Contents

The Hand and the Computer 00A Note on the Illustrations

Part I

THE GEOMETER’S CREATION

1. How the World Began 00And Why and Why Worry?

• The Geometer’s Creator 00• Creative Geometry: Introducing the Ratios 00• Genesis and the Great Geometer 00• The Number of the Universe 00

2. The Number 5040 00Key to the World Plan

• Earth, Moon, and the Circle Squared 00

3. The Circle, the Square 00And the Meaning of Pi

• π in Practice 00• π in the Pyramid 00• π Equals 3? An Antiquarian Fantasy 00• The pi Patterns 00• Cosmological Revelations in Crop Circles 00• The Revelation at Crooked Soley 00

How the World Is MadeBy John Michell with Allan Brown

4. Initiation 00And the Vision of Heavenly Order

• An Initiate’s Vision; St. John and the Heavenly Jerusalem 00• Heaven on Earth: The Pattern of the Sanctuary 00• The Numbers of the Holy City and Their Meanings 00• 3168, the Number of Our Lord Jesus Christ 00• 1080, the Lunar Number, the Solar 666 and Their Sum, 1746 00• 864, the Foundation Number 00

Part 2

THE PHySICAl CREATION

5. The Dodecad 00A Summary of Numbers One to Twelve

6. The One and Only 00Symbol of the Universe

7. The Geometry of Two 00Duality and the World of Paradox

8. The Geometry of Three 00The Vesica Pisces and Material Creation

• The Vesica Pisces and the Marriage Made in Heaven 00• The Net with 153 Fishes, a Geometer’s Parable 00• The Triangles that Fill Up Space 00• Pythagorean Triangles 00• The Second Pythagorean Triangle 5-12-13

9. Four and the Square 00Reason, Stability, Order

• The Rational Square and the Root-two Proportion 00• Doubling the Area of a Square: An Exercise in Recollection 00

10. Six and the Hexagon 00The Perfect Number

11. Eight and the Octagon 00 For Peace and Justice

12. The Majestic Twelve 00The Number of Universal Order and Harmony

• Twelve Tribes and the Revelation of the Heavenly Order 00

Part 3

THE CREATION Of lIfE

13. Five and Ten 00Numbers of Life and Growth

• Life and the Pentagon 00• Humanity and the Pentagram 00• Pentagonal Dances 00• Sex and the Pentagram: Meeting, Mating, and Breeding 00• Pentagonal Marriages with Other Shapes 00• Five and Seven 00

Part 4

THE WORld SOul

14. The Holy Seven 00Symbol of the World Soul

• Seven and the Mysteries 00• Seven, Nine, and the Septenary Number 00• Twelve and Seven: The Supreme Numerical Marriage 00

15. Geometry and Love 00Approaching the Climax

Part 5

ATlANTIS

16. A Geometer’s Nightmare 00Plato’s Pentagonal Allegory

• Atlantis: The Historical Record 00• Atlantis: Its Foundation and Growth 00• Squaring the Circle, Atlantis Style 00• Atlantis: The Pentagonal Edifice 00 • Atlantis: The Basic Geometry 00• Atlantis and the Golden Section 00• The Meaning of Atlantis 00

Index 00

5

1 • How the World Began

And Why and Why Worry?

Genesis and the Great Geometer

Developing naturally along with the first stages in geometry is a cosmogony or story of how the world was made. It starts with a creator, the Great Geometer, whose benevolence caused him to undertake the work. He was equipped with a ruler and compass by which can be constructed the primary figures of plane geometry, those that correspond to the first twelve numbers (with the excep-tions of the mysterious Seven and Nine and the unsubstantial Eleven). The uni-verse was formed in the most perfect of all shapes, the sphere, represented in two dimensions by the circle. The story is that the Creator, from his position at the center, revolved the shaft of his compass, corresponding to the world pole, and swung a circle that includes everything.

A simple version of the geometer’s creation myth is in Genesis, chapter 1, where the Creator’s work is described in six stages—or seven including his Sab-bath day of rest. A parallel account is given in Plato’s Timaeus, written in the fourth century BC, which has been called a commentary on Genesis with added geometrical details. There are, however, doubts about the prior antiquity of Genesis, and it may be that the Timaeus was the original version and the bibli-cal account followed. In any case, both were derived from the same source, from the scientifically grounded, numerically structured description of the universe that was adopted by successive religions and cultures throughout the ancient world. The story that goes with it is a geometric allegory. It was never meant to be taken too literally; but since we evidently need a creation myth, it might as well be the best one. That was Plato’s reasoning in Timaeus where he accepted the traditional account as “the most likely story.”

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Figure 9. The Creator’s geometry

In the Genesis cosmogony the first three stages follow the

classical development of geometry, beginning with the point,

line, and circle and continuing with the square and triangle, as

shown.

1 and 2. The Creator conceives of the universe, draws the cos-

mic circle to define its limits, and brings it to order by adding

its two axes. He is then able to draw a square within the circle.

This introduces the first two ratios in geometry. The first is Pi,

the ratio between the circle’s diameter and its circumference,

and the second is square root of two, by which the side of the

square is related to its diagonal.

3. He then draws a circle within the square. The area of this

circle is half that of the original circle, so in this way he has

divided the universe into two equal halves, upper and lower,

representing light and darkness and all the apparent dualities

in nature. The circumference of the inner circle provides the

Firmament by which the Creator separates the “waters above”

from the “waters below.”

4. Within the lower circle, the Firmament, the Creator con-

structs two triangles overlapping to form a hexagon. Thereby he

introduces the third, 1: √3 ratio in geometry. He draws a circle

through the six corners of the hexagon. This central circle rep-

resents the sublunary world of our existence. The ring outside

it is the heavens and the outer ring is the Zodiac, the realm of

the twelve gods.

1. Primordial chaos

2. The world brought to order

3. The heavens divided from the earth; equal areas of dark and light

4. The land (center) separated from the ocean.

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Figure 10. Stages in the creation story: Genesis and Plato

The inner circle and the two rings around it have relative areas

of 1, 2, and 3. The completed diagram depicts the created uni-

verse, perfectly structured but devoid of animals and human

intelligence. These are provided at the next stage in creation

(see part 3).

1. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And

the earth was without form and void. Genesis, 1.

He wanted everything to be as near to his own perfection as

possible. Plato, Timaeus, 29.

He made the universe as one whole, made up of all whole enti-

ties, perfect and undecaying. He gave it the shape that befitted

its nature. The proper shape for the creature which was designed

to comprehend all creatures within itself is a figure that con-

tains every (geometric) figure. Thus he made it in the shape of a

sphere, the figure that is most similar to himself. Timaeus.

2. Seeing the universe in a restless state of inharmonious and dis-

orderly motion, God brought it into order because he considered

that order was in every way better than disorder. Timaeus.

3. God divided the light from the darkness. . . . He made the fir-

mament and divided the waters that were under the firmament

from the waters above. Genesis.

4. And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered

together unto one place, and let the dry land appear. Genesis.

1

2

3

4

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The Number of the Universe

The universe was made spherical because that is the most perfect shape, and it was also given the perfect number. As the only created entity that is totally self-sufficient, it is the natural symbol of One. But it also has another number, that of the sacred power or principle to which it is dedicated. The practice in religious architecture was to express the dedication of a temple through the area of its ground plan. The universe was dedicated to the traditional Twelve Gods of the cosmos, each represented by one of the first twelve numbers.

The most interesting part of the universal diagram—and the main subject of this book—is its central part, the circle of radius 5040. The number 5040 stands above all others as the characteristic symbol of the traditional canon of number and proportion. This numerical code was the source and basic stan-dard of all the arts, sciences, and institutions of ancient civilizations that were founded upon cosmological principles to reflect the order of the heavens.

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Fig. 3. From behind the

cloud or veil of mystery

that conceals his nature

the Creator protrudes

his compass and

having, like any author,

written the title of his

work, outlines it by his

spinning axis. That, more

or less, is the geometer’s

story.

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Fig. 23. Beneath the circle (dark) of the Firmament, the ring of 12 lunar circles is divided into quarters

at the points where the circle through the moons cuts the corners of the square. In cosmographic

imagery, through these gaps the four rivers of paradise flow outward and heavenly influences enter

the sublunary world.

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Fig. 31. The practice of creative geometry is not materially rewarding: its attraction is that it is based

on universal truth and goes beyond the fluctuating fads and fashions of scientific literalism. By

combinations of shapes, beginning with the square and the circle, it aims to depict the pre-existent

code of number behind all natural manifestations.

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Fig. 57. The Heavenly City