The circle and sphere are probably the most commonly found sacred pieces of geometry. They transcend religion, society, and culture and always represents wholeness, cycles, and potential. We see this shape around us all the time. Circles and spheres are everywhere from the moon, to the oranges we eat, to the shape of the fundamental shape of atoms - the building blocks of all matter - and life. In this blog we will explore all of the circle's sacred geometric meanings and variations.
"The circle is the beginning that has no end. From the sacred center of creation comes unlimited potential and infinite possibility." - F. Hart
We can find circles reflected in human's first visual expressions of cave art dating back thousands of years that shows how we has human beings have always connected with the power of this sacred symbol.
The left is from the Nyero rock paintings in Uganda. The right from native rock art found in Oragon in the United States. In this we can not only see the circle by itself, but the beginning of depicting the circle in repetition. Some of the most powerful and potent symbols within Sacred Geometry come out the circle and repeating this sacred symbol in precise geometric patterns.
The Flower of Life
This symbol is one of the most ancient sacred geometric symbols we have. The oldest representation of the Flower of life can be found at the Osirion Temple Complex in Abydos, Egypt, and dates to at least over 6,000 years old. It can be found through out history, on almost every major continent and is reflected in things like Roman mosaics, and even the alchemical studies of Leonardo Da Vinci.
The Flower of Life is composed of repeating and overlapping concentric circles that intersect at even interval vertices. It is a pattern that can be expanded outward at infinity. This symbol symbolizes creation the unity of everything. It is thought that all life is part of a divine, geometric plan. All structures known to us are following this plan. But before we jump into that, let's discuss the building blocks of this Symbol.
The Seed of Life
The seed of life is created from seven overlapping concentric circles. It is the fundamental component of of the Flower of Life. The seeds of life obviously have a close association with numerology. The number 7 is the seeker, the thinker, the searcher of Truth - even the number 7 is considered to be a "lucky" number in many cultures (and not in some others). The widely accepted spiritual meaning of this symbols is that it represents the seven days of creation found in some of the major world religions. The Seed of Life is often regarded as symbol of blessing and protection; and can also be found used in fertility manifestation.
The Fruit of Life
This sacred geometric symbol is lifted directly from the Seeds of life. It is comprised of 13 equally sized circles. 13 being a powerful number in many spiritual traditions also appears in many other aspects of life, such as the chromatic scale which is made of 12 notes, and circles back to the beginning on the 13th. See what I did there? Circles back... Ok. The 13 circles take on many associations as I mentioned, some of these include the 13 Tribes of Israel in the Jewish tradition. In esoteric traditions the number 13 is associated with movement between worlds and planes of existence and transformation of shape and form. Astrologically, this symbol is associated with Earth and the 12 zodiac around it. Fundamentally it is thought to contain the basis for the design of every atom, molecular structure, life form, and anything else you could imagine in our universe.
Now when you start to look at the patterns of the Seeds of Life, Fruit of Life, and Flower of Life - we are lead to discover some interesting correlations eloquently described by Laural Virtues Wauters in a fantastic series of blog posts on Sacred Geometry.
"Two “rounds” of 18 and 24 circles are added onto the Flower of Life to form an interlocking symbol of sixty-one total circles that creates the Fruit of Life. The first “round” of 18 circles represents a Saros, which is an 18-year, lunar or solar, eclipse cycle. Lunar and solar eclipses mirror each other every nine years in the exact location, this is called a Sar or half of a Saros. By adding these 18 circles to the 19 circles in the Flower of Life a total of 37 circles appear. When combined, the central circle becomes the “central one,” therefore 36 circles revolve around the central “Sun”. The 36 weeks in a solar year equates to nine months, the approximate time for human life to gestate. The “Sun” can now be seen as the “Child”. The second round of 24 circles represents a 24-hour day. When you combine both rounds with the flower of life you have 60 total circles (1)+(6+12+18+24=60) rotating around the central “one” represents the 60 minutes in one hour or 60 seconds within one minute. The actual “Fruit of Life” pattern is revealed in the 13 independent circles. These 13 circles represent each of the four seasons (spring, summer, fall, winter) within a 52-week solar year (13 x 4 = 52), as well as the 13 moon cycles within a lunar year. The Fruit of Life is symbolic of the life-giving aspects of both the Sun and Moon."
These are just a handful of associations with this glyph and the numbers found within it. It is also the fundamental cornerstone for Metatron's Cube - which as some of you may have noticed, is my all time favorite sacred symbol.
Metatron's Cube
When you take the Fruit of Life and you draw a straight line from the central point of each circle to every other circle in the Fruit of Life you will be left with Metatron's Cube. Within this special sigil you will find each of the platonic solids represented.
The name of this symbol comes from some Jewish and Christrian traditions in which the Archangel Metatron, the Scribe of the Heavens, created this geometric shape to represent all of the building blocks God used to create the universe.
In esoteric tradition, the circles of Metatron’s Cube represent the Sacred Feminine and the lines represent the Sacred Masculine. Together in this form with all of the Platonic Solids, Metatron’s Cube represents the weaving together of the Male & Female to create the universal field of the infinite all, or the Akashic. It can also be aligned with both the traditional and expanded 13 chakra systems. This is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg - this symbol can further be explored through another that is present within it; the OmAhOm, which we won't go into here, but I would recommend you check out.
It is said that Metaton's cube is a representation of the flow of energy between everyting in the universe, the building blocks of the universe, and all the major aspects of the divine. It's complexity, and depth of esoteric meaning and power is what has always drawn me to this amazing peice of sacred geometry.
I'd like to end the blog with a video animation that shows the evolution of the circle into Seeds of Life, Flower of Life and Metatron's cube created by the YouTuber mercur999. It is an amazing visualzation of these powerful peices of Sacred Geometry.
References
Greer, John Michael. SACRED GEOMETRY ORACLE. STYLUS PUBLISHING, 2019.
Hart, Francene. Sacred Geometry Oracle Deck. Bear & Co., 2001.
Melchizedek, Drunvalo. The Ancient Secret of the Flower of Life: an Edited Transcript of the Flower of Life Workshop Presented Live to Mother Earth from 1985 to 1994. Light Technology, 2000.
Mercur999, You Tube - Flower of Life - An Experience, 10 Oct. 2009, https://youtu.be/hiJ_ZzH4W_I
Spirit Science, YouTube - Spirit Science 23 ~ The Sacred Geometry Movie, 14 Apr. 2014, youtu.be/FSmdSw9eEIA.
Wauters, Laura Virtues. “19. Fruit of Life.” Mandala Chakra, 10 Mar. 2018, mandalachakra.com/2017/09/15/fruit/.