The Dragons of the Earth

editorial by J. S. Kupperman

From Neolithic stone monuments to feng shui, from Pythagorean mysticism to the shriyantra, from the Tree of Life to the Golden Mean, sacred geometry has been found in cultures across time and all over the world. Whether or not you believe in the ley lines that are said to radiate from such sites as Stonehenge or Glastonbury or in the sacred alignments found in the Chinese art of feng shui sacred geometry has influenced many aspects of esotericism, both Western and Eastern.

This issue of the Journal of the Western Mystery Tradition examines some Western conceptions and uses of sacred geometry. However, the sacred geometry studied here is not the geometry of the earth or stone monuments. Instead we find the complex mathematical formulations of the Jewish mystics of late Antiquity, the contempationss of medieval Kabbalists, and the difficult thoughts of Elizabethan magi. Thus in this issue you will find explorations of the Tree of Life as a Neo-Pythagorean geometrical progression. You will also find a new translation of part of Dr. John Dee’s Hieroglyphica Monas and a discussion concerning its connection to the Signs of the Adept of the R.R. et A.C.. Also in this issue is an article examining the geometrical patterns hidden within the pre-Kabbalistic text the Sefer Yetzirah and its relation to the soul. Finally, we bring you a follow up to Turner and Burns’s translation of the Tuba Veneris and its relation Goddess worship and the Olympic planetary spirits.

The Journal of the Western Mystery Tradition also celebrates its thirteenth issue, a number that is connected to its own tradition of sacred numerology and geometry, with a special announcement concerning the Tuba Veneris, which will be the first publication directly connected to the Journal. As always, we hope you enjoy this issue of the JWMT.