axis mundi
I read an article yesterday that mentioned axis mundi. I had never heard of this before, and the idea captured my imagination: an imaginary line between the real and the ephemeral. What a lovely concept. So I looked it up, and it seems that it is a universal idea, and people have associated many different things with the it: trees, skyscrapers, pillars, mountains, and so forth. I don’t think that a fern would be considered an axis mundi, partly because it is curly, so it wouldn’t do a very good job connecting higher and lower realms, because you’d loop back onto yourself. But maybe I’m being too literal. Maybe I am of a lower realm, and just seeing this exquisite plant connected me with the higher realm of nature and its inspiration. 