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98-451: The underworld , also known as the netherworld or hell , is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths , located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underworld. The concept of an underworld is found in almost every civilization and "may be as old as humanity itself". Common features of underworld myths are accounts of living people making journeys to

196-574: A deity or other supernatural entity or entities. Some religions have religious texts which they view as divinely or supernaturally revealed or inspired. For instance, Orthodox Jews , Christians and Muslims believe that the Torah was received from Yahweh on biblical Mount Sinai . Most Christians believe that both the Old Testament and the New Testament were inspired by God. Muslims believe

294-486: A non-physical entity ; such as a ghost , fairy , jinn or angel . The concepts of a person's spirit and soul , often also overlap, as both are either contrasted with or given ontological priority over the body and both are believed to survive bodily death in some religions, and "spirit" can also have the sense of " ghost ", i.e. a manifestation of the spirit of a deceased person. In English Bibles , "the Spirit" (with

392-720: A polytheistic religion)", or anything revered as divine. C. Scott Littleton defines a deity as "a being with powers greater than those of ordinary humans, but who interacts with humans, positively or negatively, in ways that carry humans to new levels of consciousness , beyond the grounded preoccupations of ordinary life." A male deity is a god , while a female deity is a goddess . Religions can be categorized by how many deities they worship. Monotheistic religions accept only one deity (predominantly referred to as God), polytheistic religions accept multiple deities. Henotheistic religions accept one supreme deity without denying other deities, considering them as equivalent aspects of

490-455: A semi-deity or other strange kind of being, such as this discourse examines the notion of. And besides these more absolute acceptions, if I may so call them, of the word nature , it has divers others (more relative), as nature is wont to be set or in opposition or contradistinction to other things, as when we say of a stone when it falls downwards that it does it by a natural motion , but that if it be thrown upwards its motion that way

588-449: A body, especially a living one, as when physicians say that nature is strong or weak or spent, or that in such or such diseases nature left to herself will do the cure . Sometimes we take nature for the universe , or system of the corporeal works of God , as when it is said of a phoenix , or a chimera , that there is no such thing in nature , i.e. in the world. And sometimes too, and that most commonly, we would express by nature

686-458: A bright red because the sun was too close, so they raised the sun seven different times until Crawfish was satisfied. The Great Spirit then created plants for this new land, after which he told the animals to stay awake for seven days. Only Owl was able to do so, and as a reward, the Great Spirit gave him the gift of sight in the dark. The plants tried as well, but only the pines, firs, holly, and

784-421: A by-product of the doctrine of creation ex nihilo . In process thought, there is no such thing as a realm of the natural in contrast to that which is supernatural. On the other hand, if "the natural" is defined more neutrally as "what is in the nature of things," then process metaphysics characterizes the natural as the creative activity of actual entities. In Whitehead's words, "It lies in the nature of things that

882-626: A capital "S"), specifically denotes the Holy Spirit . Spirit is often used metaphysically to refer to the consciousness or personality . Historically, it was also used to refer to a "subtle" as opposed to "gross" material substance, as in the famous last paragraph of Sir Isaac Newton 's Principia Mathematica . A demon (from Koine Greek δαιμόνιον daimónion ) is a supernatural and often malevolent being prevalent in religion , occultism , literature , fiction , mythology and folklore . In Ancient Near Eastern religions as well as in

980-907: A close relation to nature and animals as well as belief in a Great Spirit that is conceived of in various ways. As anthropologists note, their great creation myths and sacred oral tradition in whole are comparable to the Christian Bible and scriptures of other major religions. There is no single mythology of the Native Americans in the United States , the Indigenous peoples in Canada and other peoples, but numerous different canons of traditional narratives associated with religion , ethics and beliefs. Such stories are deeply based in Nature and are rich with

1078-460: A complex system of beliefs based on deities who directly affected the lives of humans, including those who controlled rain, the rising Sun, and fertility. Voluntary human sacrifice was a central piece to the order of the universe and human survival. The Aztecs viewed people as servants and warriors of the gods, whom were not merciful or generous, but all-powerful beings that needed to be fed and appeased in order to avoid disaster and punishment. Thus,

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1176-448: A death occurred, the house in which it happened would be burnt down, and there would sometimes be bans on speaking the name of the dead. Widows would be smeared with pitch and their hair would be cut until the annual mourning releases them. This mourning came to be known as the "burning", the "cry", or the "dance of the dead". During these ceremonies, multiple properties are burned while the tribe dances, chants, and wails, in order to appease

1274-405: A dry enough spot to land, and when he did the flapping of his wings caused the mud to shift. It went down in some places and up in others, creating the peaks, valleys, hills, and mountains of the earth. The rest of the creatures were now able to come down, but they soon realized it was very dark, so they invited the sun to come with them. Everyone was happy except Crawfish , who said his shell turned

1372-446: A medieval scholastic of the 12th century, explored causes beyond nature, questioning how certain phenomena could be attributed solely to God. In his writings, he used the term praeter naturam to describe these occurrences. In the scholastic period, Thomas Aquinas classified miracles into three categories: "above nature", "beyond nature" and "against nature". In doing so, he sharpened the distinction between nature and miracles more than

1470-400: A more social character, usually in a religious context, as seen in traditional African medicine . Fortune-telling, on the other hand, is a more everyday practice for personal purposes. Particular divination methods vary by culture and religion. Divination is dismissed by the scientific community and skeptics as being superstition . In the 2nd century, Lucian devoted a witty essay to

1568-471: A new sun. A god by the name of Nanahuatzin , god of disease, offered to throw himself into the fire and become the new sun. Being a weak and sickly god, the others thought he should not be the one to do it, and that a stronger and more powerful god should be the sun. Tecuciztecatl , a very wealthy god, stepped forward and said he would do it, but was not able to find the courage to jump into the flames. Nanahuatzin, with little hesitation, then threw himself into

1666-404: A physical system by a subject without any known intermediate energy or instrumentation" (1945:305). Views on the "supernatural" vary, for example it may be seen as: Anthropological studies across cultures indicate that people do not hold or use natural and supernatural explanations in a mutually exclusive or dichotomous fashion. Instead, the reconciliation of natural and supernatural explanations

1764-445: A querent should proceed by reading signs, events, or omens , or through alleged contact with a supernatural agency. Divination can be seen as a systematic method with which to organize what appear to be disjointed, random facets of existence such that they provide insight into a problem at hand. If a distinction is to be made between divination and fortune-telling , divination has a more formal or ritualistic element and often contains

1862-416: A select few others were able to stay awake, so he gave them the gift of keeping their leaves year-round. Great Spirit then decided he wanted to have people live on this island, so he created one man and one woman. The pair did not yet know how to make children, so the man took a fish and pressed it against the woman's stomach, after which she gave birth. They did this for seven days until Great Spirit felt there

1960-407: A spiritual entity that may be conjured and controlled. Magic or sorcery is the use of rituals , symbols , actions, gestures , or language with the aim of utilizing supernatural forces. Belief in and practice of magic has been present since the earliest human cultures and continues to have an important spiritual, religious and medicinal role in many cultures today. The term magic has

2058-450: A stone let fall in the air is by nature carried towards the centre of the earth , and, on the contrary, that fire or flame does naturally move upwards toward firmament . Sometimes we understand by nature the established course of things, as when we say that nature makes the night succeed the day , nature hath made respiration necessary to the life of men. Sometimes we take nature for an aggregate of powers belonging to

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2156-404: A supernatural entity reported as being present during the event is called a vision . Direct conversations between the recipient and the supernatural entity, or physical marks such as stigmata , have been reported. In rare cases, such as that of Saint Juan Diego , physical artifacts accompany the revelation. The Roman Catholic concept of interior locution includes just an inner voice heard by

2254-438: A variety of meanings, and there is no widely agreed upon definition of what it is. Scholars of religion have defined magic in different ways. One approach, associated with the anthropologists Edward Tylor and James G. Frazer , suggests that magic and science are opposites. An alternative approach, associated with the sociologists Marcel Mauss and Emile Durkheim , argues that magic takes place in private, while religion

2352-503: A variety of ways – masculine, feminine, androgynous and gender neutral. Historically, many ancient cultures – such as Ancient India , Ancient Iraq , Ancient Egyptian , Ancient Greek , Ancient Roman , Nordic and Asian culture – personified natural phenomena , variously as either their conscious causes or simply their effects, respectively. Some Avestan and Vedic deities were viewed as ethical concepts. In Indian religions , deities have been envisioned as manifesting within

2450-469: Is hypernymic to religion . Religions are standardized supernaturalist worldviews, or at least more complete than single supernaturalist views. Supernaturalism is the adherence to the supernatural (beliefs, and not violations of causality and the physical laws). Occurring as both an adjective and a noun , antecedents of the modern English compound supernatural enter the language from two sources: via Middle French ( supernaturel ) and directly from

2548-453: Is violent . So chemists distinguish vitriol into natural and fictitious , or made by art, i.e. by the intervention of human power or skill; so it is said that water , kept suspended in a sucking pump, is not in its natural place, as that is which is stagnant in the well. We say also that wicked men are still in the state of nature , but the regenerate in a state of grace ; that cures wrought by medicines are natural operations; but

2646-433: Is a combination of extensive evidence of something not occurring , combined with an underlying scientific theory , very successful in making predictions, whose assumptions lead logically to the conclusion that something is impossible. While an impossibility assertion in natural science can never be absolutely proved, it could be refuted by the observation of a single counterexample . Such a counterexample would require that

2744-485: Is a communal and organised activity. Many scholars of religion have rejected the utility of the term magic and it has become increasingly unpopular within scholarship since the 1990s. The term magic comes from the Old Persian magu , a word that applied to a form of religious functionary about which little is known. During the late sixth and early fifth centuries BC, this term was adopted into Ancient Greek , where it

2842-407: Is a school of thought influenced by the metaphysical process philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead (1861–1947) and further developed by Charles Hartshorne (1897–2000). It is not possible, in process metaphysics, to conceive divine activity as a "supernatural" intervention into the "natural" order of events. Process theists usually regard the distinction between the supernatural and the natural as

2940-509: Is an important deity; other supernatural characters include Morning Star and the Thunderbirds. A common theme is the making of a journey, often to a supernatural place across the landscape or up to the parallel world in the sky. One of the most dominant trickster stories of the Plains is Old Man, about whom numerous humorous stories are told. The Old Man, known as Waziya, lived beneath

3038-495: Is defined in the Journal of Parapsychology as "personal factors or processes in nature which transcend accepted laws" (1948: 311) and "which are non-physical in nature" (1962:310), and it is used to cover both extrasensory perception (ESP), an "awareness of or response to an external event or influence not apprehended by sensory means" (1962:309) or inferred from sensory knowledge, and psychokinesis (PK), "the direct influence exerted on

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3136-489: Is found in many ancient cultures, and a belief in rebirth/ metempsychosis was held by Greek historic figures, such as Pythagoras , Socrates and Plato . It is also a common belief of various ancient and modern religions such as Spiritism , Theosophy and Eckankar and as an esoteric belief in many streams of Orthodox Judaism . It is found as well in many tribal societies around the world, in places such as Australia , East Asia , Siberia and South America . Although

3234-414: Is known as " angelology ". In fine art , angels are usually depicted as having the shape of human beings of extraordinary beauty; they are often identified using the symbols of bird wings , halos and light . Prophecy involves a process in which messages are communicated by a god to a prophet . Such messages typically involve inspiration, interpretation, or revelation of divine will concerning

3332-510: Is natural or ordinary; unnaturally or extraordinarily great; abnormal, extraordinary". Obsolete uses include "of, relating to, or dealing with metaphysics ". As a noun, the term can mean "a supernatural being", with a particularly strong history of employment in relation to entities from the mythologies of the indigenous peoples of the Americas . The ancient world had no word that resembled "supernatural". Dialogues from Neoplatonic philosophy in

3430-471: Is normal and pervasive across cultures. Cross cultural studies indicate that there is coexistence of natural and supernatural explanations in both adults and children for explaining numerous things about the world, such as illness, death, and origins. Context and cultural input play a large role in determining when and how individuals incorporate natural and supernatural explanations. The coexistence of natural and supernatural explanations in individuals may be

3528-402: Is possible within the boundaries of the laws of physics. Epistemologically , the relationship between the supernatural and the natural is indistinct in terms of natural phenomena that, ex hypothesi, violate the laws of nature, in so far as such laws are realistically accountable . Parapsychologists use the term psi to refer to an assumed unitary force underlying the phenomena they study. Psi

3626-473: Is that there is disagreement about the definition of "natural" and the limits of naturalism . Concepts in the supernatural domain are closely related to concepts in religious spirituality and occultism or spiritualism . For sometimes we use the word nature for that Author of nature whom the schoolmen , harshly enough, call natura naturans , as when it is said that nature hath made man partly corporeal and partly immaterial . Sometimes we mean by

3724-470: Is the philosophical or religious concept that an aspect of a living being starts a new life in a different physical body or form after each biological death . It is also called rebirth or transmigration , and is a part of the Saṃsāra doctrine of cyclic existence. It is a central tenet of all major Indian religions , namely Jainism , Hinduism , Buddhism and Sikhism . The idea of reincarnation

3822-512: Is the supreme being, who created the Earth, sea and heavenly bodies. His daughter, Sedna created all living things – animals and plants. Sedna is also regarded as the protecting divinity of the Inuit. Here some myths reflect the extreme climate and the people's dependence on salmon as a major food resource. In imagination, the landscape is populated by both benign and malevolent giants. In this region,

3920-471: Is thought that when a member of a tribe died, their soul would hover over their communities, trying to get their friends and relatives to join them, so their funeral ceremonies were not just to commemorate the dead, but to protect the living. The Green Corn ceremony , also known as Busk, was an annual celebration of a successful corn crop. Their fires were put out and rekindled, grudges are forgiven, and materials are thrown out or broken to then be replaced. It

4018-453: The Abrahamic traditions , including ancient and medieval Christian demonology , a demon is considered a harmful spiritual entity, below the heavenly planes which may cause demonic possession , calling for an exorcism . In Western occultism and Renaissance magic , which grew out of an amalgamation of Greco-Roman magic , Jewish Aggadah and Christian demonology , a demon is believed to be

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4116-545: The Quran was revealed by God to Muhammad word by word through the angel Gabriel ( Jibril ). In Hinduism , some Vedas are considered apauruṣeya , "not human compositions", and are supposed to have been directly revealed, and thus are called śruti , "what is heard". Aleister Crowley stated that The Book of the Law had been revealed to him through a higher being that called itself Aiwass . A revelation communicated by

4214-613: The Roman era as well as the Indian religions, have been the subject of recent scholarly research. Unity Church and its founder Charles Fillmore teaches reincarnation. In recent decades, many Europeans and North Americans have developed an interest in reincarnation, and many contemporary works mention it. Karma ( / ˈ k ɑːr m ə / ; Sanskrit : कर्म , romanized :  karma , IPA: [ˈkɐɽmɐ] ; Pali : kamma ) means action, work or deed; it also refers to

4312-483: The afterlife , or in exceptional cases enter heaven alive . Heaven is often described as a "higher place", the holiest place, a Paradise , in contrast to hell or the Underworld or the "low places" and universally or conditionally accessible by earthly beings according to various standards of divinity , goodness , piety , faith , or other virtues or right beliefs or simply the will of God . Some believe in

4410-503: The miraculous ones wrought by Christ and his apostles were supernatural . Nomological possibility is possibility under the actual laws of nature . Most philosophers since David Hume have held that the laws of nature are metaphysically contingent—that there could have been different natural laws than the ones that actually obtain. If so, then it would not be logically or metaphysically impossible, for example, for you to travel to Alpha Centauri in one day; it would just have to be

4508-433: The nature of a thing the essence , or that which the schoolmen scruple not to call the quiddity of a thing, namely, the attribute or attributes on whose score it is what it is, whether the thing be corporeal or not, as when we attempt to define the nature of an angle , or of a triangle , or of a fluid body, as such. Sometimes we take nature for an internal principle of motion , as when we say that

4606-603: The Middle Ages, although in the early modern period Italian humanists reinterpreted the term in a positive sense to establish the idea of natural magic . Both negative and positive understandings of the term were retained in Western culture over the following centuries, with the former largely influencing early academic usages of the word. Throughout history, there have been examples of individuals who practiced magic and referred to themselves as magicians. This trend has proliferated in

4704-693: The Middle French's term's ancestor, post- Classical Latin ( supernaturalis ). Post-classical Latin supernaturalis first occurs in the 6th century, composed of the Latin prefix super- and nātūrālis (see nature ). The earliest known appearance of the word in the English language occurs in a Middle English translation of Catherine of Siena 's Dialogue ( orcherd of Syon , around 1425; Þei haue not þanne þe supernaturel lyȝt ne þe liȝt of kunnynge, bycause þei vndirstoden it not ). The semantic value of

4802-461: The age of the fifth and final sun came to be. One story tells of how Tezcatlipoca took flint and used it to make fires to light the world again, before discussing with his brothers what should be done. They decided to make a new sun that feeds on the hearts and blood of humans. To feed it, they made four hundred men and five women. This is where the story goes into different directions. Some say that both Quetzalcoatl and Tlaloc wanted their sons to become

4900-479: The assumptions underlying the theory that implied the impossibility be re-examined. Some philosophers, such as Sydney Shoemaker , have argued that the laws of nature are in fact necessary, not contingent; if so, then nomological possibility is equivalent to metaphysical possibility. The term supernatural is often used interchangeably with paranormal or preternatural —the latter typically limited to an adjective for describing abilities which appear to exceed what

4998-452: The bottom of the sea, where he picked up a bit of mud and brought it to the surface. Once above the water, the mud spread out in all directions and became an island. The Great Spirit secured the island by attaching cords to it and tying it to the vault in the sky. Though the land was now stable, the ground was too soft for any of the animals to stand on, so they sent down Buzzard to scope it out. He flew around for some time until he could find

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5096-621: The career of a charlatan , " Alexander the false prophet ", trained by "one of those who advertise enchantments, miraculous incantations, charms for your love-affairs, visitations for your enemies, disclosures of buried treasure and successions to estates". Mythologies of the indigenous peoples of the Americas The Indigenous peoples of the Americas comprise numerous different cultures. Each has its own mythologies , many of which share certain themes across cultural boundaries. In North American mythologies, common themes include

5194-425: The case that you could travel faster than the speed of light. But of course there is an important sense in which this is not nomologically possible; given that the laws of nature are what they are. In the philosophy of natural science , impossibility assertions come to be widely accepted as overwhelmingly probable rather than considered proved to the point of being unchallengeable. The basis for this strong acceptance

5292-456: The color black. He is the god of the earth and the most powerful of the four children. Quetzalcoatl , which translates to "plumed serpent", is associated with the color white. He is the god of air. Finally, Huitzilopochtli , which translates to "hummingbird of the south", is associated with the color blue. He is the god of war. The four children decided they wanted to create a world with people to live in it. Quetzalcoatl and Huitzilopochtli made

5390-617: The concept of human sacrifice emerged. This practice was not new and had been used in other cultures such as the Mayans , but the Aztecs made this their main event, so to speak, in their ceremonies. These sacrifices were mainly to appease the Sun God, Huitzilopochtli. According to Aztec belief, the creation of the earth started with a god called Ometeotl , otherwise known as the Dual God, as they were made from

5488-439: The concept of the soul of the deceased making its own journey to the underworld, with the dead needing to be taken across a defining obstacle such as a lake or a river to reach this destination. Imagery of such journeys can be found in both ancient and modern art. The descent to the underworld has been described as "the single most important myth for Modernist authors". A spirit is a supernatural being, often but not exclusively

5586-544: The concept of the soul of the deceased making its own journey to the underworld, with the dead needing to be taken across a defining obstacle such as a lake or a river to reach this destination. Imagery of such journeys can be found in both ancient and modern art. The descent to the underworld has been described as "the single most important myth for Modernist authors". This list includes underworlds in various religious traditions, with links to corresponding articles: Echeide , Guayota This list includes rulers or guardians of

5684-522: The creatures cannot do, in traditional theism, in comparison to what they can do in process metaphysics (that is, to be part creators of the world with God). Heaven , or the heavens , is a common religious, cosmological , or transcendent place where beings such as gods , angels , spirits, saints , or venerated ancestors are said to originate, be enthroned , or live. According to the beliefs of some religions, heavenly beings can descend to Earth or incarnate , and earthly beings can ascend to heaven in

5782-400: The dominant sacred trickster is Raven, who brought daylight to the world and appears in many other stories. Myths explore the people's relationship with the coast and the rivers along which they traditionally built their towns. There are stories of visits to parallel worlds beneath the sea and up in the sky. See also: The Aztecs , who predominantly inhabited modern-day central Mexico, had

5880-409: The early Church Fathers had done. As a result, he had created a dichotomy of sorts of the natural and supernatural. Though the phrase "supra naturam" was used since the 4th century AD, it was in the 1200s that Thomas Aquinas used the term "supernaturalis". Despite this, the term had to wait until the end of the medieval period before it became more popularly used. The discussions on "nature" from

5978-499: The earth with his wife, and they had a daughter. Their daughter married the wind and had four sons: North, East, South, and West. The sun, moon and winds then ruled the universe together. An important supernatural hero is the Blood Clot Boy, transformed from a clot of blood. Important myths of this region deal with the origin of hunting and farming, and the origin of sickness and medicine. An important practice of this region

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6076-460: The fire. Seeing his bravery, Tecuciztecatl decided to jump in too. They were both transformed into suns, but the light was now too bright to see anything, so one of the other gods threw a rabbit at Tecuciztecatl, dimming his light and turning him into the moon. Nanahuatzin, now the new sun, was essentially reborn as Ollin Tonatiuh . The problem they now had was that he would not move from his position in

6174-431: The first attempt, starting by making fire. This fire became the sun, but only half a sun, because it was not big or bright enough to light their entire world. They then made the first man and woman, which they called Cipactonal and Oxomoco respectively. Their many children were called macehuales, and were to be the farmers of the land. From there they created time, and then the underworld known as There are many stories of how

6272-550: The first corn and tobacco. The two great divine culture heroes are Glooskap and Manabus. Other stories explore the complex relationships between animals and human beings. Some myths were originally recited as verse narratives. Stories unique to the Great Plains feature buffalo , which provided the Plains peoples with food, clothing, housing and utensils. In some myths they are benign, in others fearsome and malevolent. The Sun

6370-526: The first human beings emerged from an underworld to the Earth. According to the Hopi Pueblo people, the first beings were the Sun, two goddesses known as Hard Being Woman (Huruing Wuhti) and Spider Woman. It was the goddesses who created living creatures and human beings. Other themes include the origin of tobacco and corn, and horses; and a battle between summer and winter. Some stories describe parallel worlds in

6468-484: The form of tricksters – to entertain, as they subtly convey important spiritual and moral messages. The use of allegory is common, exploring issues ranging from love and friendship to domestic violence and mental illness. Some myths are connected to traditional religious rituals involving dance, music, songs, and trance (e.g. the Sun Dance ). Most of the myths from this region were first transcribed by ethnologists during

6566-480: The ghosts. Another common ceremony is one that takes place when adolescents hit puberty. Girls go through a series of grueling tabus when her first period starts but is followed by a celebratory dance when it ends. Boys will undergo an official initiation into the tribe by participating in ceremonies that recount the tribes' mysteries and myths. See also: Myths of the Navajo , Apache , and Pueblo peoples tell how

6664-425: The idea of rebirth in many schools of Indian religions (particularly Hinduism , Buddhism , Jainism and Sikhism ) as well as Taoism . In these schools, karma in the present affects one's future in the current life, as well as the nature and quality of future lives – one's saṃsāra . In Catholic theology , the supernatural order is, according to New Advent , defined as "the ensemble of effects exceeding

6762-429: The late 19th and early 20th centuries. These sources were collected from Native American elders who still had strong connections to the traditions of their ancestors. They may be considered the most authentic surviving records of the ancient stories, and thus form the basis of the descriptions below. Myths from this region feature female deities, such as the creator, Big Turtle; and First Mother, from whose body grew

6860-655: The majority of denominations within Christianity and Islam do not believe that individuals reincarnate, particular groups within these religions do refer to reincarnation; these groups include the mainstream historical and contemporary followers of Cathars , Alawites , the Druze and the Rosicrucians . The historical relations between these sects and the beliefs about reincarnation that were characteristic of Neoplatonism , Orphism , Hermeticism , Manicheanism and Gnosticism of

6958-429: The many enter into complex unity" (Whitehead 1978, 21). It is tempting to emphasize process theism's denial of the supernatural and thereby highlight that the processed God cannot do in comparison what the traditional God could do (that is, to bring something from nothing). In fairness, however, equal stress should be placed on process theism's denial of the natural (as traditionally conceived) so that one may highlight what

7056-521: The modern period, with a growing number of magicians appearing within the esoteric milieu. British esotericist Aleister Crowley described magic as the art of effecting change in accordance with will. Divination (from Latin divinare "to foresee, to be inspired by a god", related to divinus , divine ) is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic , standardized process or ritual. Used in various forms throughout history, diviners ascertain their interpretations of how

7154-413: The myths is the close relationship between human beings and animals (including birds and reptiles). They often feature shape-shifting between animal and the human form. Marriage between people and different species (particularly bears) is a common theme. In some stories, animals foster human children. Although most Native North American myths are profound and serious, some use light-hearted humor – often in

7252-444: The new sun, so they each threw their sons into one of the fires created by Tezcatlipoca. Tlaloc waited for the fire to burn out before throwing his son into the embers, so his son became the moon. Quetzalcoatl elected to throw his son directly into the fiery blaze, so he became the fifth and final sun that we see in the sky today. Another story tells of the gathering of the gods at the ancient city of Teotihuacan , to discuss how to make

7350-478: The outcomes two distinct cognitive domains: one concerned with the physical-mechanical relations and another with social relations. Studies on indigenous groups have allowed for insights on how such coexistence of explanations may function. A deity ( / ˈ d iː ə t i / or / ˈ d eɪ . ə t i / ) is a supernatural being considered divine or sacred . The Oxford Dictionary of English defines deity as "a god or goddess (in

7448-400: The people's intense spiritual feeling for their landscapes and emphasize the importance of treating with respect the animals that they depend upon for food. Sacred tricksters here include Coyote and Fox. See also: The myths of this region are strongly set in the landscape of tundra, snow, and ice. Memorable stories feature the winds, the moon, and the giants. Some accounts say that Anguta

7546-493: The possibility of a heaven on Earth in a world to come . Another belief is in an axis mundi or world tree which connects the heavens, the terrestrial world and the underworld . In Indian religions , heaven is considered as Svarga loka , and the soul is again subjected to rebirth in different living forms according to its karma . This cycle can be broken after a soul achieves Moksha or Nirvana . Any place of existence, either of humans, souls or deities, outside

7644-404: The powers of the created universe and gratuitously produced by God for the purpose of raising the rational creature above its native sphere to a God-like life and destiny." The Modern Catholic Dictionary defines it as "the sum total of heavenly destiny and all the divinely established means of reaching that destiny, which surpass the mere powers and capacities of human nature." Process theology

7742-436: The prophet's social world and events to come (compare divine knowledge ). Prophecy is not limited to any one culture. It is a common property to all known ancient societies around the world, some more than others. Many systems and rules about prophecy have been proposed over several millennia. In religion and theology , revelation is the revealing or disclosing of some form of truth or knowledge through communication with

7840-488: The recipient. In the Abrahamic religions , the term is used to refer to the process by which God reveals knowledge of himself, his will and his divine providence to the world of human beings. In secondary usage, revelation refers to the resulting human knowledge about God, prophecy and other divine things. Revelation from a supernatural source plays a less important role in some other religious traditions such as Buddhism , Confucianism and Taoism . Reincarnation

7938-560: The same divine principle; and nontheistic religions deny any supreme eternal creator deity but accept a pantheon of deities which live, die and are reborn just like any other being. Various cultures have conceptualized a deity differently than a monotheistic God . A deity need not be omnipotent , omnipresent , omniscient , omnibenevolent or eternal , The monotheistic God, however, does have these attributes . Monotheistic religions typically refer to God in masculine terms, while other religions refer to their deities in

8036-435: The scholastic period were diverse and unsettled with some postulating that even miracles are natural and that natural magic was a natural part of the world. The metaphysical considerations of the existence of the supernatural can be difficult to approach as an exercise in philosophy or theology because any dependencies on its antithesis, the natural , will ultimately have to be inverted or rejected. One complicating factor

8134-513: The sky and underwater. These peoples went on to kill each other due to Zuni tales. Multi-sensory experiences also are prominent in Ancestral Pueblo ceremonial rituals; for example, to evoke a paradisiacal realm, Chacoan people would perform sensorial ceremonies by use of exotic artifacts such as turquoise, shell, cacao, copper bells, and macaws. See also: Myths of the Plateau region express

8232-450: The sky unless the other gods sacrificed their blood for him. So a god by the name of Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli , lord of dawn, threw a dart at Tonatiuh, but missed. Tonatiuh then threw one back at Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli, hitting him in the head and turning him into Itzlacoliuhqui , god of coldness, frost, and obsidian. Realizing that they could not refuse, the other gods offered their bare chests to him, and Quetzalcoatl cut out their hearts with

8330-406: The spiritual principle of cause and effect where intent and actions of an individual (cause) influence the future of that individual (effect). Good intent and good deeds contribute to good karma and future happiness, while bad intent and bad deeds contribute to bad karma and future suffering. With origins in ancient India 's Vedic civilization , the philosophy of karma is closely associated with

8428-485: The symbolism of seasons, weather, plants, animals, earth, water, fire, sky, and the heavenly bodies. Common elements are the principle of an all-embracing, universal and omniscient Great Spirit , a connection to the Earth and its landscapes, a belief in a parallel world in the sky (sometimes also underground and/or below the water), diverse creation narratives, visits to the 'land of the dead', and collective memories of ancient sacred ancestors. A characteristic of many of

8526-475: The tangible world (Heaven, Hell, or other) is referred to as otherworld . The underworld is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underworld. The concept of an underworld is found in almost every civilization and "may be as old as humanity itself". Common features of underworld myths are accounts of living people making journeys to

8624-1130: The temple of every living being's body, as sensory organs and mind. Deities have also been envisioned as a form of existence ( Saṃsāra ) after rebirth , for human beings who gain merit through an ethical life, where they become guardian deities and live blissfully in heaven , but are also subject to death when their merit runs out. An angel is generally a supernatural being found in various religions and mythologies . In Abrahamic religions and Zoroastrianism , angels are often depicted as benevolent celestial beings who act as intermediaries between God or Heaven and Earth . Other roles of angels include protecting and guiding human beings and carrying out God's tasks. Within Abrahamic religions, angels are often organized into hierarchies , although such rankings may vary between sects in each religion, and are given specific names or titles, such as Gabriel or " Destroying angel ." The term "angel" has also been expanded to various notions of spirits or figures found in other religious traditions. The theological study of angels

8722-423: The term has shifted over the history of its use. Originally the term referred exclusively to Christian understandings of the world. For example, as an adjective, the term can mean "belonging to a realm or system that transcends nature, as that of divine, magical, or ghostly beings; attributed to or thought to reveal some force beyond scientific understanding or the laws of nature; occult, paranormal" or "more than what

8820-456: The third century AD influenced the development of the concept of the supernatural, which later evolved through Christian theology . The term nature had existed since antiquity, with Latin authors like Augustine using the word and its cognates at least 600 times in City of God . In the medieval period, "nature" had ten different meanings and "natural" had eleven different meanings. Peter Lombard ,

8918-448: The underworld , often for some heroic purpose. Other myths reinforce traditions that entrance of souls to the underworld requires a proper observation of ceremony, such as the ancient Greek story of the recently dead Patroclus haunting Achilles until his body could be properly buried for this purpose. Persons having social status were dressed and equipped in order to better navigate the underworld. A number of mythologies incorporate

9016-452: The underworld , often for some heroic purpose. Other myths reinforce traditions that the entrance of souls to the underworld requires a proper observation of ceremony, such as the ancient Greek story of the recently dead Patroclus haunting Achilles until his body could be properly buried for this purpose. People with high social status were dressed and equipped in order to better navigate the underworld. A number of mythologies incorporate

9114-601: The underworld in various religious traditions, with links to corresponding articles. Supernatural The supernatural is featured in folklore and religious contexts, but can also feature as an explanation in more secular contexts, as in the cases of superstitions or belief in the paranormal . The term is attributed to non-physical entities , such as angels , demons , gods and spirits . It also includes claimed abilities embodied in or provided by such beings, including magic , telekinesis , levitation , precognition and extrasensory perception . The supernatural

9212-460: The union of Tonacatecuhtli and Tonacacihuatl , whom the Aztecs believed were the lord and lady of their sustenance. Tonacatecuhtli and Tonacacihuatl had four children: Xipe Totec , which translates to "the flayed god" in Nahuatl , is associated with the color red. He is the god of the seasons and all things that grow on the earth. Tezcatlipoca , which translates to "smoking mirror", is associated with

9310-406: Was animism , the belief that all objects, places, and creatures have a soul. Most death, disease, or misfortune would be associated with the failure to put the soul of a slain animal to rest. When this happens, the animal could get vengeance through their "species chief". Large amounts of rare materials found with this regions dead suggest strong evidence that they believed in a sort of afterlife. It

9408-507: Was enough humans for the time being, and made it so a woman could only give birth once a year. See also: Myths of this region are dominated by the sacred creator/trickster Coyote . Other significant characters include the Sun People, the Star Women and Darkness. A few of the most distinctive ceremonies of this region were their funeral customs and their commemoration of the dead. When

9506-402: Was essentially a renewing of life and community for these tribes. There was a time when there was no earth, and all creatures lived in a place above the sky called Galvlo’i. Everything below was only water, but when Galvlo’i got too crowded, the creatures decided to send down Water Beetle to see if he could find them a new place to live. He obliged and dove down into the water, all the way to

9604-409: Was used with negative connotations, to apply to religious rites that were regarded as fraudulent, unconventional and dangerous. This meaning of the term was then adopted by Latin in the first century BC. The concept was then incorporated into Christian theology during the first century AD, where magic was associated with demons and thus defined against religion. This concept was pervasive throughout

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