“Do you see what I see? A star, a star, dancing in the night with a tail as big as a kite, with a tail as big as a kite.” — Noel Rigney (lyrics), Gloria Shayne (music) 
 
Inherited language is not adequate for the task of naming the deep experiences of life. Containing high frequencies of energy and light, images have the power to excite, heal, transform, and teach. They are closer to our experiences than words and are the midwives between experience and language. Sacred geometry is a universal language that describes the inner workings of nature and the intrinsic order of the universe, connecting inner and outer worlds, uniting all. Differing from standard Euclidian Geometry taught in schools, which adheres to a disconnected view of the universe, sacred or interdimensional geometry embraces the ecological view of a connected universe or unified field.

The Platonic solids are thought of as the sacred geometry ‘building blocks’ of the Universe that were taught in the Greek Mystery Schools 2,500 years ago (these are the tetrahedron, hexahedron, octahedron, dodecahedron, and icosahedron). But the triangle is the symbol that underlies them all. The triangle, and its variants the pyramid and cone, symbolize balance, harmony, and completion. Rising upwards, they elevate us toward ever higher levels of consciousness.
 
Sacred geometric forms, or archetypes, are recurrent images or motifs that appear in literature, religion, art, or mythology. The word geometry means “earth measure,” meaning that such images are among the eternal icons that are the standard measure of all things terrestrial. Such images are templates of the Infinite Invisible expressed in the earthly domain. The square, for example, connotes foundations, solidity, grounding, practical, ‘earthly,’ dependability, safety, and stability. Like the base of a pyramid, the square creates foundational balance and stability. Circles have been long used to image eternity, whereby every beginning has and end, and every end a beginning. A cross is the intersection of two lines representing where heaven and earth meet in the created order (quantic incarnation), particularly in humankind. And so, a sacred geometric form is an original that serially imitates or replicates in the field of space-time, a shadow of something that points to an invisible template beyond itself. Likewise, the Seed of Life, Flower of Life and Egg of Life are common (sacred) geometric forms that have appeared cross-culturally for millennia, universal constants that give perennial grounding in the eternal amid a continual process of change. In the Judeo-Christian tradition, the Ten Commandments are an archetype of the moral and judicial law. Jesus is the archetype of the Godman. Satan is the archetype of evil. Abraham is the archetype of faith, Thomas of doubt, Judas of betrayal, etc. 
 
Christmas trees are also archetypal. Of various species, shapes, and sizes, they are enjoyed almost universally as festive holiday totems. Overseeing crisply wrapped gifts that lay beneath their verdant branches, they serve as reminders that all is gift. Christmas trees qualify as archetype on at least two counts. First, as universal symbols of the axis mundi (world axis), or Tree of Life, the rotating axis on which all things everywhere pivot, and from which the sap (Spirit) of the universe flows giving form and life to all created things. Its trunk and branches are conduits that channel and out-picture the hidden radial and tangential energies (tree lights and trimming) that Teilhard de Chardin often spoke of. Second, and foremost, regardless of size, shape, position, location and decorative content, its form is a cone universally, a three-dimensional geometric shape that tapers smoothly from a flat base to a point called the apex or vertex. A cone is formed by a set of line segments connecting a common point, the apex, to all the points that are in a base that is in a plane directed to that apex. Say, the way every neuron in the body is directed to the brain, or every created thing to its Creator  (quantum template) at all scales. Besides the Christmas tree, other common objects with this shape are the ice cream cone, traffic cone, megaphone, and party hat. (For sure, I’m a Teilhard-geek. The paranoid see conspiracies; I see cones and synthesize all things siloed. Its Christmas, please indulge me).
 
Continuing with the Christmas tree as archetype, the apex of this celebratory cone, its customary tree-topper or crown ties it all together, often literally in the form of a festive bow. As the crown is where the entirety of the tree and its contents lead the eye, the tree-topper must be of no ordinary image. Hence, it is preeminent, usually distinguished from other ornaments in the form of a star, angel, snowflake, Santa or other distinctive or alluring image. This year our tree-topper is a dove. Regardless of the iconic form your tree-topper takes, imagine it as another sacred icon – the sign of Omega — signifying our Christmas hope, the consummation of all things. Teilhardians are famously acquainted with Omega, whose symbol resembles as a horseshoe with splayed feet, or the lower torso of a bowlegged cowpoke who’s ridden one too many broncos, with feet trammeled by too many bulls.  
 
While my nativity set will again find its traditional place beneath the tree this year, my ever-ascending eye directs me less to where it all began at the base of things, and more in the direction where everything is headed; that is, funneling (centrating) the entirety of cosmic energy (tangential and radial, created and uncreated, inner and outer) toward the apex of its organized complexity in the Parousia, where/when all things shall become One, fully “spiritized” (torqued) in Omega. In reality they are ALREADY One, it’s just that more of us will see them that way, supercharged and in unison. 

With childlike wonder and anticipation, I too will be dreaming this holiday, less of a White Christmas than a multi-colored, trans-religious, trans-disciplinary, trans-everything world, one complete with an iconic (conic?) tree, party hat, and in a literary sense, megaphone. And I’ll be doing so daily, a reminder that all sequences of existence shall one day be taken up into Omega, kit and caboodle, imperfections, and all. And that, via evolution’s christogenic apex, or crown. 

As the “deep” in Deep time, such promises to contextualize our iconic Christmas story, tree, and tradition within the larger framework of the Universe Story, still in progress. 

Do you see what I see?  
 
Anyway, it might do we Teilhardians well to prayerfully begin this holiday season with a keener understanding of our place in earth’s evolving synthesis drama. Direct or indirect, aware or unaware, our collective mandate is to tighten the cone by bringing a little more spirit to matter, coaxing that corner of the world we inhabit to spiral a bit further toward its destination in unitive consciousness, and with-it universal unification. If nothing else, hope this magnifies a greater appreciation of your decorative holiday image of choice this season, with an assist from sacred geometry.
 
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Joe Masterleo, LCSW, DCSW is a clinical social worker in private practice in Syracuse, NY. His nearly half-century of service as a therapist in the mental health care field includes faith-based counseling, with a specialty in integrating psychology and spirituality. His vast clinical experience and rich knowledge base are augmented and informed by Integral Theology and Creation Spirituality. His articles, columns and commentaries on various subjects, including sports, have been published in local newspapers and magazines. Currently, his practice is listed on the Psychology Today website in Syracuse, NY. More detailed information as to the nature and scope of his practice, areas of expertise and types of service provided by contacting Joe at jmasterleo@hotmail.com.