Divinity Atlas

Sacred Correspondences
Articles

Six, the Perfect Number

Citation Formats

General Reference

APA Style

BibTeX

Learn More
Six, the Perfect Number

Six has a distinction that is arithmetical fact rather than interpretation: it is the first perfect number, equal to the sum of its own divisors, since one plus two plus three equals six, and it is also their product, one times two times three. The Greeks and the biblical commentators alike found meaning in this, and the six days of creation were read by Augustine as fitting because six is perfect in itself, complete before the world was complete. Six is the number of harmony, balance and completion, the hexagon that tiles the plane and builds the honeycomb, the two interlocking triangles of the six-pointed star joining opposites in equilibrium. From this comes its symbolism of union, service, care and the harmonious ordering of relationships.

In modern numerology six is the number of home, family, responsibility, nurture and love, the caretaker, the harmonious domestic centre. That character reading belongs to the early-twentieth-century American system; what is ancient and checkable is the mathematical perfection of six, which esoteric writing usually gestures at without stating the actual property.

Cross-Tradition Connections

Article On

Sources
Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.
Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.

View At A Past Year

The atlas records no dated fact of its own for this entry, so there is no other year to choose.