#mystery religions

[castilestateofmind]

“At a particular level of spiritual development it is immediately evident that the myths of the Mystery religions are essentially an allegory of the states of consciousness which are experienced by the initiate on the path toward self realization. The various deeds and adventures of mythical heroes are not poetical, but real events; they are the specific actions of one's inner being and shine forth from within the one who attempts to follow the path of initiation which leads beyond the fulfilment of the merely human mode of existence“.

- Julius Evola, The Path of Enlightenment in the Mithraic Mysteries.

[spaceintruderdetector]

https://archive.org/details/mystery-religions-in-the-ancient-world-by-joscelyn-godwin

[askmalal]

“What, exactly, did the Romans have against Christians?”

(In full transparency, this question was asked in person, but I thought the rest of you might be interested in the answer.)

Part One of My Answer:

This is a very complex question to answer. After all, why exactly does anybody hate anyone else? That is not a question that can be answered here, little one, and as such, there is much more to this than meets the apparent eye, and much more that those of us who did not know the specifics of each person’s psyche cannot possibly know.

So? We look for broadly shared opinions and institutional prejudice.

First, it is important to point out that Christianity was not consistently outlawed under the Emperors. The religion, which was a Mystery Cult as far as the Romans were concerned, was initially ignored, outlawed, then alternately “tolerated” and persecuted at times and through the reign of Constantine (early fourth century AD) who formally legalized the faith and forbade repression thereof. Even Julian the Apostate (you MUST look him up, fascinating man) didn’t outright ban Christianity during the brief revival of the pagan state during his brief reign in the 360s.

That said, Christianity was more often regarded with intolerance than with tolerance, and we are fairly confidant that those martyrdoms recorded by early Church figures are almost certainly true events in the majority of times. We know this, because the Romans sometimes recorded them themselves, and because the Romans had a very strange thing (Slaaneshian even) for ironic torture and execution, lending further truth to the lost bizzare accounts. But you did not ask -how-; you asked why.

First, conservative Romans viewed any secret society as being a threat to the natural order of things . Indeed, this is perversely why so many Romans sought membership in such societies. It was the seditious, rebellious thing to do. For the most part, the authorities left non state-sanctioned religions alone. The disdain was a formal, intellectual sort of prejudice, but it did not often extend to active repression. Hence, Mithraism and the Cult of Orpheus were faiths that were neither legal nor illegal. They were in a grey sort of area. They simply “were.”

These could be tolerated in part because the Roman world viewed religion in a rather unique manner.

For Example: Roman Mithraists were themselves probably monotheists (there is only one god, and he is Mithras, messianic son of the creator, who slew the bull of chaos, yadda yadda.) However, they -also- did their state duties. They made their sacrifices, they observed their holidays, they took their oaths. They were personally devout, but did not see participation in a state religion that contradicted their own as sinful. At worst, it was play acting to keep grandma happy.

This was hardly exceptional amongst Roman citizens. Romans of the Pan-Olympian faith could accept most foreign faiths, reasoning that these were merely foreign interpretations of the gods. Re is really Jove, The Fates are simply agents of Janus, Osiris is the Egyptian Pluto, etc. Those who were members of other congregations, and Roman atheists for that matter, still engaged in the stare ceremonies. They were a unifying link, a part of the established system. Important to social and familial advancement.

But then there were Jews and Christians. Hellenized Jews were typically easy to integrate into Roman society, and were often tolerated even when their beliefs did not allow them to participate in all state rituals, mostly because they were well behaved, and seen as model, productive citizens. Non-Hellenized Jews were also granted a fair amount of leeway -outside- Judea, though within is a very complex matter not really germane to our conversation.

But Christianity did not fit so easily into this mold. Conservative Romans said that Christians refused to do their duties to the state. They said that they did not observe the holidays, make the sacrifices, swear the oaths.

This was, in part, true. Many Christians refused to take part in ceremonies or observe the holidays. However, other Christians -did-, either taking the pragmatic view that this was all just play acting in service to the state, or because they regarded such things in an entirely secular matter. (“Saturnalia means lots of time off work!”)

The main issue, however, the one about which most Christians refused to be adaptable, was the swearing of oaths. In particular, any oath that was directed toward the Emperor. Whilst most Emperors were viewed as high ranking, but ultimately mortal, several were in fact deified. Furthermore, the Romans viewed the Emperor as a sort of metaphorical representation of the state. And so, you didn’t make an important oath of allegiance to the state: you swore it to the Emperor as icon of that state, and you often did it by paying your respects to an image: a statue, or in some cases a coin bearing his likeness. This, the overwhelming majority of Christians refused to do. It was idolatry. Indeed, a large number of Christian soldiers (soldiers often being called upon to make such oaths) would ask to swear alternative oaths: to the state itself, for instance, or to the defense of the people. In intolerant periods, this was a death sentence, as during the reign of Diocletian for example when a group of forty Egyptian Legionaries, all Christians, refused to swear an oath to Diocletian despite proven loyalty to the state, and were executed en masse.

Disloyalty, was of course a very useful excuse for intolerance. Because there were other reasons to distrust the Christians, from the conservative Roman point of view. Some were nefarious, some were born of fear, and some were utterly ludicrous.

I’ll touch on those next.

M.

[tea-n-ink]

Homesickness is where the heart is

[har-har-harvey]

i have never felt more seen than when gorgug said “i go into a worry”. like babe, i see you, i feel you, i hear you, i know you. plus!!!! the situation with kristen and cassandra! how i just know in my heart that kristen cares for her and wants to help her succeed, but is a literal teenager and doesn’t even know how to do that for herself let alone someone else. and she doesn’t have anyone to look up to or to go to for guidance because really she is the only one and how this is so different to what she had when she was with helio because of that. and the literal anxiety and sorrow and fear i feel about and for cassandra! i go into a worry!!

[nobledragonflying]

my two cents on what kashi is that he is krishna. my evidence (as little as it is) is that krishna is often described/depicted as having blue skin and what does kashi wear?

THISSSSSSSSS (I brightened & over exposed the screenshot to see it better)

AND his rings may symbolize his previous lives/reincarnations, which he calls "adventures" because, just like krishna, kashi is a chill and wise dude. Giving out advice and is obviously way more powerful than people assume

[imaginarylands4000]

[vintage-tigre]

One of the most famous experiments in quantum physics is the double slit experiment. It demonstrates, with unparalleled strangeness, that little particles of matter at the subatomic level only exist as a wave until they are observed.

This suggests that the very act of observing a particle has a dramatic effect on its behavior and could imply that consciousness has a symbiotic relation to the formulation of our physical reality of atomic particles.

This scientific mystery causes some people to believe humans have a dualistic relationship with reality creation - as if we have a psychic entanglement with subatomic particles and we are all creating physical reality with our collective consciousness, or that it proves a God exists and is somehow playing a curious game of peek-a-boo with all of us.

[illustratus]

Parzival by Fidus

[adhdedrn]

Options based on the winning result of the five previous polls [one, two, three, four, five]

And hurry - this is a time-limited offer!

[thepersonalwords]

God is a sound frequency, and we can all tune in if we just listen. Some find The Rhythm through different melodies, but it's all music.

Jennifer Sodini

[lizardsfromspace]

The best crank on Unsolved Mysteries was that guy who claimed he had discovered a secret code in the Bible, which it turned out meant that he developed a computer program that would look for any word he looked for in the Bible, by looking a certain number of letters apart. And then it would find the word he asked the program to look for. It was the one time even the show seemed fully aware this guy was full of it

I think they talked to him bc he claimed to have predicted the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin & warned him about it, but then he revealed that the Bible Code didn't give like, a date or time, just the word "assassin" near his name. Everything else was just running a search after a tragedy happens and then finding the thing he made the computer look for. He only made one other prediction of the future, a nuclear war in 2006

Anyway we used to have a fringe theory based around someone going "all of these words are in the Bible! As secret codes"

[vspin]

[garthnadermemestash]

ban mormons

[stagefoureddiediaz]

Thinking thoughts about Abuela being back and with this backstory about her being taken in by charlatans and Eddies whole catholic guilt thing and how the two things kind of play into one another as an exploration of faith and being taken in by something.

Abuela giving all her money to the tarot card readers etc because she was searching for something - for connection (with Abuelo) - trying to recapture what she had lost, and How Eddie has spoken about trying to re-find the magic he had with Shannon - how Eddie hasn't actually fully reconciled the Shannon of it all when it comes to relationships and how his Catholic guilt connects into that.

How Marisol as a physical representation of Catholicism is part of that narrative - how Eddie is entering a place where he has to chose his path - in order to move on from Shannon he needs to fully square the hole - catholic or non catholic. And how that needs to happen first - before he can begin his queer journey!

[sincerely-sofie]

TW: child abuse and neglect (flashbacks and mentions), blood

•••

Twig learned a myriad of lessons before the few weeks she spent looking for the pair of siblings.

For one, Opal’s friend, disguised as a Gligar when Twig first found her, is actually a Zorua. The second Twig entered the house, the child still nestled into her arms, Opal had rushed to them and pointed out an injury that neither Twig nor Ark could see. The second she saw Opal, Zorua must have felt safe, because the disguised dropped shortly afterwards.

Second, Zorua’s illusions can hide injuries and the blood that came with it. Twig saw the red on her arms before she knew the wound was there. Only Ark could fully see it, and he bristled and recoiled on sight, turning Opal away from the scene and telling Twig “we need to get her help she needs it now Twig-”

The third thing she had learned was that whenever you think you’ve learned the maximum amount of stitches someone can have, know that there could always be more.

Fourth, you can be in a similar position as the child you saved, but still can’t answer your daughter when she looks at you with terrified, distraught eyes and asks you why while trembling. You can learn that you can always find new limits to your rage and fear when you hold your daughter close and she asks if this is her fault. You can learn you can find the words, be as outwardly as comforting as you can, but the intensity of the inferno burning inside you doesn’t fade.

Fifth, Grovyle never did forgive himself for Crystal Cave despite what he tells others and himself. Ark had spoken to Celebi, who had come with Dusknoir and Grovyle to go on a mission to hunt the siblings down. They had all gone pale when they saw the child’s state. Twig repeatedly caught Grovyle looking at his own hands and looking back at Zorua, and she can see the nausea brewing inside him as his mouth tightens. Zorua is much younger than Kip was that day — only a few months behind Opal.

She’s younger than Opal.

Six, miracles actually do exist beyond time traveling shenanigans, because Zorua pulls through. She is covered in bandages, her body is skinny, she is lethargic and tired, but she has defied all the odds and she’s alive.

Seven, she learns there are even more levels to her rage when Zorua immediately looks around wildly and then begs Twig not to tell her siblings she was here and that they’ll be upset if she doesn’t come back soon.

Eight, Opal, Lucky, Manaphy, Spindle, and Bud are more emotionally intelligent than Twig gave them credit for. They introduced themselves slowly and separately without complaint. They go at Zorua’s pace. Gradually, Zorua gets more comfortable, and there are mornings where encouraging her to come out of hiding is less difficult.

Nine, Zorua’s name is Ruby, but she can’t speak of her siblings without trembling. Reassurances that those two won’t even get near her again only do so much.

The tenth and final lesson Twig learned was that there is a point where you’re so angry you can’t feel it anymore. In the months that Ruby was recovering, no one had heard a thing about anyone looking for her. Grovyle tells her that in the times he’s checked Boulders Quarry, no one came back in search for her. Dusknoir confirms this. The siblings are no where to be found, or at least, they are, but they have taken on a different appearance and still aren’t even making an attempt to look for Ruby.

It’s one week, then two, then three, and Dusknoir makes the comment that the siblings have somehow made themselves harder to track down than Grovyle did in the Dark Future and present. They know they’re looking for two Zoroarks — Opal had confirmed as much — but things are more tricky when said species can illusion themselves as other Pokémon. Dusknoir suggested spreading a rumor that a little Zorua had been found and wanted to find her siblings again, but said siblings didn’t seem to take the bait. There was no way that they were going to make Ruby help in the search, and Twig had murdered the offer that Opal gave to help hunt them down. It would be over her cold, dead, unfeeling body before Twig ever let any children near those monsters.

It’s towards the end of the week that Ruby and Opal wake Twig up in the middle of the night, both transformed into Charmanders and holding hands, that they finally get something to blow open the case.

“They wanted me to go to another town,” Ruby whispers, squeezing Opal’s hand. “They’re going to be mad I didn’t make it and stayed here. They’re going to be really, really mad when they come back. They’re going to come back and take me away- and I don’t- I don’t wanna-”

“Ruby,” Twig’s voice is soft and firm, “I promise, nobody here will ever let them take you. They’re never going to hurt you ever again.”

“But what if they break in?”

Twig almost frowns, but she immediately schools her face into something cool, “do they break into homes a lot?”

Ruby slowly nods her head, looking at the floor, “they’ll look for a while, and when they find me, they’ll watch to know when the best time to break in is. Then they’ll grab me, and-”

She chokes and trembles, her eyes start going far away, staring into an abyss no one else can see. They are only stopped by Opal’s gentle squeeze and Twig’s words.

“It’s okay, they won’t,” a soft smile follows. “Do you want to stay near me for the rest of the night?”

Both Opal and Ruby are curled up beside her in that next moment. Ark comes into view, holding more blankets and pillows. He approaches, gently tucking in the kids and then whispers to Twig.

“I relayed Ruby’s words to Celebi and she passed them along to Dusknoir. He said three days.”

Something sparks up inside her, she’s unsure what it is, but it keeps her up all night as she waits.

***

Three days, and Opal yells “Mother! Dad! I had a nightmare! Come here!” and then as soon as they arrive, she points to the window while never taking her eyes off them, “we need to get rid of that window, Monsters can get in!”

From the corner of her eye, Twig sees it. She sees the silhouette of someone move away just a second too slow for her to miss it.

“Stay with them so they’re safe,” are the only words she gives Ark before she turns on her heel and marches out the door. The Gardevoir and Gallade wave to her from their house, then turn back to speak to one another.

Twig knows that Gardevoir and Gallade would be asleep and staying indoors if they had awakened this late at night. Twig knows that Gardevoir and Gallade wouldn’t be whispering insults about Opal, promising to make her shut up for good if she gets in their way. Gardevoir wouldn’t whisper the words, “that brat is really going to get it once we get to her. I swear if she said anything I’m going to tear off all her fur.”

Twig marches up to them, grabs their arms, and yanks. Her grip is so harsh that “Gallade” squeaks and then joins “Gardevoir” in yelping when Twig pulls them. They stumble, almost tripping over themselves as the illusion finally gives way and reveals two Zoroarks. They look at her, and whatever irritation or defiance they had vanishes into dust as they gave into her eyes, illuminated by her brightly burning, purple flame on her tail.

Twig feels it. She feels the fury, pain, despair, and pure hatred that were building up over months, but had nowhere to go. The plan to have everyone surround the siblings and bring them to justice goes out the window, and Twig is positive that Ark is probably trying to make contact with Celebi so that there isn’t a double homicide. She doesn’t care.

“Six months,” she seethes. “I’ve been waiting for this moment for six fricking months — looking for six months. You hurt your sister, threatened to hurt my daughter, planned on hurting your sister again, tried breaking into my home — I’m going to tear you both apart.”

•••

Sorry it isn’t the best and I know Twig, Ark, Grovyle, and Dusknoir — actually, probably all of them — are probably ooc, but I hope it’s still a fun read!

Also, I chose Ruby for the name of the Zorua because I thought it fit at the time, but halfway through writing this I felt like it didn’t but I didn’t know what I would change it to. Feel free to rename this character — the fic is for you, so I feel like you should have most say in this. I also chose Zorua because I thought it would be cute if Opal had a friend who could also “transform” into different Pokémon.

It wasn’t at all too triggering— it was just so amazing that I was taking ages to finally gather my thoughts and react to it! It’s so poignant and impactful in all the most profound ways it could possibly be that I was absolutely flabbergasted by it all, and along with the gift of a new character I wanted to give it the thoroughly grateful response it deserves. I’ve reread it throughout the days since you sent it in and every time it left me floored by emotion. I’m sorry for not replying sooner— the writing is so impactful that I think I kind of forgot that the author might be worried about my silence indicating the subject matter upset me. I was too busy having stars in my eyes whenever I thought about it.

I want to make art of Ruby + a profile for her to go along with this, which is the main reason I’ve been taking a while to respond— but I want to reassure you that you did nothing wrong whatsoever, so I’ll give an art-free response now and make Ruby’s profile later!

The characters are all represented in such lovely ways, and the pacing and prose are both absolutely astounding. This was a phenomenal piece and it’s been keeping me company as I’ve come down with a bad cold— I’ve been feeling severely under the weather, and this fic has been a silver lining amidst that. Ruby is precious, and I’d kill for her… actually, hang on. Move over Twig, I want to get a few punches in.

Thank you so much for this fic! I’m sorry for the anxiety you must have felt in the time I didn’t respond— rest assured that this is something I adored the second I received it and will treasure forevermore :>