EARTH AND HER SPECIAL PLACES: 31 Some SACRED GEOMETRY (5)

Four, the square and the cube are the fundamental units of manifestation. In the glyph 4 we see the four arms of the cross and the four cardinal points, the four seasons and the four moon phases. Four stands for materia, matter, and the four worlds: mineral, vegetal, animal and human. But also infancy, youth, maturity and old age. In the Kabbalistic interpretation, four is the Tetra-Grammaton יהוה (yod-he-vau-he) and also represents the four Kabbalistic worlds (Atzilut, Beriah, Yetzirah, Asiyah). Also: Yod (man), He (lion), Vau (bull), He (eagle), or the four evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

Four is also the beginning of a new cycle, combining the circle (one), the line (two) and the triangle (three) to start an endless expression of patterns and forms as expressed by the Pythagorean Tetraktys. It’s also the quaternity of the four psychic functions: sensing, thinking, feeling and intuiting. And there are four elements in Alchemy: Earth, Water, Air and Fire, the four states of matter in a literal sense (solid, liquid, gas, and plasma). So four symbolizes the tangible whole of creation.

In nature, there are four types of chemical reactions, a law of four so to speak:
-       synthesis reactions (the combination of two elements to form a more complex molecule)
-       decomposition reactions (a molecule is broken down to smaller molecules)
-       exchange reactions (two molecules exchange parts)
-       reversible reactions (molecules can synthesize from other molecules).
There are also four general types of crystalline solid. The mineral pyrite can form real cubes and squares. Sodium chloride (salt) has the tendency to form cubic crystals.

In the past, many buildings (religious and others) used a plan based on the square (ad quadratum) or the equilateral triangle (ad triangulum) to form a rectangle, a rooted rectangle or a square. A good example is the pyramid, the simplest three dimensional form based on the square.