Saunders Blog #5: Wilderness as Axis Mundi

The following is a discussion on axis mundi in the context of the Appalachian Trail and the journey within. 

Axis Mundi is a spiritual term that describes the center of earth where the earth and sky meet; it is the connection between Heaven and Earth. It is considered to be “the navel of the earth”. Axis Mundi is considered to be a key for those who enter on a pilgrimage, such that of the Appalachian Trail. Many people embark on the journey with hopes of encountering God along the way, and getting to a place where Heaven meets Earth. Experiencing this can help one along his spiritual journey.

            Abraham builds an altar at Bethel, or the house of God. At this point in time, the altar became the Axis Mundi for many people; this is where Abraham was able to meet with the Lord and communicate with Him. Furthermore, Bethel was in the mountains. At the time, the Canaanites viewed the mountains as the world-pole. It was a sacred place for their gods. Lane states that we repeatedly see God leading His people into the wilderness, toward the mountains.

            In Genesis, it is Jacob, Abraham’s grandson, who is the central figure in the story involving wilderness as Axis Mundi. The Lord appears to Jacob in a dream, which allows Jacob to understand and say that the Lord is in the place with him; the place had suddenly become sacred, and to Jacob is the ‘gate of Heaven’. This place where Heaven met Earth now became sacred ground. Experience the wilderness allows for the boundaries in a person’s life to be redefined due to the experiences within.

            The Appalachian Trail has often been referred to as being a wilderness trail. It first removes humans from their cultural ties—they are no longer places in any hierarchical structures that society may hold, and there is an esteem of equity along the wilderness. It is on the AT where “people are passing through an empty land in an attempt to make it habitable, a land of milk and honey”; it is where axis mundi merges with sojourners. Along the trail, much like the promised land of Canaan, a pilgrim is in communication with the Holy. Communication has been a problem in the wilderness, but the Early Christian Monastics attempted to cause a shift, and create the wilderness a place of milk and honey, where people communicate with God. Embarking on a pilgrimage on the AT allows for a person to remove him or herself from the strains and distractions of society and focus on communicating with the divine. Many who have a monastic motivation in spiritual journey have found spiritual significance along the wilderness of the Appalachian Trail.