Lesson 5 of 7
Six Around One
Draw a circle, and exactly six of the same size will fit around it.
In nature
The wisdom of the hive
Every six-sided cell of the honeycomb gathers around one shared life.
In stone and light
Many forms, one center
Rose windows, snowflakes and the seven lights of heaven share one pattern.
This week
Draw the Seed of Life
A pencil, paper and a compass. Work slowly; it is a meditation in itself.
Draw a circle. Now draw circles of exactly the same size around it, each touching the center and its neighbors. Exactly six will fit, no more and no less. This simple fact of geometry is one of the oldest teachings of the Mysteries: many forms gathered around one unifying center.
Where we find it
Once you see six around one, you begin to find it everywhere:
- In nature: the six-sided cells of the honeycomb, the six arms of a snowflake, the hexagonal columns of cooled basalt.
- In scripture: six days of creation gathered around the seventh day of rest, the holy center of the week. The golden lampstand of the tabernacle had six branches coming out of its central stem (Exodus 25:32).
- In the heavens: the ancients counted seven wandering lights in the sky, and in their traditional order the Sun stands at the center, with three on either side.
- In ourselves: our many thoughts, roles and desires can either scatter us, or gather around a still center, the place where Christ dwells within.
Sacred geometry is not about mathematics for its own sake. It shows us, in a form we can see and draw, how heaven and earth, inner and outer, the many and the One, belong together.
At home: drawing the Seed of Life
You need a pencil, paper and a compass (or a jar lid and some patience).
- Draw a circle in the middle of the page.
- Without changing the compass width, place its point anywhere on that circle and draw a second circle.
- Move the point to where the two circles cross, and draw again.
- Keep going around until you have six circles around the first one.
Work slowly. Many people find this is a meditation in itself. Then look for six around one on a walk outdoors: in flowers, seed heads, leaves and stones.
In your journal
What is at the center of your life right now? What would it mean to let the rest of your life gather around something holy?
Bring to the circle
Your Seed of Life drawing, and anything you found in nature with six-fold patterns.
Go deeper: watch Jean’s Six Around One presentation.
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