Pac’s posting about stained glass and my answer with an article about Gothic cathedrals got me thinking about the deep mysticism (woo) inbued in ancient architecture, including cathedrals. We don’t see many modern churches with the striking beauty of the cathedrals because the woo has been abandoned. Everything from location to construction to resonance was incorporated into sacred spaces, from the pyramids and Sphinx of Egypt, the pyramids of ancient indigenous peoples, ancient Greek and Roman temples, Stonehenge and the cathedrals.
ETA: It also permeates the classical works of art: music, sculpture, sketches, paintings, and dance.
Sacred geometry ascribes symbolic and sacred meanings to certain geometric shapes and certain geometric proportions. It is associated with the belief of a divine creator of the universal geometer. The geometry used in the design and construction of religious structures such as churches, temples, mosques, religious monuments, altars, and tabernacles has sometimes been considered sacred. The concept applies also to sacred spaces such as temenoi, sacred groves, village greens, pagodas and holy wells, Mandala Gardens and the creation of religious and spiritual art. As worldview and cosmology The belief that a god created the universe according to a geometric plan has ancient origins. Plutarch attributed the belief to Plato, writing that “Plato said God geometrizes continually” (Convivialium disputationum, liber 8,2). In modern times, the mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss adapted this quote, saying "God arithmetizes…
I actually really enjoy drawing sacred geometries. It’s all stuff you can draw with a compass and straightedge and it’s very repetitive but also artful and makes a really great mindfulness practice. a compass and straightedge are actually listed in my healthcare advance directive as sacramental religious items that I should be provided with.
it’s kinda like the gnostic / esoteric version of a sand Mandala. a lot of people use coloring books for mental health / relaxation similarly but I like that I really don’t need preprinted coloring sheets or coloring implements. and making a compass is easy enough you can even just tape two pens together with some kind of spacer in the middle.
and it has a much richer cultural history than your average coloring books like I’ll meditate on balance while drawing the classic taijitu or perspective while drawing Megatron’s cube or the journey through life while creating a labyrinth through the flower of life (which is really just an isometric grid when you get down to it).
From a strictly Christian and non-syncretic perspective (if you’re a purist) you can also do a vesica piscis, out of which you can derive both an ichthys and a perfectly geometrically rendered cross. you can also make a triquetra (and even include some knotwork!) if you wanna bring in trinitarianism (although I’m not personally a huge fan of the council of Nicaea).
it’s actually one of my favorite both spiritual and creative mindfulness practices.
Ohhh, thank you much for sharing this! Metatron’s cube is intricate, does it take a long time? Would you be interested in sharing some of your work (if so, maybe watermark it)?
I’m actually not a purist, and if you’re interested, I posted a wiki photo of an ancient mesopotamian coin of the chariot in a thread with a link to an Esoterica yt channel on a lecture on Merkavah mysticism, part 7 dropped yesterday, but I’ve not watched it yet. It’s quite fascinating!
Again, thanks so much for posting. It’s great knowing someone here shares my interest, even though I’m not great with understanding the math, but only the principle of sacred geometry. Blessings to you.
I wanna say it’s not that hard but I do a lot of things other people tell me are hard. I don’t have any on hand because I consider them somewhat ephemeral in the same way as a sand Mandala and will sometimes even ceremonially light them on fire (or if I’m at work I’ll put them in the shredder bin and I’m pretty sure a lot of corporate document destruction is done by incineration these days). If I have time maybe I’ll do one tonight. I’ll probably do Metatron since that interests you.
That sounds wonderful, burnt offerings! And thank you, I consider him a patron.
