#magic and religion

[prokopetz]

I understand why a lot of fantasy settings with Ambiguously Catholic organised religions go the old "the Church officially forbids magic while practising it in secret in order to monopolise its power" route, but it's almost a shame because the reality of the situation was much funnier.

Like, yes, a lot of Catholic clergy during the Middle Ages did practice magic in secret, but they weren't keeping it secret as some sort of sinister top-down conspiracy to deny magic to the Common People: they were mostly keeping it secret from their own superiors. It wasn't one of those "well, it's okay when we do it" deals: the Church very much did not want its local priests doing wizard shit. We have official records of local priests being disciplined for getting caught doing wizard shit. And the preponderance of evidence is that most of them would take their lumps, promise to stop doing wizard shit, then go right back to doing wizard shit.

It turns out that if you give a bunch of dudes education, literacy, and a lot of time on their hands, some non-zero percentage of them are going to decide to be wizards, no matter how hard you try to stop them from being wizards.

[taruolentow]

when she dies, you will follow her. this was never going to end well: you know this already.

[thejewitches]

No antisemitism, bigotry, or proselytization will be accepted. We will be watching closely & utilizing the delete and block buttons as needed.

Are you unclear on the history of Messianic Christianity? Here is a resource, unaffiliated with us in any way! We encourage you to read it.

We wrote this because we’ve been caught in the trap of messianic “resources” made to trick Jews.

This post was chosen by our Patrons, who support us in the work we do. Become a Patron now.

Like we say, context is key. Jews have been using fish as protective symbols for centuries…but that isn’t the same as the Jesus fish! Red flags come in varying shades. Always use context & look for more before making assumptions.

Remember: interfaith solidarity doesn’t include coercion, trickery, subterfuge, appropriation & lying.

[uncanny-tranny]

Please intentionally attempt to see the magic in everything. Everything is magic, even if you understand the "boring" reasons why things happen. Look at the magic in growing plants, the magic of your muscles flexing and retracting, the magic of your eyes and skull, the magic of a cat's purr.

It's all magic. Understanding the "why" is just understanding what makes things magical, it doesn't change that it's all significant and magic.

[mondoreb]

End Times Prophecy Headlines: January 9, 2023

End Times Prophecy Headlines: January 9, 2023

End Times Prophecy Report.com HEADLINES MONDAY January 9, 2023 And OPINION “And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.” —Matthew 24:4 ===INTERNATIONAL UKRAINE: Russia-Ukraine war live: Kyiv accuses Putin of breaking his own ceasefire RUSSIA: Putin avoids Russia blame game – for now – after Ukraine attack RUSSIA: New US Sanctions Target Supply of Iranian Drones to…

[journeytothewestresearch]

A Catalog of the Monkey King’s Magic Powers and Skills

I am happy to announce that I've finished my 177-page catalog of Sun Wukong's powers from all 100 chapters of Journey to the West. Fans of Lego Monkie Kid and Black Myth: Wukong, fanfiction writers, and artists will certainly find it useful.

[aria-greenhoodie]

The Creation of Man GOLBetty

Tumblr loves to ruin things, so Click for Quality!

[fyblackwomenart]

"Mawu Orisha" by Adesewa Adekoya

[seekdestr0y]

NO SOMETIMES OR MAYBE FULL SEND

reblog for sample size

[casually-eat-my-soul]

Sterek but Merlin au

Derek Hale is the werewolf prince of beacon hills, a place that outlawed all types of magic. ( I was having trouble deciding who was the prince before I realized the stiles would have figured out Derek in a WEEK) Werewolf’s are naturally distrustful of it.

Stiles is the son of the commander of the city watch. Being a spark, a creature of magic. One cannot exist without the other. He is close friends with Derek and works with his father and doctor Deaton (He would be gauis)

Stiles being absolutely distraught that his very existence is a betrayal against the person he loves. But he cannot handle the idea of betraying Derek, not after Paige and Kate and Jennifer.

Going to him on his knees and confessing, crying out that he would never harm Derek or his family. To not harm his father because he had nothing to do with his magic. Begging him to spare his father and to not let him watch stiles burn. And lastly he begs for Derek to kill him, one last mercy. he doesn’t even care if it’s quick as long as it’s by Derek’s hand.

I’m struggling with picturing with Derek’s reaction, because betrayal is something he would abhor but this is Stiles. Stiles has always been and forever will be an expectation to every rule for him. Stiles no matter who or what he his, is Derek’s. And fire would never touch a lick of stiles skin. Derek would coo at how adorable stiles is being begging on his knees, he would wipe the tear from his face before making stiles vow by magic, unbreakable in every right to belong to him. (Ooh I see you master manipulator, getting your mate) binding stiles to him in every sense of the word. What does Derek care of the rules, of the kingdom against stiles. He is a second son. He won’t even be king, he’ll have a plot of land and he live there until his end of days with stiles.

This binds them even further together. Stiles killing anyone who even breathes a word of treason or assassination against his prince. Derek hunts down anyone who even looks in the direction of stiles with even a little bit a malicious

Them having a happy ending because I can’t handle angst

Their networks were cowards

[ofekma]

"noo but this time it's different! Our antisemitism is morally justified! We really do have a good reason to hate the jews!" - every antisemic person at any point in history.

[writingwithcolor]

Depicting Real World Religions Alongside Constructed Religions

Maya asked:

Hi WWC! Thank you so much for this blog, it's an infinitely wonderful resource! Do you have any suggestions for how I can balance representation of real religions with fantasy religions, or should I avoid including these together? Does the fact that certain things bleed over from our world into the fantasy world help legitimize the appearance of real world religions? I feel like I can come up with respectful ways to integrate representation in ways that make sense for the worldbuilding. For instance, no Muslim characters would practice magic, and both Jewish and Muslim characters would conceive of magic in ways that fit their religion (rather than trying to adapt real religions to fit my worldbuilding). I also have some ideas for how these religions came about that fit between handwave and analogous history (though I realize the Qur'an is unchangeable, so I'm guessing Islam would have come about in the same way as IRL). BTW—I'm referring to humans, not other species coded as Muslim or Jewish. I may explore the concept of jinns more (particularly as how Muslims perceive fantastical beings), but I definitely need to do a lot more research before I go down that road! Finally, I saw a post somewhere (*but* it might have been someone else's commentary) suggesting to integrate certain aspects of Judaism (e.g., skullcaps in sacred places/while praying, counting days from sundown instead of sunset) into fantasy religions (monotheistic ones, of course) to normalize these customs, but as a non-Jewish person I feel this could easily  veer into appropriation-territory.  *One of the posts that I'm referring to in case you need a better reference of *my* reference: defining coding and islam-coded-fantasy

[This long ask was redacted to pull out the core questions asked]

"Both Jewish and Muslim characters would conceive of magic in ways that fit their religion (rather than trying to adapt real religions to fit my worldbuilding)."

Just a note that while having religion be part of magic is a legitimate way to write fantasy, I want to remind people that religious characters can also perform secular magic. Sometimes I feel like people forget about that particular worldbuilding option. (I feel this one personally because in my own books I chose to make magic secular so that my nonmagical heroine wouldn’t seem less close to God somehow than her wizard adoptive dad, who is an objectively shadier person.) I’m not saying either way is more or less correct or appropriate, just that they’re both options and I think sometimes people forget about the one I chose. But anyway moving on—

Your decision to make the water spirits not actual deities is a respectful decision given the various IRL monotheistic religions in your story, so, thank you for that choice. I can see why it gets messy though, since some people in-universe treat those powers as divine. I guess as long as your fantasy Jews aren’t being depicted as backwards and wrong and ignoring in-universe reality in favor of in-universe incorrect beliefs, then you’re fine…

"I saw a post somewhere (but it might have been someone else's commentary) suggesting to integrate certain aspects of Judaism (e.g., skullcaps in sacred places/while praying, counting days from sundown instead of sunset) into fantasy religions (monotheistic ones, of course) to normalize these customs, but as a non-Jewish person I feel this could easily veer into appropriation-territory."

That was probably us, as Meir and I both feel that way. What would make it appropriative is if these very Jewish IRL markers were used to represent something other than Judaism. It's not appropriative to show Jewish or Jewish-coded characters wearing yarmulkes or marking one day a week for a special evening with two candles or anything else we do if it's connected to Jewishness! To disconnect the markers of us from us is where appropriation starts to seep in.

–Shira

To bounce off what Shira said above, the source of the magic can be religious or secular--or put another way, it can be explicitly granted be a deity or through engagement with a specific religious practice, or it can be something that can be accessed with or without engaging with a certain set of beliefs or practices. It sounds like you’re proposing the second one: the magic is there for anyone to use, but the people in this specific religion engage with it through a framework of specific ideas and practices.

If you can transform into a “spirit” by engaging with this religion, and I can transform into a “spirit” through an analogous practice through the framework of Kabbalah, for example, and an atheist can transform through a course of secular technical study, then what makes yours a religion is the belief on your part that engaging in the process in your specific way, or choosing to engage in that process over other lifestyle choices, is in some way a spiritual good, not the mechanics of the transformation. If, on the other hand, humans can only access this transformative magic through the grace of the deities that religion worships, while practitioners of other religions lack the relationship with the only gods empowered to make that magic, that’s when I’d say you had crossed into doing more harm than good by seeking to include real-world religions.

Including a link below to a post you might have already seen that included the “religion in fantasy worldbuilding alignment chart.” It sounds like you’re in the center square, which is a fine place to be. The center top and bottom squares are where I typically have warned to leave real-world religions out of it.

More reading:

Jewish characters in a universe with author-created fictional pantheons

–Meir

[spaceediasporaa]

I know some people might not like the whole “Sabine training to be a Jedi despite not being super force sensitive” thing but I honestly think it’s really cool. It’s expanding what being a Jedi is, it’s showing they’re more than just space wizards, they’re a religion, a people- being a Jedi isn’t about having powers it’s about your training and how you live your life. I think it’s very cool and I like the idea of nonforce sensitive Jedi

[ianitos]

🦊🌿🪵

[yebreed]

Ancestral Hall of the Tiger Talisman in Fujian

One of those architectural gems that are scattered throughout the Chinese countryside: the Ancestral Hall of the Tiger Talisman (虎符祖殿) aka Huyan Ancestral Hall (虎岩祖殿) or Hufuyan (虎符岩) in Nanfeng (南豐村), Xinqiao, Fujian.

Built in the Song dynasty and rebuilt in the 16th year of Jiajing in the Ming dynasty (1537), the complex covers an area of about 1800 square meters. This temple is dedicated to the Taoist Leifa deity Zhang Shengjun (張聖君), the Master of Five Thunders. The papers with talismanic inscriptions are stuck under the ceiling.

Photo: ©劉江嶺

[captainuranium543]

I might be insane but hear me out Mira and erza religious trauma bond they are 2 sides of the same coin fr.

Mira was raised in a pretty religious town right. As soon as she developed her demon magic all of them, everyone she knew, turned on her. She wanted to remain there but was forcibly pushed away, isolated and told she was a disgusting monster for something she really couldn't control.

Erza however was not raised at all basically, as far as we know she was on her own from day 1, then at like 6 was kidnapped and dragged into a cult against her will to be forced to work for a god she didn't know anything about.

For Mira developing her magic was the end of everything, the day her entire life fell apart and she hates herself for it. She tried to burn her arm off because she hated it so much, when the villagers said she was disgusting she believed them and hated herself with every fiber of her being.

For erza, magic was the one shred of hope she ever had, joining fairy tail and being a wizard was her dream growing up and the day she developed it was the day she was finally able to fight back. As an adult she clung to her magic and armors as her only way of hiding her weakness and protecting those she loves. In erza's mind, outside of her ability to protect she was nothing.

Mira was forced out of her religion,

erza was dragged into hers.

To Mira, her magic was a curse. It was a disgusting mutation that she hated because she believes it made her unlovable.

To Erza, magic was all that she had. She as a person was nothing, her magic was the only thing about her that ever would be worth loving.