Possibility
& Limitation
Seven represents all possibilities. It represents the seven planets,
the chakras, the rainbow colors and the musical scale. It is
one of the main magical numbers in fairy tales and in mythology.
In tales and myth it often represents groups of things. For example,
seven dwarves, seven swan princesses, the seven Hesperides, the
seven gates of Thebes, etc.
This hints
at one of the meanings of the Seven which is the limiting of
choice to one actuality. It represents another kind of choice
than the 2. Instead of a duality being integrated into a result,
the Seven represents all choice.
Ruled by
Saturn, the Seven asks us to move from the potential of all possibilities
into the reality of the one chosen path. This is often felt as
limitation because we can't have everything. But as long as we
stay in the realm of potential, we never really have anything,
only the dreams of things. How we choose from among the myriad
choices in front of us is an essential part of the everyday aspect
of the Sevens.
A Different
Kind Of Change
The Seven is often likened to the Five. Both are disruptive and
often miscast as being "bad". With the Five we saw
that much of our fear was based in a fear of change. The Seven
also points to change, but with a difference.
In the Five,
this change seemed to come unexpectedly from outside of ourselves.
The Seven represents that situation where you know you must make
a change, but it's up to you to do it.
Seven is
also a number of maturity and mastery. We gain experience and
mastery through our choices. By committing to an action, we learn
what that action brings. This learning only happens when we commit
to a choice, not when we stay in the realm of possibility. Bad
choices often teach us even more than good ones as they spur
us to really examine ourselves and our environment.
The challenges
faced with the Sevens is to commit to a choice and to follow
through with a decision. With this comes the responsibility for
what happens after choosing. The result of the choice is not
shown in the Seven.
To handle
the Sevens with mastery does not mean our choices will be "right"
and "good". We learn best from mistakes. The mastery,
instead, comes from faith that any decision will be right regardless
of the consequences - that the rightness of the decision comes
in making it, not in what it brings.
At the same
time, eventually we'll have to live with the results of our choices.
Mastery of the Sevens also speaks to this. Whatever the results
are, we must take responsibility for having made the choice.
When we don't
face up to the Sevens, the typical result is denial and delusion.
This can take many forms. Each of the Sevens in the Minor Arcana
speaks to different aspects of Mastery and avoidance.