Making Nature Sacred 3 - Spencer Beeson

The term axis mundi is essentially the center of the world, both physically and spiritually. Often a culture will have their own axis mundi, usually a natural object such as a tree, rock, or mountain. But an axis mundi can also be completely individual; there is no certain place that is axis mundi, meaning that there many ‘centers of the universe’. Dominique Susani says, “A great number of traditions identify the center of the world as a navel. The navel not only indicates the center of physical manifestation, but it is also the spiritual center of the world, such as the “ladder” (“bethyle” in Hebrew) in the form of a column, raised by Jacob, or the omphalos of Delphi.” This shows that the axis mundi terminates the duality of physical and spiritual, and brings everything together as one. Susani then goes on to say, “The omphalos (navel) is therefore the site where the cosmos materializes the order of the world, a type of interface between the material and the spiritual.” The axis mundi is a portal, or as Professor Redick says, a pipe that allows earth and the cosmos to flow through and connect. When a human experiences the axis mundi they cease to be just earth, or human, and everything else is forgotten as they experience the cosmos. Finally, it’s important to realize the axis mundi is mental then physical. There cannot be a physical site or object until the idea of a ‘center’ is grasped mentally.