Observations placeholder
Cirlot on the Orient
Identifier
004807
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
A description of the experience
A Dictionary of Symbols – J E Cirlot
The Orient, since it is the point where the sun rises, symbolises illumination and the fount life; to turn towards the east is to turn in spirit towards this spiritual focal point of Light.....
Not all mystic orientations take the east as their point of reference; there is an alternative point in the geography of the sky, symbolic of the 'hole' in space time and of the 'unmoved mover' – and that is the North Star.
To face the north is to pose a question. To turn westwards is to prepare to die, because it is in the watery deeps of the west that the sun ends up its journey