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Seven days of creation, seventh heaven, seven seas, seven continents, seven wonders, seven pillars of wisdom, seven heavenly virtues,
lucky seven, the magnificent seven, seven up, seven eleven
…it seems as if the number seven surrounds us. |
Over 7000 years ago, after the discoveries of the gold, Silver and copper the first ‘ Seven Metals Of Antiquity’, there existed
a culture of visionaries who lived in the Mesopotamian city
of Babylon, they were known as the Chaldaean oracles. The Chaldaeans
were fundamentally alchemists believing ‘As it is above, so
it is below’. |
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According
to the Chaldaeans everything was inextricably linked. They believed
the interpretation of events on earth, of men's characters and
dispositions, were made possible by observing the movements
of the planets. We have come to know their prophecies as astrology.
While observing the motions of the stars above, the Chaldaeans
realized the existence of order in the procession of the planets
in the sky, they translated this order into numbers. We have
come to know their mathematical prophecies as astronomy. |
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Expressing the movements in numbered measurements the Chaldaeans
developed the 12-month ‘Solar’ calendar, conceptualized the
twelve signs of the zodiac, this in turn led to the establishment
of the two 12 hour divisions of night and day.
They went on to establish the monthly period,
derived from the 28-day Lunar cycle with each period possessing
it’s own full Moon. One theory is that the Chaldaeans based
this time period on the female reproductive cycle. This may
also explain why the Moon has always had a female identity being
governed over by female deities of fertility. |
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Being alchemists the Chaldaeans, basing the existence of time
on the movements of the seven celestial bodies above, followed
by recreating a microcosmic mirror image on Earth below. The
Chaldeans already associated each of the seven planets with
the names of the Babylonian gods: Moon Nanna, Jupiter Marduk,
Venus Ishtar, Saturn Ninib, Mercury Nebo, Mars Nergal, Sun Shamash, they then connected each planet and its god to a
designated time period.
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These systems were later adopted and developed by the Greeks,
and subsequently the Romans, who after replacing the original
Babylonian deities with their own assigned each of the seven planetary bodies with a day. Later, in northern Europe, the
Teutonic and Nordic tribes, who spawned the Anglo Saxon language,
added to the list of deities. |
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Under Judeo-Christian influences the sequence of the 7 days of
the week was calculated on the proximity of each of the 7 planets to the
Earth, starting with the Moon, then Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars,
Jupiter, Saturn. The planets were then placed in reverse order
and numbered in running rotation through a 24 hour period starting
with Saturn: 1=Saturn, 2=Jupiter, 3=Mars, 4= Sun, 5=Venus, 6=Mercury, 7=Moon, then repeating the cycle again 8=Saturn, 9=Jupiter…until
23=Jupiter, 24=Mars. The name of the next day came from the
next planet in the cycle from where the previous day had left
off: 1=Sun, 2=Venus… 23=Venus, 24=Mercury. Then the next day:
1= Moon, 2=Saturn…etc, etc. If you look at the planet assigned
to the first hour of each day, you notice that the planets come
in this order: Saturn, Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus:
this is the exact order of the 7 days of the week. At the time
of Christ, during the Judeo-Christian period, Saturday with its designated planet Saturn was the
day of rest making Sunday the first day of the week. |
  
 
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