COSMIC AXIS, what is it?

In religion or mythology, the COSMIC AXIS (axis mundi or world pillar), is the WORLD CENTER or the CONNECTION BETWEEN HEAVEN and EARTH. It expresses a POINT of CONNECTION between the sky and earth WHERE THE FOUR COMPASS DIRECTION MEET.

At this point travel and CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN HIGHER and LOWER REALMS.
Communications from lower realms may ascend to higher ones and blessings from higher realms may
descend to lower ones and be disseminated to all.

The image of this COSMIC AXIS is mostly viewed as FEMININE ENERGY, as it RELATES to the CENTER of the EARTH (like an umbilical cord providing nourishment).
It may have the form of a natural object (a mountain, a tree, a vine, a stalk, a column of smoke or fire)
or a product of human manufacture (a staff, a tower, a ladder, a staircase, a maypole, a cross, a steeple,
a rope, a totem pole, a pillar).

The COSMIC AXIS symbol is found in cultures around the world, utilizing shamanic practices or
animistic belief systems.
Every inhabited region has a CENTRE; a PLACE that is SACRED ABOVE ALL. Because the cosmic axis is an idea that UNITES a CONCRETE IMAGES, no contradiction exists in regarding MULTIPLE SPOTS as "THE CENTER OF THE WORLD." The symbol can operate in a number of places at once.
Cathedrals, for example, are laid out in the form of a cross, with the vertical bar representing the union
of earth and heaven as the horizontal bars represent union of people to one another, with the altar at the intersection.
Homes represent world centers. The HEART of a home is the symbolism of the altar and the center of
communication between Heaven and Earth. The square shape of a home that many cultures represent is the symbolism of forces with fixed reference to the FOUR COMPASS POINTS surrounded by lines of energies moving in FOUR DIRECTIONS.