Customer Reviews

Sacred Geometry: Philosophy & Practice (Art and Imagination)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
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This 112 page workbook explores sacred geometry using illustrations from science and art, such as Islamic tiles, atomic structure, architectural proportions and fine art. Nine workbooks within 10 chapters lead one through geometric constructions using only a pencil, compass, straight-edge and graph paper. Includes the Vesica Piscis, Golden Section, Squaring the Circle, Geometry and Music, the Platonic Solids and more. Interspersed with philosophy about the meanings and symbolism of sacred geometry. I love this book and use it in my art.

Lawlor's book has been in my library since 1990. Excellent general presentation on the arts of sacred geometry and mandala. I've read it dozens of times, often for looking for analytical knowledge but sometimes just enjoying the soothing flow of beautiful illustration. Much insight is skillfully enclosed in this slender volume. Highly recommended!

There is a gulf between the promise of this book and what it actually delivers. The idea of exploring the deeper meaning of geometry (there is some wonderful insight here), and the approach of making it a doing experience for the reader are both worthy of praise. Unfortunately, like many books of this type, it is also riddled by mistakes: vague and/or spurious conclusions/interpretations, sometimes confusing layouts and printing, typos, misdirections, and enough false statements and faulty calculations that my trust in this book was steadily replaced by skepticism and annoyance. It seemed as though I was doing as much proofreading as learning. Whether all of the fault lies with the author is a question. Perhaps proofreaders and editors are called upon to check material they don't fully grasp. Or perhaps no one concerned expects us to study these books too carefully.

I have been looking for a good book on this subject and this one does not disappoint one bit! The author goes through step by step from the simple concepts to the complex complete with many illustrations and even excercises so that you can experience the "magic" of geometry yourself. I could not imagine getting the same level of understanding from a book without all the diagrams to see the relationships. More of a workbook than a text book, but packed with information and history. I would rate this as an essential book for anyone's library who is interested in understanding religious symbols, architecture, mathematics, and the beauty of the creation we find ourselves in.

Very, very insightful intro to sacred geometry. If not familiar with this topic, I would suggest one first read the book to get your feet wet in a new way of perceiving what's around you. Then go back, re-read it slowly, and carefully do the math (which isn't difficult, really) and make the geometric constructs on graph paper like the author suggests. You have to do the exercises for it all to fully sink in, and achieve greater comprehension. This book is quietly profound. I only wish it was longer and for this talented author to get into the deeper end of the pool. Lawlor's commentary is often provocative and compelling.

This book is very enjoyable. It not only explains what sacred geometry is, it gives you exercises to do using basic tools like a compass, graph paper and a pencil. After reading and doing the fun and educational illustrations, you'll be looking for sacred geometry everywhere around you as well as spotting it in famous works of art and architecture.

After struggling through many books on sacred geometry, Robert Lawlor brings a synthesis of thought and experience to the topic.

Sometimes it happens that someone who is exposed to transcendental wisdom cannot quite handle it, jumps off the mystical gangplank and drowns in the seas of New Age nuttiness. Sadly, that seems to have been the case with Lawlor, who after this effort appears to have become some kind of Green Aborigine space cadet. If only he hadn't strayed from the teaching of his mentor Schwaller, and Pythagoras, which is the inspiration of this book...

This book was written when Lawlor still had his wits about him, and very little of the later type of nonsense is in this one. It does have a few speculations about some tangential subjects that were contemporary at the time it was written, but they don't seriously detract from the book. And of course no book on this subject could be called exhaustive or complete, not even Euclid, so we can forgive him some omissions of what others might consider basics.

The reason the book succeeds is for precisely the reason his later works so obviously fail, which is that here he sticks to the facts. This is simply a textbook of geometry that rarely delves into anything anyone could disagree about if they know the subject. Until some other book comes along that has this particular information presented as clearly and succinctly, this book will remain a staple.

This is an amazing book. This book may appear to be a small book but it is not. Yes it is small physically but spiritually, it is a very condensed text book. The author takes you on a journey of sacred geometry. Reading thru the text is relatively easy but it is time consuming to go thru the proofs.....but well worth the time, effort and work. The author goes back in time to a state of existence when the concept of zero meant literally nothing; when the first number was "One". One meant and still means "Unity". The author provokes the thought of what would our perception of the world be today if the concept of "zero" did not exist? Does it really exist or have we blindly accepted everything that we were taught by those that were here before us?

"The notion of zero also had its effect on our psychological conceptualizations. Ideas such as the finality of death and the fear of it, the separation of heaven and earth, the whole range of existential philosophies based on the despair and absurdity of a world followed by non-being, all owe much to the notion of zero."

The author recommends that you recreate the proofs thru his process of instruction of actually drawing the sacred geometric configurations. The author goes thru many geometric exercises described as workbooks of geometric configurations to prove secrets of creation or of God; following these workbooks results in experiencing creation itself.

"The primary geometric forms are considered to be the crystallizations of the creative thoughts of God, and the human hand, manipulation and constructing these forms, will learn to position itself in the essential poses of gesture-language."

"Why, it may be asked, cannot Unity simply divide into two equal parts? Why not have a proportion of one term, a:a? The answer is simply that with equality there is no difference, and without difference there is no perceptual universe..............An asymmetrical division is needed in order to create the dynamics necessary for progression and extension from the Unity."

Sacred geometry is the crystallization of music frozen in time where music represents time and sacred geometry represents space.

If you have been looking for the secrets of the Pythagorian Brotherhood, then look no futher - this is the book. Robert Lawlor takes you step by step into the realm of Hermetic Knowledge and connects it all together.