Flower of Life

Here we see the well-known "Flower of Life" pattern, consisting of nineteen interlocking hexagons in a cubic/hexagonal arrangement. While the particular term "Flower of Life" is, as far as I have ever been able to determine, of fairly recent and dubious origin, there is certainly no doubt that the pattern itself is of great antiquity, and can be found throughout the world among many different cultures.

Note that this arrangement of circles, where the center of one circle is placed on the edge of another, can be viewed as a two dimensional projection of cubically packed spheres, as well as an overlapping hexagonal packing of circles. This arrangement of circles is also of course the origin of the better-known vesica piscis pattern, found throughout the world's religious and artistic traditions, which is formed by two overlapping circles with centers on each other's radii.

There is frankly a lot of crap going around these days about this pattern, under this name—"Flower of Life"—that I wish neither to endorse nor in any way to promote. Suffice to say I would not have included this image here if I did not find it to have self-evident hexagonal and geometrical merit, and if it hadn't become a fairly fashionable and well-circulated motif in certain spheres of late. I would however urge the interested student of hexagonal principles to avoid buying into any particular belief system (BS) about this pattern, particularly any that may involve lost contintents, personal intercourse with anthropomorphic Egyptian deities, &c., being pushed by parties with a pretty clear profit-oriented agenda.