Sacred Geometry and Divine Names: Iconography of the Word in Mystical Traditions

This chapter investigates one of the most fascinating and mysterious topics in the relationship between Geometry and the Transcendent: the connections between Geometry and the Word according to what we could define as an "iconography of the word." This has been a focal point in various Renaissance theological and philosophical contexts. When we speak of theology of the word, we generally refer, more or less explicitly, to the Hebrew tradition and Kabbalistic exegesis which, more than any other, has brought the sacrality of language to its extreme consequences. Conversely, when we refer to geometric theology - a geometry capable of giving form, albeit abstract, to intelligible entities - we generally refer to Neoplatonic or Neopythagorean philosophy of Renaissance stamp. When we refer to an iconography of the word, we refer to any series of hybridizations that pass between these two extremes which, although difficult to classify under a single historical, religious and cultural label, nevertheless forms an ensemble that lives on certain fundamental characteristic traits. In this sense, while remaining perfectly aware that the extreme heterogeneity of currents and movements that have approached the subject makes a unified treatment impossible, we have nevertheless thought to extract for this chapter some simple, emblematic and, in our opinion, representative themes, such as to provide the reader with a first and summary panorama on the topic. In this chapter we will approach Hebrew theology of the word, then analyze the traditional correspondences between numbers, geometric forms and divine names according to Renaissance Christian Kabbalah, and finally approach some forms of ascesis and meditation based on the visualization of geometric symbols and the repetition of power words. The last topic treated is not properly a historical and traditional topic as much as a practical and experimental one. In the last part of the chapter we will present some meditative techniques which, although they reuse traditional techniques and themes, renew them by bringing an original contribution to them.