ON THE SYMBOLISM OF THE CENTRE

CONTRIBUTION TO INTERPRETING A BOOK ORNAMENTATION MOTIF FROM A MAGICAL AND RELIGIOUS PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

By recognizing symbols as independent forms of cognition and employing a hermeneutic approach to book ornamentation, as a specific iconography of transformation, this paper examines the symbolism of the centre from a magical and religious perspective. In previous research, these motifs were classified, from a magical-religious viewpoint, into archetypal and objective categories. The former concern an action, a borderline situation, or an archetypal pattern expressed through two symbolic complexes: the ascension complex and the complex of bindings and knots. The latter represent qualities that an individual needs to master during the process of individuation. The ascension complex, which signifies immortality, growth, and transformation, is universally expressed through symbols of the centre. The centre primarily resents a source, an absolute reality, and a focal point from which all movement commences: from the one to the many, from the internal to the external, from the unmarked to the marked, and from the eternal to the temporal. In mythical geography, this sacred space represents the point of intersection between Heaven, Earth, and the Underworld – paralleling the intersection of the conscious, the subconscious, and the unconscious in psychoanalysis. In universal magical and religious iconography, this motif is primarily manifested as a circle, a cross, a tree, a pillar, or a flight of stairs, as well as related secondary motifs such as a ladder, a rope, a liana, or a spiderweb that connect Earth and Heaven in numerous myths and by means of which certain privileged people ascend to Heaven. In this paper, close attention is dedicated to the hermeneutics of each motif within the text, while they are artistically represented in the appendices with examples from medieval codices.