Sacred geometry – scepticism and open questions
Flower of life, merkaba and Platonic solids. What sacred geometry shares with the tetractys, and where scepticism is in order.
Anyone who looks into the tetractys sooner or later comes across so-called sacred geometry. Both have a reputation for fringe science and esotericism. A distinction is needed here: the tetractys can be demonstrated, whereas with sacred geometry some questions remain open.
The flower of life
The flower of life in particular calls for a critical eye. The pattern of overlapping circles in a hexagonal net is interpreted in esoteric circles as the archetype of creation, from which all forms can supposedly be derived.
The flower of life: 19 circles in a hexagonal net. Geometrically it is a section of the densest circle packing, six around one.
Geometrically the pattern is a section of the densest circle packing of the plane, the same structure described under Circle, triangle and square. The inconsistencies lie not in the figure but in the sweeping claims attached to it.
The merkaba
There are interesting parallels, on the other hand, with the merkaba. That is what sacred geometry calls the star tetrahedron, Kepler’s stella octangula. It is exactly the section of the crystal lattice of the densest sphere packing to which the lattice owes its name “face-centred cubic”.
The star tetrahedron or merkaba: two interpenetrating tetrahedra whose eight vertices form a cube.
The name merkaba, the throne-chariot of God, and its meaning in Jewish mysticism are discussed in The throne of God and the number 24. The Platonic solids, which sacred geometry regards as the building blocks of creation, are shown under The Platonic solids.
What sacred geometry gets right
The conviction that circle, triangle, square, pentagram and hexagram are more than ornaments is justified. But the reason lies not in revelation but in verifiable properties: angle sums, tiling, divisibility. The motto is: draw it yourself, calculate it yourself, check it yourself.