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 7s: the world is created in 7 layers, there are 7 muallaqat, 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 [ nostrils (2), ears (2), mouth, rectum, penis/vagina ]

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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