Ancient Neolithic cultures carved images of nature’s elements onto stone balls over a thousand years before they became known as the Platonic Solids. Greek philosophers and mathematicians studied the idea of primary shapes. Some credit Pythagoras (570-495BC), Empedocles (490-430BC) or Theaetetus (417-369BC) with their origins. Plato (424–347BC), a student of Socrates wrote of them extensively in his dialogue Timaeus. He described them as the building blocks of life represented by the four elements of earth, water, fire and air. Aristotle identified a fifth element he called Aether. Euclid (323-283BC) brought them together, naming them the Platonic Solids, and gave them precise mathematical descriptions in his book Elements.  This vast body of knowledge went virtually underground until Johannes Kepler (1571 – 1630), a German astronomer, saw the sphere as a container for each of the five Platonic Solids.  He also tried to connect the solids with the six known planets of Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.  In Euclidean geometry, a Platonic Solid is defined as a regular, convex polyhedron, whose faces are congruent, regular polygons, with the same number of faces meeting at each vertex that fit within a sphere.  Empedocles saw love as the power that attracts these forms together while strife separates them. The elements inspired art, science and insights into the elegance of our universe.

“The square symbolizes the solid physical world and the circle the spiritual and eternal.  Man bridges the gap between these two worlds.” – Leonardo Da Vinci 

If you liked what you read and want more... you may be interested in having the actual guidebook and card deck. The 134 page full-color book is sold separately from the cards. My goal is to find a publisher who can offer this as a set. In the meantime, you can purchase either the book or cards via these links. Thank you for your support. Laural

Mandala Chakra book available at: Amazon

Mandala Chakra card deck available at: Printers Studio

If you wish to gift one of my mandalas to a friend or hang in your home or office they are available in my online gallery: Ink Drop Arthaus

For more information visit: lauralwauters.com