A cosmogram is a flat geometric figure depicting a cosmology

Cosmology

Cosmology is the discipline that deals with the nature of the Universe as a whole. Cosmologists seek to understand the origin, evolution, structure, and ultimate fate of the Universe at large, as well as the natural laws that keep it in order...

. Some of them were created for meditation

Meditation

Meditation is any form of a family of practices in which practitioners train their minds or self-induce a mode of consciousness to realize some benefit....

al purpose. Mandala

Mandala

Maṇḍala is a Sanskrit word that means "circle". In the Buddhist and Hindu religious traditions their sacred art often takes a mandala form. The basic form of most Hindu and Buddhist mandalas is a square with four gates containing a circle with a center point...

s are the best known cosmograms, but similar diagrams, known as schema, were also used in western Europe during the Middle Ages.

Many cosmograms feature a circle and a square, or a circle and a cross. The circle may represent the universe, or unity. The square or cross may represent the Earth, the four directions. The centre may represent the individual. Many diagrams featuring circles and squares or crosses may be interpreted as cosmograms, although they may not be intentionally created as such. For example, traditional Chinese coins

Chinese coins

Chinese coins were produced continuously for around 2,500 years by casting in moulds, rather than being struck with dies as with most western coins.-Pre-Imperial :The earliest coinage of China was described by Sima Qian, the great historian of c...

 that are round with a square hole in the middle, have been given such an interpretation, and so has the board for the game ludo, see Cross and Circle game

Cross and Circle game

Cross and Circle is a board game design used for race games played throughout the world.-Design:Strictly, the design comprises a circle divided into four equal portions by a cross inscribed inside it; the classic example of this design is Yut...

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"Cosmogram" is also the name used in Cosmobiology

Cosmobiology

Historically, the term 'Kosmobiologie' was used by the German medical astrologer Friedrich Feerhow and Swiss statistician Karl Krafft in a more general sense "to designate that branch of astrology working on scientific foundations and keyed to the natural sciences"....

 to describe the specialized horoscope

Horoscope

In astrology, a horoscope is a chart or diagram representing the positions of the Sun, Moon, planets, the astrological aspects, and sensitive angles at the time of an event, such as the moment of a person's birth. The word horoscope is derived from Greek words meaning "a look at the hours" In...

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