Sacred Geometry and Meditation: Understanding Geometric Forms and Their Numerical Correspondences

To the corresponding meditation considering the pole of substance, it is appropriate instead to concentrate on the number of sides. As we have already mentioned, this is only a general guideline, since the number $5$ is often also placed in relation to the symbol of the cross as its central point.

Figure 1: Cataloging of some traditional geometric forms with their corresponding numbers.

A regular geometric figure, in particular, in its most intimate aspect shows a number of elements linked together by a dynamic or hierarchical law. For example, the triangle properly represents the ternary, that is, the hierarchical and dynamic result coming from three distinct elements, with their mutual relationships. In the same way, the square represents the quaternary and the pentagon properly represents the quinary, and so on.

However, we consider it necessary to also remember a superior point of view, placing ourselves in which it is possible to realize that the figure itself of the triangle, or of the square or pentagon, can be considered as indications of qualities present in a number. In any case, due to the intrinsic limitations of our domain of existence, to give some form to numerical qualities and to the initiatic conceptions recalled by them (as happens for example in the case of evocative numbers), it is necessary to assign geometric forms to numbers anyway.

Giving a specific form to these conceptions and qualities means making possible both their metaphysical study and making them a support for meditation. In these cases, however, it is necessary to be initiated into techniques that allow not only to consider geometric forms as expressions of dynamic laws, but also as manifestations of essential qualities.

The interior conceptions that are evoked through the figuration of the number $8$ by means of an $8$-pointed star, taken here as a symbol of the Mystery of the Eighth Day, are well distinct both intellectually and in meditative practice from those evoked by the simple symbol of the octonary. For those who follow the direction of the Gnosis of the Holy Trinity, a meditation on the triangle must be kept well distinct from a cosmological meditation on the ternary.

We can group, without any pretense of systematicity, three fundamental lines in which regular geometric forms can be meditated: according to that line oriented by the identity of a number; according to that oriented by the quality of the number; according to that oriented by the reality evoked by the number. The choice between these three fundamental modes will obviously depend on the specific context.

The Disposition. When in practice we have to deal not with a single symbol, but with a constellation of symbols, the disposition with which these symbols present themselves is fundamental for a correct interpretation of the whole. We can only give some initial indications here, useful for meditation on more complex geometric compositions, but it is important to underline that what we write does not constitute a set of rigid formal rules. We know, however, from direct experience, that they are also useful for the interpretation of most of the geometric figures of traditional symbolic literature.

Orientation. First, we must note the orientation of individual figures. The same figure can activate completely opposite energies depending on the orientation with which it is used in ritual. For example, the $5$-pointed star manifests Divine Light, the Word, and the elevation of man, if it is ritually oriented with the point upward, but, in certain contexts, if it is used with the point facing downward, it predisposes to the manifestation of dark powers and facilitates the man who seeks in brutalization an answer to life's questions. The orientation of our heart, in accordance with the orientation of individual elements of the composition, constitutes one of the fundamental keys for effective meditation.

Regarding orientation, it is necessary to distinguish two fundamental lines: the horizontal one, which is often to be placed in relation to exteriority; the vertical one, which is often to be placed in relation to interiority. When performing a ritual or meditating on a geometric symbol, a line drawn horizontally, in general, indicates an act of exteriorization; a line traced vertically indicates an interior, divine, or vertical action. A cross, formed by the union of the two lines, will therefore indicate the union between an action, for example a human action, with a divine act operating on the vertical.