Yantras & Symbols · 2D
Tetractys
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 = 10
Ten points in four rows: one, two, three, four. The Pythagoreans swore their oaths by it, for it holds the numbers of the cosmos and the ratios of music.
- Points
- 10
- Rows
- 1 · 2 · 3 · 4
- Sum
- 10
Watch it drawn with compass and straightedge, hear the chord of its lines, and turn the Dimension dial to raise its form in space.
Facts
- 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 = 10: the fourth triangular number, and for the Pythagoreans the perfect number.
- Its rows hold the musical ratios: 2 : 1 is the octave, 3 : 2 the fifth, 4 : 3 the fourth.
- The rows stand for point, line, surface and solid: the four stages of dimension.
- Stack more layers on top and it becomes a pyramid of 20 spheres: its 3D form.
History and meaning
Pythagorean initiates swore “by him who gave to our generation the Tetractys, source and root of ever-flowing nature”. The same triangle of ten appears as the ten sefirot, the ten pins in bowling, and Pascal’s triangle begins with it.
Across the dimensions
- Slice of Pyramid of the TetractysStack six, three and one in the hollows above the ten: the Tetractys is the base of a pyramid of spheres.
