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Randall Carlson of Sacred Geometry International is our guest in podcast episode 131.
“Randall Carlson is a master builder, architectural designer, teacher, geometrician, geomythologist, explorer, and renegade scholar. For over forty years, he’s researched the interface between ancient mysteries and modern science. Randall has been an active Freemason for 30 years and is Past Master of one of the oldest and largest Masonic lodges in Georgia. He has been recognized by The National Science Teachers Association for his commitment to Science education for young people. His work incorporates Ancient Mythology, Astronomy, Earth Science, Paleontology, Symbolism, Sacred Geometry, Architecture, Geomancy, and other disciplines. For over 25 years he has presented classes, lectures, and multimedia programs synthesizing this information for students of the Mysteries. With these unique qualifications, Randall’s aspiration is to affect a revival of lost knowledge towards the goal of creating the new world based upon universal principles of harmony, freedom, and spiritual evolution.”
Randall describes his passion for building and architectural design which began at a young age by being around his father’s construction business. As a “child of the sixties,” his experiences led him to investigate spiritual traditions of the East, as well as Western esotericism. His interest in these subjects coalesced when he was involved in the construction of a geodesic dome inspired, in part, by Islamic geometrical design.
Randall’s curiosity about the work of Buckminster Fuller, combined with Islamic geometry, inevitably led him to deeper study of sacred geometry and architecture, principally that of mosques and Gothic cathedrals.
Noting the numerous references to Freemasonry in research material on sacred geometry and architecture, Carlson eventually became a member of the Craft and has had an extensive Masonic career. After years of study and travel, Randall began teaching sacred geometry and has had thousands of students over the decades. Among his influences, he counts Keith Critchlow and John Michell as the greatest.
Randall describes the intention behind Sacred Geometry International – to bring awareness of beauty and harmony into a world desperately in need of it. He notes that he derives great satisfaction from teaching and inspiring his students. From there, we delve into an exploration of sacred geometry and the purposes behind architecture that imitates the ratios and proportions found in nature.
“While the modern, academic approach to the study of geometry sees it as the very embodiment of rationalism and left brain, intellectual processes, which indeed it is, it has neglected the right brain, intuitive, artistic dimension of the subject. Sacred geometry seeks to unite and synthesize these two dynamic and complementary aspects of geometry into an integrated whole… Sacred Geometry, then, charts the unfolding of number in space and has symbolic value and thereby has conferred upon it a qualitative status absent from common geometry… At the very earliest appearance of human civilization we observe the presence and importance of geometry. It … was comprehended and utilized by the ancient Master Builders … geometry was, and is, closely associated with architecture, that great manuscript of the human race, which provided the first and primary vehicle for the human employment of geometry. That it is closely associated with art, music and handicraft is obvious as well to the student of the history of these subjects… Freemasons, Hermeticists and initiates into the Mysteries have for centuries held the conception of the universe as the material expression of a hidden reality, an invisible blueprint, set down by the hand of the Grand Geometrician, and to which the study of geometry provided the key and the means to render visible that which is concealed from the undiscerning and untrained eye, and that these fundamental geometric relations, manifested through form, pattern and number, form the very basis of harmony…”
The experience, insight, and passion that Randall Carlson brings to his work is extraordinary. To have access to a teacher of his caliber is truly a blessing. If you’re interested in learning sacred geometry from a master, I highly recommend Randall Carlson’s classes and other work with Sacred Geometry International. I believe that the study of sacred geometry is indispensable to students of the Mysteries, whatever your specific tradition may be, and understanding it can only enrich one’s journey on the path.
Please join Randall Carlson in the Occult of Personality Membership Section for “Earth History, Renegade Scholarship, and Masonic Speculation.” Not only will you hear this fascinating additional interview, but you’ll receive access to all the membership content for a low monthly fee while supporting the podcast!
“The Meaning of Sacred Geometry” by Randall Carlson
“The Meaning of Sacred Geometry, pt. 2: What’s the point?” by Randall Carlson
The Anatomy of the Body of God: Being the Supreme Revelation of Cosmic Consciousness by Frater Achad (Charles Stansfeld Jones)
Jesus Christ, Sun of God: Ancient Cosmology and Early Christian Symbolism by David Fideler
Sacred Geometry: Philosophy & Practice (Art and Imagination) by Robert Lawlor
“Islamic geometric patterns” Wikipedia entry
Islamic Patterns: An Analytical and Cosmological Approach by Keith Critchlow
How the World Is Made: The Story of Creation according to Sacred Geometry by John Michell
The Dimensions of Paradise: Sacred Geometry, Ancient Science, and the Heavenly Order on Earth by John Michell
intro music by HipGnosis and Paul Avgerinos
outro music – “Sacred Geometry” by OGMA
