What happens when we look at a familiar building through the lens of Vastu?
In this series, I explore familiar buildings from a different perspective. I do not suggest that they were designed according to Vastu. Rather, I look at how space, function and symbolism can sometimes reveal surprising connections with Vastu principles and the subtle energy system of the Chakras.
Elizabeth Tower, home to the famous Big Ben, is one such example.
Technically, Big Ben is the Great Bell inside the tower. Weighing 13.7 tonnes, Big Ben has a formidable voice, with its strikes reaching around 118 decibels at close range.
In this blog, I analyse the tower vertically and show how its structure, functions and symbolism create intriguing parallels with the chakra system.
The tower rises 96 metres from a compact 12 by 12 metre footprint. Its lower levels once contained spaces for confinement and official records. Above them rise the clock mechanism, ventilation shaft, bells, Ayrton Light and, finally, the gilded spire.
Read in this way, the tower rises from confinement, through memory and time, into air, sound and light before reaching the gilded symbolism of its summit.
The parallel with the chakra system now becomes interesting. In yogic tradition, the first five chakras correspond to the great elements: Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Akasha. Ajna and Sahasrara move beyond the elemental realm.
Structure • boundaries • containment • physical reality
At the tower’s lower level is the Prison Room, associated with the detention of Members of Parliament who defied the authority of the House.
Muladhara corresponds to Prithvi, or the Earth element, and is associated with structure, stability and containment.
The symbolism is almost textbook: stone walls, restriction, discipline and institutional authority. Before anything can rise, it must first be anchored.
Memory • impressions • continuity
Above this level were spaces associated with official records and documents. Paper and water may seem unlikely companions, but the connection lies in their function. Svadhisthana corresponds to Jala, or Water, and relates to experience, impressions, adaptability and continuity.
Events pass and circumstances change, but records preserve what happened and carry the past into the present.
Power • transformation • regulation • time
Higher in the tower sits the Great Clock, where stored energy becomes controlled movement. Heavy weights provide the power, while the escapement releases it in small, regular steps so the clock keeps accurate time.
Manipura corresponds to Agni, or Fire, the principle of transformation. Here, potential energy becomes kinetic energy and controlled movement. Four great clock dials face outward. To me, they evoke Chaturmukha Brahma, the Creator, facing the four directions.
Time came to stand above the city, regulating movement, work, transport and civic life.
Movement • circulation • connection • breath
A vertical ventilation passage carries air upwards through the tower towards the bells. This creates a natural parallel with Anahata, associated with Vayu, the Air element, and with breath, movement and circulation. Like prana rising through the subtle body, air moves upward through the tower.
Breath rises. At the throat, breath becomes voice.
Sound • vibration • expression • communication
Then dear old Big Ben finds its voice. Vishuddha corresponds to Akasha, Space or Ether, whose subtle quality is sound. In the belfry hang the Great Bell and four smaller bells. When struck, they vibrate and send sound into the surrounding space.
This idea of making time visible and audible across the city travelled far beyond Westminster. Clock towers existed long before Big Ben, but after Elizabeth Tower was completed in 1859, it became an international reference point, inspiring similar forms across the British Empire and beyond.
The BBC began broadcasting the chimes in 1923, carrying Big Ben’s voice far beyond Westminster.
Perception • awareness • discernment
Above the bells is the Ayrton Light, illuminated when Parliament is sitting after dark. Here, sound gives way to light.
Ajna is associated with perception, discernment and wareness. Unlike the clock faces, which communicate through hands and numbers, the Ayrton Light offers a simple visual signal.
The journey has now moved beyond the five gross elements.
Ascent • gold • transcendence
Above the light, Elizabeth Tower narrows into its ornate roof and spire, finished with gilded details, an orb and a cross.
Tradition places Sahasrara just above the body, often imagined as a thousand-petalled lotus of radiance. It is striking, then, that the tower’s summit carries floral ornamentation and is crowned in gold.
The orb traditionally represents the world, while the cross points beyond the earthly realm. The journey that began in the density of Earth ends in light, gold and in the expanse of subtle energy fields.
In my experience, structures that continue to leave their mark across generations often reveal a strong relationship between the five great elements: Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Space, each giving way to the next.
And perhaps that is why Big Ben, while telling time to generations, has somehow become timeless itself.