Cosmos in Stone

Reading this quite remarkable, beautiful and ground-breaking study is an initiation in itself. I realised the extent to which we live in a metaphysical flatland – not to say wasteland as TS Eliot put it - that denies the vertical/ontological dimension and has no working knowledge of sacred geometry and how this has been embodied in the design of the great Gothic cathedrals. The Medieval Master Masons ‘combined their knowledge of the practical building arts with the ancient cosmological knowledge to endow their constructions with profound spiritual meaning.’ The focus of this study is England’s first Gothic cathedral in Wells as a symbol of the soul’s cosmic journey through descent and ascent, also represented in the journey from west to east, culminating in the Lady Chapel corresponding to the rising sun and resurrection. Tom has literally left no stone unturned in his profound and systematic geometrical work, which he has also shared on our platform.

In introducing and lavishly illustrating the 12^th century climate of and quest for wisdom, he shows how both the Virgin Mary and Lady Philosophy are images of Sophia and highlights the importance of the number seven, also corresponding to the liberal arts. It is a sign of the decadence of our times that the humanities are being marginalised, when they truly represent the cultural basis of our humanity. The liberal arts are divided into the Trivium of grammar, dialectic/logic and rhetoric as an initial stage; these are followed by the Quadrivium of arithmetic, music, geometry and cosmology. This in turn was a preparation for the contemplative opening within the soul to intellectual illumination and for the study of metaphysics/philosophy and theology/divine science. The study of geometry is itself a reminder of the eternal and a path to alignment with Divine Harmony. As Tom puts it: ’to remember the Divine Harmony, in all its truth and beauty, is to remember the Good. To remember the Good is to remember the One… and to remember the One is to remember one’s True Self. (p. xi) It is just this that we have forgotten as a culture and that we need to recover and restore.

Tom shows in detail how Wells Cathedral is an image of both the Heavenly and earthly Jerusalem, explaining in the process the squaring of the circle and the symbolism of the English coronation chair as well as the City of Jerusalem representing the Centre. He then elaborates on the cosmological and geometric design elements of the cathedral, including sections on the Lady Chapel as an image of the Morning Star, the Virgin Mary as the Rose and the Stella Matutina, the work of John Michell on the size of the moon in relation to Earth and its correspondence with pyramid geometry and its application to Gothic cathedral design. Then the octagonal Chapter House as an image of the moon, the eighth heaven and wisdom, the construction of the Bishop’s Palace, and the cathedral nave as an image of Planet Earth, also incorporating the angles of the Earth’s tilt corresponding to the saltire of Saint Andrew.

The third part, some of which is only available online, concerns the arithmetical and musical design elements, including an analysis of different measurement units, the quire as the central place on Earth, as well as detailed descriptions relating to the geometry of the Chapter House, the Retroquire and Lady Chapel. This is absolutely fascinating and quite masterly. The fourth part is entitled The Cosmos in Stone and the Initiatic Journey of the Soul. This covers comparisons between the cosmological design symbolism of Wells Cathedral and the layout of a Freemason Lodge Room relating to geometry and the positioning of various degrees of initiation. The cathedral crossing represents the centre of the world, while the middle path is the linear expression of centrality between two poles and the solstitial saints conceived at the equinoxes and born at the solstices. Medieval people experienced a profound sense of the rhythm of the seasons. They also understood the four levels of meaning as literal/historical, typological/allegorical, moral, and finally anagogical as mystical understanding where the Greek root means to climb or to ascend – symbolised by the ladder.

The soul’s descent and ascent are in fact the return journey to itself, remembering and rebirth, an awakening to the eternal. There is the war within the soul and an inherent tension between the ‘downward movement of the material form’ and an upward-moving contemplation, alchemically helping to transform chaos into cosmos. Dante’s Divine Comedy is referenced as a further model of a journey through Hell, Purgatory and finally to Paradise. The path goes through the dark mountain in the north towards resurrection in the east, where there is a tetraktys window in the Lady Chapel through which the rising sun shines. As for the design of the cathedral, it may well have involved the influence of Adelard of Bath, but the master designers of mediaeval cathedrals are frequently anonymous or even unknown.

The epilogue reflects on the implications of the book for the ‘current climate of atheistic materialism, environmental destruction and cosmological colonialism.’ The central point of a circle represents the unmanifest and dimensionless, while engagement with the world is on the basis of an understanding of theophany that includes not only Nature but also the cathedral. Spiritual ascent ‘is in reality the journey inwards to the centre of the soul – which is itself coincident with the Spirit.’ Our ultimate desire is for union with the divine, and Tom concludes that ‘it is within a relationship ruled by Divine Love that there is the possibility of a marriage between the inner and outer worlds of our Being.’ (p. 402) The book is truly an artistic and philosophical masterwork and a timely gnostic reminder of our true human path and purpose.