#european religions

[castilestateofmind]

"The moon reveals [...] not only that death is indissolubly linked with life, but also, and above all, that death is not final, that is always followed by a new birth".

- Mircea Eliade.

[illustratus]

The Triumph of Light over Darkness by Franz von Matsch

[vintage-russia]

"The angel sitting on the coffin" (1908/1911)

Mikhail Nesterov (1862-1942)

[sidebee-hive]

Triptychs by Polish painter Kazimierz Sichulski:

1. The Hutsul Madonna, 1909

2. Adoration of the Shepherds, 1938

3. Adoration of the Magi, 1913

4. Spring, 1909

[typhlonectes]

[leocadra]

Saint Fin Barre's Cathedral.

Cork, Munster, Ireland.

[looking-at-the-deiwos]

Proto Indo-European (PIE) Pantheon

Main gods

These gods are the most easily reconstructed and appear in different sources of PIE religion

Dyḗus Pətḗr ☁️

Diwónā 🐄

Dhég̑hōm Mā́tēr 🌿

Apṓm Népōts 🌊

Áusōs 🌅

Sā́wōl ☀️

Mḗnōs 🌕

the Diwós Sūnū́ 🏇🏼

Perkʷū́nos ⛈️

Páusōn 🐐

Aryomḗn ⚖️

Wéstyā 🏠

Ék̑wonā 🐎

Yemós 💀

Dā́nu 🏞️

K̑ólyā ☠️

Priyā́ 🌹

Other gods

Not as easily reconstructed and don't appear in all sources

Wēyús 🌬️

Ṇgʷnís 🔥

Wórunos 🌌

Wélnos 🧙🏼‍♂️

Préwyos 🍆

Rudlós 🌀

Wḷkā́nos ⚒️

Léudheros 🍇

Swépnos 💤

Sówəmos🍶

Ṛ́tk̑onā 🐻

For the full pantheon according to the most wide possible view of it check here, other sources are way much more reserved and give less gods for the pantheon, less than 20

I will be making posts exploring each deity and I'll be linking them from here too! Stay tuned!

[ranticore]

i really love the 'it came to me in a dream' moments when writing.. i had just made the main human knight character for this story and named him but had no appearance in mind until i woke up this morning already 100% certain that he looks EXACTLY like george harrison

[theshrinesanctuary]

Lararium and ritual by r.spadini on Instagram

[christliche-kunstwerke]

Saint Francis of Assisi Receiving the Stigma by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio

[give-me-a-username-plz]

it’s actually a miracle that no one has ever written a French Wars of Religion jegulus au fic.

hear me out, hear me out;

It’s the 1500’s. The French monarchy is desperately trying to keep themselves and the Catholic Church superior to the Protestant faith, specifically the Huguenots. King Henry II of France (Orion) dies unexpectedly, leaving the throne to an eleven year old Henry III (Regulus), after the death of his brother. Too young to take the throne, Catherine de Medici (Walburga) takes over the throne and commits a LOT of violent crimes. The other brother, the Duke of Aleçnon (Sirius) abandons the whole monarchy and joins a group of Protestant Rebels called The Malcontents (tell me that isn’t the closest thing to Marauders you have EVER HEARD). Part of this group is Henry of Navarre (James) a protestant aristocrat attempting to take the throne and promote religious freedom. They call him the Good King Henry (something that SCREAMS James Potter).

[castilestateofmind]

"All mythological ideas are essentially real, and far older than any philosophy. Like our knowledge of physical nature, they were originally perceptions and experiences. In so far as such ideas are universal, they are symptoms or characteristics or normal exponents of psychic life, which are naturally present and need no proof of their truth".

- Carl G. Jung.

[illustratus]

The Sacred Grove of the Druids, set design from Vincenzo Bellini's Opera ''Norma''

[vintage-russia]

Valaam,Russia (1889)

[shalom-iamcominghome]

I know a lot of people find the religious "coexist" bumper stickers to be trite (I personally don't really), but I think I passed something objectively worse when I was driving around - a "no exist / imagine a future without religion" where the star of david occupied the X in "exist"

They've already tried that, friend, and you're about eighty years too late

What more people ought to remember is that there is a huge difference between atheism and antitheism. Quite literally, we will never live in a world without religion. We've been practicing rituals such as burial of the dead for 130,000 for instance and while it's not inherently religious, there is often a proto-religious/oughtright religious component of believing in a "final rest" which ought not be disturbed, or a soul which will carry on after life and needs to properly be put to rest. We have been crafting amulets to ward off spirits, omens, and to invite joy, peace, and security since antiquity. This idea that everyone will simultaneously abandon all religion, therefore, can only read as a cultural genocide, at least, I think. Religion is part of culture - ask me how I know! Therefore, I'm very, very skeptical of people who just say to abandon religion as a project.

[cto10121]

Book vs. Musical Wicked: Or, Musical Wicked’s Many Crimes Against Maguire Are Finally Reckoned

Re-reading Wicked has the musical’s horrid adaptational choices living rent free in my noggin once again. So much so that I can count the things the musical improves upon from the book on one hand. Otherwise, the musical simplifies, water downs, and downright deletes crucial points of Maguire’s book, going beyond mere adaptation necessity to actual damage. And it’s time I counted the ways.

Elphaba’s father was a minister, Frexspar the Godly, not the governor of Munchkinland. It is Elphaba’s mother Melena who comes from royalty, which she abandoned when she ran off with Frex. Elphaba, as the oldest, is the Third Thropp Descending, and thus next in line for the Munchkinland throne. Way to erase an actual matriarchal royal family, musical

The Clock of the Time Dragon is an actual traveling puppet show commandeered by a mysterious dwarf. Frex literally preached against it, to no success, and almost to his death. What’s more, Elphaba was actually born in it

Frex fucked her up, for sure. He believed that Elphaba’s green skin was due to his failure to protect his congregation from the Clock of the Time Dragon. And he greatly favored Nessarose. But he also loved Elphaba in his own way. He had a special nickname for her, Fabala. He was also in a throuple with his wife and Turtle Heart. But as we can’t have anything that even remotely criticizes religion or depicts religious trauma, not in our family-friendly musical, Frex is just a dickish secular governor

Elphaba is actually allergic to water, due to the Wizard’s Miracle Elixir. This is not only loyal to Wizard of Oz canon, but also exacerbates her feelings of worthlessness and fuels her desire for justice. Because she herself feels evil, unable even to be cleansed, ouch, my heart. But of course we must have a happy ending, so in the musical it’s just Ozian superstition

It’s Elphaba who first sees Glinda’s potential and influences her, challenging her and genuinely interested in her. Glinda eventually does accept her friendship. In the musical, it’s the exact opposite, because this is truly the Glinda show

Elphaba and Glinda’s relationship in the musical does have more development, from hate to friendship. Good job, musical, have a cookie. Unfortunately, it makes their friendship fundamentally based on a lie. Elphaba believes Glinda was sincere in gifting her that awful hat, and so goes to Madam Morrible and makes her give her a training wand. Glinda only comes around because Elphaba gave her what she wanted in the first place, and she feels guilty for her awful behavior. Fuck you too, musical

It is Glinda who shows aptitude in magic, and Madam Morrible encourages her to take sorcery. Elphaba goes for natural science instead, and doesn’t even do magic until her later years. There are hints of her powers during the Shiz years, but they are very subtle

For that matter, Madam Morrible and Elphaba hated each other from first jump. Morrible tried to groom Glinda instead, but after Dillamond’s death, homegirl smelled a rat and no longer trusted her. In the musical, it’s the exact opposite, because of course it is

There was no Elphaba-Glinda-Fiyero love triangle, largely because Glinda is racist. That’s right. Fiyero is a Winkie and too dark-skinned for her. And yet she is still more sympathetic than Musical Glinda. Make that make sense!!!

For that matter, the Shiz section in the book focuses more on Elphaba’s friendship with Boq than hers with Glinda. She starts working for Doctor Dillamond, and he helps her with the research. Also, Elphaba is a bit of a wingman and helps Boq woo Glinda, sort of (though she does say Boq is worth ten of Glinda—not in that way, of course!!!)

Galinda changing her name to Glinda in the book was out of real guilt and horror over Ama Clutch’s illness and Doctor Dillamond’s death. In the musical, Glinda does it because she wants to impress Fiyero. Because musical must love triangle!!!

The Doctor Dillamond/Animal Rights subplot is done much better in the book. For one thing, Dillamond is murdered by Morrible, for his research into human-Animal DNA. Elphaba also sees the conditions of the Animals worsens in Munchkinland under her sister’s rule. The musical just has Dillamond fired publicly, because the musical doesn’t know how fascist dictatorships work

Boq is not the Tin Man. As in the Oz books, he was one of the Munchkinlanders who helped Dorothy on her way to see the Wizard. The Tin Man was another guy entirely

Fiyero is not the Scarecrow. Elphaba believed briefly that he may have been, but she was sleep deprived and literally going mad. Musical just decided to canonize Elphaba’s delusions, I guess

Glinda is the one who wants to come with Elphaba after they meet the Wizard, and Elphaba refuses. It is the exact opposite in the show, because this is, and I cannot stress this enough, the Glinda show

In the musical, Elphaba/Fiyero have more development, meeting during Shiz, Fiyero supporting Elphaba in ways Glinda can’t or won’t, with a meet-cute and everything. Good, musical, have another cookie. That said, Faeyero’s dynamic during the Emerald City years cannot be bested. They were having full-on philosophical conversations, ffs!!!! And Fiyero even cooks Elphaba in some parts!!!! Also, they fucked, and it was glorious

Granted, Fiyero was married in the book. It was an arranged marriage to Sarima, a girl of his tribe, when they were children. But he did take up with her after Shiz and they had three children: Nor, Irji, and Manek. Elphaba goes to live with them at Kiamo Ko after falling into a coma and giving birth

Yeah, Elphaba falls into a coma when she loses Fiyero. Gives birth to their son Liir and lost her memory of the period due to trauma. Musical Elphaba does hit a C#5, though. Good job on translating that trauma, musical

Speaking of Liir, his and Elphaba’s relationship is so interesting. Hilarious and heartbreaking at turns. Elphaba realizing that hey, this kid may be her son and trying to mother and failing miserably. Liir having a crush on Dorothy and kissing her, which makes Elphaba want to be put out her misery. Good shit, good shit. So of course the musical has none of it and deletes Liir lol

Glinda never takes down Madam Morrible or the Wizard. It is Elphaba who goes against them. Instead, Glinda marries a baron, Sir Chuffrey, and becomes a popular socialite who dabbles in sorcery

Elphaba and Fiyero really and truly die in the book, and it is tragic as all hell. The musical opts for them surviving and making Glinda the tragic figure. Once again, fuck you too, musical