Category Archives: geometry

Icosahedron by Andreas N. Bjørndal

We explored the Icosahedron 9.th of march 2017.

Every shape has a quality, an effect upon us and a meaning. Geometry and number are the letters in the language of the Creator!

Skjermbilde 2017-03-20 kl. 19.45.42What is an icosahedron?
It revealed to us an ability to both hold and transcend polarities; letting things float on one side, or being stuck on the other. Being clear, transparent and truthful to oneself on one side or unclear, muddy, holding back or hiding on the other. It´s effects on the kidneys were striking.
Let me explain.

Its association with the water element amongst the old Greece philosophers became obvious to us. Thirst was prominent among the participants. Themes associated with water like flow, clarity and transparency confirmed that too. Also vertigo, foggy, muddy and unclear has a relation to the water element. The kidneys are important when it comes to water in the body.

Many of the participants got a deep desire to sleep or experienced excessive yawning. Even after a good nights sleep some of us kept yawning through out the day. We realized that the icosahedron gave us an ability to load our battery, replenish our resources. You could even say it almost forced us into a reloading mode – time to charge!

Forced to sleep, reload, charge or waking to a new start was a part of the quality of the icosahedron experience. Elements of a fresh new start: leaving the old behind, purifying, cleaning up or putting things in order or sorting out the next step or direction. But also solving a stuck situation of conflict or polarity by taking an approach from a higher, bigger holon by transcending the old approach.

In many ways we could compare the icosahedron with a battery. It has the capacity to hold a polarity, keep it or letting it flow.

From a geometric point of view it is interesting to see how every point in the icosahedron has a polarity. Every triangle has an opposing triangle turning the opposite way (top illustration), every Pentagon the same (second illustration). The icosahedron is full of polarities in its structure: every point (12), every edge (30), every surface (20) and additionally the triangles and pentagons that are opposite also have opposed directions.

A polarity contains a stuck tension, but the surfaces are triangles and they combine five and five together, giving the icosahedron a quality of flow like water. Why? Because even numbers carry the polarity and odd numbers are dynamic due to the lack of opposed tension. The number 3 is related to exchange and the number 5 to vitality. We will soon look into it in more detail. The play between 3 and 5 is not only in the fact that five and five triangles form a pentagon. But also you can see the icosahedron as 3 pentagons (5-angled) “holding hands” or being inter-fused in a circle, their base would form one side of the base-triangle and their “heads” would be the point of the opposed triangle (Illustrated in the animation at the bottom).

We see how 3 and 5 play together. The five´s connects in threes, the threes connects in fives.
The qualitative approach to numbers will read this as a play between the divine (3) and man (5), or exchange (3) with manifestation (5), or flow (3) of energy (5) or exchange/breath (3) of life/vitality (5). Combining these with the holding stuck polarities makes the battery quality of the icosahedron easier to understand.  It has a vital exchanging energy that is kept in a polarity, just like a battery.
The 30 edges adds communication and exchange and the 20 triangles adds the holding quality. (Read more about numbers as archetypes here). The kernel has a structure of 3 Golden Mean rectangles perpendicular on each other, creating the 6 axes that together make the 12 points (2×6, 3×4). The number six is also there in the cross section (see towards the end of the video at the bottom or top illustration). The number six adds the quality of connection to the oppositions.

The kidneys can also be seen as the battery of the body and the revitalisation of the kidneys from exploring the icosahedron was striking. The icosahedron is able to contain a tension or polarity on one side and have an exchange of dynamic energy on the other. Breathing vitality, exchanging energy that it contains makes the icosahedron like a holy grail, a fully loaded battery or a vibrating gem of vitality. In the perspective of Chinese medicine or TCM it strengthens Jing.

Here you can see the construction of the icosahedron and its rotation: