SACRED GEOMETRY AT LAMA FOUNDATION
By Willie Peck

reprinted with permission of the author

The community dome at Lama is an inspired structure that rivals the Pantheon in natural lighting and design character. From the moment I entered the dome I have marveled at the endless array of shapes that the star and diamond windows make as they sweep across the wall and floor. I felt that there must be some sacred geometry encoded here.

Soon I discovered that the horizon is visible looking THROUGH the dome from the center table in the old kitchen (currently known as the "Flag Dome"). So I began asking the question "On what days does the setting sun shine on the kitchen table?" After a few observations it was clear that the dome was not aligned to the west (equinox), nor to the summer solstice.

I noticed on the summer solstice that the diamond above the octagon window shone squarely onto the wheel above the main door to the dome a few hours before sunset. The wheel marks the summer solstice, but the primary alignment of the dome is for some other date. This primary alignmernt is the date the Octagon window lines up with the square entrance and the setting sun.

After many observations I determined that the sunset alignment would happen sometime in early August and early May. With a heavy monsoon season this year the setting sun was not visible for most of this time, but I was blessed with a clear horizon on August 3 (my birthday!) and lo, the setting sun did just as I had envisioned.

This observation corresponds with the cross quarter dates between the equinoxes and the summer solstice; these are the dates halfway between the solstice and equinox. "Beltane" is the first week of May and "Lughnasadh" the first week of August. During these times the light of the setting sun passes in one diamond, through the center of the dome then out another diamond. This beam exits the dome above the firehouse and continues above the rock stairs, through the "star" doors, into the old kitchen, across the center table, and finally out the back window onto the rock wall. At this time a single beam of sunlight passes through our two oldest structures. This alignment marks Beltane, a pagan fire festival celebrating the warming earth and planting seeds in early May. It is the time of our opening at Lama, when we begin welcoming all beans into another season of personal growth.

A few days before the Autumn Equinox I began hanging out in the dome looking for more alignments. At sunset I noticed that 2 sets of diamonds were close to lining up, similar to the Beltane alignment. Sure enough, on the Equinox the sun shone directly through these windows. I went to the location outside where this was observable; but this time I was not in the old kitchen, but in our soon to be garden. We plan on building a pair of equinox altars here next summer.

After playing with the geometry of our octagon I predict that there will be a third alignment on the winter cross quarter dates. I am quite amazed that these 6 alignments occur within the simple geometry of an octagon! It turns out that Lama Foundation is at a proper latitude for this to work. And, these alignments would not occur if the dome were pointed at a solstice point.

Lama Foundation Continuing Member Rahaman told me he thought the new kitchen was built in a position that makes an equilateral triangle with these two other structures. I checked this out on our site plan and it appears to be so. Also, the octagonal table in the new kitchen is aligned so that it receives the setting sun light from Beltane through Lughnasadh, the high season at Lama. I am seeing an incredible amount of focused intent here concerning architecture and alignment.

A common design that runs through each of these structures holding the points of this equilateral triangle is 8-sided designs, either an 8-pointed star or an octagon. How does this fit into the architecture? It may be that the 8 pointed star corresponds to the 8 annual pagan festivals which are determined by sunset alignments. These are Imbolc (early Feb), Vernal Equinox (3/21), Beltane (5/1), Summer Solstice (6/21), Lughnasadh (early August), Autumnal Equinox (9/21), Samhain (early Nov), and the Winter Solstice (12/21).