#shenism

Mazu worshipper

a flag for anyone who worships Mazu,the Chinese goddess of the sea !

any religion is free to use this as long as you worship her (duh)

exclusive to bodily Chinese and Taiwanese people !

tagging : @accessibilitea

Some small Lunar New Year/new moon rituals for the Year of the Pig.

The spell envelope was interesting. I put a lot of thought into it while simultaneously feeling like it was one of the easiest spells I've ever done, haha. I wanted to do a spell envelope as a play on hongbao (紅包 red envelope).

Like an hongbao, it has a lot of the traditional words found on the outside (fortune, peace, gong xi fa cai) and symbols of the new year -- lotus flowers, blossoms, a red lantern.

On the inside, I put sea salt (salt as a symbol of earth and sea salt as a symbol of water simultaneously, since the Pig is affiliated with water but this year is the Earth Pig) and a scoop of Chinese five spice. The Chinese five spice was kind of a funny addition; I kept thinking of herbs I wanted to use to bring good things for the new year, and then I realised "wait a minute... all of these could be symbolised by the things in Chinese five spice".

There is also a small card inside the spell envelope, containing my wishes for the new year. I figure I would charge the spell every time I bow to our family altar (that's where the envelope is now) and then move it to my personal altar after this month is over.

My New Moon ritual is the same one I usually do -- a list of things to bring in, and things to let go -- but with a few notes on this year's meanings.

I'm still learning a lot about my heritage/Chinese folk religion, but I'm trying my best to honor my ancestors and my history.✨

Shenism flag

/pt shenism flag /pt

a flag for beings who follow shenism aka chinese folk religion !

for bodily chinese beings only

Shenism (aka Chinese Folk Religion), identifies the shifting creative fusions of a distinctively Chinese-style spirituality. It shares many properties with traditional Chinese medicine, and popular religious activities often make use of dominant Buddhist, Confucian, and/or Taoist ideas, practices, officials, and locations. People visit shrines and temples, seek the ritual services of priests and monks, and make use of sacred texts and talismans. 

Whether or not people identify as members of the more organized forms of those religions can be contentious. The localized and kinship foundation of much of Chinese popular spirituality gives it a place among indigenous religions. This is particularly true when Shenism involves mediums to communicate with ancestors (named members of a family who, although dead, are still deemed to be interested in their descendants’ well-being), and the use of divination. 

The word shen has a wide range of meanings, perhaps illustrated by the similar potential of one of its English translations, “spirit.”Both words might refer to metaphysical entities (ancestors, ghosts, local deities, or beings who speak through mediums), or they might also refer to states of consciousness and refined internal energies, suggesting practices of focusing attention, meditation, trance, or seeking health and fulfillment.