AllatRa by Anastasia Novykh 2 www.allatra.org

AllatRa by Anastasia Novykh
in various rituals, mystic practices and sacred legends regarding the four Aspects and the
spiritual Centre. Incidentally, according to various stories, every nation used to place
these four Aspects in such a way that the Front aspect was oriented towards a certain
cardinal direction. Could you, please, explain this to our readers? Why did people
inhabiting different parts of the globe have their own understanding of such orientation?
Rigden: Generally speaking, orientation of these four Aspects by cardinal directions,
conferment of certain colours on them, etc. depended on local traditional customs and
overall beliefs of one or another nation which had been emerging for centuries based on
sacred legends of their ancestors. For example, the Chinese considered the south to be
the most honourable cardinal direction, and so they placed symbols relating to the Front
aspect towards the south. For shamans of northern (Siberia), the major direction where
they turned their faces (the Front aspect) while performing rituals was usually the north,
whereas for shamans of southern and eastern nations of Asia, such main direction was
the south or the east. Mesoamerican Indians regarded the east or the west as the major
cardinal direction, depending on local traditions of concrete tribes. By and large, where
man traditionally turns his face to, performing a spiritual practice, a religious rite and so
on, is where his Front aspect is. Certainly, reading ancient myths, one should be aware
of where there is a national folklore, and where there is the genuine knowledge, because
with time such myths have been supplemented with numerous extraneous elements and
human mind’s muddles due mostly to literal understanding of associative examples. Yet,
nonetheless, even nowadays we can find plenty of interesting records including those
regarding the secret knowledge about the four human Aspects.
Anastasia: Such knowledge can be found in totemistic sources, mythological
conceptions of peoples of Europe, Asia, Africa, America…
Rigden: Quite true. In most cases, small nations living on different continents, owing to
their long-term isolation from contacts with “the civilized society” representatives (due
to unfavourable climatic conditions or inaccessibility of their settlements for foreign
travellers), have managed to preserve their ancestors’ knowledge. Such isolation has
saved them in some respect, since “the civilization” hasn’t got the slightest idea of the
existence of these nations and cultures of those. Consequently, their unique knowledge
has not been totally destroyed with “fire and sword” by another new religion which was
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