Why Are Hexagons Common During Psychedelic Journeys?
Why Are Hexagons Common During Psychedelic Journeys?
Not long ago, I wrote a piece about the first time I smoked the toad or, by its scientific name, bufo alvarius. Although a person’s memory of their toad experience erodes over time, I still remember a fair amount of my experience. I don’t think I’ll ever forget the first hallucination I had, while still exhaling with my eyes open–hexagons. After my toad experience in Mexico, I began seeing non-toad-induced hexagons everywhere throughout my travels. Since then, I’ve wondered why hexagons are common in the world at large, and more so in psychedelic journeys.
My Hexagonal Vision
Here’s the description of my hexagonal vision:
…Christmas string light-colored, half-dollar-sized hexagons began to materialize inside the tent, along the tepee walls. Shimmering, crisp, and technicolor, the hexagons multiplied and covered the tepee like a psychedelic honeycomb.
Maybe I saw 5-MeO-DMT in a magnified, atomic perspective as the hexagon comprises part of its molecular structure? I don’t know, but the next day the universe threw a synchronicity at me in the jungle. I stumbled upon a beautiful art installation of two toucans covered in hexagons. During the following months, I kept seeing hexagons all over the place, from hexagons imprinted on street curbs to hexagons inhabiting psychedelic artwork.
One day, I had an “ah ha” moment and realized I’d seen hexagons in psychedelic artwork for years, without thinking about it. This realization intrigued me, as I figured out many other psychonauts have had hexagonal hallucinations too. So what’s the deal with psychedelic hexagons (and to a lesser extent pentagons) anyway?
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Hexagons in Nature
Before understanding the prevalence of hexagons in psychedelic visions, it’s key to understand that nature loves hexagons. Hexagons aren’t atypical or an aberration of a psychedelic-induced state. Snowflakes, basalt columns, bubbles, tortoise shells, algae, benzene, honeycomb of course, and even the compound eyes of some insects all display hexagonal traits. In fact, dragonflies might be the most impressive, as their eyes feature over 30,000 interlacing hexagons. Long, long ago, people started noticing hexagons in nature.
Legendary philosophers of antiquity entertained their fascination with hexagons. The Greek philosopher Pappus of Alexandria studied hexagons over 1,600 years ago and thought bees have “a certain geometrical forethought.” Pappus was on to something, especially regarding the intrinsic link between hexagons and geometry and physics. Later, Darwin would prove Pappus correct when he deduced that the hexagon is perfect for a honeycomb because it provides the ideal solution for the economical use of labor and wax. Bees do seem to know geometry. This is where things start to get interesting.
Hexagons, Random or by Design?
The relationship between hexagons, geometry, and physics goes too deep for this article. However, a high-level view of hexagons reveals that hexagons demonstrate “An Indication of Order and Design in Nature.” Hexagons undermine the prevailing evolutionist understanding of the universe and reality itself.
Evolutionists believe that the Earth and universe were created randomly. Randomness lacks order, thus randomness does not display symmetry. Symmetry implies order. In short, according to this view, nature shouldn’t demonstrate any design (or symmetry), because if there’s evidence of a design, it’s not random. Enter the hexagon (which I wish was a psychedelic Bruce Lee movie).
Adam Miezio
As shown above, nature loves symmetry in everything from bubbles to dragonfly eyes. Thus, nature and life itself seem to portray a non-random design. Nature also seems to have a love affair with the number 6, which undergirds this spiritual framework of a conscious design to life. By way of geometry, hexagons and the number 6 integrate well with engineering and design. One particular man knew geometry and the hexagon quite well.
Buckminster Fuller and the Hexagon
American scientist, futurist, and inventor Bucky Fuller invented the geodesic dome. Three fundamental, geometric shapes make up the structure or grid of a geodesic dome: triangles, pentagons, and hexagons.
Bucky Fuller was no doubt a genius, and he figured out that nature likes to reduce surface tension by using hexagons. Thus, hexagonal designs allow powerful structural, engineering designs. As you may know, Bucky’s legend and geometry live on at Burning Man, where plenty of burners erect geodesic domes each year to live in for a week or two in the desert.
Those same burners embark on a ton of psychedelic journeys in those geodesic domes, and they see all kinds of hexagons, both real and hallucinated. Why do those psychonauts see psychedelic hexagons? Because humans and our very minds are part of nature, which seems to elicit sacred geometry and its archetypes.
Adam Miezio
Psychedelic Hexagons = A Form Constant
Why people often share common visual elements of a psychedelic journey remains a mystery. However, science has been unraveling this conundrum bit by bit for decades. Scientists uncovered the first clue to the puzzle almost 60 years ago.
In 1966, Heinrich Kluver conducted the first experiment that sought to study “…consistencies in psychedelic visual hallucinations.” Participants consumed mescaline, the active compound of peyote, and reported their visual experiences. Afterward, Kluver compared the reports and discovered four geometric archetypes common to a psychedelic experience: spiral, tunnel (cone or funnel), cobweb, and lattice (honeycomb, grating, or chessboard). Kluver named these visual, geometric archetypes “form constants.”
Form constants occur across a range of psychedelic compounds. Whether LSD, psilocybin, mescaline, ayahuasca, or the toad, each can produce form constants. Form constants manifest in non-psychedelic visions as well. Sensory deprivation, fever delirium, epilepsy, migraines, psychological stress, and other conditions provoke form constants. Any number of questions arise from the existence of form constants. In this context, is the phenomenon a side effect of the ingested drug, or is it a neuroscientific process? Kluver’s efforts inspired further studies and the latest research offers more insight.
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The Neuroscience of Psychedelic Hexagons
The neuroscience behind form constants would even challenge Bill Nye the Science Guy. The best explanation of form constants in layman’s terms follows:
It is believed that the reason why these form constants appear has to do with the way the visual system is organized, and, in particular, in the mapping between patterns on the retina and the columnar organization of the primary visual cortex. Concentric circles in the retina are mapped into parallel lines in the visual cortex. Spirals, tunnels, lattices and cobwebs map into lines in different directions. This means that if activation spreads in straight lines within the visual cortex, the experience is equivalent to looking at actual form constants.
Got that? Here’s another way of putting it. Once again, form constants come down to math. In the simplest terms, the mathematical wiring of the cortex produces form constants. If you care to go down the rabbit hole, read this math theory about why people hallucinate. In the article, Jack Cowan of the University of Chicago learned that “…what we see when we hallucinate reflects the architecture of the brain’s neural network.” Thus, our brains are a dynamic interface between geometry and nature itself.
A Dose of Sacred Geometry?
All this academic neuroscience talk makes it sound like hexagons have been drained of psychedelic romanticism and relegated to the woo-woo dustbin. But not so fast. Learning more about the subject only raises more questions, unveiling a Gordian knot.
Any self-respecting psychonaut, hippie, or truth seeker has seen enough sacred geometry explained and depicted in journeys, literature, artworks, documentaries, and videos to fill the Louvre. So millennia worth of mankind’s fascination with sacred geometry gets reduced to some neurons firing (or not) in our cortex? No, because a deeper layer of consciousness exists.
Also by Adam Miezio: The Impact of Psychedelics on Creativity
The Fibonacci Sequence and the Golden Mean are cool and all, but the real psychedelic juice squeeze comes full circle by going Greek again. By digging deep into Plato, you’ll learn that esotericism powered many of his ideas. Plato makes the connection with his Theory of Forms:
Plato’s Theory of Forms is a foundational metaphysical concept suggesting that true reality is comprised of abstract, ideal entities (Forms) which differ from how things appear.
In short, Plato believed that our physical reality is merely a shadow cast by the true reality of the Realm of Forms. Forms are constant and unchanging, perfect representations of objects and qualities. The hexagon makes a fine example of a form or archetype, which, not coincidentally, is fundamental to the Platonic Solid. Other civilizations and cultures have witnessed the union of the sacred realm with geometry.
Tessellation- Example of Sacred Geometry
Take tessellation for example. Tessellation is “the process of fitting shapes together in a pattern with no spaces in between.” What is a common shape to use for tessellation? The hexagon. Another way of conceptualizing tessellation is the lattice type of form constant. This mind-manifesting type of geometry expresses itself in artwork worldwide.
A couple of the best architectural examples of tessellation are the hypnotic allure of the Shah Mosque in Iran and the heady attraction of The Alhambra in Spain. However, the most recognizable and stunning example of tessellation in contemporary artwork owes thanks to the genius of M.C. Escher. Next time you’re viewing an Escher piece, think to yourself, “This is my mind on psychedelic drugs.”
That’s a potent insight to end on. Maybe we should revert to the older meaning of “insight.” Insight derives from Middle English referring to “inner sight.” The Middle English meaning also implies “wisdom” and “mental vision.”
If form constants, Platonic forms, and archetypes aren’t a “mental vision” or an insight, then what is? Hexagons are the true definition of psychedelic, as in mind manifesting. Here’s to plenty of hexagons during future journeys, and maybe psychedelics can make up for any failed, high school geometry classes.
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