The Unified Fields of Gnosis: The Gnomon, The Labyrinth & The Celestial Tree of Life

Introduction – The meaning of the Evidence

In this article, I will present mathematical and geometric, historical and astronomical evidence of a past understanding of a unified field of knowledge. The evidence suggests that this understanding has formed a core part of the secret teachings of many of history’s wisdom traditions and secret societies.

What this means is that Mind has a way to inhabit matter, through us. Evolution is a co-creative endeavor, with nature providing the basic building blocks and the tools with which grow beyond yourselves. Contact with Mind, the experience of gnosis, can be accomplished in many ways, but any contact leaves residue in the form of an increased understanding of the nature of reality.

Our evidence is composed of such residue, anonymous, eternal and sometimes poignant in its abstract simplicity. Form is the envelope of pulsations, and words are the residue of insight. But the Throne of Osiris is the fixed point on which all cycles of change and flux rest.

I am One that Transforms into Two.

I am Two that transforms into Four.

I am Four that transforms into Eight.

After This, I am One again.

(Egyptian Creation Myth)

Heron of Alexandria, a 1st century AD Greek mathematician, defined a gnomon as “any figure which, when added to an original figure, leaves the resultant figure similar to the original.” This is the symbol of growth by accretion, or evolution from a seed point. From the ground plan of a Hindu temple to the Throne of Osiris, this principle of gnomic expansion, or growth by accumulative increase, has been used throughout history to represent the unfoldment of space/time.

Hindu Temple Osiris Throne

In its basic form, the Throne of Osiris symbolizing the solar power on earth, which is constant through growth and change, the gnomon can be represented by a square of two growing into a square of four. (That is, a square with each side divided into 2 equal sections, for a total of four squares, expanding into a square with four equal divisions of each side length; twelve squares in the outer square, four in the inner, making a grand total of sixteen squares of equal size.) In many western magickal traditions, the altar is described as a double cube. The basic gnomon 2/4 square can be seen as an unfolded, or unpacked into 2D, representation of a double cube.

(To see this, simply imagine the squares as cubes, then stack the outer twelve on the inner four to create two cubes of four.) Packing or stacking these cubes creates the irrational generative roots of volume, the square root of three, the diagonal of the volume of a cube, and the square root of five, the diagonal of the volume of a double cube.

Therefore packing our basic gnomon into another dimension, from 2D to 3D, generates the irrational roots for volume. From the simple gnomon of two expanding into four, (which is also 1 into three times four) we can also unpack the basic length, or 2D, oriented generative irrationals, the square root of two and Phi.

If we think of our inner square as four squares, then we can define four square root of two lengths by taking the diagonal of each square. The relationship of this length to the side length of the outer square is that of 1/Phi squared to 1. (We can see this best by adding another square, with sides the same length as the first, on a 90 degree tilt parallel to the square root of two length in the inner circle. This gives us an eight-sided figure.) Thus our basic gnomon generates a nest of irrational numbers, indefinable causes, which produce definite, structural effects. In this sense, the eight-sided gnomon is indeed the essence of gnosis, since it describes a kind of knowing about that which can be never be known precisely, the irrational numbers.

Traditionally symbolized by an eight-pointed star, pointing the vertices of the gnomic octagon, knowledge of this gnostic geometry ranges from the ogoad/ennead of ancient Egypt, through Alexandrian mathematics and mysticism to the Islamic scholars and renaissance hermetic humanists at the dawn of modern science. Echoes, such as the double cube altar or the chess board floor of Freemasonry, survive in western occult traditions, usually without an understanding of why. Islam, however, retained the use of this figure as a key component in its calligraphic sacred geometry.

The concept of One and Eight, unity divided into an ordered, centropic diversity, is achieved through a configuration of transcendental proportions. The supra-rational divisions of unity within a square whose side length and area is 1 define three unique proportions of three terms each. These statements of logos, division of unity into mean and extreme, are composed of eight incommensurables and unity itself.

This trinity of trinities expresses the fusion of temporal harmony and spatial geometry. The arithmetic proportion (1/3:2/3:1) gives us the Pythagorean musical scale; the harmonic proportion (square root of two – 1: 2 – square root of two:1) defines the curves and volumes of the grail cup; the geometric proportion (1/Phi squared:1/Phi:1) creates the nest of Phi ratios that unites all wave fronts by addition and multiplication. Therefore, the One and the Eight symbolizes the interaction of music, mass and magick, or wave, particle and mind.

The Labyrinth

From our basic gnomon, the square within a square, we can define the nine points of the One and Eight by marking the center point and the corners of the expanding squares. This gives us an X pattern similar to the Cretan Labrys, and, like that design, can be used to locate us within the wheel of year. Also, again like the Labrys, this pattern can be used to create a labyrinth.

The labyrinth is an example of what Gurdjieff called objective magick, a coherent symbol construct capable of working directly on the unconscious mind. Its origins are mysterious, although the maze family of symbols have been traced back over 3500 years in places as diverse as Peru, Arizona, Iceland, Crete, India, Egypt and Sumatra. This symbolic continuity is perhaps our strongest proof of its spiritual coherence and magickal effectiveness.

The classic seven-turn labyrinth evolves directly from the nine points of our basic gnomon. The geometrical view of the One and the Eight, given above, defines a unity, which remains the same, and eight incommensurables, which are roots of generative functions or processes. To understand how the labyrinth works, we must look at our One and Eight from the point of view of DNA triggers.

The Ennead, One and Eight expressed as Nine, is common to both Gurdjieff and the ancient Egyptians, and symbolizes the unfoldment of the cosmos and the projection of the DNA’s programming. Evolution can be seen as a series of inter-dependent imprint triggers leading to a galactic level of “human” consciousness. Four of these triggers are automatically fired, in most sentient beings, by experiences in the course of life; four related triggers are consciously fired; and the spirit trigger is randomly fired, just to keep things interesting.

We think of DNA as some kind of internal intelligence that knows how to build all the different types of cells needed to grow and run your body. The human genome project is mapping out this sort of process, but here we are looking at the activity of DNA in a completely different way. Dr. Timothy Leary, in his masterpiece, Neuro-Politics, outlines a scheme of DNA imprint projection, (similar in process to that which causes a duck to consider the first living and moving thing it sees after birth as its mother) that interprets behavior as an interactive evolutionary imperative. Developmental stages are triggered, first by environmental necessity, then by conscious intent, leading to a free will based integration of body, mind and consciousness on a truly cosmic scale.

Using a simplified version of this concept, we can think of the primary imprint triggers as: 1) Security, 2) Territory, 3) Intellect, and 4) Social. Security imprinting in humans, as in ducks, is concerned with mother and mothering. To feel secure, this deep and strong process of being fed and loved must take place. It constellates into an imprint pattern, for good or ill, around 18 months.

The next imprint trigger is that of a sense of ego territory, a definition of self versus other. This primary boundary imprint is in place by the time the child is about three to five years old. Like the security imprint, ego territory is a long process of definition that eventually constellates or solidifies into a belief system about self.

Trigger number three is a little different. It begins the imprint process when the individual begins to categorize the other on the outside of the ego boundary. That is, when the child begins to analyze and draw conclusions from his environment. In our current society, this imprint is severely skewed in a large percentage of the population, firing either not at all, or in place of the lower two, so that only Intellect is triggered. In a more regular developmental pattern, this trigger constellates around 9 to 10 years old.

The Social imprint is the one that most of us can most readily identify. That’s because the DNA is less concerned, overall, with quality than quantity. Therefore everyone goes through puberty and few humans avoid its onslaught. We are driven by our glands to seek out the sexual other. This imprint trigger conditions us for life as firmly as does the lower three. It constellates between 13 and 15 years old.

And with that, the hardwired developmental imprints cease. The DNA has done its job, the mind has been provided with a host and the means to replicate itself. From now on, its up to the individual consciousness to interact with its own evolution.

That interaction begins with the onset of self-determined pleasure, seen in a chaotic form in teenagers hanging out and just having fun. This hedonic urge is often so powerful that it overcomes the hardwired lower imprint circuits. Addictions to various sorts of pleasure stimulation, including everything from sex, consumerism and cocaine to ecstatic religious practices, results from a misuse of this self-determined imprint trigger.

Each of these higher imprint triggers is directly related to a lower one. The fifth trigger, Pleasure, is connected to trigger number one, Security, and so on. That means that the next trigger, number six or Psychic, is connected to number two, Territory. The concept of a psychic imprint trigger is a little strange until you think about it. Some people do just seem to have the gift, as if something just fired up inside them. And, most important, we can learn to fire this psychic trigger ourselves, or even have it triggered by exposure to someone else who has it going. The connection also suggests that psychic skills are related to our ability to define inner and outer boundaries, a useful insight indeed.

Intellect, number three, is directly related to number seven, Mythic. As our intellect allows to analyze our external and internal reality, our mythic imprint allows to analyze and describe Reality. This is a subtle concept, and a very subtle trigger. People who have fired this trigger, such Buddha, Jesus, Mohammed, and so on, usually start their own religions to share their mythological insights.

Just as our Social trigger, number four, forces us into human relationships, firing the eighth trigger, Cosmic Consciousness, forces us into a relationship with sentience on a galactic scale. Attaining a general human imprinting on this level would seem to be the goal of the Boddhisatva vow.

The last imprint trigger, Spirit or as Chapel Perilous, is related to all eight other triggers. It can be fired randomly, as a moment of gnostic grace, or as the result of serious dysfunction in other imprint activity. Its action is mysterious, but it is something that we all face along the way. It holds the pattern together and acts as a thermostat to the process of evolution itself.

Now, having assigned these qualities to our nine points, we must arrange them in space. I have a large X made from nine points. Since these points are the corners of the squares, I align them to the quarter points of the compass, SE, SW, NW and NE, following the example of the pyramids at Giza. The center is Spirit, the outer four, from the SE corner clockwise, are Security, Territory, Intellect, and Social. Then jumping to the inner ring of stones for Pleasure, Psychic, Mythic and Cosmic, lined up opposite their matching outer number: 1-5, 2-6, 3-7, 4-8. From this pattern, a number of associations can be drawn.

The square-within-a-square design, like all gnomons, contains a spiral flow. Winding out from Spirit, we follow the numbers in a counter-clockwise spiral to the east. Starting with Security in the SE, we follow the numbers clockwise to arrive at Spirit in the center. We can think of this inside-out flow pattern as a template for a toroidal, or vortex-like, energy structure similar to a stable smoke-ring.

To continue locating our pattern in local space/time, we add lines out from the center spirit stones to the cardinal points of the compass, N, S, E, W. Like a pyramid, we are quartering space by marking the passage of time. In that sense, we assign the symbols of the solstices and equinoxes to these points.

We can now create the wheel of the year by adding the old cross-quarter days, February 1st, May 1st, August 1st and November 1st. This allows us to align our human life cycle development with the unfolding of time through the cycle of the seasons. We are born at the spring equinox, imprint security at Beltane, territory at Lammas, intellect at Samhain and social at Imbolc. We then turn inward at a new equinox and imprint Pleasure at Beltane, Psychic at Lammas, Mythic at Samhain and Cosmic at Imbolc. Then we pass beyond to Spirit as we approach a new equinox. In fact, life on the planet seems to match this pattern. More births, of all kinds, occur at the spring equinox, and deaths, of all kinds, are more prevalent in the late winter, after Imbolc. Life responds to the pattern of the flow.

Now that we have aligned our life cycle with the planetary seasonal cycle we must allow for the reflection of a spiritual reality, the elemental forces. Our time/space co-ordinates give us the eight points on the wheel of the earth. To describe spiritual co-ordinate realities, or higher dimensions, you need eight more points.

The higher imprint triggers supply this elemental force. We symbolize this by drawing the L symbol with the higher imprint at the shift point. This gives us sixteen points on the surface of our wheel, which combine to form the eight dimensional reality tunnels of the labyrinth.

Our basic gnomon has now expanded into a 2D circuit board-like design. If we complete the pattern along the lines of our eight-sided gnosis gnomon we arrive at a complex mandala-like figure with three circles, four squares, 20 lines, 36 points and the center. This computer-chip-like geometric mandala is a model of our local universe that mathematically graphs the transformations between dual 3D structures, the octa-hex of the planetary crystal, and dual 4D structures such as the hyper-cube and the 16-cell, or hyper-octahedron. It also unites mystical models such as the Mayan Calendar, the kabbalistic Tree of Life and the I Ching with the DNA codons, phi-based pentagonal geometries and the precessional motion of the equinoxes.

(First then, draw a circle around the outer four points, and then the inner four. Then draw in the two squares within these circles. Next, connect the solstice and equinox points in a square touching the outer circle. Then draw a circle connecting the intersection points, all 12 of them, between the inner and outer circles. Finally, connect the intersection points on the solstice/equinox lines inside the inner circle into a square.)

The center is the divine world, as the spirit point, in the kabbalistic model. the other three circles represent the enfolded lower worlds of archetypes, foundations and actions. The points contained in these three circles are 32, the number of the paths and sephira on the Tree of Life. Thirty-two pairs of both trigrams and the three part DNA code forms the I Ching and the human codons.

Human activity is circumscribed by the actions of the higher DNA imprints, which means that we cannot will ourselves into spirit. But the divine can act upon and through us. Therefore, the inner circle has four points, connected with the solar stations and the fixed signs of the zodiac, which represents the four Arc-Angels, or parabolas of divine Intent.

Add these four points to the spiritual structure of our 32/64 pattern and we have a 36/72 pattern. This of course is the root of pentagonal geometry. A circle divides into five parts with angles of 72 degrees each. It also points to the precession of the equinox, which moves back through the zodiac at the rate of one degree every 72 years. Just as 32 + 1, the center/spirit, = 33, or the number of completion and perfection, so to does 36 +1 = 37 equal a cosmic completion. 37.5 eclipse cycles of 690 years each equals 25,920 years or one complete precessional cycle.

So our little circuit board diagram contains a very complete symbolic model of an interactive universe. In order to make it truly interactive, we must plug the board in correctly. We do this by drawing the labyrinth. Our wheel of the year and its elemental qualities gives us a total of sixteen points on the perimeter of our circular chip. Starting at the top point and counting counter-clockwise, label each point with a number, 1 through 16. Then simply connect the points in a clockwise direction, 1 with 16 and so on around to 8 – 9. You have just created a labyrinth.

If we label the paths one through eight, from the outside in, then the order in which the paths are walked in the labyrinth creates a new pattern. The order is 3, 2, 1, 4, 7, 6, 5, 8. If we think of this pattern as beginning and ending with 9, Spirit, then we have described a braided spiral from the center of the pattern and back again. The developmental pattern, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, spirals inward and then outward in a single, time-like direct-current flow. Walking the labyrinth creates an inside-out, Moebius strip-like alternating-current flow that transforms the dysfunction of Chapel Perilous into the gnostic grace of Spirit.

Since all of us have gone through imprint trigger four, puberty, the labyrinth starts at that level to recapitulate imprints one through three. Then imprint four is reformed by walking the path. From there, we jump to the mythic, to give us meaning as we open our higher imprint triggers, then the psychic to make it effective, then pleasure to make it fun. Only then do we go on to the Cosmic, which is incomprehensible without a sense of humor. We return by unwinding the way we came, transformed by the experience.

As we walk or trace the labyrinth we have laid out from our circuit board design, we are interweaving levels of consciousness and reality. The objective magick of this powerful symbolic construct works directly on our unconscious mind, whether we understand the depth of geometry embedded within it or not. Consciously working with its geometry produces an awareness of the inter-relationship of planetary and human processes. By walking the labyrinth on the land, we engrave and encode our DNA with its locality and landscape specific consciousness. The labyrinth acts as a lens that brings our collective unconscious into focus on a personal, developmental level while aligning us with the larger forces of our planetary home.

The Celestial Projection of the Tree of Life

From the gnomic geometry of the Throne of Osiris, the 2/4 expanding squares, and its expansion into the eight-sided gnosis gnomon, we have developed the complex circuit board geometry that generates the rainbow modem of the classic seven-turn labyrinth. The developed geometry of the gnosis gnomon structurally inter-relates systems as diverse as the I Ching, the DNA transfer code, the Mayan calendar, the houses of the Zodiac and the kabbalistic Tree of Life. However, all of these interconnections are earth-based, geo-centric and lacking any apparent outward reach toward the greater cosmos.

Is it possible that a tool that has served us so well should fail at the last most important task of all? The fault is not with the tool, but with its users. Like some Chinese treasure box, the secret opens itself easily when you know which button to push.

The button is of course the Tree of Life. Enfolded within the labyrinth circuit board design, the Tree of Life is a latent or potential quality. It is there, in its entirety, but it plays no active role in the alignment of DNA and planetary consciousness, the task of the labyrinth itself. This lack of direct purpose suggests that it is our outward looking component.

The Tree of Life is a schemata of the ten emanations of God, considered as states of being, and the twenty two letters or paths, states of becoming, that define the relationships among them. As we saw above, these 32 singularities play an important part in the complex rainbow modem geometry. However, their relationship as a unit is lost in this arrangement. They are not serving their true purpose.

In the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, a nineteenth century magickal group, we find a truly unusual advanced level meditation. As part of an explanation of how the Tarot cards relate to the surface of the earth, mention is made of projecting the Tree of Tree onto the Celestial sphere. One of the founders of the Order then offers a more complete explanation of the projection and how to do it as a meditation. And then, nothing more is mentioned in the major reference works on the subject.

We know from other sources that it was a major part of the London section of the Order’s group work. Sphere groups met weekly in the Tottenham Court Road temple and practiced projecting the Tree of Life onto the celestial sphere as a group. We know little about the results of this kind of working; the notes were lost in subsequent shuffles and re-organizations of the rapidly dissolving group.

The exercise works by first visualizing the Tree of Life in the aura around the body, then projecting it outward until Kether is aligned with the North Ecliptic Pole, and Malkuth with the SEP, with the projection of Tiphareth falling on the ecliptic itself. This is done in each of the four directions until the sphere of space is filled by projected Trees. In the Golden Dawn sphere work, individuals or groups would then occupy the pattern created by this projection and hold and mediate the energy of the stellar objects within their sphere. The purpose of this type of working is unclear, although some members of the sphere groups reported what we would today call ET contact. Even for the Golden Dawn this was a bit much, and helped discredit the sphere groups within the Order.

But perhaps we shouldn’t be so hasty. The pattern that the group members formed is none other than an elaborated version of our gnosis gnomon. Their projection of this 2D pattern onto the 3D celestial sphere points to a series of celestial objects and deep space relationships completely unknown to anyone on earth in 1898.

(To follow this complex meditation, I suggest you find an inexpensive “Map of the Sky” chart at a planetarium gift shop or a nature store. I used one by Cartographia De Agostin – Milano, which I found for $8 at my local planetarium. It helps to draw these sephirotic projections directly onto the star map before trying to visualize it. For an even deeper understanding, try doing the geometry, with a compass and straight edge, that creates the projection pattern.)

On my chart, the ecliptic pole is clearly marked, another reason to use a good sky chart to locate these spots. The scale of the chart I’m using is such that a 2″ diameter circle covers roughly 10 degrees of arc. I use the same size circle for all the sephira as an indication of total field effect. In other words, all the stars in that 10 degree circle are part of the projected sephirotic influence, although the focus point of each sphere, particularly when it is a specific star or stellar object, takes on an additional importance.

For Kether, the center point, the ecliptic pole, coincides with the gaseous planetary nebulae number 6543 and the circle includes most of the body of the constellation Draco, the Dragon. From that center point, draw a line through the brightest star on the ecliptic equator of the celestial globe, Regulus at the heart of Leo, the Lion. Then add the other quarter line at 90 degrees to the Leo line and let it continue to the ecliptic equator. This creates four equatorial intersection points, in Leo, Taurus, Scorpio and Aquarius.

These are the projected Tiphareth points. Tiphareth is actually the center point of the globe, but is projected outward to create these four stellar gateways. Leo is of course focused on Regulus, Taurus has no specific star at the center, but focuses the energy of the Pleiades. Aquarius is empty of significant stars, having the constellation of Aquarius curving around the edge of the circle, with the water jar outside as if pouring back in. However, the Scorpio gateway is an active stellar area focused on the head of the Scorpion.

With these four points, and the north and south ecliptic poles, we have created an octahedron of eight faces, six points and twelve lines. (Note: Using these six points as the center of the faces on a cube, the dual of the octahedron, an astronomically correct cube of space, another kabbalistic space/time construct, can be visualized. However this is far from our purpose here.) Going back to our north ecliptic pole, which we have quartered to give us our four Tiphareth points, we divide each of these angles in half, giving us four pairs, or eight, lines radiating out from our north ecliptic pole.

These new lines do not create a location on the ecliptic equator; they form the side pillar, Tree of Life, locations of Chesed and Geburah which are on these new angle lines at about 30 degrees of elevation from the Tiphereth points on the ecliptic equator. The Chesed points, upper and lower, are focus points of deep space. The upper Chesed point lies between Bootes and Coma Bernices and focuses on globular cluster 2572 (M3), the lower point falls on the forelegs of Pegasus focusing on the epsilon star of Pegasus.

The Geburah points, right and left, are also deep space localities. Geburah right lies between Ophiucus and the tail of the Serpent and focuses on the planetary nebulae 6572. Geburah left includes the tail of the Lynx and focuses on the variable star RR.

Continuing in on the 45 degree lines, we come to the upper sephira of Chokmah and Binah. There is a significant gap between these sephirotic pairs, symbolizing the Abyss. As on the Tree, Chokmah is above, closer to the center, than Chesed, and Binah is above Geburah. Chokmah, upper, then lies in the area between Draco, Ursa Major and Bootes focused on galaxy 6866 (M102) and its local group of galaxies and quasars. The lower Chokmah point lies between Cygnus and Cephus, focused on the Grand Storm area of nebular instabilities on the Orion arm of our galaxy.

The Binah points, after all these deep space localities, are focused on local stars, within a few hundred light years any way. Binah right is focused on the quasars in the intersection of Lyra, Hercules and the Head of the Dragon, Draco, and includes Vega, the bright star directly overhead in the summer sky of the northern hemisphere, and Etamin of Draco. Binah left includes most of Ursa Minor and focuses on Polaris, our planetary pole star.

And so we have projected the upper sephira of the Tree on the northern hemisphere of globe. Before we proceed to the southern hemisphere and the rest of the Tree, there is one important point to note.

If we place the sun in the stellar void of the Aquarius Tiphareth gateway, and then proceed forward to Taurus, and so on, we find that we are defining a distance/density spiral through the local area of our galaxy, first, and then on out into intergalactic space. Just to get a simple grasp of this, think of the Sun as the center point and spiral out to the next gateway, the close-by stars of the Pleiades cluster, then further out to Regulus at the edge of our local stellar cluster. From there, the spiral continues on to the distant clusters in Scorpio, then in to the planetary nebulae between the tail of the Serpent and Ophiucus, to the forelegs of Pegasus, and on to the variable star near the tail of the Lynx., then out to the deep space nebulae between Bootes and Coma Bernices. From there it spirals in through the Vega doorway to the Grand Storm disturbance area of our galaxy, and then back into our pole star, Polaris, out to a distant group of galaxies and quasars. And then, on to the diffuse planetary nebulae poised far above the ecliptic.

This spiral groups our local space/time into a relationship with distant objects and galactic clusters in such a way as to locate and define our precise matter/energy/information balance. It forms a geometric description of identity/locality just like a fingerprint or a zip code. However, before we get too cosmic, let’s get on with the projection of the Tree below Tiphareth onto the southern hemisphere.

Malkuth is focused on the southern ecliptic pole and contains the local globular cluster known as the Greater Magellantic Cloud. The Tiphareth points on the ecliptic equator are the same, with Netzach and Hod in the place of Chesed and Geburah. Yesod, however, since it is also on the middle pillar, is projected outward onto the sphere at right angles to Binah and Chokmah, at the same distance from the center, and on the lines from the Tiphareth equatorial points.

And so we have Netzach containing, in its upper circle, a piece of the body of the Hydra and focusing on a deep space quasar. The lower Netzach field contains most of the constellation of the Phoenix and focuses on galaxy NGC 300. The right Hod field contains most of Canis Major and focuses on Sirius. The left Hod circle contains the Telescopium constellation with a focus on its central very distant stars.

The Yesod fields are, from left clockwise: 1) the constellation of the Chameleon, 2) the central stars of Carina and Vela, 3) the constellation of Caelum, focused on the globular cluster 1851, 4) a part of the body or Eridanus, focused on the bright star Achernar. While the data on some of these stellar objects is scanty, it appears that a counter-spiraling distance/density wave is also constructed from the lower Tree’s projection on the celestial sphere.

Starting again with the void in Aquarius, move counter-clockwise, the opposite direction from the northern hemisphere’s spiral, to the deep space quasar in Hydra. As the clockwise spiral started with the closest clusters, The Pleiades, the counter-clockwise spiral moves directly to some of the most distant objects in the universe. From the quasar in Hydra it moves to the very distant stars in Tellescopium, then on to a nearby galaxy in the Phoenix, then back in to our closest bright star, Sirius in Canis Major. The spiral continues through the Yesod localities, which are all apparently close to our galactic plain, and then grounds itself into the Greater Magellanic Cluster.

Although we don’t know what the Golden Dawn used this exercise for, or even who originated it, we can say that it describes a way of relating our star’s location to major sources of inter-galactic energy, such as quasars and radio objects, as well as to important local stellar objects, such as Sirius, Polaris, Vega and the Pleiades. In all of esoterica, we find nothing else quite like this.

Conclusion – The evidence for Meaning

From an ancient piece of sacred geometry, depicted as the Throne of Osiris, we have unraveled a pattern of meaning that suggests a unified field of knowledge encompassing at least abstract mathematics, psychology, human evolution and our solar system’s place in the greater universe. When we consider that both the labyrinth, man’s oldest complex mind-change technology, and the Temple of Man at Luxor built by Amenhotep III, man’s evolutionary masterpiece of mind-change technology, are based on a gnomic use of the irrational numbers square root of two and Phi, the proportions exemplified in our gnosis gnomon, then a glimpse of some greater level of Mind becomes possible.

Since meaning is essentially mythological, let us look at the evidence through the lens of myth. The Throne of Osiris, the place where sentience rules, is the physical manifestation of Mind in the Universe. This tells us that the key to inter-action with Mind in the Universe is the One and Eight geometry of physical evolution’s gnomic growth. Long ago, perhaps as much as 20,000 years ago, human’s learned this and symbolized it as the classical labyrinth, which became a developmental tool for human evolution. The peak came with the Great Leap Forward of the Temple of Man at Luxor. After that, the understanding shattered and slowly faded away.

And then the myth becomes that of the lost secret, the treasure hidden in plain sight of the Sufi parable. Many groups jealously treasured their piece of the gnosis, as many still do, but the openness of the modern age has brought all the pieces out onto the intellectual marketplace.

Does this mean that we are unraveling this now because we need, or in some sense are meant, to know this at this point in our evolution? Perhaps. The evidence for meaning is overwhelming, although the end result is still a mystery.

The Artharva Veda tells us that “all Existence is in the residue.” So we have seen, as from the residue of the gnostic experience we have reconstructed the Throne of Osiris and found that it revealed to us our Sun’s place in the greater universe and, just possibly, the meaning of life in its contact with Mind.