Tangible Spirit World: Summary

Throughout Dennis Covington’s book titled Salvation on Sand Mountain, it became clear that snake handling within the Pentecostal churches, more specifically in the Southern United States, provided an experience unlike any other mainstream forms of religion for the people who participated. Through analyzing and questioning these experiences, many things became clear. For instance, the motives behind why they decided to participate in the praising of the Holy Ghost in such a way as this, what they inevitably felt and received after (as well as during) these rituals and how the snake-handlers turned once observational journalist Dennis Covington to one of their own. Throughout this short paper, these ideas will be discussed in context to both

Paganism, spiritualism, witchcraft – call it what you may, there’s no denying that the occult is ever-present. In Vancouver, one is particularly accustomed to the crystal shops and new age book stores hiding around each corner – a walk along West 4th in Kitsilano attests to that. With melting pot populations, cities tend to host unconventional ‘schools of thought’; and at the turn of the eighteenth century, two cities, New Orleans and Beijing (formerly Peking) became hubs for the supernatural. Though different in many ways, the similarities of New Orleans Voodoo and Manchu Shamanism are striking.

Christianity is divided into thousands of denominations across the world, each denomination has a specific set of beliefs and norms which contribute to, and sometimes challenge the overarching themes of Christianity and The Bible. Christopher M. Moereman in his book, Beyond the Threshold explains Normative Christianity, and the specific beliefs and practices within. Kyriacos C. Markides in this book, The Magus of Strovolos uses the teachings of Dr. Stylianos Atteshlis, also known as Daskalos, to further illustrate the specific beliefs and practices within Esoteric Christianity. After reading and understanding the writings of both Moreman and Markides, it is clear to see there are ideas which distinguish Esoteric Christianity from Normative Christianity. This essay will explore these ideas which include the idea soul, the idea life after death, and the teachings of Daskalos.

As a text written in the early middle ages, the Canon Episcopi by Regino of Prüm was revolutionary in the fact that it exemplified a growing skepticism for magic within the Christian community, and most importantly, it served as a strict call to arms for church officials to identify and eliminate practices of magic within parish communities. As a major theological text in the time where Christianity is finally solidifying doctrine, the Canon Episcopi should both draw upon existing ideas of its predecessors and shape the theological works of its successors. While the works of other theological minds show evidence of a common theme or influence, there is still extreme variability and sometimes even direct opposition to Regino’s themes. While

With a staggering two millennia separating Bronislaw Malinowski and Hippocrates, one would assume these two intellectuals would have few analogous conclusions. Unbenounced to Hippocrates in the fourth century BC, his corpus’ essay “On the Sacred Disease,” would act as support to Malinowski’s anthropological study of magic amongst primitive peoples in the twentieth century entitled “Magic, Science and Religion.” Malinowski’s essay analyzes the origin of magic, the definition of science, and deciphers whether or not antediluvian societies acknowledge a distinction between magic and science. Alternatively, Hippocrates muses on the subject of epilepsy, the disease’s genesis, and why “witch-doctors” resort to supernal cures opposed to systematic medical approaches. To understand the relationship between the essays, one must first interpret the inner workings of Malinowski’s ideas before applying them to Hippocrates’ postulates in the fashion of a critical lens. Bronislaw Malinowski and Hippocrates both offer compelling ideas that distinguish magic and science as distinct entities, while Hippocrates displays knowledge that adheres to Malinowski’s anthropological observations.

Mircea Eliade’s The Sacred and the Profane analyzes a wide variety of components that are found within various world religions. Eliade uses the history of religion to support his ideas as the the book itself is a brief introduction to religion as a whole, particulary the religions of primitive societies. Nonetheless, when looking to the past one can see that mankind’s desire to associate itself with the sacred has been occuring for thousands of years. From temples to passages of intiation, religious man is a unique microcosm that follows and repeats the structure of the religious macrocosm, the creation of the cosmos. One can conclude that Eliade views religion as the “paradigmatic solution for every existential crisis.” (p210) and

Tenrikyo is a religion that emphasizes on how the joyous state of mind can greatly influence in what will be going through in our lives by satisfying god’s desires by making a good use of our body. In this paper, I am going to argue that Tenrikyo is one of the fastest growing religions in the world due to its rapid expansion that leads to an emerging new religion but does not interfere with other religions at the same time. Tenrikyo is based on a religion established by a Japanese lady named Nakayama Miki during the 19th century. Tenrikyo is a monotheistic religion that followers believe in the existence of this one particular God, as known as God the Parent. It was said that Nakayama Miki had received a calling by god, sent her to save all mankind from sufferings because god is the creator of mankind and it is his job to make sure that we are all in a joyous state. “God showed great mercy towards mankind, he came down and revealed himself as Nakayama Miki, taking her as mediatrix and his elected shrine. “ (van Straelen 8) It was said that she had a revelation at 1838, God the Parent replaced her mind and thus her words are the words of god. According to Eliade, He argued that all religions originate to serve the sacred, and stay in contact with them. This is because according to his theory, religions are man made and it exists because it was meant to be a response to the sacred. From what happened to Nakayama Miki, a myth might be established because the sacred has

As hinted above, devotion, iconoclasm, and preservation efforts are intricately entwined with processes that happen before, during, and after the performances that the perspective party participates in. In each environment, the object takes on new meanings and significances due to the discourses surrounding it and the subjectivities of the people who possess it. Moreover, preservation often engages in the same processes that religious iconoclasts did and do by creating new narratives of the objects and relegating necessary performances with the object. Apart from just merely the smashing of objects or gods, by removing these objects out of their original socio-historical contexts, the objects are destroyed, literally and/or figuratively,

Irrefutably spiritual possession has a rigorous history and is a near-universal phenomenon that has occurred in the majority of human cultures. The spectacle of possession has been portrayed as the main factor in the earliest daily life of a Babylonian. All types of evil possessions were ascribed from pestilent diseases, insanity, stirring up the passions, and an assortment of personal terrors in and out of the body; sometimes called ‘the seizer.’ Early magical texts and incantations in the Assyrian tablets offer the first written accounts for the treatment of illnesses; special gods and/or prayers to deities were called upon to help rid people of these overshadowing forces of possession.

Mysticism focuses on the relationships individuals have with religion. More specifically, the practice concentrates on the religious subject and how it is portrayed through religious experience. Mysticism emphasizes the irrationality and ineffability of the Absolute, Divine, or Transcendent. Defining and coming to know the unknowable is an extremely difficult yet intriguing topic to explore and in The Idea of the Holy by Otto Rudolph, he attempts to convey the irrational to his audience. Rudolph presents the characteristics of the Divine and its stupefying effects on humankind through defining and examining the word “holy”.

In the Victorian era, entertainment was very different, having hobbies, acquired skills equally important to them were group activities such as séances, a quiet, peaceful environment an excellent condition for mediums to thrive also develop physical phenomenon. Unlike today’s hectic lifestyles and materialism, coupled with modern-day distractions such as antisocial mobile phones, people look for different avenues to rest furthermore relax wanting out of the rat race, a world away from reality and seeking the truth of life after death. The Victorian era environment is different from today due to this mental mediumship is more prevalent.

The spirit animal that you identify with is more than a symbol. Shamans believe that spirit animals are guides and protectors during your life 's journey. Finding and relating to your spirit animal provides you with power and insight into your subconscious that can help to guide you on the path that 's right for you. Identifying your spirit animal then understanding how they guide you is essential for finding your path.

In today’s society, I think we do not experience activity from the spirit world or witness a miracle is because we have too many distractions. These distractions have caused our society to lose faith and we have forgotten how to mediate (pray). Undeveloped countries able to mediate on the word of God because they do not have the distractions we have in our society. We do not take the time out to mediate and to seek God for his help. We become blinded and we are not able to actually see the miracles that do take place in our society. We are so worried about what the society has to offer us and we should have more faith in God. I think our society have lost our faith in God and has placed our faith in other things. Jesus told his disciples, “You

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The contrast here is the more primitive one between ownership as the assertion of a right against others and possession as a physical fact, as a relation to the