\KWIN-kunks\
noun
: an arrangement of five things in a square or rectangle with one at each corner and one in the middle
In his 1658 philosophical work, The Garden of Cyrus, Sir Thomas Browne dove into the symbolism of the QUINCUNX, relying on the pattern as a representation of the interconnection of nature, art, and god.
My first experience with the connection between geometry and mysticism came upon reading Dan Brown's epic The DaVinci Code. I ordered the book from the library during the summer between my junior and senior years in college; I was twenty-four at the time. Despite the book's widely mainstream reception, I found myself enthralled with the subject matter, and it was actually the catalyst for my enrolling as an art history minor my final year at Rhode Island College. I became really fascinated with DaVinci's theories of nature and math and art. These theories are really easy to wrap yourself in, kind of like extraterrestrial life and astrology and ghost stories. They might be true they might not. Is it really that harmful to believe?
I've been falling asleep to streamed episodes of X-Files every night. This allows me to hold onto at least one shred of youthful idealism.
There's a long esoteric tradition involving sacred geometry from the Pyramids to Browne's network mysticism involving the figure X, number 5 and the Quincunx pattern to Da Vinci Code.
ReplyDeleteDo you guys say 'dove' is that a word and not 'dived'. But sure Sir T.B. dived deep into mystical symbolism, recognising the symbol of the Quincunx to originate from Pythagoras and his number and geometry teachings.