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She of the Sacred Number Seven

The connection between Seshat and the number seven is said to have ancient roots that run as deep as the roots of the Cosmic Tree, which scholar George Michanowsky described as one of her dwelling places in his book The Once and Future Star, which introduced his popular theory about Seshat's origins. He interpreted her headdress as a seven-pointed star and also pointed out that her unique star is the embodiment of numerological symbolism.

 

Seven is a power number in many of the world's traditions. It has had sacred significance throughout spiritual history. For example, the number seven is affiliated with sacred rituals, sacraments, and beliefs in many world religions, including Catholicism, Hinduism, Judaism, and Kabbalah. It is also considered a symbol of luck (and Lady Luck), and is affiliated with intuition, perfection, and completeness. And is the number of points in a heptagram, also known as a Fairy Star.

 

In Seshat's tradition, seven is also a power number.

 

"In ancient Egypt, seven signified the union of spirit (III) and matter (IIII)," says Moustafa Gadalla, in Egyptian Cosmology: The Absolute Harmony. "One of the forms that traditionally expresses the meaning of seven is the pyramid. It combines the square base, symbolizing the four elements, and the triangular side symbolizing the three modes of spirit."

 

It is magical.

 

In his book Symbol and Magic in Egyptian Art, Richard H. Wilkinson says the number seven is one of the most important symbolic numbers in Seshat's culture. It was also magical. "Seven was also a number of great potency in Egyptian magic, and spells such as those for seven magical knots to be tied to relieve headaches and other health problems or the seven sacred oils used in embalming are frequently found," he writes. "Mythologically, too, seven is important for the same reason."

 

There are other goddesses with seven aspects or seven-fold features that are also auspicious. On the mystical side, Seshat has been linked to seven falcon-headed gods who are called utterances.

 

Seshat also appears at number seven in the Negative Confession.

 

The Egyptian code of morality was clearly laid out in the Negative Confession, which is also known as The Declaration of Innocence. Egyptologist E.A. Wallis Budge shares a list of forty-two sins the soul is asked to say they never committed, in his book, Egyptian Religion: Ideas of the After Life in Ancient Egypt.

 

These confessions are meant to be spoken by the deceased before the weighing of their heart, with Maat's feather. Seshat and Maat are combined in number seven. 

 

Here is how it appears in the book:

 

"7. Hail Maat-f-em-seshet (i.e. Fiery eyes), who comest forth from Sekhem (Letopolis), I have not acted deceitfully."

 

Seshat's represents this number which is considered holy, and this number also connects Seshat to All That Is and Has Been. This makes total sense because she is the Lady of the Cosmic Library and Akashic Records. But seven is also a number that also can help us connect to her.