Every sacred space is characterized by the fact that it is a place of transition, a breakthrough between levels, which allows communication between what is above and what is below, and vice versa.
Individuals in traditional societies could only live in a space “open” upwards, where the breakthrough of levels was symbolically ensured and communication with the “other world”, the transcendent world, was ritually possible.
Homo religiosus felt the need to always live in the center; he felt, as Mircea Eliade says, the need to live in a cosmos, complete and organized, in an intelligently ordered cosmos.
Rituals of orientation
Individuals in traditional societies created their own world (the space they occupied, their village, their house…) according to the ideal model, the model of the gods who create the universe. This does not mean that individuals considered themselves equal to the gods, but only that they could not live in “chaos”, and always felt the need to place themselves in an organized world, in a “cosmos”.
Thanks to orientation rituals, the space had a direction (up, down, etc.) and people could settle and live in it. Their profane space, chaotic and devoid of direction, is transformed and becomes sacred, i.e. dedicated to and inhabited by gods. In other words, it “cosmicizes” itself. It contains something of the daily movement of the Sun, the night movement of the stars, and the lunar cycles. An operative relationship is established between that piece of land and the infinity of the sky. Thanks to orientation, the sky and the earth meet and permeate each other.
This union of the upper and lower, the invisible and the visible, is made possible during the orientation ritual by establishing a center, be it a mound or an altar, a true heart from which all directions extend into the external space.
The center or point of departure of orientation is generally symbolically represented by a sacred pillar that represents the axis mundi, the place where the sky and the earth meet. Sometimes it can be replaced by a rock or a mountain, while maintaining the same symbolism. “The center is not just an inert spatial marker that gives meaning to orientation; it is also a point of convergence and the birthplace of spatial directions and a magical knot that connects opposites. It embodies the world’s navel, a place where the vital and fertilizing forces of Nature are concentrated.
Through the ritual of orientation, according to the cardinal directions, humanity has become capable of evoking the objective manifestation of the sacred, i.e., energy nodes that sustain Creation. Thus, the ritual of orientation is not just a mere portrayal of a mythical scenario, but a mythical act capable of provoking the manifestation of the sacred or “hierophany.”
“There are multiple ways to establish the dwelling place of the cosmos precisely because there are multiple types of cosmogonies. For us, it is sufficient to distinguish two ways of ritually transforming the dwelling place (both the territory and the house) into a cosmos, two ways of transferring the characteristics of the world image (imago mundi) onto the dwelling place:
a) by aligning with the cosmos, projecting the four horizons that emanate from a central point, ak The text concerns a village or a symbolic establishment of the axis mundi (world axis), if it is a family dwelling;
b) through repetition, by means of the ritual of construction, the exemplary act of the gods, thanks to which the world was born from the body of a sea monster (dragon) or a primordial giant.
The first way – to “cosmicize” space through the projection of horizons or the installation of the axis mundi – has already been confirmed in the earliest stages of culture, while the second way seems to have been inaugurated in the culture of ancient farmers. What is interesting for our research is the fact that in all traditional cultures, a dwelling carries a sacred aspect, and therefore reflects the world.” (M. Eliade)
Orientation rituals are far from providing the human being with a simple cosmic environment; they primarily enable them to “cosmicize” and participate in the revitalizing powers of the deity, to depart from linearity and re-enter eternity, into sacred time.
An “oriented” being is one that can give meaning to all its movements. N In an individual plan, the body of a person becomes a space for dedication, and on a broader level, in the relationship between humans and the cosmos, the city, the center of the temple and the home, becomes an expression of the cosmization of the world.
The traditional city seems to be like a mirror of the universe, like a true living “mandala,” perfectly oriented towards the main directions that allow humans to connect heaven and earth.
The city is a representation of the world whose construction imitates cosmogony. The integration into one territory is equivalent to the establishment of the world. In other words, humans gradually occupy wider and wider areas of the planet and “cosmicize” them according to the exemplary model discovered by the cosmogonic myth. Thanks to this myth, humans also become creators. At first glance, they only repeat the same archetypal movement countless times, but in reality, they tirelessly conquer the world, organize it, and transform the natural landscape into a cultural environment. Here lies the great secret of the cosmogonic myth; it inspires humans to create, it constantly opens up new possibilities. From the perspective of his creative genius, it seems that the myth paralyzes human initiative by portraying itself as an untouchable model.
The City – Mirror of the Sky
The traditional city, as a “mezocosm,” a transitional space that allows for the re-creation of the vertical axis connecting man to his celestial roots, appeared simultaneously with the emergence of major philosophical and religious systems organized around hierarchical deities.
Observing the celestial hierarchy will lead man to delineate a sacred space on earth that will allow privileged communication with his gods; and thus a new social caste emerges, the caste of priests whose mission is to make this connection with the divine real.
Naturally, the first cities were founded on the sites of natural sanctuaries. The cave, with its vaulted arches, gave man the architectural model for his first constructions, while the pyramid was a replica of the sacred mountain… In this way, in the original ritual center where In the past, pilgrims gathered here, a call, the beginning of a city.
Inside the city, there is a sacred space, a convergence of cosmic and terrestrial energies, transmitting one power, one duration, one cosmic significance to all events of everyday life. The urban change, which is experiencing the emergence of a city, was preceded by a fervent activity in the spiritual realm and the collective representation of the divine.
The structure of the city was formed at the same moment when the king-priest, the representative of the deity on earth, appeared. It is clear to us then that ancient heroes such as Menes, Romulus and Remus, Minos… were also the founders of cities. The city brings together previously scattered elements and creates a state of dynamic tension where people can no longer live without this transitional structure. The construction of cities is the result of true crystallization. City plans are traditionally rectangular, symbolizing stability, while nomadic tents and camps are mostly circular, symbolizing movement.
Foundation rituals Whether they were Chinese, Sumerians, Egyptians, or Mayans, traditional peoples, when building a city, recreated the world while respecting divine or cosmic intelligence. In this way, the city could become a reduced image of the universe. The role of the founder was to recreate the world by repeating the movements of creation and humbly embody the role of the demiurge. The founder would first perform the ceremony of the center, then the one of the four corners based on the orientation of the magic square, and then the digging of the furrow that marks the boundaries or limits of the city. After that, during the procession ritual, he would walk around everything in a circle.
Three fundamental archetypes dominate the founding of a city: the center, the square, and the circle. The center is generally marked by a sacred object, a statue, a tree… It doesn’t necessarily have to be the geometric center, because what is being explored is life, and life is not symmetrical; life is actually the result of an exchange, an asymmetry, a difference in potential, thus a dynamic equilibrium.
The city is During the duration of the orientation ritual, a quadrangular surface represents the horizontal world, a reflection of the divine world on an earthly level. This original section is a square (roma quadrata); its center is the image of the first point of life emanation. Traced with the help of a plow, the furrow divides the soil into profane (external) and sacred (internal) ground. Oriented towards the four cardinal directions, such a space would be dedicated.
Romulus and Remus founded and built Rome by carving a magical square into the ground, which was meant to protect and enclose the future city. The carved furrow was called mundus, the world. Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec empire, was also founded according to the same ritual: at the center of the city was the moat of Templo Mayor (the main temple), a ceremonial and magical center. In China, the founding of a city took place according to a predetermined order: “The founder, adorned with all his jewels and with a magnificent sword, first undertakes a meticulous survey of the area. In order to determine the orientation, he observes…” is reflected in the construction of the city through the intersecting streets and the establishment of important buildings such as the Ancestor Temple. The city’s layout combines the yin and yang principles, exploring the sunlit and shadowed slopes to understand the distribution of the world’s elemental forces. The founder carefully selects the location and commands the construction, waiting for the appropriate moment. The construction begins with the walls, the holiest part of the city, followed by the Ancestor Temple. The city is square in shape and intersected by straight streets that lead to the main gates.
The construction of the city skillfully combines two universal tendencies: the dynamic and the static. The square structure of the city suggests the idea of contraction, stoppage, and stabilization because the square is anchored on its four sides. The dynamic aspect is expressed through the intersection of the four main directions: the complete development of the stable world’s manifestation starts from the immovable center along the four main sides of the world, and the cross within the square expresses the dynamic-horizontal nature of the square (the diffusion image). However, the dynamic aspect It is equally the center and the peak. In the middle of the magical city square is the magical mound or original hill, reminiscent of the Acropolis. The magical city square is surrounded by two celestial vaults that touch each other: one visible, daytime, and the other invisible, nighttime. Their intersection creates a world that emerges from the primordial waters and is represented by the mound, the fiery island, or the dry island. This pure land, never defiled, that original mound, that magical mountain, is the beginning of manifestation. According to the Bible, after the flood, Noah’s ark stranded on Mount Ararat, the land that was not damaged by the destructive waters of the flood or the forces of chaos. The ark, the carrier of the seed of the new world, is at the top of the mountain and life originates from there.
In Egypt, the Phoenix, the Ben-Ben bird, the magical bird, the bearer of life, first descended on the original mound. In the Inca myth of the creation of Cuzco, it corresponds to the same symbolism: the primordial couple sought a place to bury the golden staff. The chosen land in Cuzco swallowed it, the “navel of the world.” “Vijeta”, a point where the upper and lower worlds connect. From that navel, the Tree of the World, a cosmic tree that symbolizes the axis of the world, has grown. The establishment of the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan in Mexico was realized at the location where an eagle on a cactus devours a snake, symbolizing the connection of three worlds.