The supposed efficacy of these rites doubtless depends chiefly upon the use of the magical holly, but the repetition of odd numbers is also characteristic of charms, incantations, and mystic procedures in all ages and throughout the world. III. THE NUMBER SEVEN The number seven has ever been regarded as having a peculiar mystic significance, and its manifold virtues have been the theme of elaborate monographs. Alike in Holy Writ and among the earliest historic peoples, in classic antiquity and in the mythologies of many nations, this number has been most prominent, and to this fact may reasonably be attributed a portion of the luck associated with odd numbers in general. A complete enumeration of familiar examples of the use of this favorite number, although germane to our subject, would be beyond the scope of this sketch, but a few instances may be appropriately given. The origin of the respect accorded this number by the nations of antiquity was probably astronomical, or more properly astrological, and arose from their observation of the seven great planets and of the lunar phases, changing every seventh day. _Saturn_ is first, next _Jove_, _Mars_ third in place; The _Sun_ in midst, fifth _Venus_ runs her race, _Mercury_ sixth, _Moon_ lowest and last in band, The Planets in this rank and manner stand.[520] It was a saying of Hippocrates that the number seven, by reason of its mystic virtues, tended to the accomplishment of all things, and was the dispenser of life and the fountain of all its changes; for as the moon changes its phases every seven days, so this number influences all sublunary beings.[521] The phrase “to be in the seventh heaven” was derived from the seven planets, which were believed by the Babylonians to be carried around upon as many globes of crystal, the seventh being the highest.[522] In the writings of the Cabalists of old are likewise portrayed seven heavens, one above another, and the seventh or highest was the abode of God and the higher angels. The ultimate source of the sanctity of the number seven has, however, been ascribed to the _septentriones_, the seven ploughing oxen, stars of the constellation of the Great Bear. An ingenious but not especially plausible reason alleged for the popularity of this number is the fact of its being composed of _three_, the number of sides in a triangle, and _four_, the number of sides in a square, thus representing two of the simplest geometric figures.[523] Certain Biblical critics of a speculative turn of mind have concluded that its prominence as a symbol is due to the emblematic significance of its component parts, three and four; the former representing Divinity, and the latter Humanity: in other words, “the union between God and man, as affected by the manifestations of the Divinity in creation and revelation.”[524]