Axis mundi

In astronomy, axis mundi is the Latin term for the axis of Earth between the celestial poles. In a geocentric coordinate system, this is the axis of rotation of the celestial sphere. Consequently, in ancient Greco-Roman astronomy, the axis mundi^[1] is the axis of rotation of the planetary spheres within the classical geocentric model of the cosmos.^[2]

In 20th-century comparative mythology, the term axis mundi – also called the cosmic axis, world axis, world pillar, center of the world, or world tree – has been greatly extended to refer to any mythological concept representing "the connection between Heaven and Earth" or the "higher and lower realms".^[3] Mircea Eliade introduced the concept in the 1950s.^[4] Axis mundi closely relates to the mythological concept of the omphalos (navel) of the world or cosmos.^[5][6][7] Items adduced as examples of the axis mundi by comparative mythologists include plants (notably a tree but also other types of plants such as a vine or stalk), a mountain, a column of smoke or fire, or a product of human manufacture (such as a staff, a tower, a ladder, a staircase, a maypole, a cross, a steeple, a rope, a totem pole, a pillar, a spire). Its proximity to heaven may carry implications that are chiefly religious (pagoda, temple mount, minaret, church) or secular (obelisk, lighthouse, rocket, skyscraper). The image appears in religious and secular contexts.^[8] The axis mundi symbol may be found in cultures utilizing shamanic practices or animist belief systems, in major world religions, and in technologically advanced "urban centers". In Mircea Eliade's opinion: "Every Microcosm, every inhabited region, has a Centre; that is to say, a place that is sacred above all."^[9]

Specific examples of cosmic mountains or centers include one from Egyptian texts described as providing support for the sky,^[10] Mount Mashu from the Epic of Gilgamesh,^[11] Adam's Peak which is a sacred mountain in Sri Lanka associated with Adam or Buddha in Islamic and Buddhist traditions respectively,^[12] Mount Qaf in other Islamic and Arabic cosmologies,^[13] the mountain Harā Bərəz in Zoroastrian cosmology,^[14] Mount Meru in Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist cosmologies,^[14] and Mecca as a cosmic center in Sufi cosmology (with minority traditions placing it as Medina or Jerusalem).^[15]