The Encyclopedia of Crystals, Herbs, and New Age Elements: An A to Z Guide to New Age Elements and How to Use Them - Adams Media 2016

Shapes
The Power of Symbols

ORIGINS

Shapes are fundamental to the way we see and interpret the world around us. From simple geometric shapes such as the circle and the square to more elaborate shapes like the triskelion—an ancient symbol consisting of three bent or curved lines radiating from a common center—shapes carry profound meanings in various religious and cultural traditions as well as New Age practices. The word shape comes from the Old English gesceap, meaning “a creation.”

HISTORY/LORE

The origins of geometry, the branch of mathematics concerned with the shape, size, and relative position of figures, can be traced to ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt around 2000 B.C.E. The ancient Greek mathematician Euclid (birth and death dates unknown, though he was known to be active around 300 B.C.E.) is considered the “father of geometry.” Platonic solids are three-dimensional polyhedra named for the ancient Greek philosopher and mathematician Plato (c. 428—348 B.C.E.), who theorized that the “classical elements,” an early term for the states of matter, were made of these solids.

USES

One modern-day application for the study of shapes is in the field of psychology. The bouba/kiki effect, which was first observed by the German psychologist Wolfgang Köhler (1887—1967) in the 1920s, suggests that the human brain attaches abstract meanings to shapes and sounds in a consistent way. In his experiment, Köhler showed participants two shapes, one jagged and one rounded, and asked them to identify which was called “takete” and which was called “baluba.” The result was a strong preference to call the jagged shape “takete” and the rounded shape “baluba.” This experiment was repeated in 2001 using the words “bouba” and “kiki” with the same result: The vast majority of participants paired the rounded shape with “bouba” and the jagged shape with “kiki.”