Where the Inner Journey Became a Living World

Joseph Campbell wrote that the Promised Land is a place in the heart, or an environment that has been mythologically spiritualized. The Magic Garden is such an environment: a complex, multidimensional artistic concept physically manifested as a creative and symbolic modern cartography of the psyche.

Based on transpersonal psychology, it brings together spirituality, depth psychology, philosophy, mythology, archetypal astrology, deep ecology and mystical and esoteric traditions. Its architectural structures and ecosystem are connected with a richly varied archetypal and mythological symbolism, primarily based on the Medicine Wheel, Tarot and astrology.

Through sculptures, symbols, architectural structures, pathways, bridges, stone arrangements, trees, Tarot cards, planetary symbols and many different locations, The Magic Garden forms a mythological map of consciousness. Each space manifests an energy, a state of consciousness and an archetype.

Because the whole place strives to include humanity’s experiential pool—including religious, spiritual and shamanistic traditions—and because it is architecturally designed as sacred geometry, The Magic Garden forms a powerful energy field. This field functions as a portal to different dimensions of reality.

The central idea behind the design and symbolism is to show, express and support the Adventure of Self-Discovery: the journey to The Promised Land, the journey towards transcendence and the union of opposites. The central structural foundation is built around the 22 Tarot cards of the Major Arcana.

The Cockpit

The location of the gate is connected to 0. The Fool and to the Call to Adventure. The Magician is associated with the Axis Mundi Studio Cockpit. It is a converted old annex from 1908 and serves as the symbolic navel of The Magic Garden, designed as a state-of-the-art sound and film studio.

The studio is used for professional audio and video recordings, blending consciousness, mythology, adventure and technology. The Cockpit is arranged on multiple levels with a meditation platform, a cave, ladders, a fireplace, organically carved shelves, tables, a hammock, studio equipment and a large screen.

Throughout Axis Mundi Studio and extending into the garden, more than four kilometers of cables for audio, video, MIDI, Ethernet and lighting have been installed. This setup provides great flexibility for sound recordings and audiovisual work.

The Cockpit manifests the Magician’s archetypal qualities: creativity, crafting one’s own life, mental openness to input and output, awareness of one’s programming, creative power and having antennas out.

Even as a child, Jacob was fascinated by drawing spaceships and cockpits. On deep inner journeys, he experienced coming from other solar systems and preparing as a soul for this earthly cycle. The similarity between his childhood drawings and the later Axis Mundi Studio Cockpit became a concrete example of how thoughts and visualizations can create a life, and how one’s dharma may be visible from an early age.

Mandala

On the floor of the Axis Mundi Studio Cockpit is a mandala painted in 1995—the year Jacob received the vision and bought the property. Six equally sized segments contain the symbols of the six world religions.

The upper half includes the three Western religions: Judaism, Islam and Christianity. The lower half includes the three Eastern religions: Hinduism, Taoism and Buddhism. These six world religions, lying in mutual respect, point towards the same source.

Around The Circle are four animals: a dolphin, a tiger, a snake and an eagle. They symbolize the four elements—water, earth, fire and air—and humanity’s primal religion: shamanism. Around the mandala are two squares representing agnosticism and atheism.

Regardless of what we believe or do not believe, and regardless of how we experience the nature of The Universe, we are all brothers and sisters sharing the same planet.