The Seven Heavens in Scripture - Quran, Bible, Indigenous, Vishnu, Enoch, Thoth, Hermes

INTRODUCTION 

The seven heavens and angels are something repeated through various scriptures revealed at different points in time, through different Messengers. Let us start with the Quran and the Bible:

Allah is He Who created seven Heavens and of the earth a similar number. Through the midst of them (all) descends His Command: that ye may know that Allah has power over all things, and that Allah comprehends, all things in (His) Knowledge (Quran, 65:12)    

Then the seven angels with the seven trumpets prepared to blow their mighty blasts. 

(Revelation 8:6)

EMERALD TABLETS OF THOTH

Interestingly, we are also given hints to the seven heavens in the Emerald Tablets of Thoth. We are told that there are seven mighty Masters (angels) which are from different cycles above:

Seven are the mansions of the house of the Mighty 

(Emerald Tablets, Supplementary)

Learned I of the Masters of cycles,

wisdom brought from the cycles above.

Manifest THEY in this cycle

as guides of man to the knowledge of ALL.

Seven are they, mighty in power,

speaking these words through me to men.

Time after time, stood I before them

listening to words that came not with sound. 

(Emerald Tablets of Thoth, The Seven Lords)

There he may dwell as one with the Masters, 

free from the bonds of the darkness of night.

Seated within the flower of radiance sit seven

Lords from the Space-Times above us, 

helping and guiding through infinite Wisdom,

the pathway through time of the children of men. 

(Emerald Tablets of Thoth, The Halls of Amenti)

THE BOOK OF ENOCH

The Book of Enoch makes several references to the number seven: seven Archangels, seven magnificent mountains of stone, the seven rivers, and seven stars of significance:

And those seven holy ones brought me and placed me on the earth before the door of my house (Book of Enoch CHAPTER LXXXI : 5)

And the first heaven shall depart and pass away, And a new heaven shall appear, And all the powers of the heavens shall give sevenfold light. (Book of Enoch, CHAPTER XCI.)

In the Book of the Secrets of Enoch, we are also told about the seven angels and seven heavens, and some verses which speak about heavens beyond the seven:

And thence those men took me and bore me up on to the sixth heaven, and there I saw seven bands of angels, very bright and very glorious, and their faces shining more than the sun’s shining, glistening... (Book of Enoch, Chapter 19, XIX: 1)

And those two men lifted me up thence on to the seventh heaven, and I saw there a very great light, and fiery troops of great archangels, incorporeal forces, and dominions, orders...
(Book of Enoch, Chapter 20, XX:1)

And I measured out the whole earth, its mountains, and all hills, fields, trees, stones, rivers, all existing things I wrote down, the height from earth to the seventh heaven, and downwards to the very lowest hell, and the judgment-place, and the very great, open and weeping hell. 

(Book of Enoch, Chapter 40, XL : 9)

And I saw the eighth heaven, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Muzaloth, changer of the seasons, of drought, and of wet, and of the twelve constellations of the circle of the firmament, which are above the seventh heaven. (Book of Enoch, Chapter 21, XXI : 7)

CORPUS HERMETICUM

In the Corpus Hermeticum, Hermes also speaks about the seven heavens:

And God-the-Mind, being male and female both, as Light and Life subsisting, brought forth another Mind to give things form, who, God as he was of Fire and Spirit, formed Seven Rulers who enclose the cosmos that the sense perceives. Men call their ruling Fate. 
(Corpus Hermeticum I:9)

And Heaven was seen in seven circles ... And [Heaven’s] periphery revolved in cyclic course, borne on by Breath of God. (Corpus Hermeticum III:2)

INDIGENOUS & ABORIGINAL BELIEFS

What is also amazing is that stories from indigenous peoples and Aboriginals of North America, who rely mostly on oral traditions, refer to the seven heavens. The first example is taken from a book entitled, The Unknown Lore of Amexem's Indigenous People: An Aboriginal Treatise:

This next reference is taken from a book entitled, Native Peoples of the Gulf Coast of Mexico:

The Blackfoot people also have an interesting tipi design, which depicts seven circles:

OTHER BIBLICAL REFERENCES

Here are some more references to the number seven in the bible. Keep in mind that the bible uses the plural form of heavens. Pay close attention to the seven stars, which is also mentioned in the Book of Enoch:

Praise Him, highest heavens, And the waters that are above the heavens! (Psalm 148:4)

"To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lamp-stands. (Revelation 2:1)

And when the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven say, "Seal up what the seven thunders have said and do not write it down." (Revelation 10:4)

One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, "Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb." (Revelation 21:9)

The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good heads of grain are seven years; it is one and the same dream. (Genesis 41:26)

Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams' horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. (Joshua 6:4)

HINDU AND BUDDHIST TEXTS

In much of the Hindu-Buddhist scriptures, we also find mention of the seven heavens, including the seven mountains and seven rivers, similarly mentioned in the Book of Enoch:

In the Puranas, and already in the Atharvaveda, there are fourteen worlds, seven higher ones (Vyahrtis) and seven lower ones (Pātālas), viz. bhu, bhuvas, svar, mahas, janas, tapas, and satya above and atala, vitala, sutala, rasaataala, talatala, mahaatala, patala and naraka below. (Wikipedia)

The following verses are all taken from the Vishnu Purana: 

Seven Rishis, certain (secondary) divinities, Indra, Manu, and the kings his sons, are created and perish at one period 

These seven spheres, together with the Patalas, forming the extent of the whole world, I have thus, Maitreya, explained to you.

The earth floats on the ocean: divided into seven zones....

Those Brahmans who lead religious lives go to the world of the eighty-eight thousand saints: and that of the seven Rishis is the seat of pious anchorets and hermits. 

Having then divided the earth into seven great portions (continents)...