Secret of the Gods: Philosopher’s ‘Stone Handbags’ Deciphered
Guest article by Ryan Seven of The Secret Science
(First published on Graham Hancock’s website)
I had thought the science of the ancients lost, or at least unattainable. But it has survived, despite the aeons, as if fixed in stone.
The Secret Science
It has long been whispered that a hidden wisdom of a different order is veiled in the ancient mystery traditions. Their riddles, designed to goad the initiate into adepthood, allure with promise of mythical rewards.
At the end of an arduous spiritual quest can the Philosopher’s Stone of alchemy, the fruit of the Tree of Life and the famed Holy Grail be found. We might also say the same of the quests to reveal the mysteries of Göbekli Tepe, Stonehenge and the Great Pyramid.
Here I present an underlying element that unites all of the myths and mysteries above. It might even be the quest-prize itself… so I increasingly believe on the weight of evidence and if, indeed, I do not have acute pareidolia.
We are told that to the ancients, religion, science and art were one and the same.1 This science has been concealed inside religious artworks by masters such as Leonardo Da Vinci, the architects of the cathedrals, and the bag-carrying priests of Sumeria since a time so ancient that the thought of it has become vertiginous.
The Pattern
There is a geometric template underlying the esoteric masterworks. For now, I will call it ‘The Pattern’ – as does the god of magic, Hermes, in the renowned alchemical text ‘The Emerald Tablet’, which is said to contain the formula for the Philosopher’s Stone.2
The diagram below is ‘The Pattern’. It is a seemingly complex matrix of lines based on simple geometry that has some amazing properties. It can be drawn easily with a square and compass. When applied to specific sacred hieroglyphs and sacred architecture, it reveals a highly fractal correlation to the angles and measures therein.
Parts of this formula will be familiar to many, having been revealed to modernity by the hard work of writers like John Michell, whose ‘New Jerusalem’ diagram, corresponds in several ways to ‘The Pattern’.3
Construction
There is no difficult maths or geometry here; put simply, ‘The Pattern’ is a 14-sided shape with all of its corners joined. Yet even in the building of this simple structure, cosmic mysteries are unveiled.
A simplified explanation of the construction begins with the drawing of a vesica piscis, which appears in religious art everywhere, and is more recently known as part of the ‘flower of life’ geometry. It is formed by 2 intersecting circles. From this, a ‘golden’ triangle is drawn. The image below overlays the internal plan of the Great Pyramid with the golden triangle, showing their coincidence.
There is an ancient geometer’s riddle solved here—‘squaring the circle’—whereby a circle and a square with the same total circumference are created from the geometry already drawn.4 This feat is achieved by drawing a square of 11×11 units around the vesica circles. A vertical line of 7 units is then drawn from dead-centre; this is the peak of another ‘golden’ triangle. From this peak, a large circle (blue) is drawn, followed by a third which has a radius measured from the tip of the pyramid triangle, to the top side of the square (yellow). This 22 by 7 gives the approximate of PI – 22/7 that the ancients used in their crafts.
When the circle has been squared, the two vertically stacked circles of the diagram cosmically correlate to the dimensions of the Moon and of the Earth. This is produced by scaling the image by the noted mystical number ‘720’, producing a harmony of spheres.
Utilising the squared circle, a heptagon/septagon of 7 sides is made, which uncoincidentally contains the same geometry as the Great Pyramid, generating side-angles of 51.83 degrees to the Great Pyramid’s 51.5 degrees. It should be noted that drafting the perfect heptagon with a square and compass is considered impossible.5
The iconic magician’s pentagram is a pentagon joined by an imploding intersection of lines. Similarly, a heptagram is an inverted, skeletal heptagon. There are two variations of the heptagram in the image, acute and obtuse; both are combined along with a standard seven-sided heptagon, to enclose them. This is achieved by using the smaller golden pyramid triangle at the heart of the diagram as a base for drawing the rest of the heptagram lines. This cunning trick overcomes the impossibility of drawing a heptagram.
A second, inverted copy of the heptagram is placed so that the inversion completes the symmetry. The vesica almond seed shape has grown into something that looks like a tree. Now we are to discover its golden fruits of knowledge…
Knowledge of the Apple
The ‘sacred’ toroidal geometries of the vesica piscis-borne pattern generates several special ratios named the ‘metal means’, the most important of which being gold. Indeed, the Golden Ratio is the most highly guarded gnosis of the ancient mysteries and central to the mystery of ‘The Pattern’.
The Golden Ratio appears in a great many of nature’s wonders, from the arc of spiral galaxies to the spin of hurricanes; from the length, breadth and helix of DNA, to fractions of the human body.6 The nodes of our limbs grow in this perfect proportion, which allows scalable growth without distortion. This is also known as fractal, hologramatic or dynamic symmetry. As above, so below; the greater is as the lesser.
This supreme fact of nature was seen by the likes of Plato as primary to and thus a more powerful metaphysical concept than number, which formed the basis of their philosophy.7 It is a most unusual numeration, leading to perfectly mobile division, meaning that however it is multiplied or divided, the proportions stay the same. The Golden Ratio is produced and exploited by ‘The Pattern’.
Also known as the ‘golden section’ or ‘golden cut’, it is a ratio of 1:1.618. As these contain irrational numbers, they are not representable by whole number fractions. Without the aid of modern calculators, all proof of the ancients’ mathematical ability is in their geometry, as demonstrated in the next image of Hermes, the patron of Alchemy. The encoded references to many alchemical images of the Sun and Moon can be measured and found to be golden—where the Moon is the lesser and the Sun is the greater part.
The presence of the Golden Ratio betrays an even deeper knowledge secreted within these hieroglyphs. There is another ‘metal mean’ here for the canny alchemist to transmute. This special heptagram occults between its many intersecting lines—the Golden Trisection: having the powers of the Golden Section but in the modality of a trinity–it scales fractally through three dimensions.
This pattern is so very fractal that whatever dimension it is moved through, or position it occupies, or scale at which it appears, the pattern matches itself organically at fractal nodal intervals. Indeed, ‘sacred’ geometry is often called ‘organic’ geometry.
Magical Measure
The pattern is self-referencing. Playing with the numbers suggested by the Pythagorean triangles within the pyramidal geometry reveals the possibility that this is the base template for the scales and ratios used in what many call ‘ancient metrology’. This is the speculated measurement system of our ancestors, which is seemingly based on the application of fundamental patterns within the cosmos as the base units of measure. This numeric canon manifests as the Golden Section in the human body – an ‘el’, for example, is the measure of wrist to el-bow, and a ‘cubit’ is the length of elbow to fingertips.
The scalability of the special Pythagorean golden triangle allows for easy trigonometry and thus easy calculation of lengths and areas, thanks to the Pythagorean theorem. These special triangles then scale up to produce ‘sacred’ numbers within the diagram.
Multiplying the measures as given by the Pythagorean triangles by 720 generates 1080 (Moon radius in miles), 3960 (Earth radius in miles)8 – amazingly, adding these together gives the ‘superior’ composite number 5040, which not only led the Babylonians to produce their sexagesimal system, but also led us to produce our modern clock. With this, we have a coincidence of 7 (heptagon) within 12 (divisions of circle), reminding us of the musical scales; one of several sonic connections to ‘The Pattern’, hinting at the ancient concept of the cosmos-as-sound and its movements as dancing melody.
Speculation aside, only pattern recognition is needed to verify the quintessence of the diagram. Either ‘The Pattern’ fits or it does not.
What is most important is that the nodes of ‘The Pattern’ are decided by the intersectional crossings between the two heptagrams. To the uninitiated, the lines might look randomly selected, but comparing art that contains ‘The Pattern’ quickly shows consistent matching angles and ratios.
Various intervals give the ‘metal mean’ ratios, which adaptively change and shift depending on plane and position. Suffice it to say, it is a simple game of connect the dots. It may not fit over the average Batman panel, but the potential for an image to contain ‘The Pattern’ is easy to spot once the mind has seen it a few times. There are also typical icons (pillars, pyramids, pythons) and groups (magicians, masons, majesties) associated with it, which can help guide an alignment swiftly.
Here I demonstrate the whole template over a masonic cypher of ‘The Pattern’. The extra vertical lines in blue show how the crossing intersections of the two special heptagrams (red dots) provide the magical measures.
Despite the difference in iconography, geography and chronology, the underlying geometry never changes between the works, as if fixed and hidden in stone for the sole view of philosophers.
Above is a Sumerian version of the Stone Handbag/Masonic Arch. Its overall shape and measures are perfectly aligned, despite their separation of thousands of years.
The artist makes selections based on which intersectional node will connect to which other, and then draws a line or a curve appropriately. The lines are masculine and the circles feminine; one drawn with straight-edge, the other with a compass.
The Uncovering
I have no connections to and have not received initiation into any underground group. My discovery of ‘The Pattern’ came from an artistic predilection inspired by highly synchronous events that led me to the symbol of Sheela na Gig; a depiction of the goddess in British medieval architecture, about whom all has been a mystery.9
Sheela’s open sex showed me vulvic vesica geometry hidden in her internal reproductive workings, her fractal image suggestive of the ‘squared circle’ by the ratio of her head, as well as the position of her body.
In a series of epiphanies, I correlated her to that mysterious stone handbag carried by the hierophants of Sumerian depiction, and from there came a startling coincidental recollection of both bag and goddess at the magnificent and immensely ancient 12,000-year-old Göbekli Tepe!
The impossible was proven by repetition. A leap of logic had provided the key of 7, extrapolated from the angle of the pyramid inside the squared circle.
The intersecting heptagons aligned, and so communicated the message of this most mysterious symbol of the wisdom keepers.
By their own wizardry, presto! The knowledge being handed on IS the bag — their ‘divine’ source of wisdom. The bag is an accurate container. A method of measure beautifully crafted from sacred, fractal geometry derived from music of the cosmos.
To have an accurate measure of all things is surely the paramount tool of civilisation, science, religion and art—the geometric matrix presented here being the fundamental basis of all three.
At Göbekli Tepe, this divine measure template is apparent in the scale of both the individual icons and the entire pillars. We can thus extrapolate its use in the entire plan—as above, so below.
The occulting artists chose to describe their secret art on several levels over increasingly ‘dense’ media, starting with ratio and number, then geometry, then iconography, then myth; all poetic cyphers reliant on the inherent ‘meaning’ of their symbolic archetypes.
By the end we will see that not only do all symbols mentioned thus far, such as the bag, the cup and the stone share the same geometric template, but also the same knowledge and meaning, despite their apparent differences.
The Extension
An obvious side-step of logic led to the Great Pyramid. The intersection of the heptagonal lines outlines the measurements of construction and their angles define the internal passages. In order to generate the Queen’s Shaft angles, the pattern can be taken a stage further by joining all fourteen corners of the two special heptagrams, to ascertain an even higher resolution of detail (right).
The correlating angles of the Great Pyramid and ‘The Pattern’ are easily compared:
Pyramid Outer Slope 52° –– Pattern 52°
Queens Shaft 40° – Pattern 40°
Grand Gallery and Entrance Passage 26° – Pattern 26°
The only significant angles that aren’t present in ‘The Pattern’ are those of the two shafts from the King’s Chamber, which are specifically targeted at stars.
When we think of pyramids, we naturally think of henges. Amazingly, the heptagram alignments give the detailed positioning of the stones of Stonehenge.
As with pyramids, henge angles give an easy map of correlations – the horseshoe sarsen stones as well as the dolerite horseshoe bluestones have the same angle as the obtuse heptagrams—77°. The small bluestones toward the top of the horseshoe share the 52° of the heptagram pyramid and the 52° of the Great Pyramid.
‘The Pattern’ is found in many esoteric artworks throughout the ages: in Sumerian carvings, Italian Tarot cards, American rock art, Australian petroglyphs and Egyptian hieroglyphs.
a) Oannes, Sumer. b)’Lovers’ Card 6, Visconti Tarocchi, Italy. c) Papyrus of Hunefer, Egypt.
While some artwork is clearly that of masters, others are seemingly initiatory to the craft of ‘The Pattern’, depicting oddly slim and alien-looking entities deformed to fit its rules. These works of art (example below) are extremely ancient and widespread, thus prompting questions as to the true antiquity of this geometric information.
Initially I had comprehended Göbekli Tepe as a hand-over of this secret science from an antediluvian high-society of surviving priests. This might be the case, however my calculations as to the origins of this secret science were in error by quite a margin…
I cast the template over a cave painting of a bull, and then several others. At once, the frightening, vertigo-inducing edge of my position regarding the deep antiquity of ‘The Pattern’ was born… the next image from Alta Mira Caves, Spain, has been dated to c. 35,000 BCE.
The questions posed by this are profound, and beyond the scope of this article. However, here we are able to unveil at least one more mystery…
The more inclined will be aware of my hinting on several occasions at the famous Philosopher’s Stone of Hermes Thrice-Great, patron of Alchemy. There is a famous alchemical adage to help the initiate find gnosis, or the truth within the stone:
“Visit the interior of the Earth and by rectifying, find the hidden stone”.
It appears in Latin on the alchemical diagram below, as does the Holy Grail, having the Sun and the Moon poured into it—which as we have seen are the two ratios of the Golden Section. ‘The Pattern’ lies within.
In the image below, the central blue triangle with the square and circle at its centre is an icon/placeholder for the stone that you may be familiar with.10 This symbol of the geometric Philosopher’s Stone is in fact a secondary product of ‘The Pattern’, used in a way so as to only give a hint as to the tree it fruited from. As before, an intersection within the heptagram is selected and a triangle is drawn, utilising the top of the pyramid and the outer circle.
We have unravelled this riddle by visiting the interior of the ‘Earth’ of the images; and by rectifying (purifying) their matrix (that which gives them their form), we have found the hidden geometric ‘stone’ that lies at its foundation. This same myth is recounted by the masons; their Solomonic ‘Keystone’ geometry fits perfectly.
Once again, the geometry of this shape correlates with the measures of the Earth, for the masonic keystone encodes the 23.5° of the Earths axial tilt.11
Hermes may have more alchemical gifts to give. One of this god of translation’s mythical attributes is a magical seven-note tortoise-shell lyre, the shell of which exhibits both unusual geometry and excellent sound. Indeed, Pythagoras’ method of tuning the lyre seems to be present in the ratios of ‘The Pattern’. This, however, is a revelation for the future.
The combination of geometric form, sound and measure, which seems to be the basis of this secret science, can be seen in the Neolithic Canarian Gavrinis megaliths, which depict the measures of the ancient metrologists, and echo the motif of the turtle shell.12 It should be noted that the inscriptions on the stones are viewed by some as depicting the swirls of hallucinatory vision and/or the resonant sound frequencies of the human brain (standing sound waves felt to have effect on the consciousness of a person can be visually measured by its effects on sand).13
The cosmically derived measures that are formulated within the matrix of ‘The Pattern’ indicate the theory of ‘the music of the spheres’, for the fact that it generates the ratios of the Moon and Earth – as well as its axis tilt, Pi and the very special organic geometry of the Golden Trisection.
This idea of a sacred structure—that which the naked, birthing goddess gives form to—is condensed and repeated in the semiotics of bag, bull, stone, tree and shelled tortoise. All of these symbols, as disparate as they seem, conform to the same fundamental archetypal structure of a sacred container or matrix—a holy cup!
Further still, it seems implied by the sacred iconography and the preciousness of the secret, that this template was seen as the fundamental structure of the universe—an ancient geometric unification theory. Symbolically, it is the internal reproductive organ of the goddess, as she has unabashedly shown us.
This is her knowledge. Da Vinci called her Mona Lisa; it lies behind her smile.
Conclusion
This ancient secret is still an enigma to me. Its uses are enthralling to consider, for its history and origins are a barely comprehended puzzle that will take years to solve.
According to my understanding thus far, the matrix of ‘The Pattern’ orders that which it affects into a beauteous dynamic symmetry. Utilised, its powers allow for the construction of forms which resonate with the harmonic fundamentals of the universe.
Wherever the matrix of ‘The Pattern’ is, it is linked to a quest for a sacred secret, and a secret science. This might well be the prize.
This has not been lost, just hidden.
I have found it in the hieroglyphs of Nicholas Flamel, in the diagrams of Isaac Newton, in the Red Book of Karl Jung; it decodes Davinci, the Tarot, and the Voynich Manuscript…
Come and visit me on my YouTube Channel.
Ryan Seven
Audiovisual version
Acknowledgement
Graham Hancock for his passion and this opportunity.
Holly for the editorial ‘push’.
Mother, of course.
References
1 West, Serpent in the Sky, 1993: 28.
2 Hermes, Smaragdine tablet, origin unknown.
3 Michell, The Dimensions of Paradise, 2008.
4 Rhind Papyrus, 1800 BCE.
5 Sutton, Ruler and Compass, 2009.
6 Olsen, Golden Section, 2006.
7 Olsen, ‘Plato’s Secret Doctrine & the Logic of Discovery,‘ 2014.
8 Michell, The Dimensions of Paradise, 2008.
10 Hermes, Emerald Tablet.
11 Higgins, Ancient Freemasonry: An Introduction to Masonic Archaeology, 1919.
12Putney, ‘Standing Waves Depicted at Gavrinis Cairn, France‘ (Human Resonance.org, July 31, 2011).
13 Swagger, Megalithomania Conference, 2018.
Bibliography
Olsen, Golden Section: Nature’s Greatest Secret, (Wooden Books, 2006).
Michell, Dimensions of Paradise, (Inner Traditions, 2008).
Sutton, Ruler and Compass, (Wooden Books, 2009).
Hermes, Smaragdine Tablet
Crowley/Harris, Thoth Tarot, 1943.
Bembo, Visconti Tarot, 1446.
Macaulay, Homage to Pythagoras, 1980.
Higgins, Ancient Freemasonry: An Introduction to Masonic Archaeology. 1919.
