Nature
From Prehistoric times, ancient cultural groups have imbued numbers with magic and symbolism … different numbers for different groups. One of those special symbolic numbers is FOUR. Even in our modern times, number four fills our lives. Just think of the most obvious ones … there are the four cardinal points of the compass (or the four corners of the Earth). North, South, East, West. We have four seasons: Spring, Summer, Autumn/Fall, Winter. All around us are the four elements. Earth, Water, Fire, Air.
In the earliest days, number four expressed and made concrete all that was observed with the human eye. Things that could be felt or experienced, what was solid … the feel of the earth beneath one’s feet, the predictable weather patterns, the turning of the seasons. Four came to symbolise wholeness and stability.
In both GREEK and MESOPOTAMIAN mythology, tales tell us of the Four Winds. They were seasonal winds, personified by these two cultures. They named and gave to each wind characteristics representing how beneficial it was for, say, sailing, farming, or working with and navigating the land.
Native North Americans
We now speak of (as they did then) the four cycles of the day: sunrise, noon, sunset, and midnight. NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS made sense of time by looking at the day, the night, the moon and the year. They also divided their cosmos into Sky, Sun, Moon, and Stars. In fact, the monthly calendar of Native Americans is measured across the year by the Full Moon, each one named according to the challenges or benefits that monthly season offers. For example, there is a Hunter’s Full Moon, Strawberry Full Moon and Green Corn Full Moon.
During sweat lodge and medicine wheel ceremonies, Native Americans circle the symbolic structure four times to represent completion. To better understand their world, they divided it into four regions. (Think of how the vertical and horizontal lines of today’s Greenwich Meridian and Equator intersect to divide the world map into four portions.)
Quantum Physics
In modern times we have four columns of the universe: energy, matter, space, and time. Energy is the force behind movement, matter is what we and the physical world around us are made of, space is the backdrop to all that happens in life, and time is the progression of events.
Even the psychologist CARL JUNG based his theories on four basic functions of human consciousness: intuition, thought, feeling, and sensation.
Astrology
Great significance is placed on the number four in astrology. The twelve zodiac signs are grouped into three states of being (cardinal, fixed, mutable) and each one corresponds to one of the four elements. The four cardinal signs ― Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn ― who are the driven, motivating personalities of the zodiac, represent each of the four Solstices.
So … Aries is the fire element, representing East and the rising sun; it is symbolic of the Spring Solstice (note that this is the Autumn Solstice in the Southern Hemisphere).
Cancer is the water element, representing North and midday; it symbolises the Summer Solstice (Winter Solstice in the Southern Hemisphere).
Libra is the air element, representing West and the setting sun, and symbolising the Autumn Solstice (Spring Solstice in the Southern Hemisphere).
Finally, Capricorn is the Earth element, representing South and midnight, and symbolising the Winter Solstice (Summer Solstice in the Southern Hemisphere).
That is a lot of symbolism for the humble NUMBER FOUR!