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ollamhollamh · 5 years ago

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Introduction to Semdaeism

Hello! I am the Semdaen arrikirri which makes me the head and founder of Semdaeism. In the past I have made several smaller introductions to Semdaeism but I feel they were too vague and didn't give a proper understanding of the religion. So I will use this time to make a much fuller and more detailed introduction to the faith while also making sure I answer some of the more asked questions, show how to be a Semdaen and dispel the misunderstandings around my faith.

Firstly, what is Semdaeism? The Semdaen religion is a polytheistic religion that takes an Omnic standpoint on the existence of the gods and believes that all of the gods exist at once, this isn't anything special amongst polytheistic faiths, however Semdaeism itself worships a different pantheon of deities named the 'Kono. The 'Kono are not gods, but rather people who had become godlike by the judgment of a creator deity named Pono, the crow. This is a important doctrine in Semdaeism and often leads to people thinking I am belittling the gods, this is not true as the gods are still considered extremely important, but ultimately subservient to the 'Kono and the king who we will get to later.

Now the 'Kono act a lot like gods, in short terms, due to the gods warring with themselves and with demons it plunged the world into chaos and the king of the gods Dyeus Phter had lost control. Then two creator deities came to the world and segregated the gods and installed the 'kono to police the world and keep it under control. They do eventually lose control and leave Earth for a while to come back later, through me. But that is not important. There are various 'Kono, they come from many backgrounds and areas in the world and have various temperaments and laws. These Laws are often on things such as drinking and eating along with social manners etc. Apart from the actual religious laws of the faith which are concrete, the laws from 'Kono are often varied and change on which 'kono is the Cultic (Patron/Matron) 'Kono. The Punishment for breaking these laws are often dealt with by the 'kono as well. I mentioned that there are Cultic 'Kono, the Semdaen religion has a system similar to the patron and matron gods and goddesses of other Polytheistic faiths. This being you have a wider Cultic 'Kono/s that you worship directly and a personnel 'Kono that acts as a guardian angel figure, this 'kono will act as your protector on day to day life and is separate from other guardian angel figures but works with them. The personnel 'kono was acting as your guardian from your birth and will continue to guard you all of your life. Cultic 'Kono represent themselves various animals and beasts, such as bears, boars etc. In artworks that have religious connotations, made by me, the animals are used to represent various 'Kono who are then used to represent various concepts such as life death, love and war. This is important because in the place of true idols for the 'Kono which show them as how they look you can instead use an animal statue in its place for Worship. The 'kono that are minor govern other many things such as the rocks, hills, trees and mountains. They exist too in the cycle of worship and reverence, especially high ranking minor 'Kono will inhabit various grand structures and as such deserve reverence the most. Therefore we have a system that is very similar to the Kami system in Shintoism.

The Next largest part of Semdaeism is the king, before I became the Arrikirri I got involved with the cult of king Arthur. I carry this belief into Semdaeism, the king is a central messianic figure in the faith, he is said to come back and turn the world into a golden age after he combines all the worlds religion into one religion. He has been declared king of the gods, of man, of the beasts and birds and even of the demons of the world, what does not bow shall bow to the king. He has servants, these servants are normally kings and generals that have achieved glory and fame and in some way had impressed the Lords and the gods in such a way that they had achieved enlightenment and went straight into the kings court, these people are normally not Semdaen themselves but of other religions and had unlocked Semdaen virtue, an example of a servant would Decebalus last king of Dacia. These servants are known by the name of Regs, they help kings and generals in certain situations but will also help the general public. They are like the Catholic Saints if you are still having trouble understanding.

The way to become a Semdaen is to simply prepare an Altar in the Semdaen way, which is simple but can be somewhat costly depending on the quality you want for your Altar. To create an Altar you need to first find a space for it, a bench is the best way to achieve this space. The next thing you need to do is get a larger clothe to cover the entire space, this clothe is called the Plarom. The next thing you need to do is add another much smaller and thinner clothe to put in the middle called the Klijo, it must be wide enough to fit a few statues in and long enough to go across the entire space. On the Klijo you need to place three items, an Idol of your Cultic 'Kono, an Idol of the king and an Idol of your Personnel 'Kono. The next Item you need to place is in front of the clothe and needs to be the Srwos which is a candle holder in the shape of a peacock meant to represent Melek Tawes, the defender of humanity. The Ancestors Skull or the Strutjos is next, placed to the right of the Srwos which should be on the far left. On the far right should be the Donom which is the Libations bowl Finally inbetween the Strutjos and the Srows is the Asis which is a offering urn for things like paper prayer. Behind the klijo you can place the images of other gods for worship. Finally one of the most important parts is the Asajos or Altar sword, this is almost always a real sword, however if there is any reason you legally or financially cannot own sword there are alternatives such as Paper swords or less dangerous training swords.

There are several sacred things into Semdaeism, the numbers eight and four, blood, foxes and Kashmiri cypresses are all considered sacred things. The 'kono of sacred thing and blood, Vestpus represents himself as foxes. Along with that there are the two temples, the Domos and the Yageh. The Domos is considered the most important out of the two, they are made to look like hills or mountains and they contain eight kinds of rooms. The main hall, the sacred well, the room for the Native god, a room for sword smithing, a main worshipping room which has a oven for baking offerings, a tomb or sacred grave for the priests that double as a ancestor worship room and finally a room for some more minor cultic practises. Along with this stands a idol modeled after the Shigir idol which represents the 'kono of the temple and a protector and a Menhir which details certain events that take place during the construction. There is also Kashmiri Cypresses on the top as the top of the complex is covered in dirt and it is surrounded by native fruit trees and other native plants you can eat, these will be farmed in times of emergency. Domos should be sanctified with first a blood offering and some minor rituals, if the Domos is in a larger area as it should be then a game of Polo should take place to properly make it sacred in the eyes of Vestpus. The other structure is the Yageh, which is the main home for the native god, the native god or the gnos if you wish, is a idol of a god that is native to the region Like Zeus or Heracles for Greece and is made in the native art style. He gets two holidays, the day of the gods where he is taken from the Domos to the Yageh representing him being apart from the 'kono but still worshipped The parade is a four hour trip and then the peach parade where he is taken back to the Domos Representing princess Hurkino joining the 'kono as their princess after being abandoned by her fellow gods The Yagehs are built in the style of the native architecture either in the shape of houses or in the shape of granary representing the god is there for their people. Another factor of Semdaeism is that there are the seven heavenly isles where either an important religious event happened or they have a section of Semdaeism within their religion. these isles are as follows, Britian, Japan, the Carribian, Malta, New Zealand and the Canary isles. These I hope will have some of the first Domos and Yagehs.

The next thing I would like to talk about is enlightenment, the Semdaen enlightenment comes in two forms, Bhilis, the right handed enlightenment and the Pavillion Leaf Path, the left handed enlightenment which leads to a form of immortality but is widely hidden or unknown, Clergy and Successor Arrikirris do not take this path but instead take a form of enlightenment reserved for clergy called Itrdae which is a special form of the Leuk path when the clergy devotes themselves to the lords and the king. Bhilis is a very long process and revolves heavily around the concept of the cycle and reincarnation, the result of this is that you must achieve eight forms of lesser enlightenment through each of the eight heavenly laws which I will go over. In each eight you must achieve the lesser enlightenment or Gnowa. the laws go as follow:

Nos, the law of North America, that one must be of their community, know and speak the native language and the popular language, move in the ways of the native culture and the popular culture and bow and pray to the Native, Semdaen and popular gods, unless it is the Yahweh of Abraham.

Mer, the law of Ocenia, that one must understand that all things live through the cycle that is birth, life, sacrifice (Literal and figurative), death and rebirth and that even the animals, to live through this cycle and that slaughter is their sacrifice to us, that man does not harm or act inappropriately to the animal even during slaughter and even after death.

Deh, the law of Africa, that one must realise that the Lystche ancestor spirits watch over their families and their lands and that they are forever listening to our every word and our every action, that no matter what we must be respectful of the dead and not speak ill of them nor insult them with our actions.

Leuk, the law of India, that one must understand that the gods are ever present and ever helpful beings but they are still gods, they are the highers and we are the lowers. We are of not right or will to insult our heavenly lords with images of them as cartoons nor slander their name of deeds with such casualty.

Webh, the law of Asia, that one must understand that above all else, the lords be they gods, demons or 'kono are beloved of those things which are creative above all else, be it art, writing, music or answering the simple question.

Heug, the law of South America, that one must be virtous above all else, even without acting in gnowa. The lords are watching constantly and so to do good deeds and to act in all the manners and be kind is above all else when they watch.

Gwhen, the law of Europe, that one most be aware of the Asajos as one must be aware of the king as a warlord, this world is a violent one for that is a form of the cycle ever since peace came into being and that to obtain virtous too is to obtain skill in the sword and skill in the hand.

Wied, the law of Antartica, that one must be knowledgeable for the ultimate sin is ignorance, that you must live in the great and constant state of learning and knowledge, you must be a scholar above all others and your simple breathe contains more information then even the great libraries. It should be noted that these laws are not really true laws in the sense that you can break them easily, with exception such as Leuk and Deh but rather the eight most important guidelines and eight different ways of reaching enlightenment. I do not decide whether you reach this enlightenment nor are they levelled against each other but rather equal to one and another. After achieving gnowa eight different times (Normally taking eight or more different lives to complete) you become what is known as a Mereg who is an enlightened king or general where upon death you will become a god and begin to serve the king in his court, for only those that are great can serve that which is the greatest.

A confusing part of Semdaeism seems to be the Arrikirris, as some people confuse me to be the only Arrikirri, that is not true. I am the Arrikirri of the four pointed star which makes me the first of my fellow Arrikirris of the heaven of the four pointed star. There they wait in line to incarnate, my job is simply to found the religion and set up some early organisation in the faith. Each Arrikirri will atleast write eight books to add to the holy text before their death. Arrikirris do not have an extreme authority over a Semdaen, it would be good to tell one you're becoming Semdaen so that they can help you and get an idea of numbers in the faith and demographics but it is not needed. Additionally any issue you have with clergy can be brought up to a Semdaen Arrikirri and he will try to mitigate the issue, Semdaeism also relies on UPG and Arrikirris, especially me, will try to check up on you to see how everything is going with your faith and learn more from what you have learnt while worshipping. There is also no ill will towards anyone that leaves, I might get upset, sad or angry for a bit but I will not hold a grudge against anyone that leaves and I hope all other Semdaens will be this kind.

In Semdaeism there is two calendars, the sixteen heavenly days calendar Noichos for the sixteen holidays of Semdaeism and the Zodiac calendar Alkis these two calendars are important, I'm not going to show them in this post but maybe another post because then it will be far too long. Now the Zodiacs in Semdaeism function as a form of totemism, as the lesser Zodiac, the animal Zodiac has an animal for each of the twelve months. Depending on which month you are born you have a different animal, these animals represent the Xenematres who are the lords of the months and if you see your totemic animal it means goodluck. You must also deny the meat of this animal. The greater zodiac is about worship, the greater zodiac creatures are often beasts and coincide with the year you were born in. These beasts are often used to represent your personnel 'kono and they are placed on the Altar right next to your Cultic 'Kono.

I will leave some of the more frequently asked questions below:

Does the religion have a central text Yes, if you ask I will send you what I currently have (The text is unfinished)

How old is the religion/how many followers do I have/ how old am I Not very old, not that many followers

Is Homosexuality a sin No, unless you're a king or queen, then adopt a child before you ascend to the throne

Is Abortion allowed Yes, if the child is born from rape, it isn't a plan B

That is all for now, I will update the questions and the post in general and resend it if I have anything else to add or any more commonly asked questions pop up. I would like to be able to work with the community so I can better express myself amongst you so that I don't seem so dangerous to some. I will be looking forward to talking with you and thankyou for reading.

#pagan #pagan polytheism #religion #Semdaeism #faith #omnism #magic #enlightenment

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