[tattwa]

This number carries profound undertones with great significance. Number seven is wisdom, perfection, stability, influence, integrity and completeness.

It is singular to observe the important part occupied by the number seven in all the ancient systems There were, for instance, seven ancient planets, seven Pleiades, and seven Hyades; seven altars burned continually before the god Mithras; the Arabians had seven holy temples; the Hindus supposed the world to be enclosed within the compass of seven peninsulas, the Goths had seven deities, namely, the Sun, the Moon, Tuisco, Woden, Thor, Friga, and Seatur, from whose names are derived our days of the week; in the Persian Mysteries were seven spacious caverns, through which the aspirant had to pass; in the Gothic Mysteries, the candidate met with seven obstructions, which were called the Road of the Seven Stages .

The Egyptians had seven original and higher gods; the Phœnicians seven kabiris; the Persians, seven sacred horses of Mithra; the Parsees, seven angels opposed by seven demons, and seven celestial abodes paralleled by seven lower regions. To represent the more clearly this idea in its concrete form, the seven gods were often represented as one seven-headed deity. The whole heaven was subjected to the seven planets; hence, in nearly all the religious systems we find seven heavens. The processions around the temples went seven times, and the devotees had to kneel seven times before uttering a vow. The Mahometan pilgrims turn round Kaaba seven times, at their arrival. You have also the seven hills of Rome, the seven Liberal Arts, and the seven wonders of the ancient world. There are seven colors of the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue,
indigo, violet.

The seven days' march round the walls of Jericho, when, on the seventh day, the walls fell, before that mysterious God force symbolized in the number of seven. It is also remarkable that there are exactly seven generations from David to the birth of Christ. In Revelation we read of the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. Ezekiel speaks of The seven angels of the Lord that go to and fro through the whole earth, which is believed to be a reference . Seven also numbers the days of Passover and the branches of the menorah

The Pythagoreans called it the perfect number, 3 and 4, the triangle and the square, the perfect figures. Seven is the number of perfection and completeness. In the act of creation (Genesis 2:2,3), God (3) and the World (4) are joined in one purpose. 3 + 4 = 7, = seven days of the Creation Week. Seven is often used as a number of wisdom. From the Old Testament, Proverbs 9:1: "Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars". Other Sevens from the Old Testament include the great flood. Noah had seven days to prepare before the flood. He was commanded to take seven pair of clean beasts and birds. "Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and the female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and the female".

The seven planetary spheres served as a model for state divisions and organizations. China was divided into seven provinces; ancient Persia into seven satrapies. According to the Arabian legend seven angels cool the sun with ice and snow, lest it should burn the earth to cinders; and seven
thousand angels wind up and set the sun in motion every morning. The two oldest rivers of the East--the Ganges and the Nile--had each seven mouths.

The East had in the antiquity seven principal rivers (the Nile, the Tigris, the Euphrates, the Oxus, the Yaksart, the Arax and the Indus); seven famous treasures; seven cities full of gold; seven marvels of the world, &c.

Equally did the number seven play a prominent part in the architecture of temples and palaces. The famous pagoda of Churingham is surrounded by seven square walls, painted in seven different colours, and in the middle of each
wall is a seven storied pyramid; just as in the antediluvian days the temple of Borsippa, now the Birs-Nimrud, had seven stages, symbolical of the seven concentric cycles of the seven spheres, each built of tiles and metals to
correspond with the colour of the ruling planet of the sphere typified.