#World Religions

[ominouspositivity-or-else]

*The Eucharist is the body of Christ under the appearances of bread and wine.

**God is bound to these sacraments, meaning he always gives grace through them when they are done, but he is not bound by these sacraments, meaning that God can do literally whatever he wants and can of course go around them and provide grace in other ways.

***7 sacraments, listed: Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Eucharist, Confession, Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders, and Matrimony.

Feel free to add nuance in the tags or talk about why you find the teachings strange! Let me know if there's anything utterly baffling that I didn't include!!!

Also please remember to be respectful!!! Not everyone knows theology like you might!!!

[onemoreattempt]

I like how one of the few things a good chunk of major religions agree on completely is that pomegranates slap.

Christianity 🩷s pomegranates

Islam 🩷s pomegranates

Judaism 🩷s pomegranates

Buddhism 🩷s pomegranates

Hinduism 🩷s pomegranates

Taoism 🩷s pomegranates

I have yet to find evidence of anti-pomegranate rhetoric in Shinto, Sikhism, Confucianism (which is not really a religion but whatever), or Caodaism.

[rrcraft-and-lore]

You know the Norse 9 realms perhaps. Yggdrasil, the world tree. But the idea of a world tree, cosmic tree, exists in many cultures/mythos. But what of the Vedic 14 realms? The Lokas.

Let's discuss.

As said, there are 14 worlds/realms 7 higher ones 7 lower ones.

Following?

7+7=14

We're not using Terrance Howard math here.

Okay. These are the Vedic lokas (because there is a more commonly accepted number in Hinduism - nuance moment: commonly accepted, doesn't mean it's believed in totality by everyone).

K, back to the 14 first.

The higher 7 lokas are said to be the heavens, inhabited by the gods and celestial beings more affiliated/closer to "truth" - in vedic and hindu terms, this is idea of divine truth, waking up to the realizations of the universe - maya (the grand illusion), think more awakened, fully formed, wise, have achieved some form of spiritual liberation from ego and the like). And to counter - the 7 lower are often thought of as "hells" - not exactly fire and brimstone but where you suffer the consequences of bad karma, having to live out/purify yourself.

In some iterations, yes, hellish beings to use that phrase, and demons (of a like) can occupy those lower lokas.

As mentioned earlier, in Hinduism, one of the most common take on the lokas is the: Trailokya.

Or three lokas, three spheres, planes of existence, three worlds, often considered: Earth (Bhuloka), Heaven (Svarga), Hell (Naraka), or - Earth (Bhuloka), Heaven (Svarga), and the Netherworld (Patala).

This is just a primer - because of the birth of Buddhism and it's spread, the idea of lokas spread as well to cultures that later adopted Buddhism. So there is a Tibetan Buddhist take on lokas, a Chinese Buddhist one, Vietnamese, and there is even a Jainism interpretation/belief on lokas.

[daveykimy]

Chinese Folk Religion: Snowy edition

Recent snow storms where I live has got me thinking: is there a deity responsible for snowfall and winter in traditional Chinese religion?

You got Frau Perchta/Holle in Germanic folklore, Yuki-Ona in Japanese Shinto folk beliefs, Skadi in Norse Paganism, and Morana in Slavic mythology, but I haven't ever heard of such a figure from my elders growing up.

So for this one, I had to actually use my limited Mandarin skills to do research, along with some help from more fluent family members and friends.

It turns out there are more than one traditional winter & snow deities in Chinese folklore. The reason I personally didn't hear of any is because, again, Chinese folk religion is extremely regional. There are central major deities that are uniform but the rest all differs from region to region. Han Chinese people have always spread out across several climate zones, from tropical to sub-arctic. Understandably, Gods and Goddesses associated with weather will differ from region to region. My Chinese side of the family hailed from a region where snowfall isn't very common, and winter isn't normally extreme. But look towards regions north of the Yellow River, and it's more upstream valleys in the Han Chinese heartland, it's a different story.

Teng'Liu: The Spirit of Snow and Frost

The first deity I can find is a figure named Teng'Liu (藤六). This is a male deity associated with snow itself. The "Liu" part if his name is the Chinese character for 6. Snowflakes typically have six arms/branches regardless of pattern. In Chinese numerology, the number 6 is also a number with "extreme Yin energy" (极阴). Snow itself is a thing with a lot of Yin energy too, as it's formed from water. Those familiar with Chinese cosmology should be familiar with the element's association with the cardinal direction of North. Which, again, is attributed with Yin. Thus explains why many forms of his folk names contains the number 6.

There is a folk ritual (which thankfully hasn't been practiced in over a century), which in Northern villages they used to offer up a young girl to this snow deity as a gift to appease him. The unfortunate girl would be tied up in a sack and left to the elements in the cold.

Teng'Liu occurs often in poetic works of literature as a stand-in for "snow". A fitting example is a work from Song dynasty writer and poet Yang Wanli, where he mentions "The Azure Lady pulls along Teng'Liu, as the Sun wilts away as she shakes (him)"** The meaning is obvious, but he mentions an Azure Lady, which takes us to another deity.

Qing'nu (青女）: The Azure Lady

The second deity associated with snow and winter is a Goddess called Qing'nu, or "The Azure Lady", "The Lady in Turquoise", "The Lady in Blue", depending on the translation. She seems to be much more well-attested in ancient religious texts in addition to poetry and seems to predate the emergence of Teng'liu.

Attested in Huainanzi, a text compiled around 139 BC, "...three moons into autumn, Qing'nu emerges (from her home), and makes frost and snow fall..."

She is also mentioned as having white hair in a lot of classical Chinese poetry.

In traditional Chinese folk beliefs, Qing'nu resides in the moon and is a companion/handmaiden of the Moon Goddess Chang'E (嫦娥). Every year at the end of autumn, she will emerge from the moon palace to perform her duty: to bring winter, frost, cold, and snow. She will descend upon Mount Qing'yao (青要山), where she will bathe in the waters there to purify herself. She will then start playing her seven-stranded lyre and snow and frost will fall upon the earth to cleanse the land of impurities and diseases (until they come back next summer).

BTW Mt. Qing'yao is an actual mountain in Henan Province. The mountain itself does play a rather big role in traditional beliefs and in Taoism. In fact, there is a hill adjacent to the mountain named Qing'nu's Peak (青女峰), where on the peak there stands a pillar-like rock. In local folklore they say that lone pillar looks like a slender lady, standing atop the mountains looking down upon the earth. It marks where the Goddess herself stands every year to bring winter. The locals call it "the maiden's rock" (闺女石).

Legend has it there was once a gorgeous palace at the foot of this mountain where Qing'nu would stay in temporarily during winter. This could possibly be a reference to some type of structure used as a shrine or temple. Today only the spring that flowed in the palace remain. The very spring that, according to folklore, that the Goddess herself bathes in to purify herself. Today, young ladies from around would make pilgrimage to that spring to welcome her arrival on 14th day of the ninth month. A second pilgrimage would also be made on 13th day of the third month as she is supposed to leave and return to the moon. (the dates are the dates in the Chinese lunar calendar).

From these we can see while those deities are all associated with snow, they are seen by the people as very different. Teng'liu is very embodiment of the weather phenomenon, kind of like Jack Frost in American folklore. The fact there were rituals to appease him means that he is seen as a very unpredictable and volatile force. A spirit which has to be controlled under strict orders from a higher Celestial deity (天神): Qing'nu. Think of her as the Chinese counterpart to Frau Holle, a spirit attributed to making snow fall but not the snow itself. Or rather, think of those two like Helios and Apollo in Greco-Roman mythology. One being the sun itself and the latter being the one who pulls the sun across the sky.

This was fun, i hope all you folks who are trying to connect to their ancestral beliefs found this useful.

**translation might be off, sorry. Middle Chinese is difficult even for fluent speaker who studies old literature, plus this was Middle Chinese in it's poetic form.

[sinfullydivination]

Kemetic discord: Welcome to Per-Maat!

This is a Kemetic based educational server that’s open to people of all paths. We share resources, knowledge, personal experiences, and you’re more than welcome to share insight about your personal practice as well.

We would love it if you could come join us, and at least make some new friends!

[h0bg0blin-meat]

we should. make a mythology community

HELL YEAHHH

Who wants to join?? I'll make the community if there's enough members.

It'll include all mythologies. Literally any mythology you wanna post and want the world to know about.

[mask131]

I always find it funny when people try to reduce one of the big world-religions to like... One ethnicity. They're not called "world religions" for nothing.

Even within their history, they are showed to evolve. Buddhism was born and created in India - and yet today its leading countries are China and Japan, and it is a minor, secondary religion in its own birth-country. Same thing with Christianity, which might have grown in power and importance in Europe, but was originally a religion from what we call the Middle-East.

In fact about Christianity - people like to imagine it somehow as a "white religion"... Did you know that one of the oldest branches of Christianity is the Church of Ethiopa? In fact, the Ethiopian Christianity is considered to be, to this day, the branch of Christianity that is the closest to what Christianity originally looked like, in the early days of the Church.

[useless-catalanfacts]

Arnadí, also known as carabassa santa ("holy pumpkin"), caramull ("brim") or cassoleta de Dijous Sant ("Holy Thursday little casserole") 🍰

It's a cake made of chestnut and pumpkin eaten during the Holy Week in some areas of the Valencia area and the Central Valencian Country.

The most widespread recipe uses toasted or boiled pumpkin, boiled sweet potatoes, lemon peel, almonds, pine nuts, egg yolks, sugar and cinnamon.

The origin of this dish is unknown, but it's documented in the area since at least the 1600s. Some food historians point that it might be related to an Amazigh (=indigenous Northern African) dish called sellou (سْلّو), tquawt (تْقاوْتْ), sfouf (سْفوفْ), zammitta (الزٌمٌيطة) or bssisse (بْسيِسْ), depending on the region, which is eaten for Ramadan.

An Amazigh sellou. Photo by picturepartners.

The sellou is made of almond, cinnamon, wheat, oil or butter, and other spices that vary depending on the region. It has the same shape as the arnadí and is also decorated with almonds.

Another noticeable similarity is that both are eaten during their religion's holy time: Ramadan for Islam and the Holy Week for Catholics. They're both very important religious celebrations based on the lunar calendar and based on fasting or restricting food (for Ramadan, Muslims can't eat during sunlight hours and, for the Holy Week, Catholics aren't supposed to eat meat and eggs and have to eat simple humble food). Both religions view it as a way of sharing compassion with poor people and to distance themselves from Earthly desires, and in the case of Christians also to get closer to Jesus' suffering. Even though most people in historically-Catholic countries don't follow these religious rules anymore, it's still common to eat the traditional dishes of the time.

To get ready for the hours of fasting or reduced food intake, both communities have the tradition of eating high-calories, high-energy dishes, such as the arnadí and sellou.

The arnadí, in its current recipe, can't date back to the Middle Ages, when the Valencian Country was conquered by Islam and received Arab and Amazigh population. The reason is simple: its main ingredients (pumpkin and sweet potato) would not reach us until after the colonization of the American continent, where these species are from. But it can be possible that arnadí/sellou was made of almond paste at the time and, centuries later, they were changed for pumpkin and sweet potato paste, which is cheaper and it turned out to taste even better.

Photos and info source: Tasta'l d'ací.

[moonlit-archeress]

Today, August 11th of 2023 will complete one month my father made his passage. He was a babá, a priest of the Afro-Brazilian religion named Umbanda, where we essentially worship nature and its spirits, powers and deities, mostly called orishas.

My sister is a musician, just like he was and she paid this tribute to him with two traditional ritualistic invocation songs for the Orisha Oshun, the one who assisted him, his Mother.

I will provide the lyrics below, in Yoruba, Brazilian Portuguese and English. If you can give the video a thumbs up or a comment, it would make us both very happy.

We hope you enjoy it and that we were able to bring you some of our culture and religion to you, just like he would want it.

Osun ya mi oh

Osun sole ni fo mi

Elou odô already fun la yo

Jakunan yo ke rê e

Oxum, Mãe das Águas

Oxum está sobre mim

Senhora do rio de peixes felizes

Peixes graciados no caminho de felicidades

Oxum de Osogbô

Oxum Mãe das Águas.

Oshun, Mother of Waters

Oshun is above me

Lady of the Happy Fish River

Fishes graced the way to happiness

Oshun of Osogbo

Oshun Mother of Waters.

Iyê iyê, yêyê ô (Mãe, Mamãe)

Mother, mommy

Iyá Òsun ni ilé (A mãe Òsun está na casa)

Iyá Òsun ni ilé (A mãe Òsun está na casa) 2x

Mother Osun is in the house

Omo ni ilé okán mimo (Os filhos que estão na casa possuem um coração santo)

The children who are in the house have a holy heart.

Iyá tundè Iléshà, Iyá tundè (A mãe retornou para Ileshà, a mãe retornou).

The mother returned to Ileshà, the mother has returned.

Iye ku aabo, omi rê, yèyé o (A mãe é bem vinda, a água é sua, mãe)

The mother is welcome, the water is hers, mother.

Omo ni ilé okán mimo (Os filhos que estão na casa possuem um coração santo)

The children who are in the house have a holy heart

Iye ku aabo ìré o (A mãe é bem-vinda em Ìré)

Iye ku aabo Ijëshà (A mãe é bem-vinda em Ijëshà) 2x

The mother is welcome in Ìré

mother is welcome in Ijëshà

Iyê iyê, yêyê ô (Mãe, Mamãe) 2x

Iyê iyê, yêyê ô (Mother, Mother)

[gramarobin]

I'm shakey. Just got off the phone with financial aid. I accepted an award for summer semester and registered for the required two classes. I chose two that seem like the least stressful since it will be summer and there is lots to do around here. Sociology & Philosophy 301 World Religions. Should be interesting. I'm stressed out already 😬

[crazycatsiren]

Also, the religions of my native land have been doing just fine for thousands of years with our own gods and goddesses, thank you very much.

[santmat]

The Yoga of Sound -- Exploring Sound Meditation (Auditory Mysticism, Surat Shabd Yoga) in the Sacred Texts of the Great World Religions, Gnostic Traditions, and the Path of the Masters: https://SantMatRadhasoami.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-yoga-of-sound-exploring-sound.html

"Who else is Christ but the Sound of God?" (Acts of John, new testament apocryphal text with gnostic elements)

[theemmtropy]

Satanist athlete who points down when the crowd cheers for them

[stmichaelsministryofgnosis]

The Arrivals: Light Upon Light - Part IIII (2008)

This 50 part series has been compiled into a 4 part movie by the Ministry of Gnosis. Source "Noreaga & Achernahr Production"

The Arrivals - Light Upon Light

This Series Explores the Revelations in World Religions Regarding the Arrivals of the Antichrist Dajjal, Imam Al-Mahdi, and The Second Coming of The Christ.

A Work Inspired by the Words of the Noble Quran, The Holy Bible, and The Torah. The Arrivals is a Joint Production by truthseekers Noreagaaa and Achernahr.

St. Michael's Ministry of Gnosis serves as a sanctuary for literature, religion, scientific research, history, gnosis, and art. Our main practice is the collection and application of knowledge.

Official Telegram Channel for St. Michael's Ministry of Gnosis The uploaded content, opinions, and views expressed here do not reflect the opinions or views of St. Michael's Ministry of Gnosis. https://t.me/ministry0fgnosis

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If you enjoy our content, please consider making a donation @ https://buymeacoffee.com/ministrygnosis

[delphinidin4]

"At least 1.5 million people in the United States identify as Pagans, which is up from 134,000 in 2001." (source)

"Their numbers roughly double about every 18 months in the United States, Canada and Europe, according to the Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance." (source)

"The 2014 Pew Institute Religious Landscape Study reported that 0.03 percent of respondents in the US identified as either Pagan or Wiccan. In the US, the Pagan population is about the size of a small Protestant denomination. For example, less than 0.3 percent of respondents identified as Quakers.  About 0.5 percent of respondents identified as Congregationalists.

"The larger mainline Protestant denominations ranged from Episcopalians with 1.2 percent of respondents to Baptists with 2.1 percent of respondents." (source)