by Peter Champoux
Founder of the Arkhom Project
(I first met Peter Champoux several years ago when he and his partner Susan Franklin came to visit me at my home in Northern Vermont. My focus on sacred space had been quite micro - the individual sites or complexes as at Avebury. Peter and Susan were talking about New England as a region - and as a sacred space, and they were finding fascinating correlations with their geometry in this much larger landscape. This application of sacred geometry and fractals on large areas of land was unfamiliar to me, but Arkhom has convinced me that there certainly is something important going on here.- Sig)
The Greek root of Geometry or Geometria means, to measure the earth. It is a grand tradition which can be applied in scale to all constructive form. Seen in everything from Sunflower to Galaxy. Arbitrary constructs have been imposed in the way of political boundaries and the dimensions of the planet have been recorded to the millimeter, however the measure of bio regions and biomes is a new use of this ancient tool. Creating a conscious interrelationship/ understanding between ourselves and our dimensional skins is seen to be fundamental to sustainable living. As a Geographical determinist it is clear to me that this relationship already exists. However with conscious understanding of this sense of Place, Space and Grace, informed daily decisions can be made that will positively effect not only our host planet but the generations that follow.
The New England Biome is an area that encompasses a large portion of the East central section of the North American continent. Stretching from Quebec City to Baltimore from the Niagara Falls to the George's Banks. It transverses state and national boundaries, includes rivers, mountains, bays , ocean, plain and sky. Within the rich heritage of this Biome can be found one of the planet's oldest geologys, the development of democracy; first by the native peoples followed by the American Revolution, the inventions of the telephone, mass use of electricity, religious thought, world trade, communication, educational advancement and research which have had a profound effect not only on this region but the entire world. The power and contribution of this place and the peoples who have lived here for a millennia is staggering.
The Geometries presented are based on fractal patterns discerned from the measure of the planet. Tracing its alignments and points- one will readily see how we, as a terrestrial biology, have unconsciously adhered to a form that has been in the process of becoming for millions of years. There are many geometrys of scale that can be found within North America and virtually the entire world. Some known and some yet to be discovered.
New England Landscape as Fractal Pattern
The term 'Arkhom' refers to this fractal New England Landscape on which we collectively sail the galaxy. It is a term which has many interpretations. It refers to a ship, a covenant, a home, the sound 'Om'. The A of Arkhom is the pattern that it is built on. A R and K, part of the runic alphabet, -when put together says " the conveyance of knowledge through Light". Stack the letters and a monument or obelisk is formed.
A
R
K
H
O
M
It is constructed out of materials that can be found anywhere in the universe, that is rock. Travel to the outer planets what do you find, rock. Travel to say the planets near Alpha Centauri, again one finds rock . Use of this material is essential to connect cosmically - universally.
As a stone mason, I attribute my work with stone directly to the understanding of landscape geometry. Rock has been one of my greatest teachers. All rock before it is manipulated and becomes Stone - has an inherent pattern, angle of fracture or fractal.
One can easily find a stone on Mt Washington, New Hampshire that mimics the mountain's shape. This self similarity, recursive spin or fractality, is the cornerstone on which can be built the understanding of and the relationship to place. It is believed that stone holds memory, certainly every rock type has its own electrical / elemental signature. Some hold charge / others do not. The rock indigenous to this region covers a full spectrum of time periods and geologic types.
Arkhom or the New England Biome was drawn out of the landscape through first finding a equilateral triangulation between Mt Washington New Hampshire / Mt Mansfield Vermont / and Mt Ascutney on the border of Vermont and New Hampshire.
This mountain triangle is complemented inversely by a doubling to include the water features that creates the core hexagon from which the rest of the form is generated. Bisecting the hexagon at its Northerly and Southerly point creates a 15 degree East of North orientation that forms an alignment from which the rest of the geometry is built from. This backbone is made of Shist ( metamorphic rock ) which extends from Canada to the Connecticut coast. Doubling the length of the water triangle- the points are extended to Boston ( City Hall Plaza) and to Canajoharie NY along the Mohawk river. The base line thus created by these two points delineates a cultural corridor that speaks volumes about the qualities inherent in this biome.
To list some of the human expressions of place one starts at the gateway to the sea and ends at the gateway to the interior. In its course it passes through: The site of the invention of the telephone in Boston, MIT, Harvard, Walden Pond, King Philips Fort (Mt. Wachusetts), Turners Falls, Greenfield, Shelburne Falls (glacial potholes), Mohawk Trail, Yankee Atomic, Hossac Tunnel, MassMoCA, Williams College, Troy New York, Shrine of the American Martyrs, and Canajoharie. All of which have made significant contributions to what has come to be known as Western culture. Events that occurred along this line shaped native / colonial relations, social/ political/ economic / environmental policy, and continues to this day. This water form geometry generates a further expansion into a twelve pointed ring which delineates and encompasses most of the major cities, seaports of New England and Eastern NY. This ring also points to major tribal zones, confluences of rivers and mountainous areas.
Further refinement of the pattern is made with the inclusion of the inner diamond and outer seven sided spin field- these structures bring into play sacred cannons of geometry which are the mechanisms that connect the form to the spiritualized Sun Moon and earth. In total the result resembles a biology likened to a Turtle or Scarab.
As all life seeks balance, so does the New England landscape. Looking at New England in total with this geometry overlaid, Cape Cod, New York Metro, and the greater Mohawk corridor are all in alignment with the Axis and Base lines. By adding three hexagons at these respective points a whirling form appears. Seeming to spin in a clockwise fashion with Long Island, like smoke from a chimney, and Cape Cod, like a bow cut, an appearance of energetic motion is given the static land. This shows a vortex liken to a hurricane, whirlpool, or tornado.
The Details
There is a tendency in our culture to be individually focused. Being confronted with this form, initially the mind tends to focus on points. To possess it, to build something, to think that it is somehow less than a spot that is a point or alignment — this, however, misses the connection. As with any sacred space be it Temple, Church, Mosque, or Grove (…or Shopping Mall) it is not the walls that make the space-- it the energy and people within, connecting with their spirit.
The geographical center point- Shelburne Falls is the site of a Peace Treaty between the Native and Colonial peoples which is still on the books. Thus this land is a place of peace. It is ironic that many of the outer points are places where battles and military installations are located. Such as the New London Sub Base, Boston, West Point, Forts Ticondaroga and Henry were all built to keep the peace (I would hope). Many of these locations are, generally speaking, unique geological features such as Monadnocks, Domes, Lenses, Water Gaps. Sections of this hexagonal forms could be identified as: Lake Chaplain, Lake Winnipesaukee, Cape Cod, Long Island, Water Gaps, Green Mountains, and Green Valleys.
These bio regional designations define zones whose environmental and infrastructure consideration are similar. Within these zones much more commonality exists collectively than any of the individual states that they fall within. This naturally occurring matrix is a tool that could be utilized for planning policy, implementing restorative initiatives, and Geographical -Information -System (GIS) structure.
The New England geology (land/water) create pointers that direct the eye towards the center. The Shuangunk Mts. near New Paltz point this way. The arrow formed by the MT Tom / MT Holyoke Range points the way. Rivers, Mountain ranges, highways, trails, Manhattan Island all point towards the center.
Generally there is a balancing that occurs with the geometries opposite points. An example of this is the Providence, Rhode Island area which consists of a highly populated land dominated by water -- countered by Oregon, NY in the Adirondacks an empty town on water dominated by mountains. Boston is where the Revolutionary War started and Canajoharie, New York, the battle of Stone Arabia was a turning point of the fight for American independence. The North has headwaters / the South outlets to the sea . This could go on indefinitely on both macro and micro levels. All this speaks to a natural balancing that nature is so good at. Seeing how we adhere to these perimeters without conscious understanding of this interaction, one can only imagine the positive impact on the biome if the peoples of the NorthEast community interacted consciously with our host landscape. An interconnection to the land spiritualizes our interaction with it, and may be a primary species characteristic that we have disacknowledged.
The design elements of this form can be seen in Gothic Architecture, Stonehenge, The Great Pyramids, etc... With this geometrical and energetic connection- it follows that we would be part of a sacred space and that space is our place, our highways, farms, factories, polluted rivers, cities, shopping malls, corporate complexes, and cardboard house under the overpass. We could be permanently within an inner sanctum and connected with the divine.
This spiritualization of culture, the core of Indigenous philosophy world wide, is (according to the Rio conference on the environment) the only hope for environmental sustainability. The spiritual connection to life in the biome is what Arkhom hopes to addresses. With the knowledge that our individual acts are connected collectively and that our action -without sustainable thought- does indeed impact the seaworthiness of this ship on which we all float, conscionable action theoretically should follow.
Planetary Dynamics
To be truly fractal, a pattern should be replicated on all scales. This is, in fact, the case. The same pattern is evidenced and laid out in Boston Massachusetts, NYC and the Lake District of New Hampshire.
Further proof of this imbedded fractality can be drawn out to planetary dimensions. This greater scale is generated via a harmonic progression which uses the diameter of the lesser as the radius of the greater all centered within the Arkhom geometry. Physically this fractality can be easily seen in the North American Plate.
These harmonies grow as follows:
Arkhom Baltimore to Mt Katadin Maine (diameter)
Mt Mitchell North Carolina to the Gaspe Peninsula (diameter)
New Orleans to Newfoundland's Grand Banks (diameter)
Acapulco, Mexico to Iceland (diameter)
The form is likened to a Yin / Yang symbol - half land and half water - like Arkhom spinning in a clockwise direction trailing Latin American, and pushing the Gulf of Mexico. The tail of the yin (water form) is Magnetic North. Conversely the tail of yang (earth) is in Panama Zone. The eyes are located in the Bermuda Triangle (yin) and in the Hudson Bay (yang).
The next generation Harmonic progressions extend beyond the North American plate and its fractal structure. These continued projections of Arkhom's resonant field outward from the Plate seems to resemble American influence globally. This structure to my reckoning is one of three large structures woven together to form a planetary resonant (? Could this be!?). The two others fractals are centered on Bangalore India and the South Pole. I theorize that the interaction of these three Harmonics are the resonant structures which in some manner regulate global dynamics. This statement warrants a great deal more research and dialogue. It is hoped that this sparks an interest to pursue and support this new field of study.
Do we as a species nest in the landscape via these imbedded geometries? There is evidence that culture has consistently done so for millennia in the Arkhom Biome.
The Arkhom Millennium Project (- AMP -)
Arkhom is Sacred Geometry and as such locks into our sustaining matrix of the Earth. It is as well a study of fractal geography. To this end I offer this tool as an organizing mechanism. The form could be used for collective works , expressions , ceremony, seasonal ritual and celebrations. It is already being used to fuel and organize the market machine with all narssisis, greed , misuse of collective resources and all the goodies too. As cultural creatives isn't it our responsibility to use the same mechanism to set a virus of love , creatativity, and compassion loose upon the world.
The present malaise that infects our regional and family communities is traceable to the absence of a spiritual dimension in our lives. It has been found that when real contribution can be made, one owns responsibility for its welfare. For these reasons I am attempting to catalyze the Arkhom Millennium Project. This Project is seen as a model for education, preservation, resource management and creative expression. This collective expression of cultural and natural cohesion centers around three formats; ARKhives, ARKparks, and ARKsparks.
Arkhives are a public record generated by citizens from youth to old age, will strengthen and preserve our regional heritage for perpetuity. Making this dynamic contribution to our common unity will in the process educate, synthesize, communicate, restore, advance, remember, network, promote, focus, organize and preserve our common trust.
ArkParks are geospaces, large or small, where regional events will take place. They will be zones of cooperation where: demonstrations with models of adaptive sustainability, art-in-the-park, council grounds or outright land preservation would be created.
ARKsparks are region wide community-building events that would balance and revitalize. These would be as direct as regionally based art exhibitions, or as complex as a regionally based GIS.
It is time to act cooperatively; in some respects there is more free trade/commerce and mutual cooperation treaties between countries than between the states. I suggest to you today that we use these tools to create structures that sustain and empower for seven generation to come.
Peter Champoux lives in Western Massachusetts and is a consultant / Stone Mason/ GeoGaia lecturer / and Arkwright . Susan Franklin Wilson helps in the coordination of this project with skill assignments, community facilitation, from a background in sociology, land and historic preservation. For more information about products ,services, support and involvement contact : Peter by email or by snail mail at :
Peter Champoux
PO Box 448
Washington, Massachusetts 01223
USA
Phone in USA: (413)-623-2168
All rights Reserved: © ARKHOM
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