[HPforGrownups] Number 12

[Caius Marcius]

No: HPFGUIDX 12383

Subject: Re: The Appearance of the Number 12

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Doreen Rich" <nera at r...> wrote:
> Has anyone else noticed that the number 12 keeps cropping up?
> There are twelve Christmas trees set up in the Great Hall each
year.
> There are twelve different ways to use Dragon's Blood.
> Harry thought, "he'd have gambled twelve Sorceror's Stones that
Snape
> had just left the room." SS-15
>
When I did a Bible Study class in Revelations, one of the commentaries upon
that singularly eldritch volume noted that the number four in ancient
numerology signified the world (i.e., the four corners of the earth), and
the number three represented the Triune God.  So three times four signifies
God's intervention in the terrestrial domain (so does three plus four =
hence the multiple references to seven in the Revelations: the seven
churches, seals, trumpets, thunders, etc). Thus, in chapter 7 (!) we have
the discussion of the twelve thousand representatives of the twelve tribes
of Israel; the mother with child in chapter 12 (!!) wears a crown of 12
stars; and the description of the New Jerusalem in Chapter 21 (12
backwards!) tells us that the city has 12 gates (each with 12 pearls), and
that the city measured 12 thousand stadia in both length and breadth (=144
cubits).

   - CMC