Forty

In mystical contexts, the number 40 seems to be associated with preparation, waiting, and physical trials (in the wilderness): God called Moses when he was forty years old (just as Buddha and Muhammad began their work when they were forty years old) and he spent forty days on Sinai; the Israelites wandered in the wilderness for forty days; Elijah fasted in the wilderness for forty days; Jesus was tempted in the wilderness for forty days and preached for forty months. Additionally, it has been said that the embalming process in ancient Egypt took forty days; between Christ's resurrection and ascension, forty days passed; according to an alchemical text, one should let their mixture rot for forty days, but this was also "the symbolic length of the opus" (Edinger 1995, p. 79).

Forty days can be considered the completion of a cycle. The word "quarantine" comes from the Italian quarantina, which means "forty days" – that is, the cycle that determines whether one "is" or not. Finally, a pregnancy lasts forty weeks.

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