A symbol for the Four Corners of the Earth
The Four Corners of the World or Four Quarters of the World is a cosmological and mythological system that corresponds approximately to the four points of the compass (or the two solstices and two equinoxes) of the Earth. At the center may lie a sacred mountain, garden, world tree, or other beginning-point of creation. Often four rivers run to the four corners of the world, and water or irrigate the four quadrants of Earth.
Overview[]
The Four Corners play a role in the Apocalypse as they are in fact where the roots of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil will sprout with the tree itself emerging from the center of compass in the Earth. The Tree of Knowledge will grow from a tell (a mound or hill created by many generations of people living and rebuilding at the same spot) that is located in Megiddo which is the prophesied battle of Armageddon.
In order for this to be accomplished, four towers equivalent to the Tower of Babylon are constructed and later buried beneath the earth of where they are stationed in the four points of the world's compass. The reason why there were built and stationed within the four points is that it is believed that the four all connect as roadways that will be exposed through the Convergence to the center of the planet where the Firmament is located and leads to Paradise. Moreover, the four corners represent the alchemical or cosmological aspects that make up the Earth as a whole.
Location[]
The exact locations of these four corners is unknown, but in Christianity and Judaism, the Old Testament (Book of Genesis, Genesis 2:8–14) identifies the Garden of Eden, and the four rivers as the Tigris, Euphrates, Pishon, and Gihon. The Tigris runs to Assyria, the Euphrates to Armenia, the Pishon to Havilah or Elam, and the Gihon to Ethiopia. The four corners of the earth are also spoken of in the Book of Revelation 7:1.
Another possibility is that the four corners are in fact the four continents of the Earth. Europeans in the 16th century divided the world into four continents: Africa, America, Asia and Europe. Each of the four continents was seen to represent its quadrant of the world—Europe in the north, Asia in the east, Africa in the south, and America in the west. This division fit the Renaissance sensibilities of the time, which also divided the world into four seasons, four classical elements, four cardinal directions, four classical virtues, etc.