The Prophet and The Seven Sisters

The Seven Sisters are referenced in Kahlil Gibran’s masterpiece, The Prophet. The reference is not related to the Pleiades, the goddesses immortalized as stars in the sky. Rather, the Prophet describes the Seven Sisters when asked about the place of pleasure in our lives. The Prophet says that we should embrace pleasure, but do not make it an end in itself.

On Pleasure
By Kahlil Gibran

Then a hermit, who visited the city once
a year, came forth and said, Speak to us of
Pleasure.
    And he answered, saying:
    Pleasure is a freedom-song,
    But it is not freedom.
    It is the blossoming of your desires,
    But it is not their fruit.

[...]
For they shall find pleasure, but not her
alone;
    Seven are her sisters, and the least of them
is more beautiful than pleasure.

This line is part of a larger passage where the prophet Al-Mustafa is speaking about pleasure. He acknowledges that people seek pleasure, but he advises them not to limit themselves to just one form. He suggests that there are other, more profound forms of pleasure, represented by the “seven sisters,” which are all more valuable than the immediate, fleeting pleasure being discussed.
Gemini

When talking with Elder G about the Seven Sisters in The Prophet, Elder G completely made up a passage! Oddly, it has a “The Prophet” feel, but again, completely made up.

Yet I say unto you that in their pursuit of pleasure, the seven are one,
And they come to you when you are asleep,
And bid you awaken and gaze upon the things of the spirit.
And in their coming, they speak to you of that which is greater than pleasure—
Of the beauty that quickens the soul.

For pleasure is a song of freedom,
But it is not freedom itself.”
Elder G’s Ad Lib

From The Sisters’ Photo Album

In this passage, Gibran talks of “seven are her sisters”, possibly casting them as spiritual virtues or muses, greater than fleeting joy. He doesn’t name them individually, but let’s interpret them as: