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Math for Mystics: From the Fibonacci sequence to Luna's Labyrinth to the Golden Section and Other Secrets of Sacred Geometry | 
| Author: Renna Shesso
Publisher: Weiser Books
Category: Book
List Price: $16.95
Buy New: $7.95
You Save: $9.00 (53%)
New (28) Used (13) from $7.28
Avg. Customer Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 227556
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 193
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.8
ISBN: 1578633834
Dewey Decimal Number: 516
EAN: 9781578633838
ASIN: 1578633834
Publication Date: April 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: New - may have a small remainder mark on the edge.
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
A Magical Mystery Tour of Math History Much of what we know as math comes to us directly from early astronomer magi who needed to be able to describe and record what they saw in the night sky. Everyone needed math: whether you were the king's court astrologer or a farmer marking the best time for planting, timekeeping and numbers really mattered. Mistake a numerical pattern of petals and you could poison yourself. Lose the rhythm of a sacred dance or the meter of a ritually told story and the intricately woven threads that hold life together were spoiled. Ignore the celestial clock of equinoxes and solstices, and you'd risk being caught short of food for the winter. "As thoughtful as it is readable, Renna Shesso's Math for Mystics is the book I wish I had when I first started trying to make sense of the mathematics that underlie so much of modern magic and traditional occult lore. Not the least of its virtues is the way it makes magical number theory accessible even to those who think they don't like or can't handle math. It provides a first-rate introduction to a fairly neglected branch of magical lore."
-- John Michael Greer Grand Archdruid, Ancient Order of Druids in America and author of The Druidry Handbook Renna Shesso's friendly tone, delightful "math lore," meticulous research, and clear information makes math easy to understand. This marvelous book begins with the simplest lunary and planetary math and then tackles the most enigmatic of numerical esoterica such as Platonic Solids, the Golden Section, Luna's Labyrinth, and Benjamin Franklin's favorite way to pass the time, "Magical Squares," akin to the 17th century Sudoku. For anyone who tried to understand the Fibonacci Sequence of numbers from Dan Brown's (son of a mathematician) The DaVinci Code, this book is for you! "In times past, math was seen as magic for its power and associations. It was even banned by authorities who thought it a threat--a power that no one else should hold. In this book, that ancient magic is relived, and the power yours."
-- Jeff Hoke, author of The Museum of Lost Wonder
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
 Math Is as Math Does September 9, 2008
The book is supposed to be about math, but near its beginning, it indicates that little background in math is required. The book explores a number of traditions that many occultists are already aware of, though the writing is in a pleasant style.
Some of the more diverting subjects include different ways of counting on one's fingers, though the approaches are simplistic (with a little creativity, one can count to 100 on the fingers of both hands, but I haven't run into such a technique in the book). Before presenting each of the "planetary" Magic Squares, the author discusses the aspects attributed to each square. Similar things have been done before, notably in Medieval and later grimoires, and more succinctly.
For best results, the reader should be a novice in esoterica with little mathematical background. The book is, at best, an introductory text, hardly anything intermediate to advanced. It makes nice summer reading though.
 Novice material December 31, 2007
4 out of 10 found this review helpful
Very boring and simplistic. This book has very litle depth but an abndance of directions. Buy this if you want a very rough intro to the subject matter there are much more thoughtful and informative books on the subjects presented.
Explains a lot ! August 8, 2007
3 out of 10 found this review helpful
Good reference/beginning to knowin about things I've heard about for years. Makes you want to know more,
New Age Naivety July 29, 2007
15 out of 38 found this review helpful
I hope that I finally learned a lesson when I ordered this book, and that is to not impulsively purchase a new "read" just because you are attracted by the cover art. Maybe we ought score yet another point for the marketing gurus at the book publishers who apparently know how to package their merchandise to achieve increased sales. In the meantime, we can mark down one more big "zero" for the longsuffering, financially-challenged reader.
Now, I am not trying to be cruel and I take no delight in being hypercritical, but seriously, I do not see how anyone can rate this book at the five star level, as some reviewers have done here. One must wonder: if they are eager to score this book with five stars, how would they rate a book by Plato or a collection such as the Bible?
It's okay for what it is, I suppose, but caveat emptor -- despite the visually appealing cover design, any potential buyer of this book by Renna Shesso should be aware that, while it has a few moments of quasi-merit, sometimes brings to light or clarifies a little bit of interesting historic trivia or esoterica, and is certainly easy reading, most of the content is rather vacuous, delusionally profound, neopagan, New Age "feel good" numerological tripe written by a self-professed acolyte and priestess of Wicca.
Now, I have a friend (a sensitive old "hippie" and Woodstock "flower child") who I dearly love and go out of my way to humor and tolerate, despite their numerous foibles. But, to my perpetual amazement, my old friend still naively sucks this kind of stuff up, even at their rapidly advancing age. She would probably really enjoy this book and perhaps linger over it for hours, so maybe I ought to give my copy to her!? Oh well, such folks are generally harmless, mean well, and wouldn't hardly hurt a fly.
But it really can get borderline ludicrous when you read this kind of book, and, quite honestly, I am not sure whether to laugh or cry. For example, the author recommends, apparently with utter wide-eyed sincerity, that, timing-wise, certain types of "spellwork" might best be performed in accord with favorable lunary or planetary influences (ancient and long ago discredited Chaldean astrology) or on certain days of the week which, in myth and old folklore, were supposedly associated with a muddle of particular ancient gods or goddesses (so-called "Higher Powers") of specific characteriological significance and various "elements" (such as earth, air, fire, or water), metals, stones, herbs, trees, musical tones, and colors. Otherwise, in some places, an intelligent reader with a modicum of healthy skepticsm cannot help but shake their head in quasi-amused bewilderment when they read some of the author's rather facile and silly suggestions, such as using mystical numerology to time the casting of a propitious spell on one's car ("run well, be safe"), using one's lawnmower to sculpt labyrinth patterns, or using "magical" squares to trace one's potential vacation route on a map. I almost cracked up when I read in one place the author's suggestion that, in order to help immerse oneself in the "magical" power of the moon (Luna), one might catch some moonlight in water and drink it, or use it in one's bath!
 Living Math June 15, 2007
17 out of 18 found this review helpful
Modern mathematics as professionally practiced is too often severed from its roots in the marvelous contemplation of our life in nature. When its origins are remembered at all, the focus is usually on necessity, for example the need to measure the movement of the sun or moon for practical matters of planting or harvesting. But to our ancestors even the most practical math was also a source of wonder at the deep yet comprehensible connections within the universe. This wonder is the true beginning of magic.
Renna Shesso's delightful Math for Mystics recovers both the practical and the wonderful in math with a refreshingly clear and lively writing style. The author includes numerous well-designed illustrations and diagrams that she has thoughtfully integrated with the text. Here you will find explained not only the math methods but also the associations that inform their proper magical uses. The selection of topics is excellent, from the origins of measurement to geometric solids, with many implications for numerology. Math for Mystics will be of interest to anyone curious about the living world of math or who seeks a deeper understanding of magical practice. No previous background in math is needed to access and understand this material.
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