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How the World Is Made: The Story of Creation according to Sacred Geometry

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Something ancient stirred within me the moment I saw the cover of this book. Not surprising really, since sacred geometry is a nature-made creation story that predates language, homo sapiens, or even the world itself. According to Galileo, "the `grand book' of the universe was written in the language of mathematics and its characters are triangles, circles, and other geometrical figures, without which it is impossible to understand a single word of it."

What makes sacred geometry sacred, is that it connects us with the only world order "in which human nature can happily exist...the cosmological expression of ideal harmony and proportion which constituted the base behind every ancient lasting civilization."

This book is beautifully written and contains over 300 color drawings that illustrate the archetypal patterns that numbers and shapes represent, and how they illuminate social and spiritual development, both in contemporary and historical worlds.

As someone who is mathematically functional, but not sophisticated, there is perhaps more "mathematics" explained in this book than I enjoy or appreciate. But this is a personal bias and in no way reflects the quality of information, knowledge, and wisdom offered in this fascinating and compelling look at sacred universal order.

This beautifully crafted book is a fitting tribute to the lifetime authorship of John Michell (1933-2009)

The books of John Michell were something I grew up with. My father's library contained all of Michell's works that were in print at the time. Later in adulthood I continued to follow his writings as they emerged. He has certainly left a legacy of some intelligent insights. This final volume deals with the arcane subject of sacred geometry, something that was more or less invested in all of his writings. Here you will find the underlying principles that informed much of his writing and thought over the years.

Lavishly illustrated with his geometric art and text, I am sure this will be a book I will return to for reference for many years to come.

What a paradox. At the very bottom of the Iron Age, the Kali Yuga, that is modernity, the greatest wisdom mankind ever achieved is slowly re-emerging and being made available to anyone with an internet connection and a credit card.

Perhaps it is not a paradox, but simply the barest beginning of the inevitable reversal of the great cycle. Precious few things can give one such hope, but recent developments in the sacred science of measure is one of them. Of course there can be nothing to invent in this area, but there is much to discover, and once discovered it is impossible to ever disagree about, for it is mathematically precise and completely objective - literally as much so as a Euclidian proof.

Case in point: the work of John Michell. While my own take on what has come to be called "sacred geometry" is a little different from its organization in this book, there is no denying that the subject matter herein is the most important subject there is; indeed it the only subject to which a serious person can devote himself. This book, by itself, is worth more than whole libraries of new age and pseudo-occult deviations that pass as wisdom among the uninitiated. For an obvious example, I would not trade this book for the complete works of Blavatsky, Crowley, Gurdjieff and their ilk.

Place this one alongside Lawlor's textbook, alongside Schwaller's Temple of Man, alongside the Wooden Books series, as the highest level of thought to which modern man can aspire. Oh, and the physical quality of this volume is superb as well. To say I recommend that you purchase it would obviously be both redundant and an understatement.

My association with John Michells work goes back about 40 years. I developed an interest in sacred geometry in my teens, and very slowly developed an understanding of sorts. Avoiding most of numerology and its association with superstition and witchcraft left pretty slim picking in the literature of the day.
I discovered John Michell in 1972 with the publication of "City of Revelation", and it was like someone turned the lights on. Much of what I had learned on my own was easily referenced with his much more complete presentation.
That same year (1972) I came across "The View Over Atlantis", and reaffirmed certain life-changes I had recently made. Sacred Geometry had become real to me in a way I could not have imagined.
This last volume is a fine accompaniment to the ever-growing collection of my own geometrical schemes, lending affirmation and justification to my efforts, and the path upon which I tread.
I am profoundly grateful for John Michells lifes work.

My wife teaches algebra and has found this book a treasure for enriching student appreciation of fractals and geometry.

A few years ago I noticed that there are many paintings constructed on hexagram/flower of life templates. All the way from Giotto (and before) to Dali- you look for people pointing, or someone pointing and some other focal point, then use the two points to draw your matrix with a compass. Alignments are often found on both the hex (line) and flower of life (circle) patterns. More alignments can be found by constructing an inner hexagram within the main one(s). I found probably 50 or more... I'll scan some and send them to you... right now I can't download the drivers to either my printer or my scanner, evidently I am being censored so I'd appreciate it if you could help me get this information out. I would like to have a professional video done, but don't have the funds. If I can get my scanner driver I'll at least be able to do a poor-quality video.

The interesting thing - you probably know this already - is that working with this stuff can alter your consciousness. It's along the lines of what Gurdjieff called 'objective art.' A vehicle for higher consciousness... I would like to inspire people to do the work for themselves... who knows how many there are?

Here are a few of the works:

Da Vinci - John the Baptist
Da Vinci - Madonna of the Rocks
Da Vinci - Last Supper
Caravaggio - Supper at Emmaus
Vermeer - The Astronomer
Rembrandt - Night Watch
Rembrandt - Danae
Botticelli - Madonna of the Pomegranate
Durer - Christ among the Doctors
Holbein - The Ambassadors
Giovanni Stradanus - The Alchemist
Caravaggio - Conversion of St. Paul
Vasari - Forge of Vulcan
Filippo Lippi - Bartolini Tondo
Jean Fouquet - Virgin and Child
Raphael - Madonna del Granduca
Raphael - Small Cowper Madonna
Raphael - Madonna of Loreto
Correggio - Noli Me Tangere
Correggio - Mystic Marriage
Palma Vecchio - Holy Family with MM and Infant St John
Philippe de Champaigne - Last Supper
Manet - Luncheon on the Grass
Poussin - Inspiration of the Poet (and many others)
Gerard David- Marriage Feast at Cana
Jan Steen - Feast of St. Nicholas
Fra Angelico - Mocking of Christ (and others)
Rubens - Henry IV
Fragonard - The Swing
Jacopo Zucchi - Age of Silver
Piero di Cosimo - Perseus Fleeing Andromeda
Gabriel Metsu - The Music Lesson
Conrad Witz - Miraculous Draught of Fishes
Simon Vouet- Toilet of Venus
Agnolo Bronzino - Allegory of Venus
Anthony Van Dyck- Rinaldo and Armida
Filippino Lippi- Singoria Altarpiece
Cosimo Rosselli- Virgin & Child Enthroned with Saints
Master of Moulins- Coronation of the Virgin
Carlo Crivelli- Madonna della Rondine
Domenico Veneziano- St Lucy Altarpiece
Jean-Baptiste Greuze - The Village Bride
Nicholas Froment- Virgin and Child
Lorenzo Costa - Virgin and Child Enthroned Between a Soldier Saint and St John the Baptist
Andre del Sarto - Pieta
Eugene Delacroix - Women of Algiers

Botticelli, Bellini, Michelangelo, Tintoretto, Correggio, Raphael, Rembrandt, Caravaggio, Vermeer, Velasquez, there must be hundreds. Let's get those compasses out....