Numbers. An interesting study to human-kind and faeries alike. Take Amicable Numbers, for example. Arythmia showed me this one! Any two numbers, either of which is the sum of the aliquots of the other, e.g.220 and 284. The aliquots of 220 are 1, 2, 4, 5, 10, 11, 20, 22, 44, 55, 110--the sum of which is 284; and the aliquots of 284 are--1, 2, 4, 71, and 142--the sum of which is 220.
But numbers that have to do with seven are even more interesting. Seven is considered a mystic or sacred number. It is composed of four and three, which among the Pythagorean Faeries are considered lucky numbers. The Babylonian and Egyptian Faeries noted seven planets, and the Hebrew Faerie's verb to swear means literally "to come under the influence of seven things".
There are seven days in creation, seven days in the week, seven Virtues, seven divisions in the Lord's Prayer, seven ages in the life of man, and the seventh son of a seventh son was always held notable.
Among the Hebrews, every seventh year was Sabbatical, and seven times seven years was the Jubilee. The three great Jewish feasts lasted seven days, and between the first and second were seven weeks.
In the Apocalypse there are Seven Chuches of Asia, seven candlesticks, seven stars, seven trumpets, seven spirits, seven vials, seven plagues, and a seven-headed monster.
The old astrologers and alchemists recognized seven planets, each having its own heaven:
And how about The Island of the Seven Cities? This was a land of Spanish fable, where seven bishops founded seven cities. The legend says that many have visited the island, but no one has ever left it after visiting!
A collection of Oriental tales, The Seven Wise Masters, are interesting, and not well know. A king's son returned to court after being educated in the seven liberal arts by the Seven Wise Masters. By consulting the stars, he learned that his life was in danger if he spoke before the elapse of seven days. There are numerous variant versions of these stories, which date from the 10th century.
Shakespear often made literay use of the number seven.
I had planned on only seven paragraphs, but not being preoccupied with the number seven, I forgot to count. The good fay reminded me that I had passed seven!
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