#evil christian cross

[principiumindividuationis777]

[laurasimonsdaughter]

Do you have any recommendations on good ways to find mythic/folkloric references? My untrained low-knowledge self currently only really uses what I find through search engines. That rarely lets me stumble upon niche sites that collate myths/folklore unless I already know the exact phrasing or name of the story the thing is from. If it helps, currently I'm trying to research banishment/containment devices for evil spirits, demons, etc. The demon sealing jar I've repeatedly come across in media especially intrigues me, though its origin seems to not exist???

I do have a post with my go-to websites for research, but I must admit those are better for finding folktales than specific mythological concepts.

For your specific research question I would advise you to pick a culture and if possible a time period to look into. It will be easier to find niche information if you are searching for something specific, rather than something general.

As for demons being sealed in jars, the concept of an malevolent spirit (as in supernatural entity, not ghost) being trapped in a bottle, jar or other container, is a tolerably widespread motif in folklore. In fact "The Spirit in the Bottle" has it's own tale type: ATU 331. It shows up in Europe from the Middle Ages onward, but while Stith Thompson (the T in ATU) was still uncertain whether it was originally European or Middle Eastern, Hans-Jörg Uther (the U in ATU) considers it to be of Jewish and Arabic origin.

Today the most well-known versions are probably these two:

The Fisherman and the Jinni, one of the stories in One Thousand and One Nights that was already present in its earliest known Arabic versions, from the 14th century. In it a fisherman catches a copper jar, sealed with lead that has the Seal of Solomon/Suleiman pressed into it. He opens it and an ifrit (powerful, malevolent jinn) emerges, who was imprisoned by Solomon. The jinn threatens to kill him, is tricked into going back into the jar, then released in return for pledging to help the fisherman.

The Spirit in the Glass Bottle, collected by the Grimms in Bökendorf, Germany, published in 1815. Here a malevolent spirit called Mercurius is trapped in a glass bottle stuck between the roots of a tree. He is freed by the kind protagonist, tricked into going back into the bottle after threatening to kill him, then freed again in return for a magical gift. How the bottle is able to contain the powerful spirit is not explained. (I grew up with a version of this story where the spirit is not released a second time.)

There are variants on the bottle/jar however, for example:

Virgilius the Sorcerer, a legend-like tale published in The Violet Fairy Book (1901) by Andrew Lang. Presumably written by him (or his wife), inspired by Medieval legends. Here the evil spirit is trapped in a small hole in the floor of a cave closed off with a bolt.

The legend of Paracelsus, a German tale published in English in 1892 in Folk-lore and Legends Germany. Its editor seems to be Charles John Tibbits, but no translators or sources are named. In this story the spirit has been trapped in a fir tree by a magician, which has a small stopper pushed into its trunk, sealed with three crosses.

(These might remind you of the Arthurian Merlin, sorcerer with demonic heritage, being imprisoned in a tree, cave, or stone by Niviane/Nimue/Viviane, first named in the Lancelot-Grail Cycle from the 13th century.)

Now, I prefer to stay in the realm of folktales rather than religious texts, but I will try to briefly explain the Jewish and Islamic foundations for this tale type - the link between King Solomon and controlling demons/jinn - under the cut:

The Tanakh describes King Solomon as the last to rule both Israel and Judah, son and successor to King David. He is considered a Jewish prophet, granted divine wisdom (I Kings 3:12). In the Talmud Solomon is described to have tricked Ashmedai/Asmodeus, the prince of the demons, into helping him to build the first temple. The text mentions a chain and a ring engraved with a sacred name of God, which are used to bind and then control the demon (Gittin 68a-b). (There is a Greek text of uncertain date and origin called The Testament of Solomon that says the ring has the seal of God on it.)

Solomon is considered an important prophet as well as ruler of the Israelites in the Quran, who is told to have had control over the wind and over many jinn (Quran 34:12, 38:36-37). A prevalent interpretation of the text states that this power is linked to Solomon possessing a ring that was given to him by Allah, and temporarily taken away as punishment (38.34 Jalal - Al-Jalalayn).

If you want a more historical, scholarly take on the folklore motif of imprisoning and controlling demons, take a look at this: Allegra Iafrate, ““Il demone nell’ampolla”: Solomon, Virgil, Aeolus, and the Long Metamorphosis of Rain Rituals and Wind-Taming Practices”, Revue de l’histoire des religions, 3 | 2017, 387-425.

I haven't read it in full, but it looks like it might give you some inspiration!

[jameslmartello]

[blackswaneuroparedux]

We would rather be ruined than changed We would rather die in our dread Than climb the cross of the moment And let our illusions die.

- W H Auden, The Age of Anxiety: A Baroque Eclogue

It’s an odd fact that the Christian faith played out unpredictably in the later life of the English poet, W.H. Auden. Being gay made Auden feel claustrophobic in socially constricted England and so off he scuttled across to America just before the outbreak of the war in 1939. Some thought he was a coward for fleeing just as Britain faced its darkest hour and never forgave him.

But more than his gayness, another reason given for why he left for America is that he had grown weary of being lionised by the London literary chattering classes as his generation’s great left wing prophet. If anything he felt like an imposter. That self doubt served him to distance himself from the visceral and vicious debates raging across England’s cultural and political landscape as Europe fell into turmoil and crisis from the bitterness of the Spanish Civil War to the growing onset of war with Nazi Germany.

Auden’s literary friends didn’t grasp what he saw: Evil has a habit of infesting on all sides of ideological battle. No nation, political party or individual was pure and innocent. The ferocious rise of Nazism could happen anywhere, not just Germany in the 1930s. Nihilism was everywhere from the distinct Italian fascism of Mussolini’s Italy to the bloody brand of Communism in Stalin’s Russia.

Auden’s answer was to put his faith in Christianity, of the very English kind. Auden embraced the consolations of the Christian faith as the only mature way to understand human darkness and potential. The point of Christian belief, he argued, was to challenge our self-deceptions and self-pity and keep us focused on the only thing that matters - Jesus’ love command. Auden wrote: “For one thing, and one thing only, is serious: loving one’s neighbour as one’s self.”

Auden thought supernatural arguments and jargon distracted from real religion. Christian faith obliged believers to face the facts of this suffering world, not veer from them. He practiced numerous acts of charity anonymously. He didn’t like praying if it meant asking God to bend the universe to his own little purposes. Auden prayed as a way to pay deep attention to something other than himself. He prayed to God in order to forget his own ego.

Photo: W.H. Auden in Oxford, 1972.

[atlantis-just-drowned]

Montressor smash or pass? (This is 100% a serious question 😌👌)

The only thing that would smash between him and me is my hand on his face, full speed, with pointy rings.

[biblebloodhound]

Victory Over the Power of Evil (Luke 4:31-37)

Even though our thinking is important and critical, there is more to it than that: Orthodoxy (right belief) requires orthopraxy (right actions).

He went down to Capernaum, a village in Galilee. He was teaching the people on the Sabbath. They were surprised and impressed—his teaching was so forthright, so confident, so authoritative, not the quibbling and quoting they were used to. In the meeting place that day there was a man demonically disturbed. He screamed, “Stop! What business do you have here with us, Jesus? Nazarene! I know what…

[theprayingteacher]

#Morning #Coffee #Prayer #devotional

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 New International Version Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.[a] 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you…

[exquisitelyeco]

Marleys redemption

Why a ghost? He has no substance because he never lived any. Dying to ego is what brings substance, because it is that, done through and with Christ, that is preparing our resurrection! What holds him to earth are the very money boxes he held so tightly. Our sin has consequences. And when we can no longer deal with them by mortal surrender we see the truth when we pass on; others suffered…

[oflgtfol]

im only like 25 mins into a walkthrough of cult of the lamb but it seems to be mocking like, christianity? even more so than just the whole satantic cult thing in and of itself. like it doesn’t seem to be edgy just to be edgy, like a lot of the way this religion functions, it has all the aesthetics of stereotypical evil satanic cults, but it borrows a lot of the language and organization of christianity, in a way that i can see as being purposefully mocking of modern christianity, though maybe thats just the ex catholic in me. lol.

[charlieandluigi]

This is like the fifth day in a row that I’m running on very little sleep but the thing is that I feel ✨great✨ and I’m ✨really impressed✨ with my brain for still producing ✨productivity chemicals✨ even when I ✨stay up til 5 in the morning✨ writing self-indulgent fan-fiction.

[ellisdee161]

έυχιαουλε // διαβολου

[ultrachoppedpenguinbouquet]

Martin Luther

[jameslmartello]

Exorcist Father Stephen Rossetti saying Prayer to Cast out Evil Spirits

[kmac4him1st]

The Great Debate

Whatever "Great Debate" you have, make sure it is with the truth God has already spoken to you, and make sure Jesus is at the center of the debate, because without Him, nothing good or real can happen.

Even if a king had the best-equipped army, it would never be enough to save him. Even if the best warrior went to battle, he could not be saved simply by his strength alone. Human strength and the weapons of man are false hopes for victory; they may seem mighty, but they will always disappoint. Psalms 33:16-17 Without God We Are Not Good Without Jesus, we cannot fix what mankind has broken…

[janusfranc15]

I like the cross being 2 tiny stakes, too.

i call this one the “fuck you dracula”

[theprayingteacher]

#Morning #Coffee #Prayer #devotional

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 New International Version Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.[a] 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you…