Modern-day magick, witchcraft and sorcery easily trace some of its roots to Mesopotamia. The Mesopotamians had many deities specifically for various types of disasters, such as Telal: Bull Demon, Utug: Dweller of the Desert, Alal for destruction, Namtar for pestilence, Idpa for fever and Maskim who was the snare setter.

It was believed that the pharaohs, kings and other persons in positions of power all were imbued with some power of the gods, so much so that even the slightest movement they made would cause an action to occur. It was also believed that an image or statue could carry the spirit of the person. For this reason, many images and statues were carried from place to place and the most of the images or statues of these persons were created with their hands straight to their sides, thereby preventing them from causing any unwanted occurrences.

The Bible tells a story of the "The Tower of Babel" and claims that the tower was never finished. In other references however, it is claimed that the "Tower" was in fact finished, and represented the "stages" between earth and heaven. Each stage was dedicated to a planet, with its angles symbolizing the four corners of the world. They pointed to Akkad, Saburtu, Elam and the western lands. The seven steps of the tower were painted in different colors, which corresponded to the planets. The "Great Misfortune: Saturn, was black. The second was white, the color of Jupiter. The third, brick red, the color of Mercury, followed by blue, Venus; yellow, Mars, gray or silver for the moon. These colors boded good or evil, like their planets.

Also notable, is the beginning of numbers expressing a world order. There is a legend that depicts Pythagoras having traveled to Babylon. In Babylon, he is taught the mysteries of numbers, their magical significance and their power. The seven steps, mentioned in the story of the Tower of Babel, often appear in other instances in magical philosophy, theory and thought. The commonly accepted seven steps are: stone, fire, plants, animals, man, the starry heavens and the angels. Starting with the study of stones, the man of wisdom will attain higher and higher degrees of knowledge, until he will be able to apprehend the sublime, and the eternal. Through ascending these steps, a man would attain the knowledge of God, whose name is at the eighth degree, the threshold of God's heavenly dwelling.

The square was also a "mystical" symbol in these times, and though it was divided into seven, was still respected as a correlation of the old tradition of a fourfold world being reconciled with the seven heavens of later times. Many accept this as the start of numerology, but for this to develop to the point where the square represented the fourfold world, it would have had to develop before this.