MAGIC SEVEN

The Novruz spring holiday which is marked in many countries of the East, involves many popular beliefs and rites. All of them have their own meaning, interpretation and history. By tradition, it is common practice to serve seven dishes, sweets or household items on the festive table at Novruz. It is hard to say why it should be seven. It is only known that this figure is considered magical in the East and the philosophy of various peoples stands behind it.

The figure seven is actually one of the most amazing of numbers. According to religious beliefs, it rules time and space. All peoples of the world have given special attention to this figure.

In Egypt the figure seven is the symbol of eternal life and belongs to the god Osiris. It is also considered to be the symbol of creative work.

The Sumerian king Lugulan-nemundu, who reigned 2,500 years BC, erected a temple to the goddess Nintu, which had seven doors and seven gates, in the town of Adab. Upon completion of the construction, seven bulls and seven sheep were slaughtered to sanctify the temple. In ancient Greece, the figure seven was considered to be the symbol of the son of Zeus and protector of the arts, Apollo, who was born on the seventh day of a month; his lyre had seven strings.

Islam speaks about the seven gates of paradise and seven steps to hell. Seven prophets are known - Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Jesus and Muhammad. During their pilgrimage to holy Mecca pilgrims track seven circles around the Kaaba holy stone.

They say that the spirit of a deceased person lingers around their grave for seven days. A newly-born baby is given a name within seven days of its birth.

There are seven deadly sins: anger, greed, envy, gluttony, lust, selfishness and sloth.

You can come across the figure seven in various proverbs, sayings, aphorisms etc. For example, Baku is located on seven hills, there are seven days in a week, "measure seven times, cut once", "to be in seventh heaven", the onion is considered to be "a panacea for seven troubles", seven domes are built for seven beauties… There are seven colours in the basic palette - red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet, and there are seven tones (notes) in a musical scale etc.

In ancient times the figure seven undoubtedly acquired its mystic qualities owing to the seven planets that can be seen with the naked eye - the sun, the moon, Venus, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter and Saturn, which are always equidistant from each other and revolve around the same orbit. For this reason seven is the basis of the idea of the eternal harmony of the Universe. The figure was considered sacred as an image and model of divine formation and acquired important significance for astrologists. It was considered a divine monad which emerged from the addition of two figures also considered sacred: 3 and 1: 3+3+1. For this reason, the Egyptians accorded respect to seven bright celestial bodies as gods. The Phoenicians respected seven Cabeiris (in Greek mythology - gods), the Persians - the seven holy horses of Mitra (the god of the sun in ancient eastern religions). According to Arab stories, seven angels cooled the sun with the help of ice and snow, so it did not burn up the Earth, and seven angels set the sun in motion every morning.

There were seven famous treasuries, seven gold-rich towns. There are Seven Wonders of the World, too. The Romans celebrated the seventh day of the week - Sunday - as the holiday of the sun…

The figure seven permanently accompanies man in all circles of his life. In the seventh month, a baby starts its cutting teeth. Fourteen (7 х 2) months later it begins to sit up and 21 (7 х 3) months later - walking. At thirty-five months (7 х 5) it stops suckling. At the age of 14 (7 х 2) a human begins to adopt adult form and at 21 (7 х 3) - stops growing.

There are other facts, too, that have to do with the figure seven. For example, the duration of pregnancy in women is 280 days (7 х 40). In the animal world, there are such cases too - mice spawn at 21 (7 х 3) days, hares and rats - at 28 (7 х 4) days, cats - 56 (7 х 8) days, dogs - 63 (7 х 9) days, lions - 98 (7 х 14) days and sheep at 147 (7 х 21) days. The incubation period in hens lasts 21 (7 х 3) days and in ducks - 28 (7 х 4) days.

You cannot get this number by multiplying others together or by multiplying by another number and getting a result within the first ten. In these terms, this figure is unlike others (for example, 9=3 х 3, 8=2 х 4, 6=2 х 3, 10=5 х 2, etc).

The special attention given to this figure from ancient times also has to do with the Earth's moon. The belief was common among primitive peoples that life cycles on the Earth depended on the increase and decrease in the size of the moon. The classical astrologist Ptolemy said that the closest celestial body to the Earth - the moon - influenced everything: its rising and setting led to an increase or decrease in the level of water in rivers, the rise and fall of the tide, and people and plants changed too. Every new moon leads to a renewal of nature, a burst of energy in humans, as though the moon feeds them its strength…

The lunar cycle consists of four phases, each of which is divided into seven days. The Sumerians made their own calendar based on the lunar cycle. Each month in this calendar consisted of four weeks, each of which had seven days. Days were added to the end of cycles to fill in the time when the moon did not appear in the sky.

In Babylon, every seventh day marking the completion of a particular stage in the lunar cycle was dedicated to the god of the moon, Sin (in Sumerian-Akkadian mythology, Sin is the god of the moon, and in the Sumerian town of Ur he was called Nanna - "illuminator"). That day was considered to be dangerous, bringing misfortune. For this reason, the seventh day of the week was meant for rest and no-one worked on Sunday to avoid encountering danger. Occultists believe that the human body is renewed every seven years. They suppose that illnesses develop according to a seven-day cycle. It turns out that the figure seven rules cycles and rhythms like birth, development, ageing and death. Thus seven is the figure of perfection. Every stage in human development, every lunar phase ends within seven days. Any seven objects consist of seven complete cycles. For example, seven planets, seven weekdays, seven colours of the spectrum, seven component parts of the human face, seven foramina in the human body etc.

Occultists believe the qualities of this figure hold the secret rhythms of life. They say that there are plans to install full-sized versions of the Seven Wonders of the World in Dubai. The tower of Pisa and the Taj Mahal will also be built, and they will all be surrounded by the Great Wall of China. There will be residential apartments and offices inside a huge pyramid. In the gardens of Babylon, restaurants and coffee houses will operate. Residential complexes will be located in the Lighthouse of Alexandria, the Taj Mahal and the Eiffel Tower. From a bird's eye view, this complex will resemble the silhouette of a falcon hovering in the sky. This bird is a symbol of the United Arab Emirates. However, in view of the global financial crisis, the duplication of the wonders of the world is unlikely to be accomplished within the next few years.