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nuancedcreation · 1 year ago

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Rituals and Symbolism: Parsis in Gujarat

From: In memory of Greater Iran: Zoroastrians of Navsari Photography and captions: Sarah Jabbari Source: Sahapedia

" 'God is one' is a common idea among Parsis of India, therefore religious icons from non-Zoroastrian religions are also kept in their house and workplace. A sticker of Farre Kiyani (top) share space with Laskhmi (bottom), the Hindu goddess of wealth and prosperity. The symbol of Farre Kiyani (also referred to as ‘Fravahar’ in Iran and India) is a depiction of divine protection of God on people through the wise righteous king. The symbol is very ancient and has been represented in the art of the Achaemenid Empire (550–330 BCE) and is widely used as a symbol of national identity among modern Iranian people and symbol of religious identity among Parsis of India."

"Mobed Ayush Sharukh Desai offering prayers as part of his initiation to priesthood. Sharukh is from the Desai family of priests, who occupy a high status in the Parsi society at Navsari. The fire-holder in which the sacred fire is held is called Afargan, and it must be placed on a marble stone. Sandalwood is usually burnt in the Afargan and a small diya is also lit next to it. During the ceremony, priests cover their mouth to avoid contamination of the fire. Even the hair must be entirely covered by wearing a turban or a skull cap, because in Zoroastrianism, fallen hair is considered impure."

"Priests doing the Jashan ceremony at the house of Mrs Keshmira, for blessings of the family members. The word Jashan is a latter form of the word ‘yasna’ which means veneration. Jashan is a simple ceremony, can be held on any day of the year. In this ritual, Ahura Mazda, the Fravashis, Daham Yazad and Sarosh Yazad are invoked by the recitation of certain prayers. Participation in a Jashan ritual by Zoroastrians is considered as an act of great merit."

"The marriage union is called Payvand-e-Zanshooi, meaning the union of matrimony. A couple of Zoroastrian priest, one from the bride’s side and one from the groom’s side, perform the rituals on the day of the wedding. The priests face the couple, and family members form a circle around them while Avesta prayers are recited and rice thrown on the couple. All participants must be standing during the ceremony which takes about one hour, and all heads must be covered. Non-Zoroastrian or a Parsi without sudra and kushti or without hair covering are not allowed to stand in the circle."The marriage union is called Payvand-e-Zanshooi, meaning the union of matrimony. A couple of Zoroastrian priest, one from the bride’s side and one from the groom’s side, perform the rituals on the day of the wedding. The priests face the couple, and family members form a circle around them while Avesta prayers are recited and rice thrown on the couple. All participants must be standing during the ceremony which takes about one hour, and all heads must be covered. Non-Zoroastrian or a Parsi without sudra and kushti or without hair covering are not allowed to stand in the circle."

"The white bull is considered a sacred animal in Zoroastrianism; in Gujarati it is called Varasyaji. The bull is kept at the Doongerwadi because the urine (Taro) of this virgin bull is used in ritual cleansing of the dead body during funerary rites. The Varasyaji is an albino, hence very rare to find. The bull must be completely white, without even one black hair. Even the eye lashes and tail hair is white. According to Zoroastrian mythology, Varasyaji is a representation of Gava-ayok-daat, which is the first animal created by Ahura Mazda. It got killed by the Devil, Ahreeman, but many other animals, plants and minerals were created out of its dead body. It is born as the Pesh Ruwan (spiritual leader) of the animal kingdom."

"Wearing the sudra and kushti is an essential part of the daily lives for Zoroastrians. Wearing the Sudra is believed to offer protection from evil. This act of untying and tying the kushti is supposed to be done five times (though not every kushti wearer sticks to that number) in a day and the act is called Nirang-i-Kushti. Here, Mr Kersi Patel is at his daily prayer performing Nirang-i-Kushti. When doing the prayer, he unties the kushti from around his waist and holds it up in both hands, the strand doubled over, and lifts it to touch the forehead and eyes."

#parsi #navsari #gujarat #rituals #zoroastrianism #religion #priest #sahapedia #mobed #jashan #avesta #wedding rituals #symbols #sudra #kushti #lakshmi #personal archive

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butterfliesareamyth · 2 years ago

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J'ai publié 369 fois en 2022

C'est 369 billets de plus qu'en 2021 !

30 billets créés (8%)

339 billets reblogués (92%)

Les blogs que j'ai le plus reblogués :

@cheesepizzabro

@sugaroto

@asxitxis

@hey-its-quill

J'ai étiqueté 132 billets en 2022

#young royals - 41 billets

#young royals s2 - 15 billets

#maisie peters - 14 billets

#radio silence - 12 billets

#alice oseman - 12 billets

#solitaire - 10 billets

#thought for the day - 10 billets

#thought of the day - 10 billets

#solitaire alice oseman - 8 billets

#osemanverse - 8 billets

Longest Tag: 137 characters

#but is a reference to the priests of the then great zoroastrian religion of the persian empire. when matthew says they came from the east

Mes billets vedette en 2022 :

n°5

Thought for The day: Is Free Will real or is everything we do predetermined by 'fate'? - @thoughtforthedaysolitaire

Everything we do is predetermined by what happened before. (Maybe we can call it 'fate', I don't know)

2 notes - publié le 31 octobre 2022

n°4

It's summer. I won't go to school until sepember. I spent the year working and I was very tired. And now... ? I'm bored, so I study.

I started to learn to speak swedish.

I think I should sleep instead.

(I'm worse than Frances Janvier -_-")

3 notes - publié le 6 juillet 2022

n°3

Thought for The day: Can Religion and Science coexist? Can they both be believed in by the same person simultaneously?- @thoughtforthedaysolitaire

Yes, because the world is so complex that science will never find all the answers, and it leaves space for religion. There is always enough mystery left to believe in things.

4 notes - publié le 3 décembre 2022

n°2

Anon Thought for the day: Do you think that, if we were happy for our entire lives, we would die feeling like we'd missed out on something? - @thoughtforthedaysolitaire

I don't understand why we would start thinking about it just before we die if we were happy. (And I don't think we feel anything while or after dying)

So... I think if we were happy for our entire life, we would just be happy and we wouldn't even think about having missed something out.

(Sorry for the grammar, I'm French. I can explain it in French if it's not clear and you want to translate it yourself.)

4 notes - publié le 27 novembre 2022

Mon billet n°1 en 2022

@autisticnotartistic 's Thought for the Day: if someone has a nose piercing, do they have a third nostril? - @thoughtforthedaysolitaire

I don't think so, but it's a good question. (Maybe we can say that they have just one nostril , now that the two first are related)

(Sorry for the grammar or if it's not the right words, I'm French)

6 notes - publié le 21 novembre 2022

Obtenez votre année 2022 en revue sur Tumblr →

(Half of it is in French but yes)

#tumblr2022 #année en revue #mon année tumblr 2022 en revue #votre année tumblr en revue #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review

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limoin · 4 hours ago

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The first thing to know is that the Limited Yordle Lover Shirt of Matthew’s Gospel used the Greek word magi, which does not actually mean ‘wise men’, but is a reference to the priests of the then-great Zoroastrian religion of the Persian Empire. When Matthew says they came from the east, he was alluding to the direction of Babylon and Persia. It is, of course, inconceivable that Zoroastrian priests would be in the least interested in the birth of a purported king of Judah. It is scientifically inconceivable that a star could be followed so accurately to Jerusalem and then to Bethlehem and actually stand over the very house where Jesus was. However, our author (he was anonymous and very unlikely to have been called Matthew) knew that the magi were well known for their wisdom and for their knowledge of astrology, so he knew this nativity account would be plausible.

0 notes

limotes786a · 21 days ago

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The first thing to know is that the Giancarlo Stanton Aaron Judge Juan Soto New York Yankees Big Fellas Shirt of Matthew’s Gospel used the Greek word magi, which does not actually mean ‘wise men’, but is a reference to the priests of the then-great Zoroastrian religion of the Persian Empire. When Matthew says they came from the east, he was alluding to the direction of Babylon and Persia. It is, of course, inconceivable that Zoroastrian priests would be in the least interested in the birth of a purported king of Judah. It is scientifically inconceivable that a star could be followed so accurately to Jerusalem and then to Bethlehem and actually stand over the very house where Jesus was. However, our author (he was anonymous and very unlikely to have been called Matthew) knew that the magi were well known for their wisdom and for their knowledge of astrology, so he knew this nativity account would be plausible.

0 notes

strawberryclothing · 4 months ago

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The first thing to know is that the Idaho Vandals Palms Tree Hawaiian Shirt of Matthew’s Gospel used the Greek word magi, which does not actually mean ‘wise men’, but is a reference to the priests of the then-great Zoroastrian religion of the Persian Empire. When Matthew says they came from the east, he was alluding to the direction of Babylon and Persia. It is, of course, inconceivable that Zoroastrian priests would be in the least interested in the birth of a purported king of Judah. It is scientifically inconceivable that a star could be followed so accurately to Jerusalem and then to Bethlehem and actually stand over the very house where Jesus was. However, our author (he was anonymous and very unlikely to have been called Matthew) knew that the magi were well known for their wisdom and for their knowledge of astrology, so he knew this nativity account would be plausible.

0 notes

paletalegear · 5 months ago

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NFL Las Vegas Raiders Flamingo Black Hawaii

NFL Las Vegas Raiders Flamingo Black Hawaiian Shirt

The first thing to know is that the NFL Las Vegas Raiders Flamingo Black Hawaiian Shirt of Matthew’s Gospel used the Greek word magi, which does not actually mean ‘wise men’, but is a reference to the priests of the then-great Zoroastrian religion of the Persian Empire. When Matthew says they came from the east, he was alluding to the direction of Babylon and Persia. It is, of course, inconceivable that Zoroastrian priests would be in the least interested in the birth of a purported king of Judah. It is scientifically inconceivable that a star could be followed so accurately to Jerusalem and then to Bethlehem and actually stand over the very house where Jesus was. However, our author (he was anonymous and very unlikely to have been called Matthew) knew that the magi were well known for their wisdom and for their knowledge of astrology, so he knew this nativity account would be plausible.

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joomma · 2 years ago

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Fc Emmen Ugly Christmas Sweater

The first thing to know is that the Fc Emmen Ugly Christmas Sweater of Matthew’s Gospel used the Greek word magi, which does not actually mean ‘wise men’, but is a reference to the priests of the then-great Zoroastrian religion of the Persian Empire. When Matthew says they came from the east, he was alluding to the direction of Babylon and Persia. It is, of course, inconceivable that Zoroastrian priests would be in the least interested in the birth of a purported king of Judah. It is scientifically inconceivable that a star could be followed so accurately to Jerusalem and then to Bethlehem and actually stand over the very house where Jesus was. However, our author (he was anonymous and very unlikely to have been called Matthew) knew that the magi were well known for their wisdom and for their knowledge of astrology, so he knew this nativity account would be plausible.

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likealittleheartbeat · 3 years ago

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Eternal Flames from Wikipedia

“The eternal fire is a long-standing tradition in many cultures and religions. In ancient Iran the atar was tended by a dedicated priest and represented the concept of "divine sparks" or Amesha Spenta, as understood in Zoroastrianism. Period sources indicate that three "great fires" existed in the Achaemenid era of Persian history, which are collectively considered the earliest reference to the practice of creating ever-burning community fires.[1]

The eternal flame was a component of the Jewish religious rituals performed in the Tabernacle and later in the Temple in Jerusalem, where a commandment required a fire to burn continuously upon the Outer Altar.[2] Modern Judaism continues a similar tradition by having a sanctuary lamp, the ner tamid, always lit above the ark in the synagogue. After World War II, such flames gained further meaning, as a reminder of the six million Jews killed in the Holocaust.

The Cherokee Nation maintained a fire at the seat of government until ousted by the Indian Removal Act in 1830. At that time, embers from the last great council fire were carried west to the nation's new home in the Oklahoma Territory. The flame, maintained in Oklahoma, was carried back to the last seat of the Cherokee government at Red Clay State Park in south-eastern Tennessee, to the Museum of the Cherokee Indian in Cherokee, North Carolina, and to the Cherokee Nation Tribal Complex in Talequah, Oklahoma.[3]

In China, it has at times been common to establish an eternally lit lamp as a visible aspect of ancestor veneration; it is set in front of a spirit tablet on the family's ancestral altar.[4]”

#atla meta #the world is wide #the firebending masters #zuko #aang #i mean we could also talk about the bangles song and how it relates for these two boys but imma hold back

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southeastasianists · 4 years ago

Link

Last September, I drove for four hours from Jakarta to a small town in western Java, staying one night in a Javanese-styled hotel at the foot of Mt. Ciremai, a 3,000-meter volcano on Java. When I got to Cisantana, I journeyed down a stone path, looking for the Mother Mary shrine. It was a welcome surprise to see this Catholic shrine, equipped with a tropical version of the Via Dolorosa—the route believed to have been taken by Jesus through Jerusalem to Calvary—and supported by electricity coming from a nearby Islamic boarding school.

The presence of such a shrine was all the more surprising in West Java, one of Indonesia’s most conservative Muslim provinces, where attacks against Christians, Ahmadis, and other religious minorities frequently make headlines in local news. Attacks against women’s rights, private gay parties, and transgender crowds are not uncommon.

I continued walking past avocado farms, a banana plantation, and cornfields and finally came upon an open space where a handful of Sundanese women and men were working to construct a tomb.

They were very pleasant. “It’s a quiet day today,” an elderly man said to me. They were taking a break and welcomed me to sit in their bamboo hut with a fire stove.

A woman showed me phone videos of the work they did with more than 100 volunteers, who used wooden poles and bamboo to bring several huge stones from a nearby river to this spot, which is inaccessible by road. They called the tomb “Batu Satangtung” or the “Human Stone,” intended for their elderly religious leader and his wife.

I imagined the makers of Stonehenge might have used similar methods two or three millennia ago in England.

The Sundanese people are from West Java, a province of about 40 million. They are the second largest ethnic group in Indonesia, after the neighbouring Javanese. The volunteers I met are not only Sundanese but of the ethnic-religious group Sunda Wiwitan. The name literally means “early Sunda” or “real Sunda.” Its practitioners assert that Sunda Wiwitan has been part of the Sundanese way of life since before the arrival of Hinduism and Islam.

Why were they building the tomb here? Ela Romlah, the woman with the videos, told me that in 1937 and 1938, when Mt. Ciremai was expected to erupt, Pangeran Madrais—then the leader of this group—and his followers climbed the mountain, carrying a set of gamelan instruments. He and hundreds of his musicians played the gamelan on the mountain for months. They believed their music and prayer stopped the eruption. “They then set up a camp at the foot of the mountain. It was here in Curug Goong.”

Madrais was an inspirational cleric, interpreting old Sundanese and Javanese beliefs. He helped establish the community in 1925.

The Dutch colonial officials in charge at the time were not amused to see this kind of independent behaviour. They tried to prevent hundreds of Sundanese people from staying at Curug Goong. But they said nothing when Mt. Ciremai calmed down.

In August 1945, at the end of World War II, Indonesia’s independence leaders adopted a constitution that vowed to protect all Indonesian citizens equally. But they also reached a political compromise with conservative Muslims, including Wahid Hasjim, the chairman of the Nahdlatul Ulama. The agreement, designed to avoid setting up an Islamic state, established the Ministry of Religious Affairs to be “the bridge” between Muslims and the state. The compromise was called Pancasila.

In Garut, about four hours’ drive from Curug Goong, Islamist militants were not satisfied with this and declared the Darul Islam (Islamic State) movement in August 1949, vowing to implement their version of Sharia in Indonesia. From 1950 to 1958, Darul Islam conducted a failed guerrilla campaign in West Java that nonetheless attracted some popular support. They attacked not only the Indonesian military but also religious minorities.

In response, Wahid Hasjim, the minister of religious affairs, adopted a 1952 decree to differentiate between “kepercayaan” (faith) and “agama” (religion). In Indonesian vocabulary, “aliran kepercayaan” is officially used to cover multiple minor religions and spiritual movements. Hasjim decreed that “aliran kepercayaan” are “dogmatic ideas, intertwined with the living customs of various ethnic groups, especially among those who are still underdeveloped, whose main beliefs are the customs of their ancestors throughout the ages.”

Meanwhile, “agama” was defined according to monotheistic understandings. If a community is to be recognised as “religious,” it must adhere to “an internationally recognised monotheistic creed; taught by a prophet through the scriptures.” In this way the decree discriminates against non-monotheistic religions including Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Bahaism, Zoroastrianism and hundreds of local religions and spiritual movements in Indonesia.

In West Java, the Sunda Wiwitan people faced two serious challenges: the Darul Islam militants, who repeatedly intimidated and attacked them, and the Ministry of Religious Affairs, which actively tried to align “underdeveloped religions” such as theirs with Christianity or Islam.

In 1954, Darul Islam militants attacked the Sunda Wiwitan base in Kuningan. “They managed to burn our paseban (communal spaces) including the kitchen and the garages but fortunately not the main hall,” she said. “They forced our members to convert to Islam,” said Dewi Kanti, a great granddaughter of Madrais.

Similar intimidation and violence took place in neighbouring regencies Tasikmalaya, Banjar, and Garut. Dewi’s grandfather, Pangeran Tedja Buwana, who succeeded Madrais, fled Kuningan to Bandung.

Darul Islam also sent militants into Jakarta. On November 30, 1957, President Sukarno attended a school function at which a Darul Islam militant threw a grenade. Sukarno was unharmed, but six schoolchildren died.

Even after Darul Islam had been militarily defeated, eight Darul Islam militants mingled with a Muslim congregation during a prayer service inside the State Palace on May 14, 1962. They fired shots at Sukarno but missed, hitting one of his bodyguards and a Muslim scholar instead.

Muslim conservatives continued their opposition to smaller religions and spiritual movements. To placate hardliners, Sukarno banned the Indonesian Freemasons (Vrijmetselaren-Loge) along with six so-called “affiliates,” without providing evidence of any illegal links: the Bahai Indonesia organisation, the Divine Life Society, the Moral Rearmament Movement, the Ancient Mystical Order Rosae Crucis, the Rotary Club and the Democracy League, a non-religious organisation considered to be critical of Sukarno. The Rotary Club was accused of being a Zionist group; this was essentially a conspiracy theory intended to connect the Freemasons to the six organisations.

In June 1964, the Kuningan authorities declared Sunda Wiwitan marriages illegal. The Kuningan prosecutor’s office later detained nine believers—a priest and eight young grooms who married in Sundanese Wiwitan rituals—for several months.

Anticipating increased hostilities, Tedja Buwana, who had returned from Bandung, left the Sunda Wiwitan faith, joined the Catholic church and used their paseban as a church. His move prompted 5,000 Sunda Wiwitan believers to convert to Catholicism, according to a researcher, Cornelius Iman Sukmana, himself a Catholic in Kuningan, who wrote a book about the Sunda Wiwitan and the Catholic church.

“It was an important decision. My grandfather saved thousands of our members from accusations of atheism,” said Dewi Kanti, referring to massacres of the communists between 1965 and 1969. “We can’t imagine what would have happened if he didn’t do it.”

Decades later, when the situation finally calmed down, many of these Sunda Wiwitan people, including Dewi Kanti, openly, but not offficially, re-converted to Sunda Wiwitan. Many who converted away from Christianity still go to Sunday mass and wear a cross around their necks. But inside their pockets, they also have Sunda Wiwitan pendants (a mountain, an eagle and two snakes).

“It is common in Kuningan to meet a single family with several religions,” said a vendor near the shrine.

As I walked down from the tomb, I wondered if these conversions and re-conversions prove that religious identity is not a zero-sum game. Identity is somehow imagined like a container with a fixed volume; if you have more of one identity, you have less of another. The Sunda Wiwitan people showed me that they could expand the container and have multiple identities. Thinking of it from this perspective, it is no surprise that I found a tropical Via Dolorosa and an Islamic boarding school near the tomb construction.

The 1965 Blasphemy Law

In downtown Kuningan, I drove to the paseban area, looking at the beautiful wooden hall and sipping a smooth ginger-lemon tea while chatting with Okky Satrio Djati, a Catholic Javanese, who had married the Sunda Wiwitan leader Dewi Kanti almost two decades earlier.

Djati and I used to work together in a newsroom during the Suharto era, publishing online samizdat and managing a mobile internet server. He went to Kuningan in 1998 when President Suharto was facing the mass protests at the height of the Asian economic crisis and helped hide political activists fleeing trouble.

Djati is now a Sunda Wiwitan member, speaking Sundanese, burning incense and sometimes performing midnight prayers in a nearby mountain. “He seems to be more Sundanese than me,” said Kanti, with a giggle.

Djati helps his wife deal with the discrimination that many Sunda Wiwitan members face. “My husband chose Catholicism as his official religion,” Kanti said. “But he practices Kejawen faith. If we insisted on marrying with our own (real) religions, we wouldn’t have birth certificates for our children, or at least, not with my husband’s name on them.”

Under Indonesia’s legal system, an ethnic believer cannot put their kepercayaan on the agama column of their national ID cards and thus cannot legally marry unless they change their kepercayaan to a recognised religion. In these cases, they leave a blank space in the religion column of the card and the civil registration office does not recognise paternity because the couples are not officially married.

Problems for religious minorities escalated in January 1965 when President Sukarno issued a decree that prohibited people from being hostile toward religions or committing blasphemy, which is defined as “abuse” and “desecration” of a religion. Sukarno decreed that the government would steer “mystical sects … toward a healthy way of thinking and believing in the One and Only God.” The decree, which gave official approval only to Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism, was immediately incorporated into the Criminal Code as article 156(a), with a maximum penalty of five years in prison. This has had disastrous effects until the present.

After deposing Sukarno, Suharto and his regime enforced the 1952 decree, which also requires a religion to have a holy book, leading to many bizarre stories of “religious alignment.” In Kalimantan, Dayak tribal leaders created the Panaturan –a collection of Dayak ancestral wisdom compiled into a single “holy book.” This required the creation of a clergy, so Dayak priests were trained. Religious rituals once held in fields and homes were moved into new worship halls called Balai Basarah. But most importantly, Kaharingan religious leaders had to choose a permitted religion to align with. They chose Hinduism, and thus became “Kaharingan Hindu.” But do not ask them about Ganesh or karma!

President Suharto’s wrote about his own Javanese Kejawen faith and Islam in his 1989 authorised biography. He described the syncretism common among the Javanese, conducting his Islamic prayers and celebrating Islamic holidays while also meditating in the sacred places of the Javanese traditions when he wanted to make major decision.

On September 7, 1974, three months before the East Timor invasion, Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam met Suharto in a villa in Mt. Dieng, Java Island, where Suharto was meditating in the Semar Cave, which is named after a mythical Javanese character with whom Suharto identified. That cave is still regarded as sacred. When I visited in 2019 it was locked—the villa is now a museum where photos of the Suharto-Whitlam meeting are displayed. Showing a more open mind towards religious minorities, in 1978, Suharto created a directorate within the Ministry of Education and Culture to service these local religions, telling the Indonesian parliament, “These kepercayaan are part of our national tradition, and need not to be opposed to agama.”

Yet even under a strongman, the Ministry of Religious Affairs, technically in charge of religions, resisted and maintained its opposition to local religions. They have refused to include kepercayaan within their domain and have promoted the inclusion of these believers into monotheistic realms. One reason Muslim groups refuse to recognise kepercayaan is their concern that the percentage of Muslims (88 percent) in Indonesia may decline, threatening their majority status.

In Kuningan, the new atmosphere under Suharto prompted the Sunda Wiwitan to re-convert to their native faith. Some of them legally left the Catholic church. Some maintain the practice of two religions, living with multiple identities. In 1982, the faith registered with the Ministry of Education and Culture’s directorate, seeking government services along with President Suharto’s accommodation of ethnic believers.

During the weekend I spent talking with Kanti, Djati and other Sunda Wiwitan believers, young and old, women and men, I witnessed the pain of the discrimination they faced and the cost of religious intolerance to people full of tolerance themselves.

It is fascinating to see a small religion resisting the power of the state. While Suharto took some important steps to protect religious freedom, it would have been better still if he had shown the moral courage to rescind the blasphemy law and the idiosyncratic and dangerous definition of religion from the Sukarno era. Sadly, Suharto’s successors have also failed to find the necessary political will.

Post-Suharto Discrimination

Jarwan is the only Sundanese man who stays overnight to guard the Sunda Wiwitan tomb in Curug Goong. He is a well-built man, keeping a motorcycle and several guard dogs in the bamboo hut.

“Someone has to stay here,” he said. “I am the youngest of the elders.”

In July 2020, the Kuningan government sealed off the tomb, declaring that the Sunda Wiwitan group had no permit to build “a monument.” Dozens of Sunni Muslim militants accompanied government officials to seal the tomb, saying that “the monument” is idolatrous.

Sunda Wiwitan members argue that the construction is not a “monument” but rather a “tomb” prepared for two of their elders, Dewi Kanti’s parents, Pangeran Djati Kusumah, and Emalia Wigarningsih. “It’s built on their own land. There is no regulation here to ban anyone to have cemeteries on our own land,” Djati said.

This is not an unfamiliar scene in many Muslim-majority provinces in Indonesia. Rights monitors have recorded hundreds of incidents like this involving Sunni militant groups, whose thuggish harassment and assaults on houses of worship and members of religious minorities have become increasingly aggressive. Those targeted include Ahmadis, Christians, and Shia Muslims. To give just one grisly example, on May 13-14, 2018, Islamist suicide bombers detonated explosives at three Christian churches in Surabaya. The bombings killed at least 12 and wounded at least 50 people. Thirteen suicide bombers also died.

In 2006 the government introduced regulations for building permits for houses of worship, prompting Muslim protesters to demand the closure of “illegal churches.” Hundreds of churches were closed. Some Christian congregations won lawsuits allowing them to build, but local governments simply ignored court rulings. GKI Yasmin Protestant Church in Bogor was shut down in 2008. The congregation won the case at the Supreme Court in 2010 and then-President Yudhoyono asked the local government to reopen the church, but the city government defied the orders, without consequence.

By contrast, in 2010 the Religious Affairs Ministry listed 243,199 mosques throughout Indonesia, around 78 percent of all houses of worship. Recently an ongoing government census using drones and photography has registered at least 554,152 mosques, suggesting that the number of mosques has more than doubled in a decade.

The hardline Islamist preacher, Rizieq Shihab, has just returned to Indonesia from self-imposed exile in Saudi Arabia. He then called on his supporters “to behead blasphemers;” on November 27 an Islamist group attacked a village in Sigi, Sulawesi island, beheading a Salvation Army elder and three of his relatives. The attackers also burned a Salvation Army church and six other Christian-owned houses. No action has been taken against Rizieq for inciting violence, although police arrested him for breaking coronavirus restrictions.

Threats and speeches that incite violence are facilitated by Indonesia’s discriminatory laws and regulations. They give local majority religious populations significant leverage over religious minority communities. Compounding this, institutions including the Ministry of Religious Affairs, the Coordinating Board for Monitoring Mystical Beliefs in Society (Bakor Pakem) under the Attorney General’s Office, the Religious Harmony Forum, and the semi-official Indonesian Ulema Council have issued decrees and fatwas (religious rulings) against members of religious minorities, and frequently press for the prosecution of “blasphemers.”

Recent targets of the blasphemy law include three former leaders of the Gafatar religious community, prosecuted following the violent, forced eviction in 2016 of more than 7,000 members of the group from their farms on Kalimantan. A more prominent target was former Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Purnama, sentenced to a two-year prison term for blasphemy in a politically motivated case in May 2017. His longtime friend and ally, President Joko Widodo, simply stood by, afraid of the wrath of radical conservatives.

Violence against religious minorities and government failures to take decisive action negate guarantees of religious freedom in the Indonesian constitution and international law, including core international human rights conventions ratified by Indonesia. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Indonesia acceded to in 2005, provides that “persons belonging to…minorities shall not be denied the right, in community with the other members of their group, to enjoy their own culture, to profess and practice their own religion.”

Throughout there have been occasional and modest examples of progress. The Rotary Club began operating again in 1970 after Sukarno died. In 2000, President Abdurrahman Wahid, the eldest son of Hasjim Wahid, cancelled President Sukarno’s 1962 decree banning the Freemasons and alleged associate organisations. After more than a dozen members were detained under the law during the New Order, the Bahai community has since been able to revive their network; however, they have been denied permission to build a temple so they continue to worship in private homes.

A major reform took place in 2006 when President Yudhoyono signed the Population Administrative Law, which no longer requires kepercayaan believers to convert to official religions to be listed on ID cards. But many civil servants are still not aware of or ignore the law, so religious minorities face problems if they refuse to choose one of the six religions that these officials recognise. “They simply say you’re a godless woman if you want to keep the [religion] column blank,” said Kanti, whose ID card has a blank space after the word agama.

In Kuningan, Indonesia’s Ombudsman finally helped mediate the dispute between the Sunda Wiwitan community and the local government, prompting the local authorities to lift the seal on the site and permitting the group to continue constructing the tomb.

The Ombudsman’s Office also helped the Dayak Kaharingan, pressuring several local governments to drop decades of discrimination. Ombudsman Ahmad Suaedy said in a webinar: “The key issue is that they [local religious groups] should get public service. The religious minorities should take courage to report their difficulties.”

In 2017, four Indonesian citizens petitioned the Constitutional Court, demanding the right to have their religions listed on their ID cards. They represented four Indigenous religions including the Marapu (Sumba ), the Sapto Darmo (Java ), and the Parmalim and the Ugamo Bangsa Batak (Sumatra). On November 7, 2017, the court ruled in their favour.

But the Ulama Council objected to the decision. The Ministry of Home Affairs, which issues and manages ID cards, has since failed to implement the court decision. The Ulama Council argued that the ruling “hurts the feeling of the Islamic ummah,” but it is not clear on what legal grounds the ministry refuses to do its duty.

Separately, the Constitutional Court rejected three petitions to revoke the blasphemy law between 2009 and 2018, declaring that religious freedom was subject to certain limitations to preserve public order (former President Abdurrahman Wahid joined the lawsuit in 2009). Those limitations, the court stated in its 2010 decision, were to be defined by “religious scholars,” thereby outsourcing the rights of minorities to unelected members of the majority religion.

There are more than 180 ethnic-religious communities spanning from Sumatra to the smaller islands in eastern Indonesia. They are estimated to encompass around 10 to 12 million people, although the 2010 census recorded only 299,617 people or 0.13 percent of Indonesians claiming to be exclusively ethnic believers. It is still hard and even dangerous to publicly declare one’s religion in Indonesia.

Indeed, it is gruelling work to battle against both government officials and the Sunni ulama. Spineless politicians, feckless government bureaucrats, and narrow-minded ulama officials hamper the development of democracy and human rights in Indonesia.

Jarwan in Curug Goong knows very well that he cannot rely on the government or anyone else to protect the tomb he stands guard over. “We have seen this mistreatment and intimidation for decades. We must guard our sacred places ourselves.

#Southeast Asia #Indonesia #Religion

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bugloveskpop · 4 years ago

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Christmas has pagan roots, just accept it

So I saw a post saying Christmas wasn't a pagan holiday. It actually was so I'm going to do the best of my abilities at the moment to show everyone a little history this Christmas in the form of a lot of quotes because I don't have a ton of spoons to write a whole research paper. I actually grew up in a Christian home. Although, I am no longer associated with Christianity; I am an Omnist. Religion wise, I am a unitarian universalist. I also practice witchcraft as an eclectic witch.

A note: I will be using BCE/CE vs BC/AD as year markers. There is no difference in dating, just in the terms. For example, 1403 AD and 1403 CE are the same date as are 4000BC and 4000BCE.

To begin, I think a lot of people are misunderstanding what a pagan is. Coming from the Merriam-Webster website, a pagan/heathen is:

"Pagan is derived from the Late Latin paganus, which was used at the end of the Roman Empire to name those who practiced a religion other than Christianity, Judaism, or Islam. Early Christians often used the term to refer to non-Christians who worshiped multiple deities. In Latin, paganus originally meant “country dweller” or “civilian;” it is believed that the word’s religious meanings developed either from the enduring non-Christian religious practices of those who lived far from the Roman cities where Christianity was more quickly adopted, or from the fact that early Christians referred to themselves as “soldiers of Christ,” making nonbelievers “civilians.”

The definition and etymology of heathen overlap with those of pagan: both words denote “an unconverted member of a people or nation that does not acknowledge the God of the Bible,” and heathen, like pagan, is believed to have come from the term for a country inhabitant, or in this case, a "heath dweller."

Both words have developed broader and pejorative meanings over time, with pagan being used to mean “an irreligious or hedonistic person” and heathen “uncivilized” or “strange,” but their original meanings are still in use."

Link: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pagan#note-1

This shows that pagans are literally just people who don't practice Christanity, Islam, or Judaism, which are religions that focus on the Hebrew god. This covers a very broad amount of people of various religions from around the world.

Christianity was formed around the 1st century (or 1 CE), and was imposed by Emperor Constantine in 345 CE. Judaism was formed about 4-5,000 years ago (9th to 5th century BCE), making it the oldest monotheistic religion. Islam was founded in the 7th century, around 570 CE, making it the youngest monotheistic religion.

Greek mythology is hard to date because it is believed to have stemmed from centuries of oral tradition. It is likely that Greek myths evolved from stories told in the Minoan civilization of Crete, which lasted from about 3000 to 1100 BCE. Greek mythology also predates Roman mythology by over 1,000 years. The Roman leaders basically copied the Greek religion.

Norse mythological was shared by Northern Germanic tribes of the 9th century CE. These stories were passed down by poetry until the 11th–18th centuries when the Eddas and other medieval texts were written.

Hinduism was founded roughly around the 15th – 5th century BCE. An Indo-Iranian religion known as Zoroastrianism is said to date back to the 2nd millennium BCE (10th to 5th century BCE). It was extremely influential over the development of the Abrahamic tradition as well. Jainism was founded around 8th to 2nd century BCE.

This is just a couple of religions within certain areas, but it was for the sake of a point. Even though Judaism is the oldest monotheistic religion, and the oldest of the religions that worship the Abrahamic god, there are religions that predate it, and even influence it.

Now we will move onto when Christmas is celebrated. Christmas is supposed to celebrate the birth of Christ. However, it is not likely that he was born in the winter time. There was a pagan holiday that was celebrated on what we now call Christmas, however.

"It just so happens that on the twenty-fifth of December in the Roman Empire there was a pagan holiday that was linked to mystery religions; the pagans celebrated their festival on December 25. The Christians didn’t want to participate in that, and so they said, “While everybody else is celebrating this pagan thing, we’re going to have our own celebration. We’re going to celebrate the thing that’s most important in our lives, the incarnation of God, the birth of Jesus Christ. So this is going to be a time of joyous festivities, of celebration and worship of our God and King.”"

This is coming from a Christian site: https://www.ligonier.org/blog/celebration-christmas-pagan-ritual/

"The precise origin of assigning December 25 as the birth date of Jesus is unclear. The New Testament provides no clues in this regard. December 25 was first identified as the date of Jesus’ birth by Sextus Julius Africanus in 221 and later became the universally accepted date. One widespread explanation of the origin of this date is that December 25 was the Christianizing of the dies solis invicti nati (“day of the birth of the unconquered sun”), a popular holiday in the Roman Empire that celebrated the winter solstice as a symbol of the resurgence of the sun, the casting away of winter and the heralding of the rebirth of spring and summer. Indeed, after December 25 had become widely accepted as the date of Jesus’ birth, Christian writers frequently made the connection between the rebirth of the sun and the birth of the Son. One of the difficulties with this view is that it suggests a nonchalant willingness on the part of the Christian church to appropriate a pagan festival when the early church was so intent on distinguishing itself categorically from pagan beliefs and practices."

Link: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Christmas

In fact, from the same source as the last, celebrating birthdays was originally a pagan thing:

"In particular, during the first two centuries of Christianity there was strong opposition to recognizing birthdays of martyrs or, for that matter, of Jesus. Numerous Church Fathers offered sarcastic comments about the pagan custom of celebrating birthdays when, in fact, saints and martyrs should be honoured on the days of their martyrdom—their true “birthdays,” from the church’s perspective."

It is also important to note, many pagans (especially witches) celebrate the solstices. The winter solstice happens to occur very close to Christmas, usually December 21st or 22nd. It is known as Yule.

The Christmas tree also has several pagan origins:

"The history of Christmas trees goes back to the symbolic use of evergreens in ancient Egypt and Rome and continues with the German tradition of candlelit Christmas trees first brought to America in the 1800s. Discover the history of the Christmas tree, from the earliest winter solstice celebrations to Queen Victoria’s decorating habits and the annual lighting of the Rockefeller Center tree in New York City.

Long before the advent of Christianity, plants and trees that remained green all year had a special meaning for people in the winter. Just as people today decorate their homes during the festive season with pine, spruce, and fir trees, ancient peoples hung evergreen boughs over their doors and windows. In many countries it was believed that evergreens would keep away witches, ghosts, evil spirits, and illness.

In the Northern hemisphere, the shortest day and longest night of the year falls on December 21 or December 22 and is called the winter solstice. Many ancient people believed that the sun was a god and that winter came every year because the sun god had become sick and weak. They celebrated the solstice because it meant that at last the sun god would begin to get well. Evergreen boughs reminded them of all the green plants that would grow again when the sun god was strong and summer would return.

The ancient Egyptians worshipped a god called Ra, who had the head of a hawk and wore the sun as a blazing disk in his crown. At the solstice, when Ra began to recover from his illness, the Egyptians filled their homes with green palm rushes, which symbolized for them the triumph of life over death.

Early Romans marked the solstice with a feast called Saturnalia in honor of Saturn, the god of agriculture. The Romans knew that the solstice meant that soon, farms and orchards would be green and fruitful. To mark the occasion, they decorated their homes and temples with evergreen boughs.

In Northern Europe the mysterious Druids, the priests of the ancient Celts, also decorated their temples with evergreen boughs as a symbol of everlasting life. The fierce Vikings in Scandinavia thought that evergreens were the special plant of the sun god, Balder."

This is from this site: https://www.history.com/topics/christmas/history-of-christmas-trees

Santa Claus is also linked to pagan traditions:

"Santa Claus is primarily linked to St. Nicholas, the Greek bishop of Myra, a Roman town in Turkey. St. Nicholas lived during the third and fourth centuries. He defended Christianity while followers were being persecuted. He was imprisoned for many years until Constantine came to power and made Christianity the dominant religion in the Roman empire....

St. Nicholas is commonly linked to Odin, the ruler of Asgard, one of the major gods in Germanic mythology who was depicted as a white-bearded man with magical powers. However, Odin’s ties to Santa Claus may be more pronounced. The winter solstice, also known as Yule, was a time when Odin led a hunting party, known as the Wild Hunt, in the sky with an eight-legged horse named Sleipnir. The 13th century Poetic Edda said the mythical horse could leap great distances -- a trait reindeer possess. Children would leave their boots by the chimney filled with carrots and hay to feed Sleipnir. Legend has it that whenever Odin flew by he would leave gifts by their boots.

After Christianity took hold, this practice was later adopted in relation to St. Nicholas. Children would leave their shoes on the windowsill or bedroom door on the evening of Dec. 5 for the saint to reward them with nuts, fruits and sweets.

Frau Holda is the Germanic goddess of winter. In German folk legends, she is depicted as a beautiful blonde who is the protector of children’s souls. Like Odin, she would fly through the night and give gifts to children, as Beliefnet noted. In some depictions, Holda is dressed in red and uses chimneys to deliver gifts. Some Germanic traditions involve leaving food and milk for Holda Dec. 24, known as Mother Night."

Link: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.ibtimes.com/santa-claus-pagan-origins-5-influences-behind-father-christmas-1736863%3famp=1

There are also different versions of "Santa", some are actually meant to scare children:

"Sinterklaas is Dutch legend, based on St. Nicholas. On the Feast of St. Nicholas, Dec. 6, Sinterklaas – a bishop wearing a red cape – rides into town on a white horse and takes notes on which children have been naughty or nice in his big red book.

Zwarte Piet, or Black Peter, is the (highly controversial) assistant to Sinterklaas. Depicted as a small man wearing blackface and traditional Moorish dresses, he assists Sinterklaas by handing out candy to children who have been good throughout the year, and spanking naughty children with a broomstick.

Father Christmas was the earliest personificaton of Christmas. Dating back to the 15th century, Father Christmas has been bringing joy to all humans, not just children, mostly through throwing giant feasts.

The Yule Goat is Father Christmas's version of a reindeer. The legend of the goat began in ancient Slavic times, when Yule festivals were thrown to please the gods of fertilty and good harvest. Often, the goats would carry in offerings of straw and grain. Now, they are often depicted carrying Father Christmas.

Belsnickel is one of the scarier legends, stemming from German and Pennsylvania Dutch folklore. Said to look like an old fur-trader, wearing a mask and having a long tongue, he carries a long stick with which to beat naughty children, as well as pockets full of sweets for those that were nice.

Krampus is by far the scariest of the legends. Popular in Eastern European lore, Krampus is described as being half goat, half demon, with giant curled horns on his head, and a long tongue. He follows St. Nicholas around berating naughty children, and drinking schnapps, a customary offering for him."

Link for everything above: https://allthatsinteresting.com/santa-claus-legends#17

Yule logs were apart of Yule, again, a pagan holiday :

"The custom of burning the Yule Log goes back to, and before, medieval times. It was originally a Nordic tradition. Yule is the name of the old Winter Solstice festivals in Scandinavia and other parts of northern Europe, such as Germany.

The Yule Log was originally an entire tree, that was carefully chosen and brought into the house with great ceremony. The largest end of the log would be placed into the fire hearth while the rest of the tree stuck out into the room! The log would be lit from the remains of the previous year's log which had been carefully stored away and slowly fed into the fire through the Twelve Days of Christmas. It was considered important that the re-lighting process was carried out by someone with clean hands."

Carols were also pagan, and apart of Yule:

"Carols were first sung in Europe thousands of years ago, but these were not Christmas Carols. They were pagan songs, sung at the Winter Solstice celebrations as people danced round stone circles. The Winter Solstice is the shortest day of the year, usually taking place around 22nd December."

Yep, Holly, Mistletoe, and Ivy too:

"Holly, Ivy and other greenery such as Mistletoe were originally used in pre-Christian times to help celebrate the Winter Solstice Festival and ward off evil spirits and to celebrate new growth.

When Christianity came into Western Europe, some people wanted to keep the greenery, to give it Christian meanings but also to ban the use of it to decorate homes. The UK and Germany were the main countries to keep the use of the greenery as decorations."

More on Mistletoe:

"Mistletoe is a plant that grows on range of trees including willow, apple and oak trees. The tradition of hanging it in the house supposedly goes back to the times of the ancient Druids; however, there's little evidence that this happened. It is also meant to possess mystical powers which bring good luck to the household and wards off evil spirits. It was also used as a sign of love and friendship in Norse mythology.

When the first Christians came to Western Europe, some tried to ban the use of Mistletoe as a decoration in Churches, becuase of some of the old stories about it, but many still continued to use it! York Minster Church in the UK used to hold a special Mistletoe Service in the winter, where wrong doers in the city of York could come and be pardoned."

Link for all the above quotes: https://www.whychristmas.com/customs/

"Christmas bells" are actually pagan bells:

"Ringing of bells can be traced back to pagan winter celebrations. During those times, noisemakers were used to scare away evil spirits in the night. Among those early noisemakers were bells."

Link: http://www.holidayinsights.com/xmas/bells.htm

TL;DR:

Christmas is its own holiday, yes, but almost every aspect of it has pagan origins. It is wrong to not acknowledge this fact because it furthers the idea that Christmas, and ultimately, Christianity, is superior. There is no war on Christmas, just people tired of hearing that Christmas is the only right way to celebrate. I literally just googled things and found answers. It's not that hard to look for things, you just don't want to.

If anyone else would like to add something or correct me, go ahead! However, I will not respond to people who aren't civil or refuse to see the other side of things and that they might be wrong. Thank you, have a great day! Happy holidays ♥️♥️♥️

#Christmas #Personal #Pagan #Witch #I wanted to rant but I've spent a lot of energy already #It just irritates me that people ignore all this and act like Christmas is the only right holiday #Colonizers istg #Feminismandmedia

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thegnosticdread · 4 years ago

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The Witch & Their Tools

Originally posted on: https://thegnosticdread.com/the-witch-their-tools/

"Witch". A word that to many is frightening, to others is offensive, and yet still to a few, empowering. What is a witch? In the most broadest sense, a witch is a practitioner of magick or witchcraft, though what actually constitutes being "witchcraft" can vary depending on context and cultural/societal views. Some other names that can be used are Alchemy and Alchemist, Shamanism and Shaman, Healers, and High Priest/Priestess. In all, these titles describe a person who practices "the Science and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will" as Crowley so eloquently defines magick. Looking at witchcraft and magick from this perspective gives a more positive and realistic point of view of the Craft rather than the stereotypical stories and images that are often seen in society and pop culture.

Being a witch is a lifestyle, not a trend. I want to avoid sounding dogmatic, but in the same way doing yoga and being vegan doesn't make you spiritual, burning a sage stick while holding a crystal in your hand doesn't make you a witch. There's a true mentality to living this lifestyle. The witch sees themselves as being the sole Master and Controller of their reality. Because of this, you'll rarely see them being self-victims or having a victim mentality, blaming scenarios in their life on some external factor or stroke of chance. The witch doesn't believe in coincidences. Divination whether it is in the form of astrology, tarot, ifa, or some other system makes up a large part of the witch's daily life and doesn't allow for coincidences. The Sixth Hermetic Principle of Cause & Effect says "Chance is but a name for Law not recognized."

The witch may help and heal others with their spellwork, though this is not their obligation to do so. The witch may indeed hex and curse others as well, though myself and none of the witches I know would go out of their way to inflict harm on undeserving people. Not every witch holds the same morals and ethics. Many witches are solitary practitioners while at the same time there are many who choose to join covens. There are also many different magical traditions and religions as well. Wicca is a modern magical religion, but not everyone who claims to be a witch practices Wicca. Thelema is another magical religion created by Aleister Crowley. It is from Thelema the saying "Do what thou wilt" originates, and it's philosophy in part inspired Wicca and the many different modern Paganism and New Age religions that exist today.

Vodun in it's original West African form as well as in the Haitian and New Orleans branches is a magical religion, yet its practitioners are rarely if ever referred to as witches, the appropriate names being Houngans (Male Vodou Priest) and Mambos (Female Vodou Priest). In Louisiana specifically, practitioners were historically referred to as Voodoo Queens and Kings. Hoodoo is often confused with Voodoo, but it is also its own magical tradition though without the religious aspects of the former. Other names for Hoodoo are Rootworking, Conjure, and Juju. Santería, also known as Regla de Ocha is a religion that venerates the Orisha in ritual. Though the worship of the Orisha has its origins stemming back to the Yoruba of West Africa, Santería is heavily practiced in Cuba and throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. Other similar religions include Candomblé, Kélé, and Obeah. Brujería is the Spanish word for witchcraft, its practitioners being referred to as brujas or brujos respectively, and they may take practices and rituals from multiple traditions and religions to incorporate into their Craft. Other popular magick traditions that aren't necessarily religions are Chaos Magic, Candle Magic, Goetia, Tantra, and Sex Magic.

The workings and the rituals the witch chooses to incorporate into their Craft will be based on the individual's chosen school of thought, religion, and personal taste, but there are tools the witch uses that are near universal in all magical traditions.

The Mind & Body

The most important tool the witch has at their disposal is their own Mind. Every other tool is but an extension. Spellwork requires intense meditation, concentration, libido, and Willpower. Therefore the witch should have a healthy and sharp mentality which can be maintained through study, introspection, mental exercises, and most importantly being aware of the things that they allow to influence their thoughts, consciously and subconsciously. The Body itself is the ultimate talisman and altar. It must be remembered that magick doesn't originate from any object or some external source, rather magick flows from within the practitioner. It is very possible to do magick and see results using the Mind and Body alone if the witch's Mind is well developed. Even still the witch may desire and choose to use other tools as extensions for any particular working.

The Wand

The Wand has been one of the witch's main tools since prehistoric times. The priesthood of the ancient Zoroastrian religion used what is called a barsom. This is a bundle of slender twigs which they believed established a link between the material world and the spiritual realm and acted as the conduit through which the archetypal principles and powers manifest their presence and receive the offerings. The Wand is also seen to have been used by the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans and is described as being used in many of the grimoires of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. The Wand is a Masculine tool in function representing the Phallus and is used for directing the practitioner's Will, desire, and energy during ritual. Of the elements, it represents Fire (though in Wicca it represents Air). The Wand is traditionally made from either laurel or hazel (mine above is hazel), however wands can be made from all types of different wood and even formed out of crystals, all having their own specific traits and different uses.

The Athame

The Athame is the witch's ritual blade. Attested to within the grimoire The Key of Solomon, the Athame is also a Masculine tool that usually has a black handle and is used in banishing rituals. Those who practice Wicca use the Athame in place of the Wand as their main tool for directing Will and energy and to them it represents the element Fire. Wiccans usually use a double edged Athame with the edges dulled as their use of it is purely symbolic. Any cutting of herbs or cords are done with a different ritual knife referred to as a boline.

Outside of Wicca, the Athame represents the element Air and it is encouraged that it be used for cutting or carving. This is because the more it is used, the more powerful the tool becomes. For me personally it was important to find a single edged, sharpened Athame to use so that I can cut herbs, carve names or sigils into candles, and for bloodletting. When I couldn't find one that was satisfactory, I decided to find someone to forge me an Athame out of a used railroad spike. In Hoodoo, railroad spikes are used for securing one's home and property. Being that my personal use of the Athame is also for banishing rituals, slicing through hexes, and severing unwanted energetic ties, having my Athame forged from a railroad spike served a personal symbolic significance. Note also that while the witch may primarily use the Wand when divining, working with the elementals, or directing energy, they may choose to use the Athame when working with spirits and demons. Where the Wand is seen as more welcoming, the Athame is seen as more commanding.

The Chalice

The Chalice is the witch's cup that holds the water, wine, or a different liquor that is used in ritual. The Chalice is a Feminine tool in function representing the Womb and the element of Water. When used in combination with the Wand in ritual by dipping the tip of the Wand into the Chalice, a symbolic act of sexual intercourse is performed, merging the Divine Masculine with the Divine Feminine to bring about Divine Creative Energy to manifest. This act is known as "hieros gamos" or the "holy marriage" and can be performed symbolically with the Wand and Chalice or literally between a man and a woman in a sex rite. Within Wicca, this is known as the Great Rite and the Athame is used in place of the Wand. At the end of certain rituals, the liquid inside the Chalice is drank by the practitioner so that they will embody the energy that was evoked during the ritual, and if it's a group ritual the Chalice will be passed around so that everyone gets a sip. The most famous Chalice in history is none other than the Holy Grail, which is said to be the Chalice Christ used during the Last Supper and which according to legend, was used by Joseph of Arimathea to collect and store the blood of Christ at the Crucifixion.

The Pentacle

The Pentacle is the witch's personal talisman which in function is also Feminine and represents the element Earth. Though a popular modern Pentacle design is the pentagram within a circle, traditionally a Pentacle can be a magical talisman inscribed with any symbol or character, the hexagram historically being used more often than the pentagram whenever the symbol used in the Pentacle was star shaped. When worn around the neck, the Pentacle is serving the witch as a form of protection. It is recommended that a Pentacle be worn during all spellwork and ritual as a spiritual shield. In ritual, Pentacles are used to summon and command different energies and spirits. Many of the Pentacles used are made out of silver or a different type of metal but Pentacles can also be made out of parchment and clay as well.

Some Honorable Mentions

Though not as universally used as much as the main tools I've already presented here, there are still a few more tools many witches use regularly. Crystals are one such tool. Crystal Quartz is the most popular and readily available crystal and you'll see that most witches at least have one of these as they can be used in the place of any other crystal due to its universal energy. I'll have a separate, in-depth post about crystals and my collection shortly. As I mentioned earlier, divination is a large part of the witch's daily life and their divination tools will vary. Tarot and oracle cards are among the most popular divination tools a witch will have. Runes are another popular divination tool. A Book of Shadows is a common tool the witch will have which is their personal grimoire and record of spellwork, rituals, recipes, and information relevant to their Craft. Candles, cauldrons, incense burners, bells, and many other different altar items are useful tools for the witch, but these will all vary greatly as some magical traditions don't use these items at all.

Conclusion

The witch is one who has come into realization of the Divine spark that lays within them, and uses their power along with their tools to manifest their Will. Keep in mind that though I feel this is an accurate treatise on what a witch is and the tools they use, this is only MY PERSPECTIVE that I feel many will agree with me on, but some may disagree as well. That's fine as every witch is different and there are so many different schools of thought and magical traditions. I consider myself a Left-Hand Path following Gnostic Witch/Mage with Hermeticism being my preferred tradition, but I truly borrow from all different traditions. With this you can see that while there are key things all witches will have in common, witches are not a monolith. A final note - though I personally find it empowering, not all magick practitioners like to be called a witch, so be mindful before putting that title on someone. Also don't call male witches warlocks. Warlock doesn't mean male witch, rather it means "oathbreaker" and usually refers to one who has betrayed their coven.

Peace, Love, & Balance

#gnosticism #hermeticism #spirituality #knowledgeofself #lefthandpath #thegnosticdread #alchemy #astrology #theurgy #magick #divination #tarot #tantra #yoga

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limoin · 8 days ago

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Philadelphia Eagles Jalen Hurts Takeover shirt

The first thing to know is that the Philadelphia Eagles Jalen Hurts Takeover shirt of Matthew’s Gospel used the Greek word magi, which does not actually mean ‘wise men’, but is a reference to the priests of the then-great Zoroastrian religion of the Persian Empire. When Matthew says they came from the east, he was alluding to the direction of Babylon and Persia. It is, of course, inconceivable that Zoroastrian priests would be in the least interested in the birth of a purported king of Judah. It is scientifically inconceivable that a star could be followed so accurately to Jerusalem and then to Bethlehem and actually stand over the very house where Jesus was. However, our author (he was anonymous and very unlikely to have been called Matthew) knew that the magi were well known for their wisdom and for their knowledge of astrology, so he knew this nativity account would be plausible.

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humansofhds · 5 years ago

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Julia Hintlian, MTS ′18 and Harvard PhD Candidate

"I’ve spent time in the Republic of Armenia, and in 'Western Armenia' (now Eastern Turkey). A lot of our churches have been desecrated and destroyed, and those of us who are fortunate to survive have a responsibility not only to know what we’ve lost, but to know that what we have inherited is valuable."

Julia graduated in 2018 with an MTS from HDS. She is now a rising doctoral student in religion at Harvard. This past summer, she taught at the seminary of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem.

Formations of My Identity

My doctoral degree is in the history of Christianity, and I am working on the influences of Manichaeism and Zoroastrianism on Syriac and Armenian Christianity in Late Antiquity. My master’s degree is in Silk Road Religions, an individualized area of focus that included the same subjects I am studying now—as well as some other, lesser studied traditions like the religion of the Yazidis of Northern Iraq, and Ismailism, a sect of Shia Islam. During my undergraduate degree in religious studies at the University of Pennsylvania, I focused on Hinduism and Islam. So, I arrived at the history of Christianity by studying many other traditions through the lens of “world religions.”

My mom got an MTS when I was in high school, and she would come home from her classes and talk to my 14-and-15-year-old self about what she was learning. She encouraged me to ask questions that I was not taught to ask in school, like: Why are we here? What is the purpose of life? What have writers over millennia had to say in answer to these questions?

I am ethnically Armenian, baptized in the Armenian Apostolic Church. The Armenian Church is ancient, and we are an ancient people with a rich religious history, strongly identified by our Oriental Orthodoxy. The traditional date of our conversion is 301 AD, which we claim makes us the oldest Christian nation in the world. This legacy has also been a big factor in my identity and my decision to study religion. Prior to being Christian, the Armenians were Zoroastrian, and our Zoroastrianism was somewhat unique from Persian Zoroastrianism. So, I think I have a lot to be proud of in terms of Armenia’s long-term historical, religious legacy, which has “evolved” to reach me over the course of many generations.

I feel that I have a responsibility to all the people who came before me to take my scholarship seriously. Especially on the Armenian side, because two thirds of our population was wiped out one hundred years ago in the Armenian Genocide of 1915. Those of us who remain must carry this identity into the future. I’ve spent time in the Republic of Armenia, and in “Western Armenia” (now Eastern Turkey). A lot of our churches have been desecrated and destroyed, and those of us who are fortunate to survive have a responsibility not only to know what we’ve lost, but to know that what we have inherited is valuable.

Teaching at the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin

I have lived in Armenia on two separate occasions, and on a third occasion I traveled to Western Armenia. My family is Western Armenian. The Western Armenians lived under the Byzantine and later Ottoman Empires, and the Eastern Armenians lived under the Persian and later Russian Empires. The dialects are a bit different; they are mutually intelligible, but Western Armenian is more influenced by Arabic and Turkish, and Eastern Armenian is more influenced by Persian and Russian. Culturally, Eastern and Western Armenians are a bit different, too. It is a very complex history!

Last summer, I was teaching at the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, the center of the Armenian Church, which is located in Vagharshapat, half an hour outside of Yerevan, the capital city of Armenia. I taught in the Gevorgian Seminary, which is where they train the next generation of clergy. I was mostly teaching deacons, and my courses were “English for Theological Reading” and “Introductory Syriac Language.” We read Irenaeus of Lyon’s second-century Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching in my English class, and we talked about the theology. I picked this text because it was basically lost to history for many centuries, and then it reappeared in Armenian translation (from the original Greek) in 1904.

In Communion

As Armenians, I think it is very important to know that we are in communion with the Syriac Orthodox Church. The Oriental Orthodox Churches, which are unfortunately very understudied in Western academia, are the Syriac Orthodox Church, the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Coptic Orthodox Church, the Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Churches, and the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church of India. We have been in communion for many centuries, and these communities are often located in places that are not (or historically have not been) safe, and yet we have kept our faith and traditions alive. I think it is important to have inter-community relations, and that is one reason I study Syriac. I still have much to learn from my advisor, Professor Charles Stang, but I thought that it was important for these deacons to have at least a taste of Syriac, so they might one day find common ground with Syriac priests. Common language encourages the exchange of ideas!

It was very meaningful for me a few years ago when our HDS Syriac lecturer took us to a service at the local Syriac church. When they discovered I was Armenian, they said, “Why didn’t you take communion with us? We would have been so happy to have you!” And they were speaking to me in Armenian and really making an effort to welcome me and to let me know they were happy to have me in their church.

Each Oriental Orthodox Church has its own leaders and hierarchy, but the leaders of those churches are in contact with each other. The Armenian Church has a Catholicos for its spiritual leader (actually there are two Catholicoi, but that’s a complicated story!) and then two Patriarchs, in Jerusalem and Istanbul.

Shedding Light

Orthodox Christianity in general is understudied in America, but even when we do refer to Orthodox Christianity, we are usually talking about Eastern Orthodoxy, which has its own rich heritage and tradition and history. I think it would be good for more light to be shed on Oriental Orthodoxy.

In the History of Christianity track here, there are people who have had very limited exposure to Oriental Orthodox history and theology. Many scholars of Christianity know that the “Miaphysite” Oriental Orthodox Churches broke away from the fourth ecumenical Council of Chalcedon in 451, but they know little of our history after that. Christianity is such a massive tradition, with so many iterations all over the world, but the Oriental Orthodox Churches are very ancient, most of them have been around since the very early Christian period, and they have survived many trials and tribulations. Right now, the Coptic Church is facing significant persecution in Egypt, and my students in Armenia expressed concern over this situation. Armenians know what it is like to feel unsafe and to work to preserve our faith at all costs.

There are a few reasons these traditions are understudied in the West. The theological breaks are very old, and the churches are very small (especially compared to Catholic and Protestant denominations). Linguistically, they are difficult to access; there are few people who know Classical Armenian and can teach it—same with Classical Syriac, Coptic, and Ethiopic. These are obscure languages, and culturally foreign, which makes them more obscure and less accessible than languages like Greek or Latin.

It’s interesting to study Christianity right now, because some people seem to be saying it is a Eurocentric tradition of oppression and colonialism. When I hear that, I wonder how much people know about Christianity outside the West, and I feel compelled to say that this is a very diverse tradition, with a unifying theology and ideology that is manifest in many different cultural settings. But I do find in Protestantism and Catholicism a narrative that I believe in, and I look positively on these traditions because though there are linguistic and cultural differences, I think we are aspiring to the same truth.

The Catholic Church and the Armenian Church are two examples of churches that have been finding common ground recently, and I see beauty in that. In 2015, for the centennial of the Armenian Genocide, Pope Francis named one of the great Armenian theologians and spiritual fathers, Grigor Narekatsi/Gregory of Narek (10th/11th c.), as a Doctor of the Church, and erected a statue of him in the Vatican. The Armenian Catholicoi and Armenian political leaders were present for this special moment.

A Priceless Heritage

I spend a lot of time with my head in books from the fifth century, reading things that happened a long time ago. But it is also very important to me to care for the modern iterations of the traditions that I study. Their continuing survival and existence inspires me. To this end, I’ve done a little bit of work for the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom in Washington D.C. as well.

Tur Abdin is a region in Turkey with a lot of Syriac monasteries. Unfortunately, the Turkish government has been trying to seize some of these properties, including the fourth-century Mar Gabriel monastery. Unless you can appreciate what happened at Mar Gabriel hundreds of years ago, the theology, spirituality, and history created there, you might say, “Why does it matter if the Turkish government takes it away?” But if you know its religious significance, you know why it is worth preserving.

I often contemplate what my ancestors would think of me, especially two of my great-grandmothers, Antaram and Sultan, who managed to escape Armenia with their children after their husbands were killed in the genocide. I hope they are proud of me, I hope they know that they passed a heritage to me that is priceless and beautiful, and I hope they know that I am doing everything I can to defend it.

Interview and photos by Anais Garvanian

#armenia #Religion #Religious Studies #Harvard #Harvard Divinity School #syria #turkey #catholic #roman catholic #Christianity #Coptic Christians

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