There were also seven wise men of Greece; the seven-fold Amen; the Seven Wonders of the World; the Book
of the Seven Seals (Rev. 5,5), and the seven angels (Rev. 5,8).
The Seven against Thebes were the seven heroes who undertook an expedition to aid Polynices against his
brother Eteoclus. The oracle promised success to whichever brother Oedipus favored; but he cursed both, and
the brothers slew each other.
Seven has been explained as compounded of "The Ternary of God and the Quarternary of the world," as
representing "three-fold and four-fold happiness," making 3 + 4 = 7 a sacred number: a reference to the 4
quadruplicities and the 3 triplicities. Any multiple of seven became a "great number": a jubilee year of
restitution.
Since every seventh year from time immemorial was believed to form some material alteration, it has been
observed in some professions as a sabbatical year of rest, comparable to the seventh day on which the Creator
rested from his labors - as recounted in the Book of Genesis. For the Seven Ages of Man, v. Planetary, Ages of
Man.
Sexagenary. (1) A scale of numbers or a method of computation that proceeds by sixties - as in
degree, minutes and seconds. (2) Said of tables prepared for the purpose of showing proportional parts of the
number 60°: giving the product of two sexagenary numbers multiplied; or the quotient of two such when
divided.
Sextile. A 60º aspect (q.v.)
Sextiles. A body sextiles another toward which it is approaching from a distance of from 53º to 60º.
Sidereal Clock. A clock found in every astronomical observatory, which is set to register oh om os when 0°
Aries is on the Zenith. Formerly a noon point, but since 1925 a midnight point, it moves forward in the zodiac
by 1°, or 4 minutes, each day, hence the Sidereal Time at noon (or midnight if since 1925) on any day shows
what sign and degree is on the M.C. at that particular moment. For example, ST at 0h, or midnight, on May 1,
1945 is 14h 34m 14s: approx. 874m / 4 = 218 degrees = approx. 8° Scorpio on M.C. The Sidereal Clock
indicates 24h, while the solar chronometer registers 23h 56m 4.0906s of Mean Solar Time. It does not register
A.M. or P.M., but divides the dial into 24 hourly periods. The so-called Army and Navy time of World War 11
indicates the eventual universal use of the same system applied to solar time, whereby for example, 2 P.M. will
be known as 1400.
After the Sidereal clock has been set at 0h to coincide with the moment of the Earth's crossing the intersecting
point of the Ecliptic and Equator, the next noon it will read something like 12:04 - the distance the Earth has
travelled in orbit in one solar day, shown in units of time. Thus each successive day at noon it shows the
cumulative amount of the Earth's orbital travel since noon on the day of the equinox. Thereby sidereal time
becomes the hour angle of the Vernal Equinox, and the Earth's position at Greenwich Noon on any day can be