The Translation Society Preface From Hans Kayser's Textbook of Harmonics

 Preface

Sacred Science Translation Society

The Sacred Science Translation Society is very happy to release the first of what we hope to be a long line of translations of important source works in esoterics and cosmology. This project began with the generous donation of an angel benefactor who agreed to contribute enough funding to complete at least half of this first work, Textbook of Harmonics, by Hans Kayser. Then through the generous contribution of another 5 individuals, we were able to raise the funds to translate the remaining half of the book.

We had always considered Joscelyn Godwin to be the ideal translator for this text, so we approached him and he directed us to his son, Ariel, who had graduated from college with a degree in German, and who had been helping his father with some translation work. This was an excellent opportunity, since Ariel was more affordable and available than Joscelyn, while Joscelyn generously agreed to donate his services in editing the book to assure that we had an English translation that was equivalent to the German original. Ariel and Joscelyn have accomplished that goal in this edition, and we are deeply grateful for their dedicated and generous contribution to this project.

Upon completion of Kayser’s Textbook, we were very fortunate to come across another angel benefactor who agreed to fund the translation of a second work, The Law of the Kosmos, by Eberhard Wortmann, a masterpiece of esoteric cosmology and the Glass Bead Game, translating the geometric code from Plato’s Republic/Timaeus into a series of mysterious and profound diagrams of great originality. Upon completion of that second text, we were confronted with the problem of finding more funding for another book, or losing Ariel to another job, which we did not want to do. Fortunately, our first angel agreed to fund the translation of another masterpiece, De l’architecture naturelle, by Petrus Talemarianus, another text with the technical sophistication of Kayser, showing the mathematical and symbolic meaning and correspondences between the ancient architectural and symbolic systems of the world.

The Sacred Science Translation Society is our attempt to develop a better way to continue to fund similar translations of equivalently important works, never before translated into English, without having to rely upon the rare and generous donations of a few rare individuals. Now that we have three translations ready or close for publication, we have decided to create a society dedicated to the continuance of this project. We consider this project to be a non-profit venture, and all proceeds generated from the sales of these translations will be dedicated to translating more books. If we can find 30-50 members who agree to purchase each book in the series, at a 30% discount off the retail price, this would generate enough funds to have each new book pay for the translation of another book, creating a perpetually driven translation mechanism, through which we could make available dozens of fascinating titles from many languages.

We further intend to explore turning this entire project into a non-profit foundation, so that we could apply for grant money to fund the translations and publications, and to make the donations and purchases of members tax-deductible as a charitable contribution. Since this may take some time to develop, the Translation Society is a means whereby we can continue the project until the time we have developed more funding possibilities.

Origins of this translation

The individuals who are responsible for funding this translation all derive from a tradition of financial market analysis specializing in Gann Theory, an esoteric market tradition founded upon the work of W. D. Gann, a 33rd degree Freemason, and legendary financial forecaster and trader. In 1909, in an interview with the precursor of the Wall Street Journal, Gann stated that his forecasting principles were based upon what he called the Law of Vibration, a harmonic ordering process which governed everything in the universe, including the financial markets. He used a secret trading tool called the Square of Nine, which he was said to have discovered in India, and about which he only ever wrote one paragraph of explanation, to day trade on the floor of the exchange, and would consistently call market tops and bottoms.

Since Gann never explained how this tool worked, for the last century financial researchers have had to attempt to reverse engineer his theories using only his marked-up Square of Nine charts to discover what exactly he was doing. A brief perusal of this volume will quickly demonstrate why Kayser’s work would be of importance to these analysts, as this treatise presents the most detailed elaboration of universal harmonics with its applications to every branch of physical phenomena, and includes many of the exact same diagrams discovered in Gann’s courses and papers, such as the Square of Nine. The similarity between Gann’s and Kayser’s work has led some researchers to speculate whether Gann may have known of Kayser, being that they were contemporaries. If not, they certainly drew from the same sources of esoteric and cosmological tradition hidden within ancient and alternative scientific teachings.

I mention the connection with Gann as a demonstration of the potential practicality and applicability of the knowledge contained within this treatise. Many would think this study would apply primarily to musicians and musicologists, but surprisingly there are more market analysts who are familiar with Kayser than musicians. Another interesting field working closely with Kayser’s material in the design and energetic sciences is that of Egyptian BioGeometry, inspired by Dr. Ibrahim Karim (see www.biogeometry.ca). This tradition cross-correlates research in the field of French Vibrational Radiesthesia with the temple design science of Ancient Egypt and the sacred architects of the great ancient civilizations. They see Kayser’s work as demonstrating a “physics of quality” fundamental to understanding the reason why the ratios and proportions of sacred architecture create a subjective experience different from that of profane architecture. For those looking for elaborations and applications of Kayser’s harmonic theories, either of these fields will provide direction for a deeper exploration and experimentation.

About this edition and future editions

This current Translation Society Edition is a somewhat rough, pre-press edition provided for those who have been waiting years for the completion of this translation. The text is complete, and represents as excellent a presentation of Kayser’s style and form as is possible in English. The diagrams are all included and have had all the terminology translated into English. Unfortunately, some of the diagrams are not as clean and clear as we would like. The nature of the original edition from which we took the scans, with its particularly thin and transparent paper, caused the text from the other side of the page to bleed through at times. We do intended to reshoot or redraw all the diagrams, and to also translate the German musical notation into English notation for a future edition, but the challenges posed in doing this now, would have further delayed the release of this edition by another six months or more, so we decided to release it as is, since the difference is primarily aesthetic, not informational.

Our plans are to release an official collector’s edition at some point down the road, with perfect, perhaps redrawn diagrams, in a folio edition like the original, with slipcase and all the frills, as well as producing an affordable student edition for the wider public. In these editions we also plan to include a collection of essays by original students of Kayser’s, family members, and scholars. However, it will take some serious funding to complete the project in this scope, the equivalent of translating ten books, and will likely require our finding grant money, a large donor, or a publishing partner to make this vision possible.

We will continue to explore all these avenues, and we encourage anyone with any further or alternative ideas to contact us. In the mean time, we feel it more prudent to dedicate the proceeds from these Translation Society Editions to fund further translations, which we can make quickly available in the current format, for those primarily interested in the information. There are 12 further books by Kayser (see listing p. 613 of Volume II) which we should be able to translate within the next few years if we find enough support for the Translation Society. We have already prepared to have Ariel begin translating the next Kayser volume, Paestum, The Nomoi of Three Ancient Greek Temples at Paestum, Kayser’s primary work on the harmonics of ancient architecture. We intend to follow that work with Harmonia Plantarum, Kayser’s work on the harmonics of plant form.

HansKayser.com

We are in the process of completing a Hans Kayser website, www.hanskayser.com, where we will collect information, articles, and links related to Kayser’s work, harmonics and related subjects. Kayser’s books will be available through this site, and we will provide an open discussion forum where people can discuss their research and thoughts on the material. We expect to have this site available within a few months of the book’s release, and invite everyone to come communicate with each other and develop a lively research forum, spanning numerous fields of expertise.

William Bradstreet Stewart

Institute of CosmoEconomics
Idyllwild, CA, June, 2006

 Related Pages