Indra's Pearls: A fractal visualization from the Starcut Diagram

 

The simple elegance of the Starcut Diagram doesn't begin to reveal the infinite possibilities of patterns which it holds. The drawing shown here is from my latest geometric exploration, this one with Adam Tetlow, who analyses and describes this harmonic drawing in his book "The Diagram: Harmonic Geometry" (Wooden Books, 2021). His current online course explores this seemingly straightforward arrangement of lines which is the geometric foundation for a diverse range of art, architecture and ancient structures. It can even be found in the mathematical proportions of nature and the planets themselves.

By drawing out the Starcut, we can find natural divisions of halves, thirds, fourths, fifths and beyond, as well the 3,4,5 triangle which Plato described as the ‘building block of the universe’.

This is just the beginning of the potential within the diagram and I have been absorbing its potential slowly, as each session is a mind-blowing exploration of the connections between visual harmonics and the forces of nature.

In the course, Adam brilliantly walks us through the many different potentialities within the Diagram, one of which is this fractal arrangement described as "Indra's Pearls". The layout of lines can be formed digitally through CAD or other software programs, but producing it with a compass and ruler has a meditative feeling and offers a depth of understanding of the beautiful elegance of contrast and flow in the universe. After drawing it, I absorb how we can find this bubbling up of ideas, systems, structures and societies- how they can form, burst and re-form, all within the harmonic dance of the universe.