In the language of symbolism the Cardinal Directions, East, West, South and North, in which their two axes intersect in the form of a Cross, represent the two-dimensional space that this world born of Chaos takes shape and disperses itself. Together with the third-dimension provided by Zenith and Nadir, the upward and downward lines respectively, and lastly with the inward-dimension of the Centre, what is made is the complete sphere of spatial existence, the foundation of the created world.

Within the symbol of the Cardinal Directions lie the homes of the gods, the guardians of creation, the lands of the dead, the origins life, human destiny, and serves as an incredibly important foundation point for many other symbols which span wide throughout creation.

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East and West:

It can be said in general that the East as a symbol is associated with the spiritual, the metaphysical, contemplation, harmony, wisdom, life, etc, whereas the West is associated with materialism, the physical, activity, instability, the psychological, the logical, death, etc, for, among other reasons, the Sun rises in the East and sets in the West. Another point that is more geographical in nature is the idea that, in general, the character of the Western world is one of action, progress and materialism, while the East is viewed as one of contemplation, tradition and spirituality. As a more modern trope, the ‘West’ is seen as a symbol of ‘Progress’.

Although this can generally be said to be the case between the two points, there is of course plenty of nuance to be considered, as well as obvious divergence from culture to culture around the world. Neither can be said to be of completely “good” or “bad” quality, for every symbol has its different sides to consider when viewing the whole.

Life and Death, Heaven and Hell, Yang and Yin, Rising and Setting, Purification and Destruction. The one is giver, the other receiver. The sacrifice and the receptacle, blood and cup, these things are wedded within the axis of East and West, whether hither or thither on its line. In both directions they can span indefinitely to create a horizontal line, or it can bend round a sphere and lock itself in a closed circle; both are representative of the indefinite cycles of life and creation. The cycle finds its rest and tranquility when met at its balance in the Heart, the Centre of all things.

Below is a small collection from various cultures on the symbolic significance of the East and West;

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Germanic:

The words for East, West, North and South are Germanic in origin. East is a word for “Dawn”, while the word for the West means “Evening”.

Celtic:

In Celtic belief, towards the West beyond the edges of the world lies the Otherworld, the realm of the gods and potentially the dead as well, a place reached by entering burial mounds, caves, submerging under water or sailing across the western sea. ‘Síd’, a word for Fairy mounds or fairy people in general, too lies west, however this is due to Christian monks localizing it westward and confusing it with the beyond. What’s to be found within Celtic literature regardless of place of origin is the traditional belief that clock-wise movement, Eastward following the path of the Sun, was of positive connotation, while counter-clockwise, Westward, was seen as negative. Celtic literature has several examples of figures moving their chariots clockwise or counter-clockwise to signal good or evil omens.

Ancient Egyptian:

For the Ancient Egyptians the West was considered to be a gateway to the realm of the dead and was associated with death. Their goddess Amunet personified the West, her name meaning “The Hidden One”, a title that the Indo-European underworld destinations and beings of Hel and Hades too are titled the “concealed”, “hidden” and “unseen”.

Christian:

The East-West axis was regarded by the early Christians as symbolizing God or Heaven on the one hand and the Devil or Hell on he other. The ritual baptism described by the Pseudo-Dionysuis tells us that the priest would set the deacons facing westward, arms raised cursing the lands of darkness, then turning eastward to look up to Heaven in subject to Christ. Traditions within Christianity that outdate its formation include prayers to the East, believing it to be the origin of mankind’s original home. We can see the belief in the nature of regression, where at one time mankind lived in a state of the ‘East’, in wisdom, contemplation, harmony, spiritual knowledge and so forth, compared to the present age and into the future that strays further and further from this light far from the sun. Christian churches too have been traditionally built facing towards the East, along with many other temple sites worldwide. Notably in Matthew 24:27 we read; “For as lightning cometh out of the east, and appeareth even into the west: so shall the coming of the Son of man be.”

Sufi:

To the Sufis of Islam, East and West lose their geographic meaning to take on a metaphysical and spiritual meaning, as is the nature of esoteric teachings of symbols throughout the world and time. The West is associated with the Body, externals, the ‘letter’ or law, matter, etc, whereas the East is associated with the Universal Soul, esotericism, spiritual knowledge, ‘shape’, etc. Sufi journeys begin with ‘western exile’ which is a return to primal matter, purification, alchemical ‘separation’, it is a step before reintegration with the eastern source of spiritual knowledge. The West is a world of darkness, materialism, immorality, decadence, and dissolution. Shahab al-Din Yahya ibn Habash Suhrawardi in his ‘western exile’ says; “From the higher sphere I tumbled into the pit of ell, among unbelievers and was held prisoner in the land of the West.

Vedic:

In Hinduism the guardians of the East are Indra, King of Heaven and the gods, and Ishvara, whose name has a great many meanings among which are the supreme Self, ruler, lord, king, queen, husband, God, Supreme Being, personal God, etc. For the West there is Varuna, the god of the sky, sea, Rita (Justice) and Satya (Truth), and Mahadeva, one of the names of Shiva. Much like the Sufi esoteric distinction, East and West can be expressed in the duality of Purusha-Prakriti, or again by Sattva-Tamas. Sattva represents “the quality of balance, harmony, goodness, purity, universal-ism, holism, construction, creativity, positivity, peacefulness, and virtue.” While Tamas represents the quality of “imbalance, disorder, chaos, anxiety, impurity, destruction, delusion, negativity, dullness or inactivity, apathy, inertia or lethargy, violence, viciousness, and ignorance.” The entrances of most Hindu temples face the rising sun in the East, similar to Christian Churches. Ultimately, East-West is the duality of life and death, contemplation and action.

Buddhist:

Within Chinese Buddhism, moving towards the West represented movement towards the Buddha or enlightenment, and placed Buddha Amitabha in the West where he welcomes the souls of the dead.

Chinese:

The Chinese associate the East with the colour Green, and its auspicious beast is The Blue/Azure Dragon, one of the Dragon Gods who represent the mount or cthoninc forces of the Five Forms of the Highest Deity (Wǔfāng Shàngdì). Its corresponding ‘Wuxing’, one of the Five Phases, is Wood, and appears as a door god at Taoist temples. The West they associate with the colour White, its auspicious beast is The White Tiger, whose ‘Wuxing’ corresponds to Metal. Chinese culture views the Tiger as King of the beasts, with The White Tiger only appearing if the Emperor ruled with absolute virtue and there was peace throughout the world. Of note here is the association of the West with Kingship, a symbol of the temporal as opposed to the spiritual. The East is a source of light, corresponding to Spring and to the ‘Ch’en’, the ‘Thunderclap’ which is the source of the pre-eminence of the Yang. While the West is associated with Autumn, to the ‘Tuei’, the ‘Cloud’, standing water, marshes, images of undifferentiated matter, the source of the pre-eminence of the Yin. Yang is associated with the ‘positive’ principle in nature, light, The Sun, Black, while Yin is associated with the ‘negative’ principle in nature, darkness, The Moon, White, etc

Mesoamerican:

The ancient Mesoamericans generally held that The East is the land of birth, or rebirth, and the Sun, identified with renewal, maize, youth, feasting, music and love. East is the residence of the rain god, Tlaloc, and his garden, greenery and waters, the ‘house of green feathers’, the home of the Phoenix, the sacred bird, the quetzal, which gave its long green feathers to Quetzalcoatl, who was reborn, in the shape of the rising sun, after offering himself in sacrifice in the West to be reborn in the East. The West on the other hand is the land of the evening, old age, the descending passage of the sun and where it vanishes ‘into his house’. The ‘land of the mists’, this is a gateway to the mysterious beyond, of the great goddess of Water and mist. Opposites are brought together and contained in this East-West axis of manifestation, immanent godhead and humanity, the pulse of initiation welds life and death together.

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Much else could be said of the symbolism of the East and West within the various cultures of the world. Yet from this small sampling we can see a pattern in beliefs, and that there is a unity in it despite the diversity, multiplicity and seeming contradictions at times – though I think there is more in common than difference. This axis forms a relationship between its two extremes that ultimately come together and transcends itself, and we must understand that neither explicitly mean ‘good’ or ‘bad’. Both are realities that make up the universal whole, and both contribute on the journey in the Mysteries.