The axis mundi refers to a symbolic structure or location understood as the central point of the world. It functions as a vertical link connecting cosmic levels such as the heavens, the human realm, and the underworld. In myth, ritual, and sacred geography, the axis mundi may appear as a mountain, tree, city, sanctuary, or constructed object that anchors order and meaning. Rather than a physical axis, it represents orientation, stability, and access between realms, allowing communication, authority, or blessing to flow through a recognized center of the world.
Intertexts
- 2 Enoch 26:3 / Apocalypse of Abraham 21:4
- Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta / Pseudo Hippolytus, Easter Homily 1:5
- Enki and Ninhursag / Ezekiel 47:1
- Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta / Daniel 4:11
- Pseudo Hippolytus, Easter Homily 1:5 / Athanasius, On the Incarnation of the Word 25:3
- Ezekiel 5:5 / Jubilees 8:12
References
- Walton, John H., Genesis 1 as Ancient Cosmology
- Boyd, Samuel L., "Place as Real and Imagined in Exile: Jerusalem at the Center of Ezekiel" in Greenspoon, Leonard J., editor. Next Year in Jerusalem: Exile and Return in Jewish History
- Orlov, Andrei, Supernal Serpent: Mysteries of Leviathan in Judaism and Christianity
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