There are seven wonders, seven days per week, seven deadly sins, and seven colors in the rainbow; seven continents and seven chakras, and so on. The symbolic weight of the number seven crosses cultures and times, becoming a transcendent sign.
One of the main wonders in the UK is the Seven Sisters, a set of chalk cliffs located in the South Downs that instantly captured my attention when I moved to London and searched for nearby places to go trail running. It took me three years to finally visit.
The white facade stands over the sea, resembling an ancient god who had perfectly sliced the landmass, creating a clear divide between the terrestrial and the aquatic. The surface reflects the light, elegantly revealing a vivid palette of greens and blues when the sky is clear and the early August summer sun shines brightly above.
Each Sister has a name of its own, and despite not being culturally connected, I see them as the twins of the Pleiades in the sky, also known as the 'Seven Sisters.' The Pleiades were the seven daughters of the Titan Atlas: Maia, Electra, Taygete, Celaeno, Alcyone, Sterope, and Merope. One of the most popular myths tells us that they were turned into stars by Zeus to form a constellation.
Although the Pleiades is a Greek myth, earlier cultures also recognized the symbol of seven stars appearing in the sky, as seen in the Nebra Disk from the Early Bronze Age Unetice culture, or in Japanese culture, where they are called ‘Subaru,’ meaning ‘coming together.’
