THE HEBDOMAD
The Number Seven
THE "SEVEN" MYSTERY The Secret Doctrine II 37
Therefore, man cannot know higher beings than his own "progenitors." "Nor shall he worship them, "but he ought to learn how he came into the world.
(c) Number Seven, the fundamental figure among all other figures in every national religious system, from Cosmogony down to man, must have its raison d'etre. It is found among the ancient Americans, as prominently as among the archaic Aryans and Egyptians. The question will be fully dealt with in the second part of this Book; meanwhile a few facts may be given here. Says the author of the "Sacred Mysteries among the Mayas and Quiches, 11,500 years ago":
"Seven seems to have been the sacred number par excellence among all civilised nations of antiquity. Why? Each separate people has given a different explanation, according to the peculiar tenets of their (exoteric) religion. That it was the number of numbers for those initiated into the sacred mysteries, there can be no doubt. Pythagoras . . . calls it the 'Vehicle of Life' containing body and soul, since it is formed of a Quaternary, that is Wisdom and intellect, and of a Trinity or action and matter. The Emperor Julian, 'In matrem, etc.,' expresses himself thus: 'Were I to touch upon the initiation into our Sacred Mysteries, which the Chaldees Bacchized, respecting the seven-rayed god, lighting up the soul through him, I should say things unknown to the rabble, very unknown, but well known to the blessed Theurgists.' " (p. 141).
And who, acquainted with the Purânas, the Book of the Dead, the Zendavesta, the Assyrian tiles, and finally the Bible, and who has observed the constant occurrence of the number seven, in these records of people living from the remotest times unconnected and so far apart, can regard as a coincidence the following fact, given by the same explorer of ancient Mysteries? Speaking of the prevalence of seven as a mystic number, among the inhabitants of the "Western continent" (of America), he adds that it is not less remarkable. For: "It frequently occurs in the Popul-vuh . . . we find it besides in the seven families said by Sahagun and Clavigero to have accompanied the mystical personage named Votan, the reputed founder of the great city of Nachan, identified by some with Palenque. In the seven caves from which the ancestors of the Nahuatl are reported to have emerged. In the seven cities of Cibola, described by Coronado and Niza. . . . In the seven Antilles; in the seven heroes who, we are told, escaped the Deluge . . . ." "Heroes," moreover, whose number is found the same in every "Deluge" story from the seven Rishis who were saved with Vaivasvata Manu, down to Noah's ark, into which beasts, fowls, and living creatures were taken by "Sevens." Thus we see the figures 1, 3, 5, 7, as perfect, because thoroughly mystic, numbers playing a prominent part in every Cosmogony and evolution of living Beings. In China, 1, 3, 5, 7, are called "celestial numbers" in the canonical "Book of Changes." (Yi King, or transformation, as in "Evolution").
THE "MYSTERIES OF THE HEBDOMAD" SD II 590
WE must not close this Part on the Symbolism of Archaic History, without an attempt to explain the perpetual recurrence of this truly mystic number in every scripture known to the Orientalists. As every religion, from the oldest to the latest, claims its presence, and explains it on its own grounds agreeably
with its own special dogmas, this is no easy task. We can, therefore, do no better or more explanatory work than to give a bird's-eye view of all. These sacred numbers (3, 4, 7) are the sacred numbers of Light, Life, and Union especially in this present manvantara, our Life-cycle; of which number seven is the special representative, or the Factor number. This has now to be demonstrated.
If one happened to ask a Brahmin learned in the Upanishads so full of the secret wisdom of old, why "he, of whom seven forefathers have drunk the juice of the moon-plant, is trisuparna," as Bopaveda is credited with saying; and why the Somapa Pitris should be worshipped by the Brahmin trisuparna very few could answer the question; or, if they knew, they would still less satisfy one's curiosity. Let us, then, hold to what the old Esoteric doctrine teaches." When the first 'Seven' appeared on earth, they threw the seed of everything that grows on the land into the soil. First came three, and four were added to these as soon as stone was transformed into plant. Then came the second 'Seven,' who, guiding the Jivas of the plants, produced the middle (intermediate) natures between plant and moving living animal. The third 'Seven' evolved their Chhayas. . . . The fifth 'Seven' imprisoned their ESSENCE. . . . Thus man became a Saptaparna." (Commentary.)
Such is the name given in Occult phraseology to man. It means as shown elsewhere, a seven-leaved plant, and the name has a great significance in the Buddhist legends.
THE HEPTAD (THE 7) PROCEEDS DIRECTLY FROM THE MONAD SD II 603
But number seven, or the heptagon, the Pythagoreans considered to be a religious and perfect number. It was called "Telesphoros," because by it all in the Universe and mankind is led to its end, i.e., its culmination (Philo. de Mund. opif.). Being under the rule of seven sacred planets, the doctrine of the Spheres shows, from Lemuria to Pythagoras, the seven powers of terrestrial and sublunary nature, as well as the seven great Forces of the Universe, proceeding and evolving in seven tones, which are the seven notes of the musical scale. The heptad (our Septenary) was regarded "as the number of a virgin, because it is unborn" (like the Logos or the "Aja" of the Vedantins); "without a father or a mother, but proceeding directly from the Monad, which is the origin and crown of all things." (Pythag. Triangle, p. 174.) And if the heptad is made to proceed from the Monad directly, then it is, as taught in the Secret Doctrine of the oldest schools, the perfect and sacred number of this Maha-Manvantara of ours. The septenary, or heptad, was sacred indeed to several gods and goddesses; to Mars, with his seven attendants, to Osiris, whose body was divided into seven and twice seven parts; to Apollo (the Sun), between his seven planets, and playing the hymn to the seven-rayed on his seven-stringed harp; to Minerva, the fatherless and the motherless, and others. Cis-Himalayan Occultism with its sevening, and because of such sevening, must be regarded as the most ancient, the original of all. It is opposed by some fragments left by Neo-Platonists; and the admirers of the latter, who hardly understand what they defend, say to us: "See, your forerunners believed only in triple man, composed of Spirit, Soul, and body. Behold, the Taraka Raja Yoga of India limits that division to 3, we, to 4, and the Vedantins to 5 (koshas)." To this, we of the Archaic school, ask: —
Why then does the Greek poet say that "it is not four but SEVEN who sing the praise of the Spiritual Sun," EPTAME ? He says "Seven sounding letters sing the praise of me, The immortal God, the Almighty deity." . . . .
DIAGRAM OF THE 3 AND THE 4 "COSMIC" AND "HUMAN" PRINCIPLES SD II 597
A triangle and a quaternary, the symbol of septenary Man and that of the Universe
HUMAN & PHYSICAL NATURE SIDE BY SIDE SD II 594
THE GLOBES, PRINCIPLES, RACES, ROUNDS, SOUNDS & COLOURS ETC
Answers to Questions on the Ocean of Theosophy by Robert Crosbie p 39
Q. “The universe evolves from the unknown, into which no man or mind, however high, can inquire, on seven planes or in seven ways or methods.” Will you state the meaning of the “seven ways”!
A. Theosophy shows that all evolution is septenary in its nature and processes; it is the under standing of this septenary nature that gives us the key to a comprehension of the evolutionary processes, the nature of Man, and of all beings and forms. All planets, as well as all solar systems, have a beginning and an ending, and all of them are the products of progressive intelligences of innumerable degrees of development. Our earth is the resultant of a previous earth and its beings, whereon the course of septenary evolution had reached the limit of its possibility. Each septenary evolution has as a, starting point all the knowledge and experience gained in previous evolutions, and of necessity in the succeeding evolution proceeds in a septenary manner, method, or way. As examples we have the seven “globes” of the earth; seven principles; seven great races of men; seven sub-races of each; seven sounds; seven colors, etc. (Also see SD I 289-292)
CORRELATIONS OF PRINCIPLES, PLANES, PLANETS, AND RACES
ibid p 65
Q. What is meant by “each principle is correlated to a plane, a planet, and a race” (page 30) ?
A. The Root and substratum of all that is, is Spirit, Self-existing and All-pervading. It is the Unity within which all differentiation takes place. The Unity is not destroyed because of any number of diversities that may be evolved from and within It; an efficient Cause is not eliminated as long as there is a basis in which effects may be produced. Manifestation means differentiation from and within the Unity; the statement of the Secret Doctrine is that manifestation or differentiation proceeds in seven ways or stages, that this applies to all degrees of substance and all forms, and all kinds of beings. Man is shown to have seven principles; He derived these principles one at a time, as differentiation of the planet proceeded; therefore each principle of Man is correlated to a particular stage of differentiation of the planet. Each planet, again, in our solar system has seven principles, so that Man, planets and solar systems have as their constituent parts similar principles, and each principle in Man, planets or solar systems, is co-related to the others; there is therefore an active or latent relation between each and every form and being, which, as we grow in knowledge and wisdom, may be availed of. Humanity, as a whole, proceeds also in seven stages, concurrently with the conditions of the planet, and thus at each stage is called a Race, each of which, again, has its seven subdivisions expressed again in a number of septenary ways. So, from top to bottom and in every direction, there is a channel, plane and relation between every form and being and every other, from highest to lowest; and this relation exists, whether any being in any particular state of perception is aware of it or not. Knowledge of this great fact, and the arousing within ourselves of the necessary conditions, will enable us to use and direct the seven-fold occult forces. All nature is before us and within us; we must therefore take and use what we can, and wisely; the steps necessary are shown in Theosophy and no one of these may be overpassed.