Page 88 (part 12)

For, verse 1,152 of the "Greater Holy Assembly" (Kabala) says -- "We have learned that there were ten (companions) who entered into the Sod, ('mysterious assembly or mystery'), and that seven only came forth"*** ( i.e. , 10 for the unmanifested, 7 for the manifested Universe.) 1,158. "And when Rabbi Shimeon revealed the Arcana there were found none present there save those (seven companions) . . . . 1,159. And Rabbi Shimeon called them the seven eyes of Tetragrammaton, like as it is written, Zach. iii., 9, 'These are the seven eyes (or principles) of Tetragrammaton," ' - - i.e. , the four-fold Heavenly man, or pure spirit, is resolved into Septenary man, pure matter and Spirit. Thus the Tetrad is Microprosopus, and the latter is the male-female Chochmah-Binah, the 2d and 3d Sephiroth. The Tetragrammaton is the very essence of number Seven, in its terrestrial significance. Seven stands between four and nine -- the basis and foundation (astrally) of our physical world and man, in the kingdom of Malkuth. For Christians and believers, this reference to Zaccharias and [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * [[Continued from previous page]] For, this "Tree of Life" is also the "tree of knowledge of good and evil," whose chief mystery is that of human procreation. It is a mistake to regard the Kabala as explaining the mysteries of Kosmos or Nature; it explains and unveils only a few allegories in the Bible, and is more esoteric than is the latter. * Simplified in the English Bible to: "Is the Lord (! !) among us, or not?" (See Exodus xvii. 7.) ** See Kabala Denudata, by S. Liddell MacGregor Mathers, F.T.S ., p. 121. *** Translators often render the word "companion" (angel, also adept) by " Rabbi, " as the Rishis are called gurus. The "Zohar" is, if possible, more occult than the Books of Moses; to read the "Book of Concealed Mystery" one requires the keys furnished by the genuine "Chaldean Book of Numbers," which is not extant. [[Vol. 2, Page]] 627 THE NUMBER SEVEN IN CHEMISTRY. especially to the Epistle of Peter (I P. ii. 2-5) ought to be conclusive. In the old symbolism, man, chiefly the inner Spiritual man is called "a stone." Christ is the corner-stone, and Peter refers to all men as "lively" (living) stones. Therefore a "stone with seven eyes" on it can only mean what we say, i.e., a man whose constitution or ("principles,") is septenary. To demonstrate more clearly the seven in Nature, it may be added that not only does the number seven govern the periodicity of the phenomena of life, but that it is also found dominating the series of chemical elements, and equally paramount in the world of sound and in that of colour as revealed to us by the spectroscope. This number is the factor, sine qua non, in the production of occult astral phenomena. Thus, if the chemical elements are arranged in groups according to their atomic weights, they will be found to constitute a series of groups of seven; the first, second, etc., members of each group bearing a close analogy in all their properties to the corresponding members of the next group. The following table, copied from Hellenbach's Magie der Zahlen, exhibits this law and fully warrants the conclusion he draws in the following words: "We thus see that chemical variety, so far as we can grasp its inner nature, depends upon numerical relations, and we have further found in this variety a ruling law for which we can assign no cause; we find a law of periodicity governed by the number seven ." The eighth column in this list is, as it were, the octave of the first, containing elements almost identical in chemical and other properties with those in the first; a phenomenon which accentuates the septenary law of periodicity. For further details the reader is referred to Hellenbach's [[Vol. 2, Page]] 628 THE SECRET DOCTRINE. work, where it is also shown that this classification is confirmed by the spectroscopic peculiarities of the elements. It is needless to refer in detail to the number of vibrations constituting the notes of the musical scale; they are strictly analogous to the scale of chemical elements, and also to the scale of colour as unfolded by the spectroscope, although in the latter case we deal with only one octave, while both in music and chemistry we find a series of seven octaves represented theoretically, of which six are fairly complete and in ordinary use in both sciences. Thus, to quote Hellenbach: -- "It has been established that, from the standpoint of phenomenal law, upon which all our knowledge rests, the vibrations of sound and light increase regularly, that they divide themselves into seven columns, and that the successive numbers in each column are closely allied; i.e. , that they exhibit a close relationship which not only is expressed in the figures themselves, but also is practically confirmed in chemistry as in music, in the latter of which the ear confirms the verdict of the figures. . . . . . The fact that this periodicity and variety is governed by the number seven is undeniable, and it far surpasses the limits of mere chance, and must be assumed to have an adequate cause, which cause must be discovered." Verily, then, as Rabbi Abbas said: "We are six lights which shine forth from a seventh ( light ); thou (Tetragrammaton) art the seventh light (the origin) of us all;" (V. 1,160) and -- "For assuredly there is no stability in those six, save what they derive from the seventh. For ALL THINGS DEPEND FROM THE SEVENTH." (V. 1,161. Kabala, "The Greater Holy Assembly.") The (ancient and modern) Western American Zuni Indians seem to have entertained similar views. Their present-day customs, their traditions and records, all point to the fact that, from time immemorial, their institutions -- political, social and religious -- were (and still are) shaped according to the septenary principle. Thus all their ancient towns and villages were built in clusters of six, around a seventh. It is always a group of seven, or of thirteen, and always the six surround the seventh. Again, their sacerdotal hierarchy is composed of six "Priests of the House" seemingly synthesized in the seventh, who is a woman, the " P RIESTESS M OTHER." Compare this with the "seven great officiating priests" spoken of in Anugita, the name given to the "seven senses," exoterically, and to the seven human principles, esoterically. Whence this identity of symbolism?