The Lion’s Gate Portal & Sacred Geometry: A Contemplative Drawing Practice
Sacred Geometry · Reflective Practice
Every year around 8 August, many people mark the Lion's Gate Portal as a time for reflection, intention-setting and creative renewal. Here's how sacred geometry — the timeless patterns behind nature, number and form — becomes a grounded, mindful practice for meeting that moment.
By Valerie Ogorodnyk, Transpersonal Art Therapist · Active Kreative, Melbourne
What is the connection between the Lion's Gate Portal and sacred geometry? The Lion's Gate is a symbolic date, not a scientific event — there's no measurable evidence that it changes energy or consciousness. What it offers is a meaningful pause. Sacred geometry — the study of the patterns, proportions and relationships found throughout nature — gives that pause a language. When we slowly construct a circle, a hexagon or a six-pointed star with a compass and pencil, our attention shifts from the noise of everyday life into the present moment. The geometry doesn't activate anything. It becomes the practice through which you focus your awareness, embody your intentions, and come back to yourself.
The Lion's Gate Portal, honestly
Every year around 8 August, many people observe the Lion's Gate Portal as a symbolic time for reflection, intention-setting and personal growth. While there is no scientific evidence that this astrological alignment creates measurable energetic effects, many spiritual traditions use it as a meaningful moment to reconnect with purpose and creativity.
One practice that naturally complements this is sacred geometry — often described as the blueprint of creation: the timeless patterns, proportions and relationships found throughout nature. From the spiral of a sunflower and the symmetry of a snowflake to the structure of crystals and galaxies, these forms reveal the remarkable order woven into the natural world.
Within the Active Kreative methodology, sacred geometry is used as a contemplative drawing practice that encourages mindfulness, focus and a sense of harmony — one strand of a wider approach to somatic art therapy and creative therapy in Melbourne.
When we slowly construct geometric forms with a compass and pencil, something beautiful happens. Our attention shifts away from the noise of everyday life and into the present moment. The repetitive, intentional process invites stillness, deep concentration, and a state of creative flow. Rather than simply creating a drawing, we create space to listen inward.
During the Lion's Gate, many people choose to work with these universal patterns because they symbolise alignment — bringing intention, creativity and awareness into relationship with something greater than themselves. Whether you view this through a spiritual lens or simply as a mindful creative ritual, the practice becomes an opportunity to pause and ask:
- ✨ What am I ready to create?
- ✨ What no longer serves me?
- ✨ What part of myself is asking to emerge?
The geometry doesn't activate the portal. Instead, it can become the language through which you focus your awareness, embody your intentions, and cultivate presence.
Perhaps that is why sacred geometry has appeared throughout history — in temples, cathedrals, mandalas and sacred art across cultures. It reminds us that beneath the apparent complexity of life, there is pattern, rhythm and order waiting to be discovered.
This Lion's Gate, may your compass draw more than circles. May it draw you back to yourself.
What is sacred geometry? The deep architecture of pattern, number and wholeness
Sacred geometry begins with a profound observation: existence is not formed randomly. Nature repeatedly organises itself through proportion, symmetry, rhythm, repetition and relationship. Circles, spirals, branching systems, hexagonal arrangements and recurring numerical sequences appear across vastly different scales — from microscopic structures to plants, planetary bodies and galaxies.
Geometry becomes "sacred" when these forms are understood as more than measurements. They become symbols through which human beings contemplate creation, order, unity and their relationship to the greater whole.
Sacred geometry exists at the meeting point of three distinct fields:
- Mathematics — where forms and proportions can be measured
- Nature — where patterns become visible through living structures
- Symbolism — where geometric forms are given psychological, philosophical or spiritual meaning
Explore the forms
Tap through the core geometries of the practice — each one a step in the same unfolding pattern, from a single point to the whole field.
The Point: potential before form
The point is the simplest beginning of geometry. It has position but no measurable length, width or depth. Every line, circle and geometric construction begins from a point. Symbolically, it represents origin, centre and undivided potential — the moment before creation, the still centre within movement.
The Circle: unity, boundary and infinity
When a compass moves around a fixed point at an equal distance, it creates a circle. Every point on the circumference relates equally to the centre — no privileged beginning or end. The relationship between circumference and diameter (Pi) is infinite and non-repeating, contributing to the circle's symbolic association with mystery and wholeness. Its 3D counterpart, the sphere, extends this into an image of equilibrium and totality.
The Vesica Piscis: relationship creates a third space
When two circles of equal size overlap so each centre rests on the other's circumference, an almond-shaped area appears between them — the "vessel of the fish." One circle can represent the self, the other another person or force; the overlap belongs to neither alone and yet is created by both. A symbol of union, shared vision and the meeting place where something new becomes possible.
Seed of Life → Flower of Life
Repeating the Vesica Piscis construction around a centre produces the Seed of Life — seven circles, one central and six surrounding. Extending the same construction outward creates the Flower of Life: every new circle belongs to a wider structure while keeping the proportions of the original. It's a visual expression of unity within multiplicity — one pattern producing many forms without losing itself.
The Hexagon: efficiency, symmetry, sixfold order
The hexagon appears naturally within the six circles surrounding the Seed of Life's centre. A regular hexagon has six equal sides and angles, and divides into six equilateral triangles meeting at its centre. It tessellates — covering a flat surface with no gaps — which is why it appears in honeycombs, snowflakes and crystalline structures.
The Six-Pointed Star: polarity and centre
One equilateral triangle pointing up, one pointing down: together they form a six-pointed star, with a hexagon appearing at the centre. It's often read through a principle of polarity — every pair of apparent opposites contains a neutral, integrating centre. A philosophical framework, not a law of physics — but the geometry makes the concept visible: two opposing directions belonging to one coherent figure.
Phi & the Golden Spiral
The Golden Ratio (Phi ≈ 1.618) describes a relationship where the whole divided by the larger part equals the larger part divided by the smaller. It appears throughout pentagonal geometry and generates the golden rectangle, from which a logarithmic spiral can be drawn. Phi represents proportional continuity — the same relationship recurring as a structure grows or contracts.
The Fibonacci Sequence
0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34… each new term is the sum of the two before it. Dividing consecutive Fibonacci numbers produces a ratio that moves progressively closer to Phi. Fibonacci describes a process of accumulation; Phi describes the proportional relationship that process converges toward — each stage carrying the memory of the two that came before it.
Metatron's Cube
The Fruit of Life is thirteen equal circles drawn from the Flower of Life. Connecting the centre of every circle to every other centre creates a network of seventy-eight lines — Metatron's Cube. Within this network, projections of the five Platonic solids can be identified.
The Five Platonic Solids
Tetrahedron, cube, octahedron, dodecahedron and icosahedron — each with congruent regular faces, the same number meeting at every vertex. Traditional systems (especially those associated with Plato) linked them to the classical elements: fire, earth, air, ether and water. These correspondences are philosophical, not modern scientific classification — but the solids themselves are genuine, precisely defined mathematical forms.
Fractals: the pattern within the pattern
A fractal is a form in which similar structures appear across different scales — the whole pattern echoed within its parts. A six-pointed star surrounded by six more stars; intersecting circles generating further circles of the same proportion; two-dimensional images implying three-dimensional structures like spheres, cubes and tetrahedra.
This leads to the traditional idea of microcosm and macrocosm: the small reflects the large, and the large contains patterns visible within the small. Fractal geometry doesn't claim every natural object is identical at every scale — it demonstrates that nature frequently develops through recurring organisational rules. Branching, spiralling, packing and repeated division generate extraordinary complexity from relatively simple processes.
Within sacred geometry, this becomes a contemplative insight: the part is not separate from the whole. It carries information about the wider system it belongs to.
Number, doubling & digital roots
The doubling sequence
One of the simplest numerical patterns of growth is doubling: 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128… When each number is reduced to its digital root (repeatedly adding its digits until one remains), the sequence becomes 1, 2, 4, 8, 7, 5 — then repeats. This repeating cycle is a genuine property of base-ten arithmetic; interpretations of it as an "energetic circuit" are symbolic, not mathematical fact.
Seven and cyclical number
Dividing most single-digit integers by seven produces a repeating decimal cycle built from the digits 142857, just starting at a different position each time (1÷7 = 0.142857…, 2÷7 = 0.285714…). Historically, this property inspired symbolic systems like the Enneagram, where numerical relationships are mapped around a nine-pointed figure. The arithmetic is observable; the transformational meaning is a philosophical tradition layered onto it.
Digital roots and the number nine
Multiples of nine always reduce to nine, and adding nine to any number never changes its digital root (5 × 9 = 45 → 9; 5 + 9 = 14 → 5). This is a property of modular arithmetic in base ten — not proof that nine holds special power. Numerological traditions have used this consistent mathematical behaviour to symbolise completion and the preservation of identity through transformation. The distinction matters: mathematics reveals the pattern, symbolism gives it meaning.
Phi and Fibonacci: proportion and growth
The Golden Ratio, Phi, is approximately 1.618033988… It describes a division where the whole relates to the larger part as the larger part relates to the smaller. Phi appears throughout pentagonal geometry and generates the golden rectangle. Some popular Golden Ratio claims in design and nature are interpretive or approximate rather than universal — but Phi itself remains a genuine, significant mathematical constant.
The Fibonacci sequence (0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34…) builds each term from the sum of the two before it. Divide consecutive terms and the ratio moves progressively closer to Phi, alternating above and below it as the sequence continues. Fibonacci describes accumulation; Phi describes the proportion that accumulation converges toward.
Sacred geometry interprets this as a model of living growth: each new stage contains the memory of the two stages that preceded it. The future doesn't emerge independently of the past — it emerges in relationship with it.
Metatron's Cube & the Platonic solids
The Fruit of Life — thirteen equal circles drawn from the larger Flower of Life — becomes Metatron's Cube when the centre of every circle is connected to every other centre, forming a network of seventy-eight lines. Within this network, projections associated with the five Platonic solids can be identified: tetrahedron, cube (hexahedron), octahedron, dodecahedron and icosahedron. Each has congruent regular polygonal faces, with the same number of faces meeting at every vertex.
Traditional systems, especially those associated with Plato, linked the solids to the classical elements — fire, earth, air, ether and water. These are philosophical correspondences, not modern scientific classifications of matter.
The Vector Equilibrium
Hexagonal and six-pointed-star geometry has also been connected to Buckminster Fuller's Vector Equilibrium and to models proposed as structures of a "zero-point field." The central idea is equilibrium: vectors extending from a centre balanced by equal relationships in opposing directions — a geometric expression of symmetry and distributed balance. This connection between the geometry, Fibonacci patterns and zero-point physics is theoretical and exploratory. It demonstrates perceived numerical and geometric relationships, not confirmed physical theory — an intriguing mathematical-philosophical model rather than settled science.
Sacred geometry as a way of seeing
The deepest value of sacred geometry may not lie in proving that one symbol explains the entire universe. Its value lies in training perception.
To study sacred geometry is to notice that a point can become a circle, that two circles create a shared field, that repeated circles generate flowers and hexagons, that numerical sequences create rhythm, and that simple proportional rules can unfold into extraordinary complexity. It teaches us to see relationships rather than isolated objects.
The circle relates to its centre. The Vesica Piscis emerges through overlap. The hexagon belongs to the circle. Fibonacci approaches Phi. A fractal repeats its organising principle across scale. The individual form is intelligible because it participates in a larger pattern.
This is the enduring wisdom of sacred geometry: wholeness is not sameness. It is the coherent relationship of many parts within one living order. Geometry becomes sacred when it moves beyond calculation and becomes contemplation — when the act of observing form leads us to reflect on balance, centre, relationship, growth, and the mysterious intelligence through which complexity emerges from simplicity.
How to practice this Lion's Gate
You don't need artistic skill — only a compass, a pencil, and a little stillness. Every Active Kreative sacred geometry practice follows the same grounded four-stage arc used across our creative therapy and somatic art therapy sessions:
This single-session practice is a doorway. For those who want to go deeper, the 40-Day Practice extends sacred geometry and neurographic art into a sustained daily ritual — the difference between one meaningful evening and lasting change. It's one of the things that sets Active Kreative apart from single-session workshops.
Bring this practice into your world
Sacred Geometry Workshops
Learn the full contemplative drawing practice in a guided group setting in Melbourne — no experience needed.
Explore Sacred Geometry →Single Workshop Entry — $65
Try a group creative therapy workshop directly — book online and check the calendar for the next date.
Book Workshop Entry →Term 3 — The Atlas
Ready for a full guided journey of creative exploration and self-navigation? Term 3 is open for enrolment now.
Join Term 3 →Creative Circle — Free Online Portal
Try sacred geometry and other creative practices from home with our free video library, before committing to more.
Enter the Creative Circle →1-on-1 Art Therapy Sessions
Private somatic art therapy with Valerie — in person in Melbourne or online. NDIS self-managed and plan-managed participants welcome.
Book a Session →Neurographic Art
A line-based drawing method rooted in neuroscience — a close companion practice to sacred geometry.
Learn Neurographic Art →Frequently asked questions
What is the Lion's Gate Portal?
A symbolic date observed around 8 August each year, when Sirius rises in alignment with the sun. Many spiritual traditions treat it as a meaningful moment for reflection, intention-setting and personal growth. There is no scientific evidence that this astrological alignment produces measurable energetic effects — its value lies in the ritual and reflective space people choose to create around it.
What is sacred geometry?
The study of patterns, proportions and relationships found throughout nature — spirals, circles, hexagons, and numerical sequences like Fibonacci and Phi. It sits at the meeting point of mathematics, nature and symbolism. Within Active Kreative's methodology, it's used as a contemplative drawing practice for mindfulness and creative flow.
Is there scientific evidence that sacred geometry has energetic effects?
No. The mathematical properties of geometric forms — Pi, Phi, the Fibonacci sequence — are demonstrable and factual. Interpretations that these forms carry energetic or metaphysical power are symbolic and philosophical, not scientifically established. We present sacred geometry as a mindful creative ritual, not a claim of measurable energy.
What is the Flower of Life?
A pattern of overlapping circles built outward from the Seed of Life (seven circles: one central, six surrounding). Each new circle repeats the original's proportional relationship — a visual expression of unity within multiplicity.
What is Metatron's Cube?
Formed by connecting the centres of the thirteen circles of the Fruit of Life with seventy-eight lines. Within this network, projections of the five Platonic solids — tetrahedron, cube, octahedron, dodecahedron and icosahedron — can be identified.
What is the Golden Ratio (Phi) and how does it relate to Fibonacci?
Phi (approximately 1.618) describes a proportional relationship where the whole divided by the larger part equals the larger part divided by the smaller part. As the Fibonacci sequence progresses, the ratio between consecutive numbers moves progressively closer to Phi. Fibonacci describes growth through accumulation; Phi describes the proportion that growth converges toward.
How do I practice sacred geometry during the Lion's Gate?
Take a compass and pencil and slowly construct a simple form — a circle, a hexagon, a six-pointed star. Let the repetitive process shift your attention into the present moment. We structure this through four stages: Initiation (settling), Creation (guided drawing), Activation (noticing what emerges), and Affirmation (carrying the intention forward).
Where can I learn sacred geometry as a practice in Melbourne?
Active Kreative offers sacred geometry within its somatic art therapy and creative therapy workshops in Melbourne, in person and online. Single workshop entry is $65, with the free Creative Circle portal available to try the practice first.
Read more about sacred geometry
Valerie Ogorodnyk — Founder, Active Kreative
Adv Dip Transpersonal Art Therapy · CCM 10701NAT · AQF Level 6
Valerie is a Melbourne-based transpersonal art therapist working at the intersection of art, sacred geometry and emotional healing. Her practice grew from the Ukrainian Kolo program — a creative therapy circle for Ukrainian refugees in Melbourne (2022–2026) — and now shapes Active Kreative's wider methodology: creative exploration as a doorway to self-navigation, holistic wellness and nervous system regulation.
Draw your way back to yourself
Whichever way you meet this Lion's Gate — with a compass at home, in a Melbourne workshop, or in the free Creative Circle — the invitation is the same: begin.
