7 divisions of the brain.
7 compartments of the heart.
7 holes in the body
7 chakras.
In General
7th inning stretch.
7 year itch.
7th heaven.
7 virtues ( faith, hope, charity, justice, prudence, temperance,
strength ).
7 deadly sins ( pride, avarice, lust, wrath, idleness, gluttony,
envy ).
Copyright Jakob Steele
2007
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