Heavenly Concentric Circles

From top to bottom: Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Livre du ciel et du monde, The Simpsons

In media, Heaven and its equivalents tend to be portrayed as being made up of concentric circles. Layers encasing other layers of divine beings, regions, or even colors. Such an arrangement conveys a sense of harmony, grandness, and divinity. Especially, because the big prize lies at the center —be it the setting's Top God, an Eldritch Abomination, or the universe's heart.

This particular imagery stems from astronomy and maths. By the time of Ancient Greece, humanity began to understand that celestial bodies move in orderly ellipses of varying sizes. Earth's position in this system was harder to work out, but the idea was there. As it's bound to happen, this revelation about the nature of the universe merged with philosophical-mystical traditions like Alchemy and Kabbalah. Consequently getting projected into people's cosmology. Both the natural and supernatural planes imagined in an arrangement somewhere between a Layered World and a nested series of Hollow Worlds or Ring Worlds.

Christianity, the ultimate form of syncretism, naturally embraced this idea. That's why we have depictions of heaven and the hierarchies of angels orbiting the throne of God in nested rings. Which, in turn, greatly influenced the Western's idea of how Heaven looks.

In general, circular and spherical shapes have been associated with divinity. Part of the reason is because the sun, which is adored as the Top God in many cultures, appears as a disc in the sky and partly because they represent infinity, from which immortality and existence outside time stem.

Circles of Hell is when sinners are sorted according to the severity of their misdeeds. An inversion of that, with do-gooders' souls being sorted according to their purity, is NOT equal to this trope. Yes, it can happen, but the important bit is that the place is arranged in concentric shapes.

It's not mandatory for it to be circles. Domes, spheres, whorls, and even other geometric figures can apply too as long as they are coaxial and related to a divine realm or entity. The latter, for instance, might have this as a geometric Motif prominent in their design (e.g., a deity only blasts concentric Energy Ring Attacks).

Sub-Trope of Layered World, when all planes of existence (not only the heavenly ones) exist over one another like layers on an onion. If heaven is but one ring in an assortment of rings, then it's not this trope. Compare World Shapes, which covers non-spherical planets, and The Exact Center of Everything, when the universe's center contains something important. If a heavenly entity's spells appear as concentric shapes, then it overlaps with Geometric Magic. See Axis Mundi for the structure that holds the world(s) together. Contrast and compare Rings of Activation, when (maybe concentric) rings of light signal preternatural or scientific phenomena.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• Fullmetal Alchemist: The Eye of God that lies directly behind the Gate of Truth has black concentric rings within its pupil and the rim of its purple iris. Oftentimes, they are drawn irregularly or with a jagged appearance for added psychological horror effect. In the anime, they have a color gradient to further differentiate each circle.
• Make the Exorcist Fall in Love: Mammon, Demon Lord of Greed, attempts to turn Tokyo into a reenactment of the scorching of Sodom and Gomorrah as a mockery of God's judgment and to challenge Father to a duel. Mammon's Kill Sat-style attack takes the form of multiple black concentric rings all rotating amidst walls of dark clouds. When Father rushes to stop the attack, he calls upon Archangel Gabriel for aid, with the resulting miracle consisting of similar concentric rings but made of holy light instead.
• Naruto: The Rinnegan is the most powerful of the dojutsus and known as Samsara Eye which, according to Hindu Mythology, represents the cycle of reincarnation. Its users are said to be the heavens' chosen ones, fated to become gods of creation or destruction. The Rinnegan originated from an extraterrestrial Clan. It manifests as a pattern of concentric circles on a purple sclera. When it gets upgraded to Rinnesharingan, the added tomoe motifs from the Sharingan look like orbiting planets, as the tomoe motifs.

Arts

• The Apotheosis of Washington: The fresco is painted inside a circular dome and the characters are positioned in two concentric rings. The inner one depicts Washington's ascend into godhood as the embodiment of American values. He's surrounded by Lady Liberty, Lady Victory, and the representations of the thirteen original states. Below a ring of clouds, there's the outer circle, made of scenes of the American lifestyle.
• Gustave Doré's illustration of Dante and Beatrice gazing at the innermost spheres of the Divine Comedy's Heaven, shapes the ninth sphere as concentric rings of flying angels who orbit in sync around the tenth sphere (aka God).
• Wassily Kandinsky: Aware of the spiritual symbology of circles, he set out to distill that feeling into something less influenced by religion but just as profound. For Modernists in general, circular shapes meant renewal and progress. For Kadinsky in particular, dots (the building blocks of art) were equated to the smallest circles. While his famous grid arrangement of concentric patterns is not connected to higher planes^note it was an optic illusion and an experiment with contrasting hues , these ideas eventually led him to represent cosmic objects such as planets and moons as brightly-colored round shapes. More often than not, the circles would overlap. Sometimes, moons would form this pattern when aligned with their planets.
• Marie de' Medici Cycle: "The Exchange of the Princesses at the Spanish Border" features a circle of cheerful, butterfly-winged putti flying around Felicitas, the Roman goddess of good luck. Between the putti and Felicitas, there's a ring made of white clouds. It reinforces the idea that royals rule with heaven's blessing, especially when they marry as it's a symbol of new beginnings.

Fan Works

• The Erased Chronicles: Suffusing Erasa with divine ki from the Kaioushing's Super God Water (aka the Choshinsui) prompts her eyes to gain a concentric-ring pattern. To be more precise, she gets endowed with the soul of Earth's original god, Shangdi.

Films — Animation

• Castle in the Sky: Laputa is an idyllic floating city and the remains of an advanced, ancient civilization. By the film's present, it has become the stuff of myths. Laputa is arranged similarly to a medieval city on a hill —with thick, concentric walls built around an enormous tree. Its exterior is comprised of expansive green areas while the inside is a maze of high-tech circular corridors and ambients.
• Puella Magi Madoka Magica The Movie: Rebellion:
  • When the Law of Cycles is preparing to purify Homura's soul gem, she appears in the sky surrounded by concentric circles of geometrical motifs. A literal, pink path to heaven sprouts from the center.
  • After Homura splits the Law of Cycles and becomes her Anti-God counterpart, the whole universe gets rewritten. While this is happening, concentric mandalas can be seen fading in and out of a black background. Soon enough, even dozens of Kyubeys are flying in spirals too.
• Turning Red: The blood moon ritual to seal the red panda —a form granted by the gods to the Lees' ancestress— features two of these. A chalk circle has to be drawn and then people chanting or singing have to stand around it (not inside or on the line). At the center goes whoever is being purified. When the circle has been sufficiently powered by the music, a shaman/priest proceeds to Stab the Sky with a sword-like object containing a red gem. In both of the times the ritual is performed, the shot is arranged so the (round) gem is positioned at the center of the moon.

Films — Live-Action

• Avatar: The Tree of Souls is regarded as sacred by the Na'vi because it lets them connect to their goddess, Eywa, through neural queues. It's also the place where the Flux Vortex is at its strongest. The Tree of Souls can be found in a ravine shelled by coaxial arcs of humongous fallen trees.
• Elysium: The space station Elysium is a lush, high-tech utopia that gets its name from Greek Mythology's name for the abode of gods, heroes, and divine beings. It has a torus shape with two coaxial rings connected by bridges of sorts. Everyone on Earth looks up to it as if it were literal heaven of safety, commodities, health insurance, and food abundance —which to be honest it is.

Literature

• Divine Comedy: In the third canto, Paradiso, Heaven is described in this manner:
  • Dante describes the Christian God as a sphere of light at the center of the universe, surrounded by nine concentric rings. Seven of them take after the four cardinal virtues and the three theological virtues, with some orbiting celestial bodies added for Rule of Symbolism. Therefore doubling as an inversion of Circles of Hell. The first three rings represent flaws (not sins) that prevent the deceased from going higher and the latter four embody positive examples of the virtues. The eighth sphere contains souls that possess all of the virtues and the ninth is made of angels (untainted by sin).
  • The white thrones reserved for important Catholic figures, such as the Holy Roman Emperor Heinrich VII, are laid out in a complex geometric pattern. The circles are concentric but skewed to one side so, when they cross each other, they form a rose.

Live-Action TV

• Doctor Who: In "The Rings of Akhaten", Akhaten is a parasitic, sentient planet that is revered by the people inhabiting neighboring planets as an evil god. There's an entire religion created to prevent Akhaten from ever waking up. Akhaten is surrounded by two concentric asteroid ring systems, with the inner one housing the pyramid-like Apex Temple where the ritual to keep him sleeping is performed. This makes this an Exploited Trope.

Music

• Lil Nas X: "Call Me By Your Name" opens with an Establishing Shot of a heavenly plane. It's covered by cloud formations arranged like dashed rings spinning around the rising sun. This arrangement evokes a feeling of holiness and purity.
• Miley Cyrus: In the music video of "Mother's Daughter", there's a mother breastfeeding her baby and wearing a crown of yellow flowers over a crown of golden spires arranged in a circle. Both elements are concentric and are meant to underlie the sanctity of motherhood. With this song. Cyrus is making a statement on sorority —that a supportive, healthy mother-daughter relationship is to be exalted.

Mythology & Religion

• The Bible: St. Paul talks about being taken out of his body and ascending to the Third Heaven. (2 Corinthians 12). This is implicitly stating that Heaven has levels or even circles. An apocryphal book not counted as canonical by most Christian denominations, The Apocalypse of St Paul, appears to add detail to this, and confirms for Christians the Jewish idea that there are seven heavens.
• Hindu Mythology: The cosmos is an "egg" made of concentric, spherical realms called lokas enveloped by the Shell of Brahmanda. Mount Merus connects the earthly realm with five, upper, divine lokas of the aforementioned Brahmanda. From lowest to uppermost, they are traditionally arranged as follows: Svarloka (or Svarga), Maharloka, Janarloka, Tapoloka, and Brahmaloka (or Satyaloka). Svarga is where the righteous souls go after death as well as the home of the Deva deities. It's ruled by Deva monarchs Indrani and Indra. It contains the nectar of immortality. Satyaloka is where the Top God Brahma resides.
• Islam: The Qur'an and Hadith describe the samāwāt^note translated as sky spheres as made of seven heavenly spheres surrounding the mortal realm.
  • Raqi'a, the innermost heaven, is made of water and hosts Adam, Eve, and the star angels. It's also where Muhammad meets the angel Habib.
  • Araqlun is made of white pearls and houses prophets like Isa (Jesus) and Yahya (John the Baptist).
  • Qaydum is made of iron (other sources say it's pearls or similar stones) and where the Angel of Death Azrael and Joseph reside.
  • Ma'una is made of brass (or white gold) and the place that the Angel of Tears Idris calls home.
  • Di'a is made of silver and ruled by the high priest Aaron. The guardian of hellfire occasionally visits it.
  • Daqua is made of gold (other sources say it's garnets and rubies) and the heaven where Moses ascended to.
  • Ariba, the outermost heaven, is made of either emerald or a madness-inducing holy light. Sidrat al-Muntaha(a mysterious Lote tree) marks the frontier. Abraham dwells here.
• Judaism: Taken together, several vesicles of The Talmud describe the Shamayim as both the place where heavenly beings inhabit and the seven-ringed, upper region of the universe. The number is seven because, for the Abrahamic religions, that's God's number. They go as follows:
  • Vilon: The first and lowest ring is Adam and Eve's home (after expulsion), ruled by Archangel Gabriel.
  • Raqia: The second ring is governed by Archangels Zachariel and Raphael. Planets, angels, and fallen angels can also be found there, although the latter ones are imprisoned.
  • Shehaqim: The third ring is the Garden of Eden and, according to the Book of Enoch, where Hell is located. It's also where angels' food, the manna, is produced. Archangel Hanniel is the chief here.
  • Maon: The fourth ring is Archangel Michael's domain, who guards the heavenly counterpart of Jerusalem (Temple and Alter included).
  • Makon: The fifth ring is reigned by Archangels Samel or Hammuel. It houses the lowest-ranking angels, the Ishim, as well as the angelic choir.
  • Zebul: The sixth ring is under Archangel Zadkiel's administration. This is the least-described heaven.
  • Araboth: The last and outermost ring houses God's throne and the highest-ranking Celestial Paragons and Archangels. It's, understandably, a huge Mind Screw.
• Mesopotamian Mythology: The sky is made of three (occasionally seven) concentric domes made of fluid precious stones encasing Earth. The jasper (green) lowest dome contains the constellations, the saggilmut (blue) middle dome houses the Igigi (Depending on the Writer, Anunnaki deities or the precursors of humans), and the luludānītu (red) highest dome is Top God (and god of the sky) An's physical form. This view has been appropriated by the Abrahamic Religions which, in turn, dictate much of Western and Middle Eastern cosmology. Thus, making this trope Older Than Dirt.
• Oftentimes, human cultures would invoke the Rule of Symbolism —of the holy brand— on geometric figures. This is called Sacred Geometry and leaks into the architectural designs of whatever that society deems as Holy Ground. In the case of concentric shapes, we have the Microcosmic Man, the Hindu Mandalas, and the Platonic Solid model of the solar system. Spiral figures are primarily inspired by natural-occurring Fibonacci sequences (e.g., a mollusk's shell).

Tabletop Games

• Exalted: The Primordial She Who Lives In Her Name, the embodiment of hierarchy and order, takes the form of a crystal sphere orbited by 100 spheres, themselves orbited by 9,997 spheres (formerly 10,000). Each sphere contains a flame that whispers her name outwards, subsuming the mind of anyone who hears it.

Theatre

• Cesare - Il Creatore che ha distrutto: Cesare Borgia's vision of heaven is based on a passage of Paradiso Canto. There are white thrones arranged in (skewed) concentric rings with the overall shape of a rose.

Video Games

• Kid Icarus:
  • Lady Palutena, the Big Good, rules the Skyworld as the Goddess of Light. Her redesign brings a downplayed example of this trope. From her asymmetrical belt hang several golden accessories, one of them consisting of a small circle surrounded by two increasingly bigger rings. They aren't exactly concentric but skewed to the top. Her white, glowing halo is designed this way too, being a filled circle encased by a ring. In general, Palutena has round figures as her geometric motif.
  • Kid Icarus: Uprising: Official artwork of the Skyworld depicts it as a vast mass of clouds. Some of them shape strange structures —i.e., concentric arcs towering over a platform of clouds.
• Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story: Mami Tomoe has the Doppel of Worship, which is described as materializing when one has "accepted salvation in a moment of despair". In other words, the Doppel believes itself a divine savior. When merged with Mami Tomoe, it turns her Magical Girl outfit into a Shout-Out to common imagery of the Christian Virgin Mary. On her back, she has concentric, golden discs with the outer ring being made of protruding rays.
• Ōkami: Amaterasu, the Japanese Top Goddess and deity of the sun, carries Divine Instruments floating on her back while in her true form. She's the only one who can wield them as weapons. One class, the Reflectors, is based on the Yata no Kagami and has the form of a spinning disc with concentric or spiral patterns on its surface.

Western Animation

• The Simpsons: In the "Treehouse Of Horror XVI" segment "Survival Of The Fattest", Lenny dies and goes to his personal version of Heaven. All of the angels take the form of Carl and hover on the clouds positioned in concentric circles that lead to a light sphere.

Real Life

• The Celestial Spheres astronomical model postulates that the universe is made of rotating, concentric rings of aether. Each region contains a different level in a hierarchy of fixed celestial bodies. First came two sets of zodiac constellations, then the Stars, and finally the observable planets, one per orb, with the Earth at the core. It was developed by Greek thinkers such as Aristotle, Copernicus, Plato, and Cicero.
• The advent of photography allowed us to capture the night sky for hours on end, easily revealing a path of stars (à la Streaming Stars). Or, more accurately, how Earth's rotation causes the celestial bodies to shift position (aka, diurnal motion). Long exposure times reveal what is known as the star trail, which is a collection of circular, coaxial streaks in the sky.
• Massive planets tend to attract surrounding astronomical junk thanks to their powerful gravity fields. As the planet rotates, it drags the objects, therefore causing them to orbit in layered paths that, from afar, look like this pattern.

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