Announcing Winter 2002
Traditional Sacred Geometry Classes
with Michael Schneider
author of
"A Beginner's Guide To Constructing The Universe:
The Mathematical Archetypes of Nature, Science and Art"  

  Mandala of the Mean Orbits
of Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars

The Solar System Mandala
January 26, 2002

When the elliptical orbits of all nine planets are rounded to circles ("mean orbits"), their intervals coincide (with 99.9% accuracy) to geometric constructions, great mandalas of our solar system. In this construction, the orbits of the planets to Saturn conform to an octagonal pattern, while beyond it reveals a triangular symmetry. Bring a compass, straightedge, blank paper and colored pencils to learn step-by-step how to construct this geometric scheme of celestial harmony. Based on the work of John Martineau.

"For the world is not painted or adorned, but is from the beginning beautiful;
and God has not made some beautiful things, but Beauty is the creator of the universe."

-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Tetraktys
February 2, 2002

The Tetraktys is a triangle of 10 (= 1+2+3+4) points. Along with the Pentagram star it was a central symbol of the Pythagorean mystery school (c500 BCE) whose interests included the scientific and spiritual order of the cosmos and ourselves as its fractal microcosm. Learn how the simplicity of the Tetraktys masks profound wisdom about nature, music and our own spiritual structure.

"O holy, holy Tetraktys,
thou that containest the root and the source
of the eternally flowing creation!"

-- Pythagorean Golden Verses

Cosmic Dozens
February 9, 2002

To live in accord with the perceived cosmic order, countless societies mirrored upon Earth the patterns they saw in the sky and in mathematics, particularly around the wondrous properties of the number twelve. Twelve is the traditional "framework number" embracing and interrelating the numbers below and beyond it. From time immemorial the archetypal "twelve-around-one" pattern of the zodiac was mirrored in twelve-tribe societies, the mythologies of twelve heroic ordeals, twelve spiritual disciples, and the designs of monuments, temples and cultures mediating between Heaven and Earth, from Stonehenge to the U.S. Government. Come learn about worldwide traditions of the Duodecimal (twelvefold) Cosmology.

"The universe is simple if you use imagination.
Its pattern is the number Twelve which structures all Creation.
You need not study physics or be versed in numerology
To draw from Threes and Fours the duodecimal cosmology."

--"Twelve Fold Universe" by John Michell

"And when, monks, in these four noble truths my due knowledge and insight
with the three sections and twelve divisions was well purified,
then monks ... I had attained the highest complete enlightenment."

-- Buddha

Principles of Sacred Architecture
February 23, 2002
 
In all traditions, sacred architecture is consecrated space representing the entire cosmos in miniature, an imago mundi. The symbolic structure of sacred architecture reenacts the local creation myth in which chaos is brought to order. Sacred architecture is spiritual wisdom made visible, a map of the Real which exists outside and within ourselves, a map of our spiritual journey for gathering and integrating the fragmented chaos of our lives into a coherent whole. Mandalas become the floorplans of temples. This class will survey worldwide sacred architecture traditions for their common underlying principles, and how to read their geometric symbolism. [Note: Michael designed the geometry which guides the sculptures at the north side of the Portal of Paradise, the main entrance to the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City.]

"Architecture aims at Eternity;
and therefore, is the only thing incapable
of modes and fashions in its principles."

-- Sir Christopher Wren (1632-1723, English architect)

Design A Cathedral
March 2, 2002

Cathedrals, like other sacred structures, were designed not by whim, taste or fashion, but according to the timeless principles of sacred architecture and the archetypal patterns which emerge from number and geometry. Learn about the basic schemes at work guiding cathedral floorplans and elevations. You are invited to bring a geometric compass and straightedge to learn how to construct and apply "root rectangles" and other basic patterns used in traditional cathedral designs.

"We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us."

-- Winston Churchill

Design Sacred Pottery
March 9, 2002


To many ancient cultures, geometry and number were considered to be the purest expressions of "perfect truth", unchanging and universal. By applying geometric harmony to the design of sculpture, pottery and architecture, cosmic truths are brought to Earth, imbuing art with timeless beauty. This class will look through the eyes of a Greek geometer to design sacred pottery using the proportions made by simple movements of the compass. Based, in part, on the work of Jay Hambidge. Bring a geometric compass, straightedge, blank paper and colored pencils.

"The good, of course, is always beautiful,
and the beautiful never lacks proportion."

-- Plato

Magic Squares
April 6, 2002

A "magic square" is an arrangement of numbers so that all columns, rows and diagonals add to the same sum. More than just mere curiosities, they show us the harmony inherent among numbers, and thus harmony among principles at work in the world. This view was held throughout antiquity where magic squares appear. In ancient China they were used in traditional feng-shui to determine the proportions of sacred architecture. They have alchemical associations with metals and planets. Learn the history and philosophy of magic squares, and especially how to create them.


Secrets of Escher's Art
April 13, 2002

M. C. Escher (1898-1972) was a Dutch artist most recognized for spatial illusions, impossible buildings, repeating geometric patterns (tessellations). He was inspired by Islamic sacred art, molecular crystallography and lace patterns. This class will teach the essentials of "plane filling symmetries" so participants can replicate Islamic and Escher patterns, or create original tessellations.


Straightening Out Sacred Measure
April 27, 2002

There is great confusion today concerning metrology, the history of measurement systems around the world. Beyond the child's tales of the "foot" deriving from some king's foot, measurement was actually part of a sacred system of knowledge established in prehistory and based on timeless truths seen in the harmony of the cosmos. Standards of measure were everywhere framed upon never-changing principles of number and geometry. Except for the survival of the English system in the U.S., most other traditional systems of measurement worldwide have succumbed to the "easy" and modern, but artificial and inferior "metric" system, which is divorced from nature and the human scale, and requires its users to conform to the measuring tools themselves, not to the nature of the objects measured, as was classically done. This class is an introduction to the brilliant workings of this unified system of measure, and how different cultures derived their individual measures of length from it. Based on the work of John Michell and John Neal.

"A tradition which has been credited by many learned men over the centuries
is that the ancients encoded their knowledge of the world
in the dimensions of their sacred monuments."

--John Michell

All classes are held at

Yellow Emperor Healing Center
247 Sir Francis Drake Blvd., San Anselmo, CA
(Marin County, 20 miles north of San Francisco)

Saturdays  11am - 2pm

$25 each class (or $200 for all nine classes)
Visa/MC accepted

Seating is Limited -- Advance Reservation is Required Please
To register call (415) 457-3799 or email geoman@pb.net  

Driving directions and Maps

Descriptions of past classes

Timeless Wisdom Homepage

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