gnostic handbook

The Gnostic Handbook Page 17
If we consider the image of the Cross we can delineate certain characteristics, there is the Sacred
Centre, the Vertical Line becomes the Axis Mundi, the horizontal line becomes the Earth,
above which are the supernal worlds, below which are the infernal. This map of the living cosmos
is central to the sacred lore. While it may take many forms in the traditions that abound on
planet earth, the essential characteristics are the same. When applied to traditional models of the
universe, the horizontal bar of the cross becomes the Earth, Midgard, physical reality and the
Axis Mundi becomes the pillar that spans the worlds. It is sometimes images as a vertical series
of planes, worlds or dimension, a tree, a ray (the Ray of Creation of Gurdjieff) or a pillar. Indeed
it is the beanstalk that Jack climbed to reach the world of the giants !
The Axis Mundi and the Sacred Tree
The Axis Mundi is the pillar and at its center is the nexus of earth, the earth turns on this center
and its horizontal (physical) reality is formed. The turning marks the cycle of time.
" If you are calm, clear-headed and rationally decisive, people say you are well
centred or focus. In that saying is our instinctive recognition that everything has
its proper centre which is also its essence. The essence of an individual, one’s
center and citadel, is the mind. But it is not the ultimate centre…
The idea of a fixed centre and a continually moving periphery has many illustrations.
It is like a wheel turning on an axle, a rope swung round a vertical pole, a
compass making a circle. A grander cosmological image is of a spherical universe,
with the spherical earth at its centre, both revolving upon the same unmoving
pivot, the world pole.
In all traditional systems of religion this image has provided the dominant symbol"
At the Center of the World
John Michell,
Thames and Hudson 1994
Working from this model, we can go further and delineate the characteristic of the Axis Mundi
or Cosmic Tree. The Cosmic Tree can be imaged in two different manners – organic and emanation.
The Organic model is found in most pagan and heathen traditions, it emphasizes the
change some nature of the worlds and planes. The emanation model is more formal and while it
infer the ever changing landscape of spirit it has more clearly delineated worlds, planes and inhabitants.
Whichever we use, both have certain general motifs which are the basis for the Great
Chain of Being.