‘...One becomes Two, Two becomes Three...
And out of the Third comes One as the Fourth...’
- Mary the Prophetess.

Plate One of Duvet’s Apocalypse.

The Apocalypse of St John serves as more than just a Coda for the New Testament.
Its constant cycling and re-cyclying of ‘sevens’ also re-works the creation of Genesis, subsequent Hebraic festal traditions and the calendrical speculations of the Prophets.
We give below a taste of the seven-fold structure which runs throughout the whole of the mighty work…

“It was on the island of Patmos.
I was meditating on the seventh day when I heard behind me a voice as of many waters, “I am the beginning and end, first and the last.”

I turned to see who it was that spoke and I saw a figure resembling the Son of Man.
He was standing in the middle of seven golden candlesticks.
His beard and his hair were like white wool
His eyes were flames of fire.
His countenance was bright, as the sun when it shines at its height.
He was clothed in a long white robe.
About his breast went a golden girdle.
In his right hand he held seven stars.

His words rang out of his mouth clearly with the poignancy of a double-edged sword:

“I am he that lives and was dead.
I possess the keys to death and hell.
I shall live forever more.”

I fell down at his feet and they were like fine-brass forged in a furnace.

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