All Things Four
Cardinal: FOUR
Hindu-Arabic: 4
Ordinate: Forth
Roman: IV
Greek: Delta
1+1+1+1; 2+2; 1+3; 1x4; 2x2
Pythagorean number: The tetrad
Words of Four:
Roman words
- quatuor, quartus: quarter, quartet
- Quad: quadruplets, quadrangle
- quaterni: four each; quarter – 1/4
Greek word
- tetra: tetrad, tetrahedon, tetrapod
Time & Holiday Associations:
- April
- Thursday (Norse god Thor) (Jupiter's day)
- Forth of July
Scientific, Technological, Measurement:
- First square number = 2 x 2
- Four points of compass: north, east, south, west
- Four quarters to the hour
- Four quarters in a dollar
- Beryllium (Be) periodic table
- Fourth Dimension: Time
- Four quarts to a gallon
- Pyramid has four sides – each side of great pyramids lines up on the compass direction. The four sides of the word rise to a conjunction point where God exists (the eye of God on the U.S. great seal)
Religious Associations:
- Christain: 4 Evangelists
- Forth Commandment: Remember the Sabbath day, keep it holy.
- Bible: River out of Eden parted into four heads
- Four Rivers of Jordan
- the cross
- Four apostles: Matthew, Mark, Luke & John symbolized by the lion, the calf, the flying eagle, and an angel
- Four horseman of the Apocalypse
- Four letters in sacred name of God IHVH
- Four Noble Truths of Buddha
- Druids considered 4 leaf clover had magical powers; one had supernatural sight when in possession of one.
- Cross was an early sign of four compass points.
Revelation
- Revelation 4:4 Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads.
- Revelation 4:7 In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle.
- Revelation 4:8 Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come."
- Revelation 4:10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:
- Revelation 5:6 Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.
- Revelation 5:8 And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
- Revelation 5:14 The four living creatures said, "Amen," and the elders fell down and worshiped.
- Revelation 6:1 I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, "Come!"
- Revelation 6:6 Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, "A quart of wheat for a day's wages, and three quarts of barley for a day's wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!"
- Revelation 6:7 When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, "Come!"
- Revelation 6:8 I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.
- Revelation 7:1 After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree.
- Revelation 7:2 Then I saw another angel coming up from the east, having the seal of the living God. He called out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm the land and the sea:
- Revelation 7:11 All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God,
- Revelation 8:12 The fourth angel sounded his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them turned dark. A third of the day was without light, and also a third of the night.
- Revelation 9:14 It said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, "Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates."
- Revelation 9:15 And the four angels who had been kept ready for this very hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind.
- Revelation 11:16 And the twenty-four elders, who were seated on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God,
- Revelation 14:3 And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth.
- Revelation 15:7 Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls filled with the wrath of God, who lives for ever and ever.
- Revelation 16:8 The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and the sun was given power to scorch people with fire.
- Revelation 19:4 The twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God, who was seated on the throne. And they cried: "Amen, Hallelujah!"
- Revelation 20:8 and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth-Gog and Magog-to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore.
- Revelation 21:19 The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald,
Games and sport refrences:
- Four–in–Hand (horse & carriage);
- Foursome (golf)
- Baseball: 4–Bagger (home run)
- Cards, dice: Four spot, Four hander, Four of a Kind
Alpha letters: e, m, v
Groups of Four:
- Four Seasons – winter, spring, summer, fall
- Four elements: earth, wind, fire, air
- Four ages of man: infant, adolescent, manhood, old age
- Four color process: magenta, cyan, yellow & Black
- Four Freedoms: speech, worship, freedom from want and fear
- Four Winds: East, South,West, North
Astrological:House of Cancer and the moon
Astrological and Numerology Prophetic references:
- Four sides form the square, the basis of solidarity and stability.
- Esteemed by the Pythagoreans as the primogenial number, the root of all things, the fountain of Nature and the most perfect number.
- Four is also an intellectual number and the first geometric solid. Pythagoras believed that the soul of man consisted of a tetrad — its four powers being mind, science, opinion & sense.
- Four has always been considered a sacred number and many ancient cultures had four-lettered names for God — Allh (Arabian), Adad (Assyrian), Amun (Egyptian), Itga (Tartar), and Esar (Turkish).
- Four represents the world, the Earth, the Establishment, the number of foundation and solid matter. The points of the compass, the seasons, the elements, the winds. A ‘safe’ feminine number and a number of stability and solidarity.
- Four’s keywords are impetuosity, strength, the key keeper of Nature & harmony. It is often associated with Hercules, Mercury, Vulcan & Bacchus and the secondary colors and minor planets.
Negative connotations:
- off balance
- kiltered
- imerfection
- rootless
- vapid
- flat
- insane
- stupidity
- unholy
Tarot: the emperor card which represents leadership, mental activity, domination, war - power; authority, paternity. The fruits of toil, the results of action. Controlled & direct sexual drive. This is the magician manifested.W When reversed it shows a lack or loss of power, injury in battle, possiblity of being a momma's boy or remaining under parental control.
Symbols:
- Uranus which governs eccentricity, invention, independence, intuition, mobility, peculiarity, impulsiveness and drastic change.
- The Tarot suit which corresponds to the Celtic legend of the Unconquerable Sword, the Magic Spear, the Cup from which an entire army could be sustained, and the Stone of Destiny.
- The Menorah, Aaron's rod, the stone tablets of Law and the Urn that held Manna from Heaven
Sign: the square, & by implication the cube & the tesseract.
Literature, folktale, art:
- The Fab Four – the Beatles
- The Four Tops, Motown singing group, Abdul 'Duke' Fakir, Lawrence Payton, Levi Stubbs, Renaldo 'Obie' Benson
Movies & TV
- Fantastic Four, 2005 Movie, with Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans
- Four Rooms, 1995 Movie with Sammi Davis, Amanda De Cadenet, Valeria Golino
Common usage, slang:
- Four corners of the earth
- Four-footed
- Four square
- Four master
- 4-F
- 4-Striper (Captain in the Navy)
- Four wheeler
- Four way
- Four Bits
- Four‘O’Clock (flower)
- Four of a kind
- Four part harmony
- Four poster
- Forth Class
- four letter word
- fourscore (4x20)
- Four Leaf Clover (One leaf for fame, one leaf for wealth, one leaf for a faithful lover & one leaf to bring glorious health)
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SourcesSome information drawn from:
- The Discoverers by Daniel J. BoorstinUranus
- The Numerology Workbook by Julia Line
- Dartmouth, Number Symbolism in the Middle Ages at http://www.math.dartmouth.edu/~matc/math5.geometry/unit8/unit8.html
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