327I told my eighth grade geometry teacher that the only reason I needed geometry was to lay carpet, and I could hire somebody to do that.  Gracious, was I wrong!  Over the years I have become a “math for mystics” geek.  Here’s why.

Our lives are so surrounded by sacred geometry that we often take these sacred shapes for granted, without thinking about how or why the shapes occur or what they mean.  For example, we watch a rose unfurl, without consciously being aware of the mathematical and geometric principles that govern the flower’s opening process.  We gaze in awe at photos of the Notre Dame Rose window without understanding the geometric principles that created it.  We have no concept that even the parts of our own bodies are designed to function within the realm of sacred geometry.

What’s even more exciting is that our own internal thought processes are spurred to creative duality when we study sacred geometry.  Our left brain processes the logical, mathematical aspects of the subject, while our right brain processes the spiritual, ethereal aspects of the subject!

Sacred Geometry is the blueprint of creation and the explanation of the energy patterns in all things.  The molecules of our eye, snow flakes, pine cones, flower petals, crystals, the ratio of birds’ bodies to their wings, trees, sea shells, the movement of the planets and stars as they orbit, and all life forms as we know them emerge from a precise set of geometric codes – including the double helix that is our own DNA.

Some 2500 years ago Greek Mystery School philosophers determined that all matter was created from five basic three-dimensional forms, known collectively as the Platonic Solids.  It took the fields of biology, chemistry and physics a long time to catch up (until the 1980s), but now scientists are studying what Plato knew so long ago.

All geometric designs start with one single point, like the period at the end of this sentence.  When we connect any given point to any other given point, we have created duality.  As we build more and more points that are connected, at some “point” we come back to the original point (more about this in a minute!).

In the study of quantum physics, we now know that any given point along the time-space continuum can be both present and not present, given the perspective of the beholder.  Therefore, we know now that there are hidden geometric patterns within other, visible patterns that we do not always see!

Geometric Code Deciphered:  The Divine Ratio

Italian mathematician Leonardo Fibonacci developed what is now know as the Fibonacci Code:

1  2  3  5  8  13  21 and so on to infinity…..

each number in the sequence, when added to the next number, is summed to the next number:

1 + 1 = 2; 1 + 2 = 3; 2 + 3 = 5;  3 + 5 = 8;  5 + 8 = 13; 8 + 13 = 21 and so on…..

When you divide the added number by the prior number, you get PHI:  1.618, or very close to it.  Phi is called the Divine Ratio, sometimes called the Golden Ratio.  (Interestingly, the numbers in Phi add up to Seven, the number of mysticism.)

This ratio was named PHI in honor of Phidias (490-430 BCE), a Greek sculptor who based his work on the Golden Ratio.

The Divine Ratio in Nature

Phi is the essential building block of nature.  Plants, animals, human bodies – all possess dimensional properties that adhere to amazing exactitude to the ratio of PHI to 1.  This ratio is called the Divine Proportion.  Here are some example:

  • The ratio of female to male bees in any hive in the world is PHI, with females outnumbering males.
  • Each of the spiraled chambers in the Chambered Nautilus is 1.618 the size of the one next to it.
  • Sunflower seeds grow in opposing spirals.  The ratio of each rotation’s diameter in relationship to the next is PHI.
  • Spiraled pine cone petals – PHI
  • Leaf arrangements on branches – PHI
  • Relationship to birds’ bodies and their wing span – PHI
  • The angles of the triangles in a Pentagram – PHI
  • The angles of the triangles in a Seal of Solomon – PHI
  • But coolest of all – the human body!  Measure from the top of your head to the floor.  Divide that number by the distance from your navel to the floor – PHI.  Measure the distance from your shoulder to your fingertips, and then divide it by the distance from your elbow to your fingertips – PHI.  Hip to floor divided by knee to floor – PHI, and so on and so on!

When the ancients discovered the Divine Ratio and the orderliness of the universe, they worshipped the gods through nature, and of course, many folks continue to do so today.

In astronomy, the pattern Venus takes across her orbit every 8 years creates a pentagram.  Every 116 days Mercury forms a Seal of Solomon in the sky.

The Divine Ratio in Art, Music and Architecture

The most famous artwork that features the Divine Ratio is Da Vinci’s The Vitruvian Man, with the ratio of body parts within a circle in perfect PHI ratio.  Michelangelo’s David and others of his paintings and sculptures were created with PHI in their intent.

In music, Mozart’s sonatas, Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, and works of Bartok, Debussy, amd Schubert also employed PHI in measures and sections of the music.  Even Stradivarius utilized the Divine Ratio as he created his masterpiece violins.  Additionally, the carrying of energy and sound waves are the perfect in a building built on PHI structure.

In architecture, stone henges throughout Europe, the Greek Parthenon, the pyramids of Central and South American and Egypt (the pyramid at Giza is the most perfectly constructed building standing in the world, according to PHI ratio), the United Nations building in New York, and of course, Catholic cathedrals throughout Europe represent sacred spaces designed and constructed on sacred geometry principles.

During the surge of sacred construction in Medieval times, sacred geometry was incorporated into many churches in Europe.  (Some scholars believe this construction had to do with maintaining the Goddess symbols; others think it had to do with Mary Magdalene and the holy grail).  For example, the twin towers at Chartres Cathedral honor the sun and the moon.  Between these towers the wall contains the amazing Rose Window.  Were the wall that houses the Rose Window to fall forward, the Rose Window would fall and cover exactly the labyrinth carved in the stone floor.

The designers of the city of Washington, DC were free masons, an organization long known for mystical activities and sacred geometry construction.  An aerial map of the city shows overlaying imagines of sacred geometry, predominated by a pentagram, in the placement of buildings and monuments constructed in relationship to each other.

Perhaps most mystical of all is the Labyrinth.  Labyrinths appear in almost all world cultures, in either the 11-circuit form (Chartres, Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, Church of the Servant in Wilmington, NC and many others), or 7-circuit form (Crete, Ireland, Scandinavia, Spain, Greece, Hopi culture, etc.).  Labyrinth construction has been correlated to the flow of the human intestines, the placement of the planets, the myth of Ariadne and the Minataur, the route of the Christian pilgrims and other historical events.  (My next blog will explain more about Labyrinths.)

So, watch a rose unfurl and watch Sacred Geometry in action!

Blessed be,

Deb

Photo: Susan Bollinger