#Seed of life series#

Below:В Interlocking rosettes as a door decoration on a 19th century wooden church in Lozna, Romania. ( Above: 6th century Italian mosaic with the six petal rosette as a flower,В among other botanical motifs. The figure we call the вЂњFlower of LifeвЂќ today is a symmetrical network made from 19 circles.ДЇinally theВ innerВ circle may be used by itself, with or without additional lens shaped petals from neighboring circles in the net along its outer edge. This can be repeated infinitely or stopped after filling a certain area. The rosetteВ can be expanded in six different directions, creating a continuous network of intersecting circles with six lenses.

Then continueВ this pattern until you return to the original circle.ДЄdditional figures can be created byВ repeating or cropping the basic form. Make a third circle, aligning it to both circles. Create a second circle,В placing its outer edgeВ at the center of the first one. Measure the circle with the compass to keep the same diameter. The Seed of Life is easily constructed with a compass. Image Source: Adaptation of a public domain image, Wikimedia Commons.) (The horizontal one is more difficult to see because it covered up byВ the crossing of the two vertical ones.) This arrangement is found in allВ six of the outer circles, while the seventhВ overlaps them all. Its outer edge rests on theВ center of its two direct neighbors and the central circle (all dark purple), creating three areas of overlap (pink). TheВ Seed of Life is also created by overlapping circles of the same diameter (purple), creating a pointed oval between them (pink).ДЇocus on the top circle of the Seed of Life. Image Source: Public domain, Wikimedia Commons.) Below: A 16th century illustration by Albert DГјrer showing the construction of a pentagon with a compass and straightedge. ( Above: A mid 19th century illustration of EuclidвЂ™s first proposition by Oliver Byrne. Circles and arcs are similarly used to construct other geometric figures, like the pentagon. As the regular polygon with the smallest number of points, the triangle was seen as the first shape. This is the first proposition of EuclidвЂ™s Elements, the foundational text of geometry since the 3rd century BCE. The classic example is using two overlapping circles of equal diameter, the perimeter of each circle aligned to the center of the other, to create an equilateral triangle.

Compass drawn circles can be used to map out regular polygons like the square. The traditional tools of geometry are the straightedge and the compass, an instrument with two movable legs used to make circles. These rosettes comes from a long tradition of making geometric figures by hand. How were geometric figures constructed historically?

He is depicted using a drawing compass at a workbench.

#Seed of life series#

As the вЂњfather of geometryвЂќ, Euclid is representing Architecture in a sculptural series of the Liberal Arts. (A 14th century hexagonal panel of Euclid by Nino Pisano. He attributesВ these teachings to his angelic guides and a spiritualВ masterВ related to the Egyptian deity Thoth, theВ patron of communication, wisdom, and science. The names вЂњSeed of LifeвЂќ and вЂњFlower of LifeвЂќВ are modern, popularized by the author Drunvalo Melchizedek in his workshops and books on sacred geometry since the mid 1980вЂ™s. A versionВ constructed from nineteen circles is known today as the вЂњFlower of LifeвЂќ. This figure can be replicated in six different directions, creatingВ an interlocking net of circles and rosettes. Six of them areВ regularly spaced within the seventh, producing a rosetteВ withВ eighteen lens shaped petals: six smaller ones inside andВ twelve larger ones outside. It consists of seven overlapping circles with the same diameter. The вЂњSeed of LifeвЂќ is a contemporary name for an ancient geometric figure.