Patterns of Eternity: Sacred Geometry and the Starcut Diagram

Malcolm Stewart has discovered a remarkable geometrical device. The 'starcut diagram', as he has called it, is at first glance a simple way of dividing the area of a square. After extensive research, however, he found that it has extraordinary mathematical properties, suggesting that it may be no less than the source of the number system used when ancient humanity first built cities. He shows that the starcut diagram underlies many significant patterns and proportions across the world: in China, the shaman's dance; in Egypt, the Great Pyramid; in Europe, a Raphael fresco; in Asia, the Vedic Fire Altar, and many others. This book is an intellectual adventure, written for a general reader without specialist knowledge. Illustrated with around 180 photographs, drawings and diagrams, it tells the story of many fresh discoveries, bringing sacred geometry to life in an original and inspiring way.

About the Author :
Malcolm Stewart has had a varied career: priest, singer-songwriter, publisher's editor and book jacket designer, cartoonist, BBC and ITV producer, traveller, UN project coordinator, NGO relief-aid and refugee organiser, freelance artist and stained glass designer, lecturer and writer. He is 75, has five children and lives with his wife in Surrey.

Review :
'I remain in awe of this book. Patterns of Eternity is probably the single most important addition to the body of sacred geometry to re-emerge in a decade. Malcolm Stewart's exposé of this deceptively simple device will have scholars of art, architecture, mathematics and geometry entranced for centuries to come. 'More importantly, perhaps, it will stimulate thinking and geometrical playfulness among those who design our public buildings, gardens and futures, for what it points at is an elemental master diagram from which the building blocks of harmony and proportion are born, seemingly without effort, almost a short cut to the very principles which the modern world sorely needs to effect its eventual successful remodernisation. A seminal book.' -- John Martineau 'This illustrated, intellectual adventure brings sacred geometry to life.' -- Stephen Gawtry, The Bookseller Buyers' Guide '... beautiful and profound book... The author takes the reader on a cultural adventure from Pythagoras to the Pyramids, from the Vedic fire altar to Chinese shamanism, from Sufism to Raphael. All of this is beautifully illustrated with both diagrams and photographs, so that the reader is able to understand the subtleties of the geometric patters as well and the way in which they could be put into practice' -- Scientific & Medical Network Review, Winter 2009/10 'Our understanding of sacred geometry takes a new leap with Malcolm Stewart's analysis of the so-called Starcut diagram in his landmark book Patterns of Eternity... Euclid, Plato and Pythagoras would surely approve of Stewart's profound and original work.' -- Nexus New Times, April-May 2010 'Well illustrated, with many useful diagrams. If you are entranced by the magic of numbers, this could well be of interest' -- Northern Earth, Spring 2010 'Malcolm Stewart's book "Patterns of Eternity" is a work of scholarship. Moreover, his writing style belies the depth of his knowledge and never intrudes upon the reader to the extent that it ever becomes boring. He is consistently interesting and all that he examines is so copiously illustrated that even I can follow the process.' -- Everything & Nothing, January 2011