Keywords
axis mundi, ritual complexes, Book of Mormon, Mesoamerican civilizations
Abstract
An axis mundi refers to a sacred place that connects heaven and earth and is believed to be the center of the world. These places are sanctified through ritual consecration or through a divine manifestation that results in qualitatively detaching that space from the surrounding cosmos. Often expressed in architecture as a universal pillar, these axes mundi incorporate and put in communication three cosmic levels — earth, heaven, and the underworld. As Mark Alan Wright notes, Mesoamerican sacred architecture was designed according to cosmological principles and finds a modern analogy in Latter-day Saint temples. Also, among Mesoamerican civilizations and in the Book of Mormon, the temple, the axis mundi, served as a place where worshipers go to engage in sacred rituals that bridge the divide between heaven and earth and allow the worshiper entry into the divine presence.
Recommended Citation
Wright, Mark Alan
(2021)
"Axes Mundi: Ritual Complexes in Mesoamerica and the Book of Mormon,"
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship: Vol. 46, Article 14.
Available at:
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/interpreter/vol46/iss1/14
