Description
Book SynopsisAn illustrated guide to harmonics--the sacred geometry principles that underlie the natural world--and its practical applications.
We are in the midst of a revival of an ancient way of looking at the world--an approach that enabled great civilizations of the past to bring forth inventions of great beauty and power. This school of thought--
harmonics--envisioned the natural world and the solar system as an interlocking matrix of harmonious numbers, perfectly woven into the creative fabric of life and the surrounding universe.
Exploring the art and science of harmonics, John Oscar Lieben shows how to create harmonious forms using the ancient tools of number, geometry, and musical tone--an approach that resonates with nature’s own ways of creation. He demonstrates many practical applications that result from the study of harmonics, providing analyses of ancient sculpture and architecture, as well as original examples of building floor plans, pottery figures based on planetary proportions, gardens based on harmonic principles, and ceremonial spaces that honor cosmic harmonies and sacred geometric relationships.
Offering an approach to sacred geometry that pairs the mystical with the practical, the cosmic with the earthly, the author reveals how the art and science of harmonics should be required study for both the artist and the seeker of eternal truths as well as the scientist who seeks an entrance into the sacred foundations of nature.
Trade Review“From a drop of water to the expanse of the solar system and beyond, this book reveals an unseen harmony pervading the natural world.” * Mark Vidler and Catherine Young, authors of Sacred Geometry of the Earth *
“John Oscar Lieben has developed a simple framework with which to view the whole world of geometric formation and proportion. His visual language maintains wholeness while giving detailed examples in architecture, musical proportion, the human form, cosmic time, and the elements. This art and craft can form sacred images which, like traditional mandalas and yantras, find a balanced order in the world.” * Richard Heath, author of The Harmonic Origins of the World *
Table of ContentsIntroduction A Harmony That Structures the Universe
1 The Field of Harmony
The Ring Form • The Vesica-Tone Construction • Tone
2 The Geometry of Time
The Center of Time • The Tritone • Harmonious Rectangles
3 Moon and Earth
Measures of Time and Space • The Three Masters (Part 1) • Constructing a Seven-Tone Scale • The Three Masters (Part 2) • Earth and Moon • The Inner Earth
4 The Temple of Water
Land and Water • The Shape of Raindrops • The Temple Garden • A Temple of Water
5 Musical Vessels
Planetary Pottery • The World in a Grain of Sand
6 The Spiraling Octave
The Sky Speaks • Octave Spirals • Musical Spaces
7
Harmonic Structures
The Harmonic Series • The Mean • The Reciprocal • Musical Rectangles • The Vesica-Harmonic Construction • The Minor Third
8 The Circle of Resonance Resonance • Two from One • One from Two • The Birth of the Moon • Crossings • Harmonic Science
9 The Musical Universe As Above, So Below • The Water of Life • The Great Central Sun • The Galactic Core
10 The Tree of Time A Spiral of Time • The Vesica of Time • The Era Before Time • The Tree of Time • Within the Root of Time
11 The Cosmic Flower The Symbol in the Sky • Sacred Cosmology • The Symbol Speaks • Ceremony
Appendix 1 The Vessel of Ceremony
Ceremony within Geometric Space • Classical Geometry • Creating Sacred Space • An Earth-Honoring Ceremony • A Birth of the Moon Ceremony • A Water-Honoring Ceremony • A Birth of the Cosmos Ceremony • A Sun-Honoring Ceremony
Appendix 2
A Miscellany of Numbers and Forms Notes
Bibliography
Illustration
Credits
Index
