Sacred Geometry is such a fascinating lore. The more I study it, the more inspiration it brings. Let me share a bit of the ancient, mysterious teaching.
The study of a universal creative process has been for centuries and most probably even millennia observed in a discipline called The Sacred Geometry. This ancient field of study suggests that the universe was created according to a geometric plan of forms, shapes and symmetry. The study of geometry has its roots in observing nature and in fact, the word Geometry comes from the Greek word Geos (Earth) and Metron (to measure). Together the literal translation would read: “Measuring the Earth.”
This study of the philosophical value found in the basics of geometry was considered sacred and became a universal language mainly among philosophers, alchemists and artists.
The latest studies suggest that Sacred Geometry originated in Egypt and was later inherited by the ancient Greeks, who developed a complex study, which became the base of how we perceive this lore today.
The ancient Greeks believed the world shared a certain symbolic pattern of shapes that ceaselessly manifest in nature, including all plants, animals, the human body and generally across the entire universe. Plato and his academy studied geometry mainly for these philosophical purposes and mathematics itself was to provide a map of the human psyche. In fact, above the entrance of Plato’s Academy a sentence was inscribed: “Ageômetrêtos mêdeis eisitô,” which could be translated as: “One ignorant of geometry shall not enter.”
In general, whenever one is to construct a certain geometric shape, it is essential to create the first dot or the central point, which can be extended either into a line or a curve. In Sacred Geometry, lines are considered masculine and curves feminine shapes and that is where the game of endlessly attracting opposites begins. It is the most basic principle of life, innate to everything, including the micro cosmos of the atoms or the macro cosmos of the solar systems. Protons and electrons attract each other and form atoms, that later attract each other and construct molecular systems, in the same way the sun attracts the planets and the planets attract the moons.
The study of a universal creative process has been for centuries and most probably even millennia observed in a discipline called The Sacred Geometry. This ancient field of study suggests that the universe was created according to a geometric plan of forms, shapes and symmetry. The study of geometry has its roots in observing nature and in fact, the word Geometry comes from the Greek word Geos (Earth) and Metron (to measure). Together the literal translation would read: “Measuring the Earth.”
This study of the philosophical value found in the basics of geometry was considered sacred and became a universal language mainly among philosophers, alchemists and artists.
The latest studies suggest that Sacred Geometry originated in Egypt and was later inherited by the ancient Greeks, who developed a complex study, which became the base of how we perceive this lore today.
The ancient Greeks believed the world shared a certain symbolic pattern of shapes that ceaselessly manifest in nature, including all plants, animals, the human body and generally across the entire universe. Plato and his academy studied geometry mainly for these philosophical purposes and mathematics itself was to provide a map of the human psyche. In fact, above the entrance of Plato’s Academy a sentence was inscribed: “Ageômetrêtos mêdeis eisitô,” which could be translated as: “One ignorant of geometry shall not enter.”
In general, whenever one is to construct a certain geometric shape, it is essential to create the first dot or the central point, which can be extended either into a line or a curve. In Sacred Geometry, lines are considered masculine and curves feminine shapes and that is where the game of endlessly attracting opposites begins. It is the most basic principle of life, innate to everything, including the micro cosmos of the atoms or the macro cosmos of the solar systems. Protons and electrons attract each other and form atoms, that later attract each other and construct molecular systems, in the same way the sun attracts the planets and the planets attract the moons.
However, without the initial central point, the magnetic principle that attracts both the opposing energies, there would be no shape and no motion. Metaphorically, one could say that the central point is the source of all creation. The Big Bang theory, in fact, is also based on the thought that the universe spread out of the hot density of a single point. In geometry, from the central point one can construct a perfectly enclosed unified shape – the circle. Aristotle wrote in the Physica that the circle is “the perfect, first, most beautiful form” and indeed both the common and the sacred geometry consider circle to be the original shape, one that symbolises the unity, because as it further becomes apparent, all the other shapes, forms and tokens originate from this very shape. It being the circle in the two dimensional or the sphere in the three dimensional, circular shapes are present in the most fundamental forms of life such as atoms and molecules, seeds or eggs, but also the planets, moons and stars, spreading all the way to the gigantic circular galaxy shapes in the universe.
The circle also represents the cycles of life and thus is connected to growth and movement. The cyclical movement patterns are essential to life and can be observed between all the planets circling around the sun, the moons circling around the planets and the planets circling around their axis, which transmits to the cycles of days, months and years.Interestingly enough, Pythagoras, who has established Sacred Geometry teachings in Ancient Greece, was already aware that the Earth has a spherical shape. He also preceded the claims of modern cosmologists that everything in the universe is of spherical origin. However, as mentioned above, whenever one is to draw a circle, or any other geometric shape, he first needs to start with the central point and then use a compass to draw a circle around it.
And so whereas the central point symbolised the original oneness, the circle already resembles oneness made of duality, because two points that create a ratio construct it. And this very principle of duality beholds the potential to create furthermore shapes. If a second circle is drawn in the ratio between the initial point and the perimeter of the original circle, the two circles create the mystical Vesica Piscis aka Mandorla:
Furthermore, if we continue drawing overlapping circles, in which the centre of each is the circumference of the other surrounding circles of the same diameter, we will soon get The Seed of Life and The Flower of Life. These figures form a flower-like pattern and have been used, along with the Vesica Piscis, as one of the main decorative motifs since ancient times. The Seed of Life creates numerous geometric and symbolic shapes such as the cross, the triangle, the hexagon and the six-pointed star (also called the Star of David) and has also been observed in the creation of human fetus as well as in the molecular systems. The six circles around the central one in the Seed of Life are considered a metaphor for the Bible’s six days of God’s creation.
If we continue drawing twelve to nineteen overlapping circles around the central one, we get The Flower of Life, the well known Sacred Geometry pattern, used in various cultures as an important token which symbolises the year's cycle, which is also correlated to the zodiac and the house system in astrology. In The Flower of Life one can also observe various symbols such as the Yin and Yang, the Runes, the Sephirotic Tree of Life or the mysterious Fruit of Life. Then if we interconnect all the central points in The Fruit of Life pattern by using straight lines, the Metatron’s Cube is derived. Within The Metatron’s Cube, one can observe many different geometric shapes and forms, including the five Platonic Solids. The Platonic Solids can be found in the periodic table of elements, but it has also been observed that all crystals have their atoms arranged in these three dimensional shapes. However, the most mysterious shapes in The Platonic Solids are the Dodecahedron, which consists of pentagons, pentagrams and the Double Tetrahedron, which consists of hexagons and hexagrams. In ancient Greece the Dodecahedron was considered the most mysterious of the five Platonic Solids and its secret wasn’t allowed to be brought into light for the public, for it concealed the biggest mysteries of the Universe. The Dodecahedron also holds the key to the Golden Mean, another important Sacred Geometry term. The Golden Mean or The Golden Section translates to the sacred proportional system found in nature and is widely used in the Arts. Curiously enough, it has also been scientifically proven that both the pentagon and dodecahedron and the hexagon and double tetrahedron can be found in the chemical structural shapes of human DNA. And moreover, scientists recently revealed a study, which concludes that the whole universe may in fact be in the shape of a Dodecahedron.
The Tree of Life (above) and Runes (below) in the Flower of Life symbol.
Vesica Piscis in Gothic architecture.
The Fruit of Life in the Flower of Life symbol.
Metatron's Cube
Pentagon and Haxagon in the DNA.