The House of Life is a contemporary realisation of an ancient Egyptian institution, the Per-Ankh. This preserved and transmitted the Kemetic vision under the aegis of Djehuty-Thoth, Lord of Magic, Lord of Divine Words and Scribe of Ma’at in the Company of the Gods.
The House of Life is once again dedicated to the power of the word and to the Netjeru as the powers within creation, however this is not an attempt to recreate the past but a desire to distil an essence as a homeopathic remedy for the times in which we live.
The mindset of ancient Egypt was entirely different from our own, it was a relational, holistic and mystical understanding of existence personified by divine and ever-living powers within creation - the company of the Netjeru. The civilisation of ancient Egypt, called Kem, the black land was created through a sanctified partnership with these powers which were deemed to be present in every aspect of life.
The Kemetic achievement in monumental building and its supporting knowledge of construction, mathematics, and astronomy still astounds the modern mind. This mindset cannot successfully be approached from the essentially rationalistic and intellectual view that has come to characterise western philosophy. It can only be approached using its own métier which is the language of symbols and through the awakening of a higher mode of consciousness described as the ‘intelligence of the heart’.
Accordingly this Mystery School is being built upon a new model, not that of top-down hierarchy which served the past but that of organic growth seen in the symbolism of the Flower of Life. As can be seen from the geometric symbolism of the vesica piscis (also called a mandorla meaning almond). Whenever two people meet in community their shared commitment creates a nexus. The vesica piscis is called the mother of all forms since a triangle, square and pentagon can be generated from the intersection.
Although the vesica piscis often appeared in Christian art and architecture, the mandorla predates Christianity and was used as a symbol among Pythagoreans who developed the custom of bringing an apple as a gift and a password of acknowledgment between each other.
Sliced across, the apple core shows a five pointed star, a pentagram and sliced lengthwise it reveals two intersected circles in the middle of which a vesica piscis appears.
This geometric revelation may provide a deeper significance for the prime Christian myth wherein the apple is considered to be the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil (which is considered by some to be another name for the Tree of Life).
Graham Hancock wrote that, "The Pythagorean secret sign, the cutting of the apple, was the transmission of a shared wisdom, that of the knowledge of the numerical harmonies of nature revealed through the phi ratio of the pentagram, and, by extension; the vesica piscis. This message was non-verbal. All you needed to grasp it was the knowledge of mathematics, the universal language."
Pythagoras spent 22 years in Egypt and was initiated into the temple tradition and later took these Kemetic teachings to Greece. Plato too was an Egyptian initiate who like Pythagoras insisted upon geometry as a necessary study among his students. The words, ‘‘Let no one here be ignorant of geometry’’ were written above the door of the Platonic Academy and Plato famously set his students three geometric problems to solve. This raises the question - what connection is there between geometry and philosophy? Plato is now called the father of western philosophy and he was taught in ancient Egypt where geometry and philosophy were part of the Sacred Science. Since sacred geometry was accorded an importance by both Pythagoras and Plato, we too acknowledge its relevance to the ancient Egyptians and to our studies.
Sacred geometry is a fascinating area of study which connects the patterns of nature with the achievements of humanity through architecture and art and the geometric forms can be used as a seed-thought for meditative reflection.
The following sequence suggests harmonious growth through the shared contribution made possible within a group of people.
The following images also express the unity between mathematical notation and artistic representation which is fundamental to the development of holistic thinking.
The Seed of Life
The Flower of Life
The Tree of Life is a familiar image and it can be seen within the Flower of Life
Ultimately these images from sacred geometry are all derived from the circle. Pythagoras called this the Monad and regarded it as the source of all life. This is the astrological symbol for the sun, it is also a mandala with the bindu point at the centre. The circle has been used by so many spiritual traditions throughout history and this is our starting point too.
