The Harmony of the Spheres
The music of the universe, explained.
“Such harmony is in immortal souls.” - Shakespeare
Musical harmony is one of the most beautiful of all human experiences.
When the chorus of singers or strings sync up in perfect intervals of tone and it seems to reach something ineffable, an emotion without a name. Pure feeling.
Musical theory (particularly in the West) is carrying on a tradition dating back at least to Pythagoras, and is based on mathematical ratios.
These ratios were taken to extreme philosophical levels by Pythagoras and others, to extend to the entirety of existence and the universe.
The Hermetic Esotericism of the Harmony of the Spheres is evident:
“Pythagoras ... recognized that the musical octave is the simplest and most profound expression of the relationship between spirit and matter. The 'miracle of the octave' is that it divides wholeness into two audibly distinguishable parts, yet remains recognizable as the same musical note ... a tangible manifestation of the hermetic maxim 'as above, so below'.”
- David Plant, scholar of astrological history.
But there’s much more than that.
What is “The Harmony of the Spheres"?”
The “spheres” themselves being referred to in this mystical-sounding phrase are the movements of the planets and stars, essentially, as observed by ancient and medieval astronomers, noticing that these objects in the sky moved as if they were affixed onto spheres rotating around, nested within each other at intervals, like layers of an onion.
Pythagoras believed that certain ratios could be found everywhere, and that these ratios were repeated across nearly everything you could think of. His discovery of musical harmony came from these ratios, by plucking strings at levels of tension in particular ratios that gave rise to a pleasing harmony of sound.
This mathematical approach to harmony using ratios was projected across nature and the entire universe.
Scientists were still seeing ratios repeating across scientific disciplines thousands of years later:
“A notable example of modern corroboration of ancient philosophical reaching is that of the progression of the elements according to harmonic ratios. While making a list of the elements in the ascending order of their atomic weights, John A. Newlands discovered at every eighth element a distinct repetition of properties. This discovery is known as the law of octaves in modern chemistry.”
Manly Hall, The Secret Teachings of All Ages (1928)
Pythagoras believed that the relative distances and speeds of the moving planets created an actual music that could be felt, and that this music was a divine good.
He already believed music could heal people. The harmony, or music, of “the spheres” was the grand, universal, divine version of the power of music and harmony.
The Zodiac
Ptolemy, in the 2nd century AD, developed harmony theories that link harmony, ratio, and the Zodiac. He linked the significance of the five astrological aspects (conjunctions, sextiles, squares, trines, and oppositions) with musical ratios.
He’s also credited with the first known 'tone-zodiac', which was a link between the twelve Zodiac signs and musical intervals, a concept explored by later astrological researchers.
“Ptolemy reveals that the heavens and human souls share the same formal structure ... harmonic ratios describe the relations among not only musical pitches but also the parts of the human soul and the movements and configurations of heavenly bodies.”
- Jacqueline Feke, Ptolemy’s Philosophy, Princeton University Press
Kepler, Shakespeare, and modern times
The Harmony of the Spheres took on a much bigger life in the Middle Ages. It extended into the Renaissance era, too.
Most notably, in the 17th century, Johannes Kepler was obsessed with the harmonic ratios of planetary movements, two thousand years after Pythagoras was doing the same thing. But now with a heliocentric solar system:
"Henceforth it is no longer a harmony made for the benefit of our planet, but the song which the cosmos sings to its lord and centre, the Solar Logos".
Kepler outlined musical roles for the different planets:
“...the Solar System was composed of two basses (Saturn and Jupiter), a tenor (Mars), two altos (Venus and Earth), and a soprano (Mercury), which had sung in "perfect concord," at the beginning of time, and could potentially arrange themselves to do so again...”
And he showed a strong spiritual bent in his own theories of the Harmony of the Spheres:
“...He was certain of the link between musical harmonies and the harmonies of the heavens and believed that "man, the imitator of the Creator," had emulated the polyphony of the heavens so as to enjoy "the continuous duration of the time of the world in a fraction of an hour." - Wikipedia
Shakespeare, too, referenced the Harmony of the Spheres:
Sit, Jessica. Look how the floor of heaven
Is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold:
There's not the smallest orb which thou behold'st
But in his motion like an angel sings,
Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubins;
Such harmony is in immortal souls;
- The Merchant of Venice
In the centuries following, including the twentieth century and beyond, composers have created musical works based on the Harmony of the Spheres, and references to it continue in modern culture. Some have created actual music based on the movement of the planets and their harmonic ratios.
The study of mathematics and ratios in science, and the emotional power of music, are as strong now as they’ve ever been.
The next time you hear beautiful music and harmony, think of it in relation to our long scientific, cultural, and spiritual history, and meditate on that. How is your life in or out of harmony? What music seems to tap into something deep within you?
- Joe
Links to read more:
A short video on the Harmony of the Spheres
Pythagoras’ theory of music (and color)