Yantras & Symbols · 2D
Lo Shu Square
The magic square of the river turtle
Nine numbers in a three-by-three square, so that every row, every column and both diagonals add up to fifteen. Join them in order, one to nine, and the magic line appears: a sigil drawn by the numbers themselves.
- Every line
- 15
- Centre
- 5
- Magic squares of 3
- only 1
Watch it drawn with compass and straightedge, hear the chord of its lines, and turn the Dimension dial to tilt it into space.
Facts
- It is the only 3 × 3 magic square: every other is a turn or a mirror image of it.
- The odd numbers make a cross through the centre, the even ones sit in the corners.
- Opposite cells always sum to ten, around the five in the middle.
- Tradition links its fifteen to the fifteen-day periods of the 24 solar terms that divide the Chinese year.
History and meaning
Chinese legend says that around 2000 BCE a turtle rose from the Luo River during the Great Flood with this pattern of dots on its shell, and King Yu read it as the order of the world. It underlies the nine palaces of feng shui and the Bagua, and it travelled west to become the magic square of Saturn in Renaissance talismans.
Learn it step by step
- Journey The Builders’ MeasuresStep 8: The magic square
