Multiples of three...

Tealight

New Member
Multiples of three...

A couple of years ago I read a very interesting paper, all about the power of the number three and its multiples (the most common one used to show importance or power is 9) in some mythologies, notably Greek and Norse.

Here are a few examples:
Thor kills the Midgard serpent, but after taking nine steps back, dies from its poison.
The three Norns, the three Fates.
The trios in Greek mythology, for example Core, Persephone, Hecate.
The maiden, woman/mother, crone trio in Greek, Celtic, Norse etc. etc. mythology...

Your thoughts? Do you think it's just a coincidence, or is there meaning behind it? Further examples from other mythologies? A counter theory as to why the number seven is more important worldwide?

I would be very interested to hear!
 

jason

empty
I've heard this before. Its very intersting indeed. I personaly think 3 is appears more often then 7.
 

htmlmaster

New Member
I've found that when people pick numbers at random, they usually pick odd numbers. In certain areas of mythology, maybe five is too many and one isn't enough, so they pick three.
 

Harro

New Member
If you ask somebody to say a random number3 and 7 are indeed the numbers people choose the most.
But do we say that because of eg the things in mythologie or does mythology use it aswell because it are just the number people think about the most?
 

AcadianSidhe

New Member
Three is also a significant number because it means a group- neither single or pair. I think in Mesopotamia or Egypt, they specify that being the reason.

But you see this all over the world. Notice the number 2 is just as significant, but we don't really acknowledge it because pairs are so commonplace.
 

frang

with minty fresh powers
I think we're experiencing some blinders here. Sure, we grew up in a culture where historically three is significant. But there are plenty of cultures, such as those native to the Americas, where other numbers, such as four, had more significance.
 

VS Prasad

Junior Member
Number 3:

The Hinduism speaks of Trinity of gods, and their wives as trinity of goddesses.
The Wiccan Rule of Three.
Robert Graves's Triple Goddess: Maiden, Mother, Crone.
In Taoism, the Three Pure Ones.
Gurdjieff's Three Centers and the Law of Three.
Luck, especially bad luck, is often said to "come in threes".
Plato split the soul into three parts: the appetitive, the spirited,
and the rational.
Hegel's dialectic of Thesis + Antithesis = Synthesis creates
three-ness from two-ness.
The three Doshas (weaknesses) and their antidotes are the basis of
Ayurvedic medicine in India.
Plato split his utopian city into three populations: laborers,
guardians, and philosophers.
Several polities have been ruled by three persons in a triumvirate.
As well, medieval theory divided society in laboratores (peasants),
bellatores (noble warriors) and oratores (clergy).
Counting to three is common in situations where a group of people
wish to perform an action in synchrony: Now, on the count of three,
everybody pull!
Three is the minimum odd number of voting components for simple
easy redundancy checks by direct comparison.

Several cities are known as Tripoli from Greek for "three cities";
and Tripura in India. Sicilia was known as Trinacria for its
triangle-shape. 3 is the number of words or phrases in a Tripartite
motto. The phrase "Third time's the charm" (or, rarely, "Three time's
the charm") usually means that the third time a person attempts
something, he or she will succeed.

The three Gunas underlie action, in the Vedic system of knowledge.
There is also the concept of Trimurti in Hindu tradition. The Buddha
has three bodies. The three Vedas are called trayi i.e triad. Lord
Shiva is Trinetra-Three-eyed. The confluence of the Ganga, Yamuna and
hidden Sarasvati is the famous Triveni-confluence of three rivers.
Buddhism's three refuges are Trisharana- Buddhan sharanam gacchami,
Dhammam sharanam gacchami, Sangham sharanam gacchami.

In Greek mythology, the Three Graces or Charites. Also the number of
heads of Cerberus, the monstrous dog that guards the gate to Hades.

3 (number) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Number 7:

The number of stellar objects in the solar system visible to the
naked eye - the Sun, the Moon and the five classical naked eye
planets: Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn.
The days of the week are named after these stellar objects.

Seven against Thebes Seven hills of Rome Seven Liberal Arts Seven
Sages Seven Wonders of the ancient world Seven emperors (and period;
Rome, history): Julius Caesar, Augustus, Galba, Hadrian, Nerva,
Sallust, Vespasian. In Breslov tradition, the seven orifices of the
face (2 eyes, 2 nostrils, 2 ears, and the mouth) are called "The
Seven Candles."
The number of heavens in Islamic and Hindu traditions.
The number of Archangels according to some systems.
Sapta Rishis, the Hidu seven ancestor Sages of all humankind.
The Seven Sages of Greece: Solon, Chilon, Thales, Bias, Cleobulus,
Pittacus, and Periander.
The number of ranks in Mithraism.
In Khasi mythology, the seven divine women who were left behind on
earth and became the ancestresses of all humankind.
The number of gateways traversed by Inanna during her descent into
the underworld.
The seven hells in Hindu mythology.
In Guarani mythology, the number of prominent legendary monsters.
Seven Lucky Gods exist in Japanese mythology.
The triod of gods, the triod of goddesses, and Parama Atma
(Almighty) in Hinduism.
The number of notes in the traditional Western musical scale,
and traditional Indian musical scale.

The reason for 7 being a lucky number symbolically (such as in the
Bible) is because it represents the union of man and woman, since the
number for women is 4 and the number for men is 3.
It is traditionally thought that there are seven continents on Earth.
Many cities are claimed to be constructed amidst seven hills -
Seven hills of Rome, and Tirupathi in India.
The number of openings into the human head (mouth, two eyes,
two ears, two nostrils).
The figurative number of seas.
The number of colors of the rainbow.
The number of chakras in Kundalini Yoga.
There were seven wonders of the ancient world.
The seven virtues are humility, liberality, chastity, kindness,
abstinence, patience, and diligence.
The superstitious believe that to break a mirror brings seven years
of bad luck. The cure: to bury the pieces, or run them in a stream.

The seventh son of a seventh son has magic powers, according to Irish
folklore, but is a vampire in Romanian legend.
According to Buddhist legend, after his birth the Buddha rose to his
feet and took seven steps.
In Hindu marriage, the couple are said to become one after they
walk seven steps together around sacred fire.

In Greek mythology, the Pleiades, or Seven Sisters, were the seven
daughters of the Titan Atlas and the sea nymph Pleione.

The phrase "seven-year itch" was first recorded in 1899. It
characterises a man's urge to roam after seven years of marriage, the
theme of Marilyn Monroe's 1955 film, "The Seven Year Itch".

Netball, handball and water polo are played with teams of seven players.
The opposite faces of a dice add up to seven.

The Seven Summits is the name given to the highest mountains on each
continent.

The heptagram, or seven-pointed star is a traditional symbol for
warding off evil. Most American sheriff's badges are heptagrams.

When asked to think of a number between one and 10, most people pick
seven.

7 (number) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Seven Magazine
 

fleurish

New Member
significance of three

Subconciously humans are drawn to three. I heard a bit ago that sientists researched why the number three comes up in everything. Birth Life and death, humans look at everything in three's.
 
This forum caught my eye because I just finished reading a book entitled Shadow Of The Minotaur. You can look up a sinopsis, and I would recommend the book. Anyhoo, it's aminly about a Greek Mythology Video game that is actually a gateway between the worlds of real life and myth. The "Gamemaster" guy has a secret code laguage that is made of multiples of three, coincidence? Maybe not.


By the way 3 and 9 are my lucky numbers!
 
It is strange how sometimes it seems that makes of Myth create an event for a number and then other times the number is incidental to the event. I always figured Norns numbered three because past, present, and future were so prominent in the common conception of time and fate, which they represented. Thor's steps backwards though, seem to reflect the of importance of the number rather than to illuminate the steps themselves. Poor Thor.
 

Boudica

New Member
I have heard of things with threes and with sevens. In Wicca there is the threefold law as well as seven is usually a number used when doing knot magic. The different things you posted about them are very interesting as well.
 

Jonny Capps

Member
Three is the perfect number, with a beginning, middle, and end of all equal value. Out of all the numbers, there is no other number holding this same property, unless it is dividable by three, and even those can be reduced down to three. Still, three stands alone, as prime. It feels right. It feels organized. Psychologically, humans are drawn to order, as opposed to chaos. That being the case, we understand three, because it makes sense. That's why, even in pop culture, people are drawn to three things, as opposed to 1, 2, 4, or another numeral. In regards to seven, I believe that's only folklore, just like the number 13 or the over-compensating fear of the number 666 (which has no meaning, unless it's in reference to the beast). I would venture to say that 7 feels wrong, but that's based only on my own interpretation. I really have no idea why 7 is unlucky.
 

Rhonda Tharp

Active Member
According to Barbara Walker's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets the number 666 was mistakenly read by Christians sweeping through northern Europe. The Goddess markers and sacred grounds were indicated by trifoils, sometimes three trifoils, sometimes with three nines "999." When trying to convert the Celts (by force), the Christians adopted the 999/666 number as the beast, putting an evil twist on the number. The triple Goddess like the Morrigan is sometimes seen as a trinity, but is also recognized as the ninefold goddess. Because females go through three phases "maiden, mother, crone" and because she is a trinity (3x3) that is the reason for the three nines. Christianity recognizes the patriarchal trinities, but can't accept the idea of a female trinity, so they made it evil.
 

Rhonda Tharp

Active Member
Mater maticas - mother wisdom, the magic of nines
See the pattern develop below:
9x1=9, (0)+9=9
9x2=18 1+8=9
9x3=27 2+7=9
9x4=36 3+6=9
9x5=45 4+5=9
9x6=54 5+4=9
9x7=63 6+3=9
9x8=72 7+2=9
9x9=81 8+1=9
9x10=90 9+0=9

All numbers are used in the exact order, or in mirrored order. This is why the number symbol # means all numbers even though it is a nine square grid
 

Jonny Capps

Member
. Christianity recognizes the patriarchal trinities, but can't accept the idea of a female trinity, so they made it evil.
Why would you say that? It's completely false! The word for God that was used in the scriptures is a-sexual, denoting no gender. I know many Christians who refer to God in both feminine and masculine tenses, since She has both within Her nature. The only reason that God has taken on a more masculine role in modern culture is because we live in a patriarchal society. That's not God's fault!

Also, the Book of Revelation, where the 666 number is referenced, was written centuries before Christianity came into Europe, so the 999 confusion/rationale holds no water.

Lastly, your post had nothing to do with the number 3.
 

Rhonda Tharp

Active Member
Well... revisit math 101... last I checked 6 and 9 were products of 3. And so I guess it's man's fault for misunderstanding the Celtic goddess markers, not God's. Whichever you prefer is ok with me. It all boils down to man putting his own inflection on the "word of God."
 

Rhonda Tharp

Active Member
Why would you say that? It's completely false! The word for God that was used in the scriptures is a-sexual, denoting no gender. I know many Christians who refer to God in both feminine and masculine tenses, since She has both within Her nature. The only reason that God has taken on a more masculine role in modern culture is because we live in a patriarchal society. That's not God's fault!

Also, the Book of Revelation, where the 666 number is referenced, was written centuries before Christianity came into Europe, so the 999 confusion/rationale holds no water.

Lastly, your post had nothing to do with the number 3.
Point me in the direction of your source. All of mine say the Book of Revelations was written between 50 AD - 135 AD when John was banished by Cesar Nero to Patmos Island... so I'm confused about the dates... the Goddess markers could have been around since Stonehenge for all we know, that's a wee bit before the Book of Revelations came about, don't you think?
 
I grew up in a strict Catholic school. I haven't the slightest idea how any priest or nun would react if I consistently referred to god the father, a proper term for one of the persons in the holy trinity, as a female. Theologically, any apologist would tell you that there is a lack of gender in god. In Judaism the tradition becomes even more gender mysterious, with such references as "I am who am". However, in practice, it does settle on the patriarchal side because of contemporary cultural values. Although it wouldn't be a sin, most parents would probably caution their children from referring to god the father as a woman, at least while in church.
 
Yeah, I think Paul was already in Rome only decades after the resurrection, not centuries. Under Nero the Christians suffered severe persecution and went underground. As I was taught, the book of Revelations is a sort of underground railroad document written in a symbolic language, helping the underground monotheists keep hope during these times.
 

Jonny Capps

Member
Point me in the direction of your source. All of mine say the Book of Revelations was written between 50 AD - 135 AD when John was banished by Cesar Nero to Patmos Island... so I'm confused about the dates... the Goddess markers could have been around since Stonehenge for all we know, that's a wee bit before the Book of Revelations came about, don't you think?
I was only saying that Christianity was not brought to Europe in force until well after Revelation was written, around the time of Constantine. It was free from Celtic influence.
 
Top