Spiraling Nature

Spirals are a common shape found in nature, as well as in sacred architecture. In the natural world, we find spirals in the DNA double helix, sunflowers, the path of draining water, weather patterns (including hurricanes), vine tendrils, phyllotaxis (the arrangement of leaves on a plant stem), galaxies, the horns of various animals, mollusc shells, the nautilus shell, snail shells, whirlpools, ferns and algae. Look at a cross section of red cabbage and you will see spirals. Look at your fingertip, where you would make a fingerprint, and you will see a spiral. Even the shape of your hair at the crown of your head…a spiral. Spirals seem to permeate many diverse natural formations: inorganic and organic, lifeless and alive, non-conscious and conscious.