The term “Axis Mundi” refers to a pattern found throughout cultures’
modes of thinking about the cosmos, all with a similar method of symbolism, and
frequently connected to themes of temple worship and the temple itself.
Explained in a basic way, the axis mundi is exactly that, like the name in
Latin suggests- a world hub, not only of
the world but between the worlds. The
axis mundi symbolically represents the binding point linking together Heaven,
Earth, and the Underworld, the hub of cosmic plains itself. Physically,
geographically it is represented as a center point not only between realms but
a center point within realm(s)- in other words, the axis mundi is the center
point of geography. In temple symbolism, for example, we can see this represented
in the importance of the four cardinal directions. The symbolism is intriguing-
the center of the geography is an access point to the supernatural, connecting
the worlds as part of each other (on Earth, anything hailing from above or
below is supernatural- from beyond nature, otherworldly in its truest sense.)
Mircea Eliade, pioneer of the idea of axis mundi, explains the primacy of
hierophany (a manifestation of the divine) in the idea of axis mundi and the
axis mundi’s own centrality. “The cry of the Kwakiutl neophyte, ‘I am at the Center
of the World!’ at once reveals one of the deepest meanings of sacred space. Where
the break-through from plane to plane has been modified by a hierophany there
too an opening has been made, either upward (the divine world) or downward (the
underworld, the world of the dead). The three cosmic levels- earth, heaven,
underworld- have been put in communication. As we just saw, this communication
is sometimes expressed through the image of a universal pillar, axis mundi, which
at once connects and supports heaven and earth.” 1
The examples themselves of axes mundi of various world cultures take on a
few broad patterns, which are bold and obvious yet with enough room to get
breathtakingly deep with application and interconnection between symbols. We’ll
examine a few of those below, but the primary point of this paper will be to
get a more general overview of axis mundi symbolism. The primary forms of axes
mundi we’ll be examining are: the world navel, the world tree, the cross, the
cosmic mountain. We’ll also examine a few symbols that show up alongside the
axis mundi symbol frequently, such as the labyrinth.
We’ll begin with mountain symbolism. Connecting temple symbolism with the
axis mundi, the mountain itself is a universally attested symbol for the temple,
and vice versa, with one particular manifestation of mountain symbolism, the
cosmic mountain, being an axis mundi in itself. Earthly mountains (holding roots
in underworld, featuring physical presence in our world, with the natural extension
up into heaven) are but microcosms of the cosmic mountain.
If there is one aspect of axis mundi symbolism that could be described to
be even more universal than the cosmic mountain, it would be this- that of the
world tree. The axis mundi links together the three realms, which takes natural
format in the concept of a tree- passing through the realms, with its roots in
the underworld, its trunk extending through this world, and its branches in the
heavens. The world tree specifically models compelling evidence for the
existence of the axis mundi in non-old-world society. It’s a common enough
attestation of the idea of the axis mundi that a paper could be written wholly
on just this facet of the symbolism. The world tree is central to Mesoamerican
and North American mythology and cosmology, aside from its being found to
lesser or greater degrees in many other cultures worldwide, such as the
celebrated Yggdrasill of Nordic myth. Focusing on the New World attestations of
the World Tree, we turn our attention to the temple symbolism of the ceiba
tree.
Allen
J. Christenson writes, in his paper “The World Tree and Maya Theology”: “In
Mesoamerican theology the World Tree grew at the locus of creation, all things flowing
out from that spot toward the four directions. The tree thus forms part of what
Mircea Eliade refers to as the ‘symbolism of the center.’…This source of all
creation was often depicted by the Maya as a tree or maize plant… The ceiba is
an ideal symbol for this conception of the World Tree. It is one of the tallest
of trees indigenous to southern Mesoamerica. In areas of dense tropical rain forest,
such as Chiapas (where Palenque is located), or the Petén region of northeastern
Guatemala, the ceiba soars to the very top of the jungle canopy, attaining heights
of 175 feet or more. The trunk is remarkably straight, and its branches extend at
nearly right angles high above the ground, reminiscent of the cross-shaped trees
seen in the art of Palenque.”2
The similarity between the world tree and the cross was not lost on early
Christian explorers, who saw the world trees as crosses themselves instead of
taking them for what they really were. The cross itself can be seen as an
example of axis mundi, such as the example given in the Encyclopedia of
Religion article. “There is a tendency to replicate the image of the axis mundi in multiple forms. Such is
the case with the cross—the cosmic tree of Christianity. Recreating the image
of the axis mundi in the forms of
village sites, house plans, ritual furnishings, personal ornaments, and even
kitchen items tends to identify the universe as a whole with the fullness of
being characteristic of action at that sacred place [i.e., the atonement.] It
ensures that contact with the fullness of reality is everywhere possible.”3
The idea of the axis mundi simultaneously connecting the worlds
emphasizes the kind of nourishing role that the axis mundi may have. From this
we see an obvious extension and common form: the axis mundi is somewhat
literally the navel of the world- in the Greek, omphalos. The omphalos connects
us to life, imbuing the mortal world with nourishment from the divine worlds, as
we’ve seen, as well as being the center location, a crucial aspect of axis
mundi symbolism. Many world mythologies, specifically North and Meso-American
ones, place their world trees explicitly at the navel, the center of life.
One of the interesting things about navel symbolism, of course, is the
idea that the umbilical cord is now closed off, that the object that “at once
connects and supports heaven and earth” has been disconnected. As in the
example of the Babylonian ziggurat (temple) of Dur-an-ki, the name given to
several sanctuaries. The phrase is translated by Eliade to mean link between
heaven and earth, implying a representation of the unification of the heavens
with the earth, 4 but the implication is disputed by Thorkild Jacobsen, and further by J. Z.
Smith, who state that the Dur-an-ki stood for a disjunction between the heavens
and the earth rather than a conjunction, and which would more accurately be
representative of “the scar, or navel, left behind when heaven and earth were
forcibly separated in creation.”5 It
still stands for a navel, but as a reminder rather of something now permanently
cut off.
This division is not easy to rectify; however, the disconnect may be
explained in the symbolism, frequently concomitant with the axis mundi
(particularly in its cosmic mountain form,) of the labyrinth. A labyrinth is of course a maze, but capable at once of
being highly symbolic and diversely represented in more ways than we think of
as mazes- basically, though, still representative of challenge or obstacle. Having
the hub in the central place emphasizes its importance in the cosmos, marking
its significance and thus, though centrally accessible, remote from the realms
of the uninitiated as it entwines with the otherworld plains; its distance from
mortal man makes the place of the axis a guarded one. Keeping to the example of
mountains, they frequently represent permanence, unyieldingness, but also in
themselves obstacles to overcome (as can still be seen in some modern idioms, such
as to climb the mountain because it’s there.)
The temple is thus symbolized of both labyrinth and axis mundi- which is
possible, specifically, with the separation of sacred spaces from spaces even
more sacred. As the inner sanctum is beyond the outer sanctum, the axis mundi
is at the center of the labyrinth, something to be attained only after meeting
the challenges. It is only after learning of the mysteries and navigating the
challenges, such as presenting the ritual symbols and tokens and passing the
tests of morality and worthiness, that the initiate may ascend into a higher
plain of consciousness both literally as an initiate and symbolically, with the
temple ritual being preparatory for death and resurrection. The navel, then,
would be cut off to all but those initiates into the mysteries, and the
labyrinth, with its complex pathways spiraling inward one way and outward the
other, is a reminder of this.
The importance of the axis mundi to labyrinth symbolism is demonstrated
in the Buddhist Mandala, which is a well-attested labyrinth symbol. Mandalas
are in a sense mini-temples, being encapsulations of the whole universe or axis
mundi unto themselves, the square (symbolic, with its four faces, of the four
cardinal directions and thus the earth) containing the circle (the sky, or
heavens.) Specifically beyond the dimensions of being cosmic representations to
themselves, and specifically illustrating the axis mundi as being central to or
of the labyrinth, mandalas have at their centers representations of Mount Meru,
the cosmic mountain. Mount Meru was the primordial hillock in Buddhist belief, and
represents the axis mundi in nearly all ways possible: it occupies the center
place, being underneath the polestar, and having the four continents and seven
seas spring from it; it is connected to the four cardinal directions: flanked
by four mountains, each of its sides (varnas) a different color, and the point
where Ganges touches the earth dividing into four rivers that flow each a
different direction.[6] Even
viewed more abstractly, Meru is central to the mandala. Writes I. W. Mabbet, in
History of Religions: “Almost any symbolic
representation that is ritually effective may count as a mandala—it need not be a pictorial design on a plane surface—and R.
Ekvall tells us that the simplest form of mandala
is made by interlacing the fingers, palms up, with the third fingers pointing
upward back to back: they represent Mount Meru. Another form of mandala used to be made every day in monasteries:
a dole of rice, representing Meru, would be offered to the Buddha in an elaborate
ritual as an oblation of the whole world.”7
As compelling as these attestations are, it is important
not to get too carried away with the model. The axis mundi theory is a useful
analytical tool, but one which becomes increasingly inapplicable outside a
temple context. Frank J. Korom, of the University of Pennsylvania in
Philadelphia, follows J. Z. Smith in disputation of Eliade’s conclusions
regarding the matter. “If we accept the contemporary criticisms,
interpretations, and exegesis that has resulted from more sufficient evidence
based on ever-increasing sources of information and documentation,” he writes, “then
we must seriously question the use of axis mundi as a universal mythological
concept. What began as a potentially useful analytic model for the study of a
specific culture over a century ago has been transformed into a
phenomenological ideal type grounded in an inaccurate original hypothesis, and
scanty worldwide empirical evidence.
“This is not to say, however, that the concept of axis
mundi does not exist somewhere in the world, in a specific context.… The
symbolism of a stationary temple-building culture, for example, is not equivalent
to that of a nomadic, tent-dwelling one. Here is where Eliade's concept must be
applied cautiously. The concept of a mythic axis mundi can be a useful analytic
tool or phenomenological category only if it is grounded in specifics, not in
vague examples applied within an atemporal and aspatial theoretical framework.”8
This is a good reminder not to go too far—while I don’t
personally agree with all of Korom’s conclusions, finding, e.g. the world tree
too prevalent in world society and mythology to be mere coincidence, it is
important not to syncretize contradictory beliefs in the name of proving any
one model for temple symbolism analysis true or not.
In conclusion, the axis mundi model of the world and cosmos
is a very interesting and instructive world view, a fascinating lens in
analysis of temple typology. It has many attestations which fit in some ways
and contradict in others, working together to fill out a larger theological
framework relating to the operation of the world, mysteries to be experienced
in the context of temples, whatever context that may take.
[1]
Mircea Eliade, "The Center of the World," in The Sacred and the Profane:
The Nature of Religion [1957], p. 36.
[2]Allen
J. Christenson, "The World Tree and Maya Theology," in The Tree of
Life: From Eden to Eternity, Ed.s John W. Welch and Donald W. Parry (Neal A.
Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, Provo, Utah, 2011), pp. 158-159.
[3]"Axis
Mundi," Encyclopedia of Religion, 2 end. (2005), 2:713.
[4]
Mircea Eliade, "The Center of the World," in The Sacred and the
Profane: The Nature of Religion [1957], p. 41
[5] Smith,
Jonathan Z. "The Wobbling Pivot." The Journal of Religion 52, no. 2
(1972): 144-45. http://www.jstor.org.byui.idm.oclc.org/stable/1201635.
[6]
"Mountains," Encyclopedia of Religion, Vol 10: p 131
[7] I.
W. Mabbett, "Symbolism of Mount Meru," History of Religions, Vol. 23,
No. 1 (Aug., 1983), p 78, (citing
R. Ekvall, Religious Observances in Tibet: Patterns
and Function (Chicago, 1964), p. 177)
[8] Korom, Frank J. "Of
Navels and Mountains: A Further Inquiry into the History of an Idea." Asian
Folklore Studies 51, no. 1 (1992): 115-16.
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