#syncretic

Oh gosh, well, lemme try.

Sophia is Wisdom. Not just a personification or an embodiment of it, but the path to it. I think through this Wisdom, we can strive for better things for ourselves and the collective of humanity and earth and the world around us. It could even bring an individual closer toward "transcendence" or something like that, where our soul finally finds it's full way back to ultimate Oneness spiritually? But first, Oneness comes materially; I feel like that's the Wisdom test, really.

Anyway, she's also like, the mom to our mom. Since I was raised by my grandmother, both Earth and Sophia give me "your grandma, but raises you like a practiced mom" feelings and so I cherish both very much. And to make things harder to formulate into words, Sophia in all her wise momness gave us a creator/crafter to give us earth and the universe and our entire existence.

And like a good mom, "bridges" the gap between the self still forming and the self still growing and the self that finds completion.

The Fang people, also known as Fãn or Pahouin, are a Central African ethnic group found in Equatorial Guinea, northern Gabon, and southern Cameroon. Representing about 85% of the total population of Equatorial Guinea, concentrated in the Río Muni region, the Fang people are its largest ethnic group.The Fang are also the largest ethnic group in Gabon, making up about a quarter of the population. In other countries, in the regions they live, they are one of the most significant and influential ethnic groups

  The Fang people speak the Fang language, also known as Pahouin or Pamue or Pangwe. The language is a Southern Bantu language belonging to the Niger-Congo family of languages

The Fang people are relatively recent migrants into the Equatorial Guinea, and many of them moved from central Cameroon in the 19th century. Early ethnologists conjectured them to be Nilotic peoples from the upper Nile area, but a combination of evidence now places them to be of Bantu origins who began moving back into Africa around the seventh or eighth century possibly because of invasions from the north and the wars of West Africa and sub-Saharan Africa.Their migration may be related to an attempt to escape the violence of slave raiding by the Hausa people,but this theory has been contested. The Fang people were victims of the large transatlantic and trans-Saharan slave trade between the 16th and 19th century. They were stereotyped as cannibals by slave traders and missionaries, in part because human skulls and bones were found in open or in wooden boxes near their villages, a claim used to justify violence against them and their enslavement. When their villages were raided, thousands of their wooden idols and villages were burnt by the slave raiders. Later ethnologists who actually spent time with the Fang people later discovered that the Fang people were not cannibalistic, the human bones in open and wooden boxes were of their ancestors, and were Fang people's method of routine remembrance and religious reverence for their dead loved ones.

They have a patrilineal kinship social structure. The villages have been traditionally linked through lineage. They are exogamous, particularly on the father's side.Polygamy was accepted in the culture of the Fang people.The independence of villages from each other is notable, and they are famed for their knowledge of animals, plants and herbs in the Equatorial forests they live in. They are traditionally farmers and hunters, but became major cocoa farmers during the colonial era. Under French colonial rule, they converted to Christianity. However, after independence their interest in their own traditional religion, called Biere, also spelled Byeri, has returned, and many practice syncretic ideas and rites.One of the syncretic traditions among Fang people is called Bwiti, a monotheistic religion that celebrates Christian Easter but over four days with group dancing, singing and psychedelic drinks. The art works of Fang people, particularly from wood, iron and steatite, are regionally famous.Their wooden masks and idol carvings are on display at numerous museums of the world

Cool video... wut???

OK, if you've been paying attention there are a number of things about this "Shrine" to Inari Okami that are going to make you begin to question everything I've said about Shinto shrines. There is no Torii at the entrance. OK, the video doesn't actually show that but trust me, there's no torii at the entrance. The entrance has a large covered gateway in the style of a temple entrance. The place is dedicated to Inari Okami and is listed as one of the big three in many travel guides. There is none of the familiar red/vermilion torii that I'm aware of, just a handful of stone torii. There is no purification fountain. What it does have is a jokoro, which is an incense burner typically found at Buddhist temples. What they do have are foxes by the score and banners. That's because the place is not technically Shinto at all, it is actually a syncretic Buddhist temple of the Soto sect that somehow survived the separation of Buddhism and Shinto.

The main location is in Aichi, Japan with a smaller more shrine-like location in Tokyo that does have the familiar vermilion torii.

Be sure you know which one you are going to if you get the opportunity to go and be cautious of what travel sites are showing you. I've seen several travel sites that had pictures of both locations while only providing directions to one. Why it's almost like the person who put the page together didn't have a clue about what they were writing about to include that unfortunate moniker of Fox God. No, the foxes are the messengers. Ōnamuchi-no-kami is probably thinking how nice it must be to not be known as the Bunny God. XD

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Wonderful present from metamodern designer Karina @superkabuto - new Krolikowski Art  stickers! 

“However, now in the 21st century, there has been a revival of these Chinese folk religions among the highly educated who (1) find it to be a comforting tie back to their ancestral lineages, and (2) find the pantheist, eclectic, nature-based approach to be more appealing than a dogmatic, institutionalized form of religion. (Does that not sound like some reconstructionist schools of paganism?) There has also been a revival of Taoist-based ceremonial magic, much like witchcraft and ceremonial magic among the pagan communities.

In Taoist-based ceremonial magic, elaborate rituals are conducted that involve altering the physical senses from ordinary experiences, meaning certain incense is used, special ritual objects, sacred utterances in old languages in rhyme, special clothing, and manipulating setting in a way as to alter participants’ consciousness. Sacred space is important, typically an altar, which is set up to face a specific cardinal direction, though which cardinal direction will vary from lineage to lineage. Front and center will be a statue, image, or likeness of the deity or deities venerated by the magic practitioner. Candles flank both sides, incense is in the center, and in front of the incense, the offerings. To either side may be knives or daggers of particular spiritual significance, bells, divination blocks, and other paraphernalia. Water used needs to be consecrated. The timing of particular rituals is keyed to lunar phases and astrology.

The similarities keep on going. Many pagan/neo-pagan practices include a ritual knife they call an athame. Many Taoist practices include a ritual knife or sword used to manipulate unseen metaphysical energy believed to be present during a ritual or it can be used to cut through malevolent energies and clear a sacred space. Pagans/neo-pagans incorporate tarot into their practice. Taoist practitioners are into the I Ching. Both East and West ceremonial magic practitioners are into alchemy of one sort or another. The alchemists of both cultures are on a quest for immortality and started off in the early days with experimentations using lead and mercury.

Many pagan faiths cast a circle before commencing a ritual. The spiritual energies they believe in are then invited or called into the circle. In these Taoist-based folk practices, the setup of the altar is important. In many lineages, the practitioner has a seal that is likened to a key for connecting the altar to the spiritual world. The key must be present to activate the altar and open the so-called portal into the unseen realms. Certain words have to be uttered and particular gestures or ritualistic movements are incorporated.

In the majority of pagan practices, it’s my understanding that after casting a circle, the four quarters are called, or Watchtowers where the four guardians of the four cardinal directions are evoked. That’s crazy! Taoist-based practitioners have that, too. They’re referred to as the four guardians: the Black Tortoise in the North, the Red Phoenix in the south, the Blue Dragon (some lineages say the dragon is Green) in the East, and the White Tiger in the west. In some magical lineages, the four guardians aren’t referred to by totem animals, but rather as minor deities. Also in Taoist-based ceremonial magic, both the circle and the pentagram are significant. The circle represents the cycle of manifestation among the five elements (Wu Xing) while the pentagram represents the cycle of transformation.

Today with all the cultural cross-pollination that goes on, it is even more difficult to determine what comes from where. A lot of the practices I hear Wiccans perform around the house during their sabbats sounds a lot like feng shui to me. Using a special broom exclusively for “cleaning” negative or stagnant energy from a room by sweeping it back and forth in the air, taking care that it never touches the floor? Maybe we don’t use a broom exactly, but that’s feng shui. We might opt for bells or wood blocks.