THREE IS A MAGIC NUMBER

There is no doubt that you have heard three is a magic number or three is the perfect number ones in your life. There are lots of ways to explain the reasons why everybody knows it and now I’m going to illustrate the ones I know.

·      The three stages of mystic evolution: purification, enlightenment and union with God.

·      Formula of three worlds: birth, zenith and sunset.

·     The  Moon is described like triple: full, missing or incomplete and it is a metaphor of life, death and rebirth.

·      As  Giordano Bruno said, there are three degrees in Magic which are linked to three worlds: physical, mathematical and archetype.

·      Fundamentals of alchemy are three: sulphur, salt and mercury.

·      It seems that everyone who is born on the 3^rd day, is more optimistic, creative, outgoing and friendly then the other people.

·       There were three goddesses that compete for the vote of Paride to decide the most beautiful goddess. Three goddesses symbolized three virtues: love, intelligence and prosperity.

·      Number three summarizes the becoming of matter which gets form.

·      In “Divina Commadia” by Dante Alighieri, there are lots of references to number three: it is composed by three canticles (hell, purgatory and paradise); thirty-three cantos and verses that are gathered in tercet. During his path, Dante bumps into three wild beasts, guides and women arrived from sky.

·      In religion number three is important.

In Christianity, God is one in three: Father, Son and Saint Spirit; divine family is composed of three people: Vergin Mary, Joseph and Jesus; there are three Wise Men that bring presents to Jesus; before he had revived, Jesus remained in sepulchre three days and there are three virtues which assemble the perfection of human life: faith, hope and charity.

In Buddhism, there is the triad with Buddha, Dharma and Sanga.

In Hinduism, there is a triad which gathers three divinities: Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Śiva. They have three different assignments: creation, conservation and destruction.

Egyptians have triads which are composed of mother, father and his child (Iside, Osiride and Oro) or brothers and sisters.

The strength of Greek world is composed of three deities: Zeus, Poseidon and Ades.

In China, Taoism rests on harmony which connects three levels of Cosmos: earth; human and sky.

Arabs and Jewish people believe in an agreement between two people where there is one different person who symbolizes the witness.

·      Pythagorean school was born in the 1^st  century AD; it considers three the perfect number because it is summary of number one (one represents concord) and two (two represents division). Number three also symbolizes the surface of triangle.

·      In Italy there are lots of proverbs with number three, for example: “Non c’è due senza tre” or “Tra due litiganti il terzo gode” or “La terza è la volta buona” or “Chi fa da sé fa per tre”

·      In lots of fables, number three represents magic tests which protagonist must pass.

Number three is present in following Italian fables: “I tre porcellini”, “Le tre principesse nere”, “I tre figli della fortuna”, “I tre capelli d’oro del diavolo” and other stories.

To sum up “Three is a magic number” because lots of cultures, religious and historic periods bestow the relevance to the number.