SACRED GEOMETRY - SPIRALS

Magnu

Sacred geometry

involves sacred universal patterns used in the design of everything in our reality, most often seen in sacred architecture and sacred art. The basic belief is that geometry and mathematical ratios, harmonics and proportion are also found in music, light, cosmology. This value system is seen as widespread even in prehistory, a cultural universal of the human condition. It is considered foundational to building sacred structures such as temples, mosques, megaliths, monuments and churches; sacred spaces such as altars, temenoi and tabernacles; meeting places such as sacred groves, village greens and holy wells and the creation of religious art, iconography and using "divine" proportions. Alternatively, sacred geometry based arts may be ephemeral, such as visualization, sandpainting and medicine wheels.

Sacred geometry may be understood as a worldview of pattern recognition, a complex system of religious symbols and structures involving space, time and form. According to this view the basic patterns of existence are perceived as sacred. By connecting with these, a believer contemplates the Great Mysteries, and the Great Design. By studying the nature of these patterns, forms and relationships and their connections, insight may be gained into the mysteries ­ the laws and lore of the Universe.

Music

Even though Hans Jenny did pioneer cymatics in modern times, the study of geometric relationships to wave interaction (sound) obviously has much older roots (Pythagoras). A work that shows ancient peoples understanding of sacred geometry can be found in Scotland. In the Rosslyn Chapel, Thomas J. Mitchell, and his son, my friend Stuart Mitchell, have has found what he calls "frozen music". Apparently, there are 213 cubes with different symbols that are believed to have musical significance. After 27 years of study and research, Mitchell has found the correct pitches and tonality that matches each symbol on each cube, revealing harmonic and melodic progressions. He has fully discovered the "frozen music", which he has named the Rosslyn Motet, and is set to have it performed in the chapel on May 18, 2007, and June 1, 2007.

Cosmology

At least as late as Johannes Kepler (1571-1630), a belief in the geometric underpinnings of the cosmos persisted among scientists. Kepler explored the ratios of the planetary orbits, at first in two dimensions (having spotted that the ratio of the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn approximate to the in-circle and out-circle of an equilateral triangle). When this did not give him a neat enough outcome, he tried using the Platonic solids. In fact, planetary orbits can be related using two-dimensional geometric figures, but the figures do not occur in a particularly neat order. Even in his own lifetime (with less accurate data than we now possess) Kepler could see that the fit of the Platonic solids was imperfect. However, other geometric configurations are possible.

Natural Forms

Many forms observed in nature can be related to geometry (for sound reasons of resource optimization). For example, the chambered nautilus grows at a constant rate and so its shell forms a logarithmic spiral to accommodate that growth without changing shape. Also, honeybees construct hexagonal cells to hold their honey. These and other correspondences are seen by believers in sacred geometry to be further proof of the cosmic significance of geometric forms. But some scientists see such phenomena as the logical outcome of natural principles.

Art and Architecture

The golden ratio, geometric ratios, and geometric figures were often employed in the design of Egyptian, ancient Indian, Greek and Roman architecture. Medieval European cathedrals also incorporated symbolic geometry. Indian and Himalayan spiritual communities often constructed temples and fortifications on design plans of mandala and yantra. For examples of sacred geometry in art and architecture refer:

* Labyrinth (an Eulerian path, as distinct from a maze)
* Mandala
* Parthenon
* Taijitu (Yin-Yang)
* Tree of Life
* Rose Window
* Celtic art such as the Book of Kells
* Yantra
* Swastika
* Dharmacakra

Contemporary Usage

A contemporary usage of the term sacred geometry describes New Age and occult assertions of a mathematical order to the intrinsic nature of the universe. Scientists see the same geometric and mathematical patterns as arising directly from natural principles. Some of the most prevalent traditional geometric forms ascribed to sacred geometry include the sine wave, the sphere, the vesica piscis, the 5 platonic solids, the torus (donut), the tesseract (4-dimensional cube), and the merkaba (2 oppositely oriented and interpenetrating tetrahedrons), and the the golden spiral. Some believers in sacred geometry also see significance in crop circles and in ancient architecture, such as the Great Pyramid of Giza and Stonehenge.


Golden Spiral

Blocks - Grids

The golden ratio, also known as the god ratio, golden proportion, golden mean, golden section, golden number, divine proportion or sectio divina, is an irrational number, approximately 1.618 033 988 749 894 848, that possesses many interesting properties. Shapes proportioned according to the golden ratio have long been considered aesthetically pleasing in Western cultures, and the golden ratio is still used frequently in art and design, suggesting a natural balance between symmetry and asymmetry. The ancient Pythagoreans, who defined numbers as expressions of ratios (and not as units as is common today), believed that reality is numerical and that the golden ratio expressed an underlying truth about existence.

References:

* Beginnings: Geomancy, Builders' Rites and Electional Astrology in the European Tradition by Nigel Pennick
* Sacred Geometry: Symbolism and Purpose in Religious Structures by Nigel Pennick
* The Ancient Science of Geomancy: Living in Harmony with the Earth by Nigel Pennick
* George Bain.Celtic Art: The Methods of Construction. Dover, 1973.
* Robert Lawlor. Sacred Geometry: Philosophy and Practice (Art and Imagination). Thames & Hudson, 1989 (1st edition 1979, 1980, or 1982).
* John Michell. City of Revelation. Abacus, 1972.
* Michael S. Schneider. A Beginner's Guide to Constructing the Universe: Mathematical Archetypes of Nature, Art, and Science. Harper Paperbacks, 1995.
* Lucy R Lippard: Overlay: Contemporary Art and the Art of Prehistory. Pantheon Books New York 1983
* Sacred Geometry at the Open Directory Project



Art - Architecture - Great Pyramid

M.C. Escher Gallery
Charles Gilchrist: Sacred Geometry and the Architecture of the Universe
Sacred Geometry of Crop Circles
The Prehistoric Alignment of World Wonders
Sacred Geometry and Carved Stones