The Sacred Geometry of Sound
by Healer/Musician
Ani WilliamsSacred Geometry and the Structure of MusicLegend recounts how Orpheus was given a lyre by Apollo. By playing his
lyre, Orpheus produced harmonies that joined all of Nature together in
peace and joy.
Inspired by this Orphic tradition of music and science, Pythagoras of
Samos conducted perhaps the world's first physics experiment. By
plucking strings of different lengths, Pythagoras discovered that sound
vibrations naturally occurred in a sequence of whole tones or notes that
repeat in a pattern of seven.
Like the seven naturally occurring colors of the rainbow, the octave of
seven tones — indeed, all of Creation — is a singing matrix of
frequencies that can be experienced as color, sound, matter, and states
of consciousness.
This correlation of sound, matter, and consciousness is important. For
as Stanford physicist William Tiller has proved, human consciousness
imprints the space and matter of the universe. It is our intent that
gives the direction and quality to Creation.
I believe that this matrix of Creation is waiting for us to sound the
most harmonious vibrating chord — to sound the universe itself into a
perfect, idealized form.
The Music of Atomic ShapesThe Platonic solids, basic shapes of Sacred Geometry, are five
three-dimensional geometric forms of which all faces are alike. And each
platonic solid represent one of the five elements of creation, as
follows:
Tetrahedron — Fire
Cube — Earth
Octahedron — Air
Dodecahedron — Ether
Icosahedron — Water
These five Platonic solids comprise the alchemical dance of the elements
and of Creation itself. My introduction to the spiritual power of sound
began with an experience of this truth.
This happened many years ago, when I was studying with Michael Helios —
who is for me a reincarnated Atlantean wizard. Helios discovered the
musical proportions and corresponding tone scales for each of the
Platonic shapes. He even tuned his keyboard to specific frequencies in
order to achieve exact proportions.
During his presentations, he would play the scales and geometries of
each shape, without disclosing to his listeners which geometric shape he
was playing. Participants meditated on each piece as he was playing it,
and then described which of the shapes they had experienced.
The results were extraordinary. Every Platonic solid was correctly
perceived, felt, and "seen" during each of the five musical meditations.
As a participant myself, this was my first experience of realizing the
power of musical transmission and its potential to specifically re-order
creation.
This is exactly what the ancient mystics and scientists had always been
telling us!
The Dodecahedron, the Universe, and the
Human FormWhen Michael Helios played his five compositions, I was most profoundly
affected by the Dodecahedron. This shape can be seen to represent the
order of the heavens and also the perfect mediation between the infinite
and the finite — the sphere and the cube.
So let us look more closely at this as one example of the sacred
geometric forms that permeate Creation. Through seeing the simplicity
and complexity of the Dodecahedron in its relationship of shape and
sound, perhaps we can intuit the rest. And through understanding our
relationship to the Dodecahedron, perhaps we can begin to sense our own
place within the Divine Song that is Creation.
The Dodecahedron is comprised of twelve pentagonal faces. It represents
the fifth sacred element, the divine potentiality known as "ether."
Considering that the Dodecahedron is made up of five-sided faces, it is
fascinating that quantum physics researchers in the US and France have
recently concluded that, based upon measurements of cosmic waves left
over from the so-called "Big Bang," the universe itself is a
Dodecahedron!
Besides the fact that there are five platonic solids and five
corresponding basic elements of life, it can be shown that the entire
human race is joined in these same basic sacred proportions. For the
physical body, with the arms and legs spread, is overlaid by a
pentagram, with the fifth point being at the top of the head and the
reproductive organs at the exact center.
And each of these points also relates to the number five: five fingers
at the terminus of each arm, five toes on each leg, and five openings on
the face. Additionally, we each possess five senses of physical
perception.
So the Golden Mean proportions of the cosmos and our body temples are
closely aligned with the harmony of the musical fifth.
If we can imagine the dodecahedronal-pentagonal shape of this One Song
that is the universe, together with the pentagram geometry of the human
body, we find inherent in both a divine proportion and a potential for
harmonic perfection. The universe and humanity ARE singing geometries.
And it is we ourselves who embody the geometry of the cosmos!
Phi and the Musical FifthTo follow this discussion, we first need to know that the Golden Mean
and the Pentagram are closely related. For the angles of the five sides
of a Pentagram are at a ratio of exactly 1.618 — the Golden Mean ratio,
known mathematically as phi.
The fifth is the interval found in most sacred music, and has a powerful
harmonizing effect on the human energy system. It is the first harmonic
sounded by a plucked string, and is what gives the note its depth and
beauty. Its sacred sound is the hallmark of the Gregorian chant. In fact
most divinely inspired music, including some New Age music and that of
indigenous cultures, is built around the musical interval of the fifth.
This music-geometry connection is well stated by Goethe, who said,
"Sacred architecture is frozen music." The same is true of the
"architecture" of the human body.
It was Pythagoras who first described the fifth interval that has come
to be universally recognized for its beauty. It is "an archetypal
expression of harmony that demonstrates the 'fitting together' of
microcosm and macrocosm in an inseparable whole. The fifth is a
beautiful sound because it demonstrates how the universe works.
And in building the phi proportions, along with those of the other
musical intervals, into the designs of cathedrals and temples, the
architects also are building in the effects of the musical intervals
upon which the sacred proportions are based.
These effects, immediately experienced as harmonious, powerful, and
centering, can be experienced first-hand when one enters a Gothic
cathedral or an ancient Egyptian temple. Being inside such a space helps
us to access other dimensions of consciousness. It is the same
experience that is reached through listening to sacred music.
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