Sea, Shells & Nautilus

 “My soul is full of longing
for the secret of the sea,
and the heart of the great ocean
sends a thrilling pulse through me.”
―Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

 I am mad about the sea-and even more so about  shells-I have a collection of most beautiful, exquisite unusual ones that I have collected through many years. I have visited many islands, and beaches and always I pick some up-I am mesmerized, fascinated and think that they are one of the most beautiful things of creation ever created. I often, when I look at them, I imagine when they were born, how they lived their lives in the deep, where and now their skeletons, their abodes are living in my glass cabinets now-still I am sure having some of their DNA within them . I love to feel them, touch them -they have a special energy. They each have a story to tell- their own, and mine when I have found them. I have collected them for at least 35 years, some dozens of years old. I simply adore their amazing various forms and  how mystically most take the form from the”Golden mean” -I even love the little humble, tiny ones that are nondescript-they all have a  story. Looking at them often feels what they have to say-and where they have been-often many very old and wise. 

I would think that this love came to me because I have such a strong affinity for the sea- the pull is so very compelling it is unable to describe; its more on a mystical, spiritual level. Often I am told-humorously of course that I may have been a fish in a past life-well that still has to be verified.

Someone once said-I cannot recall who, but his observation was very correct about the comparison or similarity-  that the heart of man is very much like the sea, it has its storms, it has its tides and in its depths it has its pearls too. So true-maybe that is what I feel and see about the sea.

One of   the most fascinating shell is the Nautilus shell - of which I have  two, it is said to be 500 millions of years old on the planet -oldest survivor of our oceans and live very deep down. They contains the “golden  ratio”-that is so important in creation, in all of evolution. The Golden Mean is represented by the Greek letter phi, (with the decimal representation of 1.6180...) is one of those mysterious natural numbers that seems to arise out of the basic structure of our cosmos. Phi appears regularly in the realm of things that grow and unfold in steps just as the Nautilus shell grows larger on each spiral by phi.

With each revolution completing a cycle of evolution, the Golden Mean Spiral is symbolic of life’s unfolding mysteries. The continuous curves of the spirals, which are feminine in nature, and the ratios between each of the chambers reveal the intimate relationship between the harmonics of nature and Sacred Geometry.

Sacred Geometry is a term used to describe the basic building blocks of the universe. This ancient science explores and explains the physical and energy patterns that create and unify all things and reveals the way that the Universe of creation organizes itself. Every natural pattern of growth or movement conforms inevitably to one or more geometric shapes. From the molecules of our DNA to the galaxy we spiral within, life and it's forms emerge out of geometric codes.

 “The Golden Ratio (phi) is the unique ratio such that the ratio of the whole to the larger portion is the same as the ratio of the larger portion to the smaller portion. The ratio links each chamber of the nautilus to the new growth and symbolically, each new generation to its ancestors, preserving the continuity of relationship as the means for retracing its lineage. This geometry of the Nautilus can be found in the spiral patterns of cauliflower, the placement of the leaves on most plants, the arrangement of pattern on a pine cone. The ratios can be retrieved from the shape of our DNA and the measurement of distant galaxies as the Sacred Geometry demonstrates the blueprint of the sacred foundation of all things and the inter-connectedness of all the various parts of the whole”- ( this is not from me but from the internet".

If you are fortunate enough to have a cross section of a Nautilus shell, hold it in your hands. If you do not  have the actual shell, a picture of a cross-section of the shell will be an acceptable substitute. Quiet your thoughts and for a moment, just concentrate on the beginning point of the spiral deep within the shell. With your eyes open, follow the spiral around and around as it climbs higher and higher, like a staircase, opening into larger and larger chambers. Close your eyes and visualize that central point again and imagine yourself, very small, at the beginning of the spiral. Just as you followed the spiral around and around like a staircase, imagine yourself climbing those stairs, spiralling around and around, climbing higher and higher and moving up and out through the chambers, each chamber being a larger replica of the one before. 

Go slowly and allow yourself to experience the turns of the spiral and how it gets wider and wider at each turn. In your mind's eye look down into the spiral and view the center once again to see how far you have gone. The spiral staircase can go anywhere you want it to go, or you can stop in any one of the chambers to receive the knowledge and wisdom of that chamber. Remember that the Nautilus has been replicating itself for 500 million years and carries in it's chambers the memories and knowledge of times past. When you feel that you have experienced the upward turning of the spiral, look back once again to the center to see how far you have climbed. Then relax your mind and rest for a time within the spiral's energy. Make notes and what you experienced with the Nautilus.