Core
Cosmos/Cosmology
The next major theme Moring discusses is found
from Native Americans who often see their cosmos through a numerical theme set
in a pattern of fours, both in multiples and in directions.
He gives an excerpt from a Lakota document that
shares the four directions: east, west, south, north as a primary spatial
theme. Then other natural cycles are divided into four as well; “four divisions of time: the day, the night,
the moon and the year. Four kinds of things that have breath: those that crawl,
those that fly, those that walk on four legs, and those that walk on to legs.”
For the Hopi people, though while four directions
are at the beginning of cosmology, they are not however the familiar compass
points, north, south, east and west—“but
are directly related to the observation of the rising and setting sun at
solstices.” Their creation is seen spatially as well, though the center
view relates to place at solstice.
Also in Hopi mythology, this present world is
considered the Fourth World to which the Creator, Tewa, led the people after
the Third World was destroyed by flood.
In Mesoamerica cosmology the Aztec consider this
world to be the fifth world, but the demise of the previous four universes is
depicted symbolically in The Aztec
Calendar Stone through hieroglyphs and pictures and provides mythological
significance of heritage.
Exercise:
Mark the central core of your ‘place’ in your land, and then view it through a
numerical theme. Divide both in directional terms and in the division of the
day. For example a six-pointed star
has different meanings; among them it is known as the Star of David and The
Star of Creation. Laying one or the
other, as a compass directional and divided day, would differ according to
which theme you used as your focus.
Share:
What number did you choose to use? Did you have a particular reason?
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