Sacred Geometry No 1

"And i saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit, and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him...." (Revelations Chapter 20 Verse 1~3 )

The above illustrated object is of course the entrance stone to the Newgrange burial chamber, and on this page i hope to show from whence the geometry was derived, and also give some insight into it's meaning and implications, and how these ideas have continued in various form throughout the millenia...

The cross can thus be seen to be at least 8,000 years old as depicted in this format, and literally central with the earliest depictions was the lozenge shape, often with an inner 'eye' type circle, it can also be seen on the Hacilar pottery that this could be shown rotated through 45', giving a proto-stylized square, and also indicating through the diagonals eight directions, it's worth noting how this also relates to the symbolic usage of five, with the four directions and the centre, on the 'Earth and Venus' page these numerics relating to what is known as the Fibonacci series are exhaustively examined, whilst on the second page of Sacred Geometry the full sophisitication of the Hacilar bowl geometry is revealed.

Some see the cross motifs of Hacilar and Catal Hoyuk as also representing stylized flowers, this certainly became one of the sacred art forms of the Near East, the eight petalled floret becoming a symbol of Ishtar, and in the culture of Moenjo Daro the designs from earlier were rendered with great finesse depicting the geometry in natural form, this site takes a look at some of these patterns, as also does this site.

The early lozenge geometry clearly derived from the inner shaped described by four spiral curves or the pattern of mirrored chevron zig-zags, and this derivation is seen to be exactly the same some 3,000 years later in the carved stonework of places such as Newgrange and Knowth, the chevron markings and lozenge being key aspects of groups such as 'the beaker people', it is in the Bush Barrow Lozenge that one can see this taken to great refinement, an artifact beautifully crafted in gold, which is examined on 'The Israel Schemata' page.

The free-standing lozenge stones in sacred sites such as Avebury are considered by some to represent the feminine principles within nature, possibly woman in particular, but clearly they are also indicative of what was even then a very ancient tradition, one which was mirrored in the Heavens.

The Northenconstellation Draco represented the serpent naturally, the North being the Underworld region of the skies, the bottomless pit, and the lozenge shaped head of the constellation was held to contain the wisdom and knowledge within it, this then became the high symbol of esoterica.

According to many ancient traditions the chevron markings of the serpent were held to be the key to understanding sacred number and geometry, one of the key aspects of the cult that saw it become the emblem of the Priesthood in its symbolic form of stylized staff, such as Moses possesed.

If the lozenge shaped stones can be seen as representing the head of the dragon, might not the facing pointing stones represent the tail..?..such an arrangement by no means rules out this representing the phallic ritual aspects associated with these, indeed the serpent was a key symbol of fertility rituals.

The relationship between the feminine, the woman, and the serpents head is notable in the Bible were after the serpent has opened the eyes of Adam and Eve it recieves the following admonishment from the Lord...

"And I will put emnity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel" (Genesis Chapter 3 Verse 15 )

Also curious is the mention of the word heel, with regards to the marker stones outside sacred circles being known as 'Heel stones'...so although there is a direct link between the head of the woman, in terms of recieving knowledge, and that of the serpent in terms of transmitting such, the relationship is seen as problematic to say the least in the Bible.

One final point on this theme, if the lozenge shaped stone represents the head of the serpent and the facing stone the tail, then obviously that would imply the undulating serpentine body passing through the Earth beneath, in terms of sacred avenues almost like a conducting coil...on this site aspects relating to this are discussed.

The ancient tradition of the concentic markings of the lozenge or square became the ultimate symbol of Israel, the geomety of a square with three subdivisions per side, represented as gates, is present from the time of Exodus with the twelve tribes being arranged such in the wilderness, the twelve gated city of Ezekiel, and at the climax of the bible the Heavenly twelve gated city of New Jerusalem, also of course there is the arrangement of three such concentric squares of 'The Temple Scroll'

It's also worth noting how with the three demarcations per side in this geometrical arrangement not only are squares described but also the lozenge shapes set off at 45', this key geometry of esoterica was taken up by groups such as the Knights Templar during the middle ages, possibly as the result of the recovery of a scroll similar to the Temple Scroll, giving rise to an upsurge in interest throughout Europe in terms of architecture and symbolism, the cross motif literally relating to such a Temple Design in geometric terms.

This geometry can also be seen in the artifacts of the culture of ancient Sumeria, here in the intricate goldwork of the scabbard of a dagger, which has the pattern of a square with three demaracations per side, showing the patterns of squares and lozenges combined, also a straightforward cross describing the four directions can be seen, so the interest in the arrangement can be seen to pre-date Israel, though of course it is from Ur that the bible indicates the patriarch Abraham came from, with it's seven stepped ziggurat. The investigation into this geometry continues into Section Two looking at the re-appearance of the pattern in sacred sites worldwide, and concludes in Section Three.

o"And the Lord said unto him, 'What is that in thine hand?', and he said, 'a rod'. And he said, 'cast it on the ground', and it became a serpent, and Moses fled from it. And the Lord said unto Moses, 'put forth thine hand, and take it up by the tail'...and he put forth his hand and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand." (Exodus Chapter 4 verse 2~4 )