The Cosmic Dance: Finding Patterns and Pathways in a Chaotic Universe
A visual journey from the minute to the infinite, exploring the relationships and harmonies between all parts of the universe and inspiring personal contemplation regarding our place within it. 

In The Cosmic Dance, renowned image alchemist Stephen Ellcock presents a panglobal collection of remarkable, arresting, and surprising images drawn from the entire history of art to explore the ancient belief that the cosmos is reflected in all living things. Organized thematically, the visual journey begins with the microscopic, the particulate and the elemental; then explores the human body as a cosmos in miniature, the beauty of divine proportions and our search for spiritual enlightenment; before finally reveling in the colossal, the celestial, and the infinite.

An eloquent introduction provides an overview of the central themes and expert commentaries introduce each section. Detailed captions accompanying select images provide bitesize information on key concepts—from the golden ratio to the Tree of Life and the body politic— while thought-provoking quotations and poems interspersed throughout the artworks prompt a closer, more personal engagement with the images.

This stunning treasury of artworks provides the perfect guide to a deeper contemplation of the world around us, allowing readers, in the words of William Blake, to “see a world in a grain of sand, and a heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in the palm of your hand, and eternity in an hour.” 

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The Cosmic Dance: Finding Patterns and Pathways in a Chaotic Universe
A visual journey from the minute to the infinite, exploring the relationships and harmonies between all parts of the universe and inspiring personal contemplation regarding our place within it. 

In The Cosmic Dance, renowned image alchemist Stephen Ellcock presents a panglobal collection of remarkable, arresting, and surprising images drawn from the entire history of art to explore the ancient belief that the cosmos is reflected in all living things. Organized thematically, the visual journey begins with the microscopic, the particulate and the elemental; then explores the human body as a cosmos in miniature, the beauty of divine proportions and our search for spiritual enlightenment; before finally reveling in the colossal, the celestial, and the infinite.

An eloquent introduction provides an overview of the central themes and expert commentaries introduce each section. Detailed captions accompanying select images provide bitesize information on key concepts—from the golden ratio to the Tree of Life and the body politic— while thought-provoking quotations and poems interspersed throughout the artworks prompt a closer, more personal engagement with the images.

This stunning treasury of artworks provides the perfect guide to a deeper contemplation of the world around us, allowing readers, in the words of William Blake, to “see a world in a grain of sand, and a heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in the palm of your hand, and eternity in an hour.” 

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The Cosmic Dance: Finding Patterns and Pathways in a Chaotic Universe

The Cosmic Dance: Finding Patterns and Pathways in a Chaotic Universe

by Stephen Ellcock
The Cosmic Dance: Finding Patterns and Pathways in a Chaotic Universe

The Cosmic Dance: Finding Patterns and Pathways in a Chaotic Universe

by Stephen Ellcock

Hardcover

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Overview

A visual journey from the minute to the infinite, exploring the relationships and harmonies between all parts of the universe and inspiring personal contemplation regarding our place within it. 

In The Cosmic Dance, renowned image alchemist Stephen Ellcock presents a panglobal collection of remarkable, arresting, and surprising images drawn from the entire history of art to explore the ancient belief that the cosmos is reflected in all living things. Organized thematically, the visual journey begins with the microscopic, the particulate and the elemental; then explores the human body as a cosmos in miniature, the beauty of divine proportions and our search for spiritual enlightenment; before finally reveling in the colossal, the celestial, and the infinite.

An eloquent introduction provides an overview of the central themes and expert commentaries introduce each section. Detailed captions accompanying select images provide bitesize information on key concepts—from the golden ratio to the Tree of Life and the body politic— while thought-provoking quotations and poems interspersed throughout the artworks prompt a closer, more personal engagement with the images.

This stunning treasury of artworks provides the perfect guide to a deeper contemplation of the world around us, allowing readers, in the words of William Blake, to “see a world in a grain of sand, and a heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in the palm of your hand, and eternity in an hour.” 


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780500252536
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Publication date: 11/08/2022
Pages: 256
Product dimensions: 6.60(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Stephen Ellcock is a renowned image collector whose online "cabinet of curiosities"—an ever-expanding, virtual museum of art that is open to all via social media—has attracted more than 633,000 followers worldwide. His most recent book, Underworlds: A Compelling Journey Through Subterranean Realms, Real and Imagined, was published in the United Kingdom, United States, France, Italy, Germany, and Spain. He is also the author of The Cosmic Dance: Finding Patterns and Pathways in a Chaotic Universe.

Table of Contents

Preface: Regaining Perspective 6

Introducfion: As Above, So Below 8

Primordial Chaos

Creation

Gaia

Harmony and Order

The Elements

Anima Mundi

The Universe as a Hierarchically Organized Organism

Light

The Origins of Life

The Tree, of Life

Hermeticism

Neoplatonism

Alchemy and the Great Work

Rosicrudanism

Ouroboros

Daoism

Zoroastrian Cosmogony

Japanese Enso

Mandalas

1 The Infinitesimal Universe 34

The Subatomic World

Diatoms

Ernst Haeckel Crystallography

Microscopic Particles

Micrographia

Particle Physics

Radiation

Photomicrography

Lichtenberg Figures

The Mineral World: Geology

Rocks and Minerals

The Vegetable Kingdom: Botany

The Insect World

2 God in Miniature 72

Man as Microcosm

Man as a Mirror of Being

The Four Humours

Anatomy and Physiology

Zodiac Man

Man as a Microcosm of Spirituality and Materiality

The Unity of Mankind and the Natural Order

The Body Politic

Leviathan

The Human Body as a Miniature Universe Animated by its Soul

3 Divine Proportions 106

Harmony

Sacred Geometry

The Music of the Spheres

The Fibonacci Sequence

Palaeontology

The Golden Ratio

Platonic Forms

Pattern

Universal Symmetry

Geometry

Perspective

Proportion

Architecture

Mandiebrot Sets

Art and Science

The Quincunx Pattern

Tesserae

Mobius Strips

Impossible Objects and Architecture - Escher, Boullée, Buckminster Fuller.

4 In Search of Nirvana 164

The Living Earth. Farces of Creation and Destruction

Alchemy

The Properties of Beasts, Bestiaries, the Hierarchy of Beasts

Visions of Eden, Earthly Paradise, the Diorama of Life

Heaven, Hell and the Afterlife

Angels and Demons, Gods and Goddesses, Immortals, Divine Beings

Heavenly Messengers

Supernatural Beings

Enlightened Souls

Fallen Angels

Powers of Darkness

Spiritual Void

5 And So On To Infinity 208

The Macrocosmos

Metaphysics

Signs and Wonders

Mapping the Universe

Exploring the Cosmos

The Runaway Universe

The Celestial Wheel

The Zodiac

Terrestrial and Sidereal Calendars

Measuring Time

Models of Infinity

Visions of Eternity

Cosmology

Celestial Mapping

Perpetual Motion

Bibliography 250

Sources of Illustrations 252

Sources of Quotations 254

Index 255

Acknowledgments 256

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