World axis
The world axis ( lat. Axis mundi ), also celestial axis , is a fundamental term in cosmogonic myths and describes the connection between the center of heaven and earth.
In numerous mythological ideas, especially in shamanism , the world tree , the world mountain and the world axis are at the center of cosmogony. The axis of the world tree breaks through the different levels of reality and thus offers a possibility to advance from one form of existence to another. With the help of and along this world axis, the shaman , the witch or the wise seer moves to other levels of being in order to connect with supernatural and subterranean beings (ancestors, spirits) in the service of the community.
The mythological origin of a world axis is probably derived from the early use of the wheel. In the imagination of many peoples it was intuitively understandable that the rotating earth or the world rotating around the earth must also have an axis. Just like a wheel axle, according to the conception at the time, this had to represent the connection to a higher functional structure and thus offer the only connection to another reality.
At the intersection of the earthly world and the world axis is the center of the world, often referred to as the “navel of the earth”, at the location of which is a holy mountain , a holy city or a central temple.
In ancient Greece, the cult stone Omphalos was considered a world axis. In India, in the early Buddhist period, free-standing stone columns, stambhas , were erected, which, like the flagpole of the same name ( Sanskrit dwajasthamba ) , are perceived as a world axis on the grounds of Hindu temples .
In the Mithras cult , the world axis is an eight-part ladder that connects the earth with the eight heavens.
In Christianity and in Christian cosmology, Jerusalem with the hill Golgotha was viewed as the center of the world, accordingly the cross was to be seen symbolically as a kind of world tree.
For the North American Indians, the center of the world was symbolized by a small cavity ( sipapu for the Hopi ) in the center of the underground cult area ( kiva ), which was also the entrance to the underworld. From there the ascent takes place along the world axis and with it the appearance of man in the world.
The world axis also plays an important role in the mythology of the Maya (see Palenque , Balancanché, etc.).
Customs and rites derived from the world axis developed in many cultures. The most famous custom in the German-speaking area and parts of Scandinavia is the maypole festival . Here the maypole decorated with a wreath symbolizes the world tree or the world axis.
A regional significance in the form of a Weltachsölung has developed in the Palatinate Waldleiningen , the lubrication of the Pälzer Weltachs , which goes back to the Palatinate dialect poet Paul Münch , has become a tradition there since 1964.
"World axis" or "sky axis" was also used synonymously for earth axis until the 19th century . In astrology , the Latin name Axis Mundi is still used today and usually denotes the line connecting Medium coeli (MC, south point) and Imum coeli (IC, north point) in the horoscope , but sometimes also the line connecting zenith and nadir , with that of this The connecting line and the plane spanning the earth's axis intersects the zodiac plane represented in the horoscope in the line MC-IC.
See also
literature
- Uno Harva : The religious ideas of the Altaic peoples. FF Communications N: o 125. Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia, Helsinki 1938, pp. 34–49 (Chapter: The sky with its pillar )
Individual evidence
- ↑ Mircea Eliade : The religions and the holy. Elements of the history of religion. Otto Müller Verlag, Salzburg 1954, Chapter VIII, esp.p. 112ff
- ↑ Uno Harva: The religious ideas of the Altaic peoples. FF Communications N: o 125. Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia, Helsinki 1938, pp. 34-49
- ↑ a b Religion in the past and present , 3rd edition Tübingen 1956ff, vol. 4, p. 625
- ↑ a b David A. Leeming: Axis Mundi . In: Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religion. Springer, New York 2010, Vol. 2, p. 90
- ↑ world axis . In: Heinrich August Pierer , Julius Löbe (Hrsg.): Universal Lexicon of the Present and the Past . 4th edition (1857-1865). Altenburg ( zeno.org ).