#there's a tribe in Africa that does something similar

[ladyrijus]

I'm not sure if the creators realize, but based on its title alone, Tears of the Kingdom has the potential to turn around the entire Legend of Zelda franchise in terms of its storyline.

Let me explain.

I think we can all agree that in most of the games, there is a core narrative of light versus evil that outlines the game. Link and Zelda are the benevolent heroes of the story and Ganondorf / Ganon is the irredeemable villain. Storywriters for the franchise like to use this formula for the franchise because hey, it's worked so many times, and gained lots of reception, so why not?

But just because it has worked doesn't mean it's right or suitable. 

Firstly, given the history of our world, it is problematic that the face of evil for this game series is a dark skinned man from a tribe of women who are based of the caricatures and sexualization of women raised in the MENASA regions (MENASA stands for the Islamic countries in Middle East, North Africa, South Asia) and the face of good is always two white characters who are held in the highest regard. Not to mention, Ganondorf and his foster mothers Koume and Kotake had their character designs in Ocarina of Time based on anti-semetic caricatures. This overall set-up speaks volumes already, but it doesn't stop there. The franchise decided to expand upon the lore of the Gerudo in Ocarina of Time, Wind Waker, and Twilight Princess, explicitly and implicitly establishing that the tribe was, in fact, oppressed, ostracized, and underwent genocide. Some people may argue that this information is up for debate, given that a lot of it comes from Ganondorf who is an unreliable narrator; however, this argument fails to consider that even then, it never proves that Zelda and Link are any more trustworthy. After all, the victors write history. With these complexities added in, it becomes hard to discern who exactly is in the right or wrong. In reality, the matters were never black and white to begin with.

This segues to my next point: the light versus darkness trope is not suitable this time around. It's a very two dimensional, inaccurate representation of the world of Hyrule that conflicts with the goals the creators are trying to achieve in Tears of The Kingdom. If they truly wanted to concentrate on the duality between light and darkness, they've already done it with Breath of the Wild. We had Calamity Ganon, a sub-sentient manifestation of hatred that sought nothing but death and destruction, and it was up to Link and Zelda, who strove for the preservation of life and progress, to seal it. So why continue to expand on that? Why bring back Ganondorf? Personally, I see no point in his return. 

Unless… the "Tears" of the Kingdom refer to the Sheikah. 

"But, wait!" you ask, "All this talk about the Gerudo and for what? What does the Sheikah have to do with this?" 

To explain this we'll have to start at the beginning. No, not Skyward Sword, though it shares striking similarities with Tears of the Kingdom, such as the return of the magatama relics, a character with a likeness to Demise, and the juxtaposition between land and sky. No, we have to go before even then. We have to go to the Era of Hylia.

The Legacy of Hylia

Not much is known about Hylia beyond the fact she was meant to protect the Triforce as supposedly ordained by the Golden Goddesses and the people worshipped her for it. But, notice how we learn this story through Fi, a creation of Hylia, with few additions from Impa, from the Sheikah tribe that Hylia established herself. The Triforce is seen as something to protect in this story they share, though interestingly, the relic itself is designed to be as unbiased and uncaring of the individual that seeks it out. It is, without a doubt, divine (as it quite literally is a means to warp reality), but there is also no tangible morality associated with it.

So why did the Golden Goddesses think it had to be protected? Why is Hylia chosen to do it?

…Why did Demise go for it?

If it wasn't clear enough, Hylia is much more flawed than the creators let on. She feels entitled to the Triforce, though there is no reference but the Golden Goddesses (whom no one has ever witnessed) that says she should. It's selfish, almost childish even, that she gatekeeps it away from any user. It's human. Perhaps her traits are a reflection of the time she had spent with the civilization that worshipped her. Because of this, I consider her to be a demigod rather than god. Not so distant and otherworldly like the Golden Goddesses, but a force of nature that can't be subdued but still respected. Time is ruthless, it flies and it trudges. But I digress. In short, for all that is said about Hylia and her divinity, she was certainly stubborn in her efforts to prevent anyone from wielding the Triforce so that her world could remain the way it is, perfect and idyllic. 

But that's the thing, life was not idyllic like she wanted the Sheikah and the rest of the world to remember; no, it was terrible enough to spur Demise and his "demon" forces to seek out the Triforce as a means to wrest control from her. Again, I want to make it clear that Hylia and Demise go beyond the bounds of good and bad. A lot of lives were lost to Demise, to the point the humans nearly went extinct. There's little to redeem on that end. But we're never told the stories from the other side of the battle, so who's to say they hadn't suffered as much extreme casualties? Either way, there had to be something Hylia had done (or even not done) for Demise to take severe measures. The hatred he feels is all consuming, but there is something to be said about how hate does not bloom spontaneously — it is cultivated and grown. Keeping all of this in mind, I sometimes wonder if Demise's name was in relation to Hylia, as in he was her Demise, and that those demon forces of his were actually the demonized. We'll never know. But what we do know, is that the Triforce was the Golden Goddesses' way of giving hope to the mortals, to be able to use divine power to shape the world as they see fit (at least, according to the first Zelda, which is a fantastic moment of irony if you ask me) and Demise had every intention of seeing his future through.

The Sheikah's Story

Now, let's fast forward a few eons and come back to the tears. Many people have associated the tears from the title to be the magatama relics seen with Zelda, Sidon, Riju, Tulin, and Ganondorf. But the tear's symbolism in the franchise has been around for much, much longer, thanks to the existence of the Sheikah. The tear is a part of the eye symbol for the Sheikah, and according to the The Legend of Zelda Encyclopedia, it represents their willingness to go any lengths so as to support their divine mission of protecting the Royal Family that possesses the blood of the goddess Hylia. Given that information alone, wouldn't it make sense that the title "Tears of the Kingdom" refers to the Sheikah?

"Okay sure, but what role would they play in the game?" That's not the point. It's not the role they play now. It's the role they played in the past. Something of particular interest to me when it comes to the Sheikah is how differently the Sheikah are characterized between the games of Skyward Sword, Ocarina of Time, and Breath of the Wild. In Skyward Sword, they were a tribe who patiently for the day to protect the goddess's reincarnation and went so far as to transport her through time repeatedly. In OOT, they were agents who went so far as to secretly carry out the Royal Family's dirty work. In BOTW, they were inventors and sorcerers who went so far as to recreate divine power to protect the land. 

But guess what never changes? The fact that they write history.

Above everything else, they are the storytellers, and they have seen everything. The good, the bad, and the ugly. But with the role of storytelling, they have the ability to alter it, embellish it. And in the Sheikah's case, they have a tendency to omit the negative, so as to promote support for the goddess and her Royal Family. Think about it: Impa never explains why Demise wanted to take control of the world in Skyward Sword and she's the first to jump to fix issues at the Shadow Temple in Ocarina of Time so no one has to bear witness to what the temple had actually turned into. If she did, Hyrule would surely fall into chaos. To Hyrule, the governing powers like the goddess Hylia and the Royal Family are the pinnacle of morality. That image can't be compromised.

And for a time, it wasn't, until we reach Breath of the Wild. That's when things get interesting.

In the tapestry, as shown above, a majority of it is occupied by the tale of the warrior with the spirit of a hero, a princess with divine power, and a technological army pioneered by Sheikah. That's what the game's creators want you to see. But do you see that little strip at the bottom?

Yeah, that. It's a tiny piece of the story but it's a big one. By now, most game fans know that is the history of how the Yiga Clan came to be. Cado, one of the Sheikah that stands guard in front of Impa's home, elaborates on this imagery, remarking that once upon a time, the Royal Family (more specifically the King of Hyrule) did turn on the tribe that swore nothing but utmost loyalty to them.

Of course, this seems counterintuitive. Why punish the people who protected you? What was their sin? As far as we're told by Cado, Sheikah technology had once been praised as "the power of the Gods". Now, I won't get into too much detail about this, but the Triforce, which you might have noticed isn't really mentioned by word of mouth in Breath of the Wild, is now a power of the Royal Family that is passed down. All parts of it. It's a lot to take in, given my lack of elaboration, but I recommend watching THIS video by Monster Maze who does a fantastic job exploring the nature of the whole Triforce being hosted in an individual body.

But what I want you to take out of this information is how there is, essentially, a rivalry between the Sheikah and the Royal Family, a sudden leveling of the playing field that the latter party does not want. It's eerie how similar they act as their ancestor god. The entitlement is present yet again: you cannot change the world like I can, you cannot be as powerful as I am. I have the final say. This certainly paints a more explicitly, vicious picture of the Royal Family, but it's nothing really new. After all, the Sheikah remember everything cruel that had been done to others by this family, by them, but hid it for the purpose of the "greater good". But once they become the target, everything changes. The Sheikah don't remove it from history. They remember it. Some more passionately than others.

Ties between the Gerudo, the Sheikah, and the Yiga.

Something else on the Sheikah tapestry that seemed out of place for me is the depiction of the hero.

He is clad in green, which one would imagine, is a reference to Link's green motif throughout the games. However, I fully believe that detail is a red herring — that is to say, it's meant to throw us off. And from what I have seen, most fans of the game agree. Why? Because that same individual has red hair and a sword that looks more like a golden claymore than the sword that seals the darkness. And well, given that the Gerudo are the ones who use golden claymores, plus the way the figure is drawn to have a knee bent, there can only be one person this image is referring to:

Ganondorf.

Keep in mind how the Sheikah have erased his name, but did not erase him, and that the Yiga swear their allegiance to Calamity Ganon. To be completely honest, I think the Calamity did not have the name Ganon to it 10,100 years prior to the events of Breath of the Wild. But, to explain why it suddenly does in Breath of the Wild, I do believe Ganondorf had a calling to malice, whether the kind left behind by the Calamity or the kind that was already existing throughout the land. Read THIS post by @golvio to get an idea of what I mean. The only change I would make regarding this theory is that the people did not originally see the malice as inherently evil. A little rot was needed to clear the space for new growth. But with great power comes great responsibility, and I think Ganondorf might have utilized the malice in a manner the King of Hyrule was not pleased with. 

How so, and why? Well there can be different reasons to choose from for the creators, but I have a personal favorite theory that explains why the Sheikah and Yiga remember Ganondorf more acutely than even the Royal Family and why there's ruins in the Gerudo Desert: As a last resort, to protect the Sheikah who helped him defeat the Calamity, and to reclaim the technology they lost, Ganondorf used the malice to take over the guardians and to get rid of the soldiers wiping out the civilians. In response, Zelda from that time was tasked with defeating him with the help of the other "Sages" (those who possess the magatama relics/tears) and one of those sages sealed him away with the Zonai hand. Zelda's betrayal breeds the hatred that Demise foretold would reincarnate, time and time again, leading to Ganondorf internally accepting that a peaceful world is a world without the Kingdom of Hyrule, without the Royal Family, completing the cycle once more.

And so here it comes, the big storyline change that Nintendo stands on the precipice of:

To break the cycle, Ganondorf is not the one that needs to necessarily be redeemed. It's Zelda. That isn't to say that Ganondorf isn't flawed and should not repent; there are a million things he could have done better or have not done, whatever it is that lead him to be sealed. And what I mean by Zelda having to be redeemed is that even though she technically has done nothing personally to Ganondorf, it is her blood that binds her to the ancestors who spurred the very hatred that fueled the Calamity and left behind a legacy built on the maintained misfortune of others. If anything is to change, she must be the first to cast aside her fear so that the cycle cannot repeat again, and instead work on understanding her family's past and building her faith. And no, I don't mean her faith in the goddess (she has lost too much trying to), but faith in the goodness of a man who was unfairly pushed to become the worst version of himself to protect the helpless.

[albinism-awareness]

So, I've already read up a bit on general albinism medical facts and stereotypes and such so I mostly want to ask for a vibe check on some magic/magic adjacent stuff?

I've got this dude that's basically the reason I did the research, he starts out as a witch/witch's apprentice*. This is overall a high-magic-ish world and most of the main characters are involved with some kind of magic (I also want to drive it home that it's a coincidence in-story; I assume it'd be a similar situation to "It's fine if your autistic character has magic, but be careful how you do it"?).

The thing I'm less sure about is that at some point in his early twenties he decides to fight a vampire**, which is a bad idea but one he actually does consult a seer about, who basically proceeds to lie to him because she decided that having someone functionally immortal who knows witchcraft and has been taught to protect the village and people in general since childhood would be great for a vague horrible thing she can kind of glimpse at? So she basically knowingly sends him to get turned into a vampire by a mad scientist vampire.

He doesn't stay one forever (he becomes a demigod eventually which undoes the whole "kind of undead" thing), but I understand that having a vampire with albinism could be kind of questionable even with the context of "these two things are completely unrelated, he's just really unlucky".

Overall he's generally a heroic if tragic character in the sense that a lot of huge responsibilities (Saving the world! Defeating god! Defeating another god!) get dumped on him by virtue of him being both somewhat more powerful than actual mortal mortals now and having the time to theoretically be able to plan things long term, but also to some degree because nobody else will deal with it. Also the whole "unwilling transformation and being forced to work together with the person that indirectly did it to him". I guess in a lot of ways he's almost a classic heroic archetype but with oodles of trauma and the soul crushing horror of being in a fight where your odds of succeeding are absolutely abysmal.

I think I'm good on most of the other pitfalls (he's not evil, has vision issues and uses a variety of accessability aids, mostly big hats, sunglasses and magnifying lenses and has blue eyes as a kid which later change to purple explicitly because of a magical things happening to him-something fairly common for people that get hit by that kind of magical thing), but this one I'm really not confident in.

*Basically, a kind of person that uses magic the way a chemist uses chemistry that doesn't rely on innate talent/magic power, which he has little of. He's pretty average/below average in that respect in this world.

**Vampires are generally integrated into society as a kind of super soldier for defense against all kinds of dangerous critters, though some go rouge and decide to murder people for blood rather than be provided through, I guess blood taxes but literally and not particularly sinister.

(so sorry for the late reply)

Dude! That sounds like an awesome story! :)

The only thing that I would ask you to reconsider is maybe something other than an albino witch? only because other than ghosts and vampires, witches are the number one stereotypical ‘creature’ that people compare people with albinism to because oftentimes in small tribes in Africa, people with albinism are thought of as containing mystical properties, thus are hunted for limbs, teeth, hair, eyes, etc. and are usually eaten/consumed. (Keep in mind this isn’t true for all African places, just really small tribes). But that’s the reason the witch thing can be seen as offensive.

And when it comes to fighting, keep in mind that if your character does have albinism, long range weapons would probably be out of the question because of our visual impairments, so long range weapons (guns, snipers, etc.) are likely out of the question. (I’m not sure if you gave them weapons, just putting down in general)

Hope this helps! :)

[harloqui]

Oh, and a new discovery I made the other day-

Last I posted about shifter breeds/heritages I was trying to figure out what specific type of shifter I was, since that's a mystery to me and I'd like to know. I went with the tiny bit of Scottish heritage in my family since I knew that, and I figured I was like a Faoladh-type shifter. It didn't exactly fit, but it was close, and it was what I knew of at the time.

So I was browsing the internet the other day, looking for information on physical therianthropes (werewolves, shapeshifters and the like) and I found a page on shapeshifters from Africa. I looked into it, and found that my shifter experiences were extremely similar to theirs. So I dug further, looked at one of the books listed to see what else we shared.

The tribe in question is called the Ju/'hoansi, and they live in the Kalahari. Almost everything they're saying is either something I've experienced, or an analogue of. The Ju/'hoansi are very open about their experiences and don't mind others practicing it or learning from them, but the catch is that few people can practice it. Usually becoming a n|om-kxaosi (healer) happens to you, you can't just decide to become one, and those who have tried (such as researchers and anthropologists) got so overwhelmed they never attempted again.

They do shift in ways similar to me, and it does appear to be a physical change - one n|om-kxaosi had to leave his dancing as the pain got too much for him and he grew claws and fur on his arms. However, this is just a small part of the larger belief system. Most nlom-kxaosi just aim to connect with their God and be happy, there's not much more to it from what it appears?

I decided to check out the larger part of my heritage - I'm majority black and my family is not American, but information on the supernatural from where they came from is hard to get, since it's such a small place. (Which is why I'm being so vague with it, haha.) However, from what I've been able to gather it's generally the same belief system, with elements added and removed as needed due to slavery and other cultures affecting it.

This makes a lot more sense. I am eventually going to get more books on these cultures to learn about them. It's not even neccesarily about shifting for me, I just want to practice a spirituality that a.) has been in my culture (that isn't Christianity, since that's not an inherent part of it) and b.) makes sense to me/is something I can actually do on an integral level.

[otwdfanfic]

Hiii it's me again with a very specific question, hope you don't mind lmao

I'm currently reading a book on Norse mythology and stumbled upon a lot of similarities between the Norse pantheon and the Anglo-Saxon's pantheon. With that, I remembered Cato is Anglo-Saxon (correct me if im wrong because im not entirely sure-) and thus came the question;

"wait, which Gods does Cato worship?"

Since he's been around hunters who I assume worship the Norse pantheon for such a long time, just wondering <333

Something tells me my appreciation for otwd goes very deep now that I've actually gotten reminded of it by reading a fucking book lmao

Omg hiiii don't worry I have a very specific answer ❤️ Cato's faith is sort of hinted at in otwd and will be shown more in Gustav's short prequel series. In short: Cato doesn't believe in the Norse gods. He's a devoted follower of Cernunnos, the horned god, and worships the "old gods" in general

In long:

Most characters assume he's a christian saxon, since by this time a lot of Britain is christianized (and our archipelago vikings only think of the British kingdoms as those places they go to raid christian churches for gold and silver. Settlement of Scotland and Northumbria has been left to the scandinavian vikings, for now). In reality he's ethnically celtic, or at least a genetic descent of the gaelic scots, picts, and maybe even saxons and romanized celts. That's just a complicated way of saying he's from the Northern Isles of Scotland/Alba. His name is roman because they left a large cultural impact when they conquered Britain. Plus it sounds cool ;)

The big hint is his ship, the Cernunnos. He's the main god that Cato worships from a pantheon of celtic spirits. (One fun and thematic detail is that while the celts viewed him as a god of hunting, wild things, etc, the Romans that Cato is named for viewed him as a god of death and the underworld). Cato was raised by his father in an isolated way as their family was the last holdouts of the old religion near a christian settlement. You can see how a young man of his faith looking for a quick way out of his homeland would be drawn towards a crew of horned hunters working for a woman who is symbolized by her antler insignia

But the rest of the hunters also have diverse and unique backgrounds! In the movies the northern alliance is made up of northerners (Eret's tribe), mainland Scandinavians (Ragnar's army), eastern europeans (Griselda's army) and east Asians (Chaghatai Khan's army). In my hunting crew there are all those backgrounds and more northern tribes, various archipelago viking tribes, and muslims from the middle east and northern Africa (the real life northmen had close trading relationships with the mediterranean and middle east which led to a lot of culture swap including compatible currency systems!). From the hooligan perspectives in otwd, hunters are evil malicious dragon killers. In Gustav's backstory you'll get to know a crew of hunters who are diverse, funny, smart, and even kind

Sorry I wrote so much but hopefully it helps to understand Cato and the pseudo-historical world outside the archipelago. What's the book that inspired the question? I read a lot of reference books to write otwd so I'd love to check it out!

[eurofox]

FINALLY finished Resident evil 5 and that was quite a slog in all honestly.

Didn’t enjoy it anywhere near as much as 4 or the newer games. I did get to play with a friend for a bit and it was better but I was solo for most of it. I ended up having to turn down the difficulty as playing with AI was frustrating and I just wanted it over and done with.

Gameplay is pretty similar to 4 of course. But very obviously designed almost entirely around co-op play so playing alone it’s just worse. No merchant, just a pretty meh shop screen between missions. As it’s Co-op in mind, you can’t pause to move items and this got very fucking annoying. I didn’t have to do so much fucking around with inventory since playing as Chris in RE1 and it very quickly gets tiresome. Especially with ammo, having to constantly juggle shit around to pick up more. Would have been better if guns just reloaded automatically when you pick it up as it’s maddening when you find ammo for an empty gun you need, but have a full inventory. Not to mention Sheva instantly wasting any healing items on slight damage so you can’t trust her to pick up any.

Game is starting to show it’s age now, whole sections of quicktime events that bring back bad memories of that era of gaming. And that one with Wesker I thought was a cutscene was so cheap. 

Next to no puzzles, aside from the mirror one and a few levers. Pretty much no scares either, not even creepy vibes. The only real tense moment was when I was being chased by that huge one hit kill bug.

There’s a few action setpieces, showing the transition from survival to action horror. The jeep section outstayed it’s welcome but the rest were ok for a change of pace.

Bosses were boring mostly. Irving was probably the best one. Excella’s was irritating so I just let the AI handle it. That fight with the uroboros patient was terrible. And so was weskers final fight, I just happened to see the prompt after knifing him for 10 mins. His second last one was alright though.

I got the lost in nightmare extra included and that was a fun throwback. The fight with wesker wasn’t great though, more of the same with quicktime prompts again.

Sheva was mostly a pain. Wasting items is the most obvious issue but also standing about and not helping was another. I had one death where she stood and didn’t move to help when I was dying. She did have her uses, I found her better when I gave her rifles as she’ll get headshots quite a lot. And she also does bossfights like the tedious one with excella flawlessly. As a character she wasn’t all that interesting and the shitty AI taints her a bit. Maybe they could do more with her in future.

Storywise I found it pretty slow moving but it got better as it went on. IDK if the Jill reveal was meant to be a twist as you could see it coming a mile off. Wesker was the best character here, his voice acting was hilarious, such a smug cunt and it finished off his story nicely. Chris was cool, ina goofy kind of way. The other villians, Irving and Excella, are one note and forgettable. Pretty standard RE stuff. Ganados but in Africa this time (IDK why it made the tribes regress to old customs though, did I miss something?) A lot of it can only be pieced together in the library section, which was a nice feature, lot’s of backstory. 

Like RE4, this is a very brown and grey game. The ruins were the most interesting visually, along with the town but otherwise it’s running through grey and beige corridors with a few tribal villages here and there.

Obviously I didn’t enjoy this one much, seeing as it took me weeks to finish it. The AI and inventory juggling played a big part in that. Aside form that, nothing was really terrible, just kind of bland. Maybe it was still cutting edge at the time but it feels generic now, I was pushed to finish it more for the lore than fun. But I do know it wasn’t really meant to be played alone, and when I did have someone it flowed so much better. I might try it again with someone online in future. Just happy to have it over with really. Now I just have to struggle through 6, which is also not something I’m itching to get back into.

[bordirthena]

{Spoilers-Theory} Old Gods = Elvhen Gods Part 3 1/2

Originally posted 1st April 2024

I must apologise for the delay -- RL got away from me but I'm back for Part 3! Buckle up because we are going to deep dive into the deepest roads of the fade where Epiphany dwells. 

I had planned on delving headlong into the coincidental similarities between the Old Gods and Evanuris and positing my own individual matches, citing connections and contradictions for each however I believe there is still much more contextual evidence to support and weaken the theory before that so...welcome to Part.3

Recap for Part 2:

Solas personally does not consider himself one of the Evanuris.

Mythal was considered one of the Evanuris. One of the best of them.

Honourable mentions: 

Evanuris and The Forgotten Ones

{Elvhen, God-Spirits and the Maker}

Gaider and the BioWare team have outdone themselves with the creation of such a diverse and complex setting as Thedas. Codex entries give us passive insight and world-building without the use of exposition and railroading the storyline – allowing us to consume the information at our own leisure. It's within these Codex entries that we find the most worldbuilding and contextual information rather than the narrative of any given instalment with the Dragon Age franchise. Creatives have used RL events, religions and mythologies as the basis for fictional works for hundreds, if not thousands of years. Dante’s Inferno could be considered one of the earliest known self-insert fanfics in the modern era. George RR Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire has many parallels with numerous mediaeval historical events, including but not limited to the Hundred Years War and the War of the Roses.

[Illustration of ‘The Hero’s Journey’ from Wikipedia; here]

The monomyth itself describes the common heroic narrative and cannot at all be directly connected to the multiple religions that it is present in, surely? In essence - no. The ‘Hero’s Journey’ formula is perhaps older than organised religion and as old as the human race itself, and its presence is so widespread is perhaps a product of the great global journey as modern humans migrated out of Africa. 

The monomyth is an example of something pre-existing being adopted and adapted by multiple cultures. In the ancient world, this also included adopting and adapting deities, especially if their roles were similar. Perhaps evolving from the same root, as observed by the Roman and Greek pantheon?

If we look at RL mythologies and how they evolved we can perhaps gather some insight into how Thedosian cultures and mythologies evolved outside of canon information garnered from in-game codex or literature. 

Polytheism has two subcategories; hard polytheism and soft polytheism. “Hard” polytheism is the belief that all deities are distinct and separate rather than considered to be archetypes or personifications. “Soft” polytheism, also known as omnitheism, posits that different gods may either be archetypes, personifications of nature, or essentially the same god but interpreted differently by different cultures. 

If the Old God = Elvhen God theory is proven to be true, this would be a case of omnitheism. 

Apart from the Old God = Elvhen God theory, soft polytheism is prevalent in Thedas and Dragon Age. This is seen in human tribes that either predate and/or fall outside of the Andrastianism and the Chantry, especially the Avvar and Chasind as their practices have endured into the Dragon Age.

The Avvar and Chasind are sister cultures, both descending from the ancient Almarri before splintering off into the Frostbacks and the Korcari Wilds, respectively. As sister-cultures they have diverged and evolved unique practices, however they both come from the same root and retain similarities, most notably the shamanistic traditions and shared spirit-gods such as Korth the Mountain-Father, The Lady of the Skies and Hakkon Wintersbreath. 

Although it has been previously alluded to in codex entries, the Jaws of Hakkon DLC for Inquisition gave us a first-hand experience of enduring ancient human customs as practised by the Avvar and how spirits and magic play an integral part in their traditions. 

The three principal gods of the Avvar; Korth the Mountain-Father, Lady of the Skies and Hakkon Wintersbreath would be considered personifications of nature. Korth = Earth. Lady of the Skies = Sky. Hakkon = Winter/War. 

Amund, the Sky Watcher we encounter in the Fallow Mire in the Inquisition base game has this to say about your encounter after defeating the Avvar and rescuing the agents: 

Sky Watcher: Is this why the Lady of the Skies led me here? To help heal the wounds in her skin?

This dialogue compounds the personification aspect of soft polytheism of the Lady of the Skies, and by extension the entirety of the Avvar pantheon and how the Avvar perceive lesser spirits. It can only be assumed that the Avvar believe that all spirits - at least benevolent spirits that aid the Hold - are gods as per The Augur’s dialogue in the JoH DLC:

General: What was that? Those spirits? Inquisitor: Did you just… introduce me to spirits? Augur: The gods of the hold clamoured to see you. I obeyed, for I am their voice and their augur. And if I didn’t show you off, they’d hound me for months.

General: You said I “blaze like fire”? Inquisitor: What did you mean when you said I blaze like a fire? Augur: How do you think you appear to the gods of the Fade? To those beyond the Veil, your hand burns like the watchman’s bonfire.

Confused: Spirits see me? All the time? Inquisitor: Are you saying every spirit in the Fade knows where I am? Augur: Only those nearby, but thoughts spread quickly among the gods.

The very nature of spirits is hard to define due to how little we know, either due to erasure or conflicting information, and how integral they seem to be to the Fade and the various cultures in Thedas. 

Spirits are denizens of the Fade and are formed by reflecting the material world through the narrow lens of its nature. A spirit’s nature can be nearly anything; compassion, wisdom, justice, valour, faith, choice etc. Most negative emotions; despair, envy, desire, rage, terror etc. are nowadays considered demons. Demons are typically created when a spirit's nature cannot be fulfilled and is therefore corrupted, although Solas explains it best in dialogue. The dialogue will be a mix of freely triggered conversations between the PC (Female Lavellan)/Solas and Solas’ personal quest dialogue branches, so I will try to keep them in chronological order of availability. 

Herald: I’d like to know more about the Breach. Solas: Simply put, it is a tear in the Veil between this world and the Fade, allowing spirits to enter the world physically. Small tears occur naturally when magic weakens the Veil or when spirits cluster at an area that has seen many deaths. Herald: I’d like to know more about the Veil. Solas: Circle mages call it a barrier between this world and the Fade. But according to my studies in ancient elven lore, that is a vast oversimplification. Without it… Imagine if spirits entered freely, if the Fade was not a place one went but a state of nature like the wind. Option 1: That sounds marvellous. Herald: It sounds like it would be wonderful. Solas: And dangerous, but… yes. A world where imagination defines reality, where spirits are as common as trees or grass. Instead, spirits are strange and fearful, and the Fade is a terrifying world touched only by mages and dreamers. I am glad that I am not alone in seeing the beauty of such a world, along with the obvious peril. Option 2: That sounds strange. Herald: I don’t know if I can imagine that. Solas: Try. Imagine if spirits were not a rarity but a part of our natural world like… a fast-flowing river. Yes, it can drown careless children, but it can also carry a merchant’s goods or grind a miller’s flour. That is what the world could be, if the Veil were not present. For better or worse. Option 3: That sounds dangerous. Herald: We’ve got enough trouble with demons already. Solas: But would they still be demons? Or would they be part of our natural environment like… a fast-flowing river? Yes, it can drown careless children, but it can also carry a merchant’s goods or grind a miller’s flour. That is what the world could be if the Veil were not present. For better or worse.

This conversation tree is available from Haven and focuses more on the Breach and Veil, however, we do find out later in Trespasser that the Veil is an artificial construct of Fen’Harel’s design and we must take into account its influence on spirits and demons, even the very Fade itself. What we later come to know is that Solas is describing not what the world could be but rather what the world should be without the Veil’s influence upon Thedas and the Fade. 

Herald: I’d like to know more about demons. Solas: Your Dalish say that demons hate the natural world and seek to bring their chaos and destruction to the living. Solas: But such simplistic labels misconstrue their motivations and, in so doing, do all a great disservice. Spirits wish to join the living, and a demon is that wish gone wrong. Option 1: Can we change that? Herald: Is there a way to coexist? To live with them, if not in peace, at least without such active confrontation? Solas: Not in the world we know today. The Veil creates a barrier that makes true understanding most unlikely. But the question is a good one, and it matters that you thought to ask. Option 2: I don’t believe that. Herald: I doubt those things pouring out of the Breach wanted to join the living. Eat, maybe. Solas: Of course demons are destructive. This world is illicit and unnatural for them. They fight to gain entrance, and when the rules of this world do not mirror theirs, they lash out. Tragic, but not evil. Option 3: I don’t care. Herald: It doesn’t matter why they attack us. Solas: Of course it does. The dog that bites you because it is rabid is not the dog that bites you because it is starving. You may kill either, but one is just a few scraps of meat away from being your faithful servant.

Again, this conversation is available from as early as Haven. “Spirits wish to join the living, and a demon is that wish gone wrong.” is a line that sticks with me, as it's often the dialogue branch I choose, and it explains the difference between spirits and demons without the use of metaphor or allegory. The other options use metaphors but do illustrate the need for fluid thinking and adapting to the circumstances of any given situation when dealing with a spirit. 

[Memory transforms into a Pride Demon from Dragon Age: Absolution]

With that being said it can be assumed that spirits are the default state, and demons are the ‘altered’ state, the antithesis. But that oversimplification doesn’t explain the existence of wisps and the other states of being that a spirit can enter, as Solas explains in dialogue in his personal quest All New, Faded for Her. 

Solas: You were a true friend. You did everything you could to help. I could hardly abandon you now. Inquisitor: I’m here for you. (Flirt) (Female Elf PC) [Investigate.] 1. Where were you? 2. What is death like to spirits? So it isn’t really dead? (Special) (Triggered by previous) Investigate, Option 1: Where were you? Inquisitor: Where did you go? Solas: I found a quiet spot and went to sleep. I visited the place in the Fade where my friend used to be. It’s empty, but there are stirrings of energy in the Void. Someday something new may grow there. Investigate, Option 2: What is death like to spirits? Inquisitor: What happens when a spirit dies? Solas: It isn’t the same as for mortals. The energy of spirits returns to the Fade. If the idea giving the spirit form is strong, or if the memory has shaped other spirits, it may someday rise again. Investigate, Option 2, follow-up: So it isn’t really dead? Inquisitor: You’re saying your friend might come back? Solas: No, not really. A spirit’s natural state is peaceful semi-existence. It is rare to be able to reflect reality. Something similar may reform one day, but it might have a different personality. It would likely not remember me. It would not be the friend I knew.

The knowledge we can garner from Solas is unique, as he’s an ancient elvhen, and therefore it predates the chantry and lacks censure. Wisdom’s demise is tragic, and although something in its place will reform it will not necessarily be the same. That begs the question; is a clone the same person? Genetically they are identical but they lack the same personality characteristics and experiences that have shaped and defined them then are they fundamentally two different entities? 

Solas believes it to be so; the same locale in the Fade, the same knowledge and memories could shape the energies but if the fledgling spirit lacks the memories of their friendship, those experiences they shared, then this newly sentient spirit would be a stranger. Even if this new spirit retained their memories, would the trauma of their predecessor’s demise fundamentally alter their personality? 

Solas’s responses between Option 1 and Option 2 leave it open for either to occur; that a new spirit of wisdom will form or his friend will reform; ‘it may someday rise again’. 

It is open for interpretation, however, there is evidence that individual spirits can linger and retain their sense of self after their demise. 

"A great deal is made of the most powerful demons, those that create abominations and those that have changed the history of Thedas. It is often forgotten that not all demons are such awe-inspiring beings. Some that break through the cracks in the Veil into our world are known as wisps, a sliver of a thought that once was. A wisp is a demon that has lost its power; either it has existed in our world for too long without finding a true host or it has been destroyed—often, so we've found, by other demons. What remains of its mind clings tightly to the one concept that created it—a hatred of all things living. While its ability to target a living creature is limited, these wisps often mindlessly attack when encountered in the Fade. In the living world, they often have been known to maliciously lure the living into dangerous areas, being mistaken for lanterns or other civilized light sources. This does, however, seem to be the very limit of their cunning." —From the journal of former Senior Enchanter Maleus, once of the Circle of Rivain, declared apostate in 9:20 Dragon Age

The codex entry for wisps in DAO, is unlocked after defeating a wisp wraith. Due to the codex author we must take it with a grain of salt, even though the Rivaini are more liberal they are still influenced by the Chantry, so do we choose to believe that wisps are only the remains of ‘malevolent’ demons or is it a state of being that all spirits can enter? 

Are wisps solely the remains of ‘that once was’? The short answer is; that we don’t really know. The Wraith codex entry in DAI has this to say: 

Like wisps, wraiths are sometimes thought to be the remains of spirits or demons that have been destroyed. They cannot shape the Fade around themselves, nor are they capable of mimicking forms they see in the minds of dreamers as many weaker spirits do. Instead, they are the scavengers of the Fade, dwelling in the shadows of stronger beings, feeding on scraps of thought and emotion. —From Beyond the Veil: Spirits and Demons by Enchanter Mirdromel

Now we know from World of Thedas Vol. 2 that the book quoted in the wraith codex is canon to Thedas and is ‘Chantry approved’. If we compare the information between the wisp and wraith codex, we can see that they both agree that wraiths and wisps are thought to be ‘the remains’ of spirits or demons and lack any true power to exert their will upon the Fade. 

Gathering his magic, he reached his mind across the Veil and summoned a spirit through. It was tiny, a wisp of a creature with barely any consciousness to call its own. The shimmering orb hovered over the palm of his hand, its magical hum tickling the hairs on the back of his neck. “I need you to be quiet,” he whispered. “You can do that, can’t you?” The wisp bobbed excitedly and dimmed. He barely even saw it now. Tossing it up into the air, he sensed its excitement as it floated out into the commons. Even such a small spirit took great joy in coming into the real world. They found the oddest things of endless fascination; a wooden chair, a piece of steak, a feather. Left to its own devices, a wisp would bob around random objects for hours, making strange trilling noises as it explored its environment. The templars frowned on the use of even such benign spirits, although it was not strictly forbidden. The best healers, after all, summoned spirits of compassion to assist them. Such spirits did not linger and immediately returned to whence they came, but the Chantry looked upon any who had the talent to contact them with suspicion - such as himself. Still, it had its uses.  [Excerpt from Dragon Age: Asunder. David Gaider. Pg. 58.]

In Asunder we see Rhys summon a spirit, it is described as ‘a wisp of a creature’, so is it a wisp or a spirit or are they interchangeable? Is a wisp just a spirit or demon that lacks a complex consciousness? What we do know, thanks to more recent Dragon Age media such as the novels that I am referencing, is that wisps can be summoned and they can be bound, and therefore follow the same laws as spirits and demons. In the short story The Dread Wolf Take You, from the Tevinter Nights collection, a Mortalitasi has bound what has been described and referred to in dialogue as a wisp. 

“Interesting to see both Dalish and city elves working with this… thing.” The Mortalitasi grimaced, and then her eyes snapped down to her stirring stick, still moving of its own accord in her wineglass. “I see specks at the bottom, wisp.” Her voice held a warning, and the stirring stick jerked and moved faster. [Excerpt from Dragon Age: Tevinter Nights. The Dread Wolf Take You, Patrick Weekes. Pg. 491]

This wisp has been bound to a stirring stick to animate the object, a simple task, something that Rhys in Asunder mentions that is within a wisp’s capabilities. 

At once, we were awake, back in the cavern, and its walls shook and cracked, and then a rift of green light rent the ceiling open above us and the demons that had accompanied the Dread Wolf burst into the world in righteous fury, shining warriors with blades forged from the raw Fade itself, and behind them, dimly visible through the crackling light, the shadow of the beast itself, from whose slavering jaws came the final words, roared not in anger, but with quiet contempt. “FROM THIS MOMENT, SHOULD YOU EVER BIND A SPIRIT, THEN YOUR LIFE IS MINE.” The hypocrisy almost made me laugh. The Dread Wolf forbade use from binding spirits, but why would these lesser demons attack us if not because the Dread Wolf bound them? They might have looked like spirits of Valor or Justice to the untrained eye, but I assure you, no kindly spirit would tear into us as these creatures did. [Excerpt from Dragon Age: Tevinter Nights. The Dread Wolf Take You, Patrick Weekes. Pg. 496-497]

Later in The Dread Wolf Take You, in The Mortalistiasi’s Tale we have ‘The Dread Wolf’ declare that if the Mortalitasi were to bind any spirits from that point on then their life is forfeit. This threat comes to pass later in the story and Solas releases the wisp/spirit from the stirring stick. 

So we have gathered that although wisps and wraiths are ‘sometimes thought to be the remains of spirits or demons that have been destroyed’, they could potentially be the stirrings of a consciousness of a newly formed spirit? The latter has no basis other than the supposed ‘life cycle’ of a spirit in Solas’ dialogue in All New, Faded for Her, but it could be the reforming of a pre-existing consciousness. It would seem that spirits are immortal, akin to the mythological phoenix. 

The franchise does have an instance similar to that of a reformed spirit regaining its consciousness. Mythal. 

We discover in the main quest, The Final Piece, that Flemeth is Mythal or more accurately that Flemeth is Mythal’s mortal host. I will be referencing dialogue trees for a world state that has an Old God Kieran and the Elven Inquisitor drinks from the Well, with the help of The Genitivi Chronicles. 

Inquisitor: You can’t be Mythal! That’s not possible! Flemeth: (Laughs.) Explain to me, dear (girl/boy), why I cannot be what I am. 1. I know what Mythal was. (Special) (If Elven PC) 2. You’re not even elven. 3. You’ re no god. 4. Mythal is long dead. Option 1 Inquisitor: Mythal was the goddess of justice. I’ve seen the statues. She…Flemeth: Was one of the People. Yes, indeed. Option 2 Inquisitor: Mythal was an elven god. You, you’re… Flemeth: Human? Flemeth laughs. Flemeth: Not a word many have used for me in a very long time. Option 3 Inquisitor: I’m supposed to believe that you’re some kind of god? Flemeth: Clearly not the sort you had in mind, hmm? Option 4 Inquisitor: Whatever Mythal was, she died long ago. Flemeth: So she did.

Option 1 and Option 2, have the characters confirm what we can deduce by observation. Mythal was elvhen. Flemeth is (or was) human. Option 4, on the other hand, confirms what Abelas had claimed in the Temple of Mythal that Mythal had been murdered, unlike the Dalish legend that she was banished to the Beyond with the Evanuris. 

That confirmation that Mythal had died is crucial, and I will explain as to why later. The conversation that takes place within the Fade (as per the Old God Kieran world state) between Mythal, Morrigan and the Inquisitor is illuminating.

Flemeth nudges Kieran, and Kieran rushes over to hug Morrigan. Kieran: I’m sorry, Mother. I heard her calling to me. She said now was the time. Morrigan: I do not understand. Kieran returns to Flemeth’s side. Flemeth: Once I was but a woman, crying out in the lonely darkness for justice. And she came to me, a wisp of an ancient being, and she granted me all I wanted and more. I have carried Mythal through the ages ever since, seeking the justice denied to her. 1. She’s inside you? 2. This is too much. 3. Maybe that was a demon. Option 1 Inquisitor: Then… you carry Mythal inside you? Flemeth: She is a part of me, no more separate than your heart from your chest. Option 2 Inquisitor: You can’t expect us to believe that. Option 3 Inquisitor: That could have been a demon, lying to you.

…crying out in the lonely darkness for justice. And she came to me, a wisp of an ancient being… I have carried Mythal through the ages ever since, seeking the justice denied to her. Now this dialogue is either a great big fat red herring or it seems like Mythal is acting eerily similar to a destroyed spirit that has clung on and reformed into a wisp, hmm? 

Flemeth: What do the voices tell you?  The Inquisitor closes their eyes, listening to the whispers. Inquisitor: They say you speak the truth. Flemeth: But what was Mythal? A legend given name and called a god, or something more? Truth is not the end, but a beginning. Flemeth: So young and vibrant. You do the People proud and have come far. Flemeth: As for me, I have had many names. But you… may call me Flemeth. 1. Will you help us? 2. Am I your servant now? 3. What do you want? 4. Why stay secret? (Investigate) (Non-Elven PC) 5. You’re Morrigan’s mother? (Investigate) (Elven PC) - I need to understand. (Investigate/Special) (Triggered by either previous question) 6. The elves needed you. (Special) (Elf PC) 7. I know who Flemeth is. (History) Option 1 Inquisitor: I presume you know what we’re up against. Flemeth: Better than you could possibly imagine. Inquisitor: So will you help us? Flemeth: Once I have what I came for. Flemeth looks at Kieran. Option 2 Inquisitor: So must I serve you now because I drank from the Well? Flemeth: (Chuckles.) Is that how you see yourself? A servant? I have no commands for you. Not yet. Morrigan: Then what is it you want? Flemeth: One thing, and one thing only. Flemeth looks at Kieran. Kieran looks to Morrigan. Kieran: I have to go now, Mother. Option 3  Inquisitor: So you lured us here. What do you want? Flemeth: One thing, and one thing only. Flemeth looks at Kieran. Kieran looks to Morrigan. Kieran: I have to go now, Mother. Option 4 (Non-Elven) Inquisitor: If Mythal is within you, why not reveal yourself? Flemeth: And to whom should I reveal myself? Inquisitor: To the elves? To everyone? Flemeth: (Laughs.) I knew the hearts of men even before Mythal came to me. It is why she came to me. They do not want the truth, and I… I am but a shadow, lingering in the sun. Option 5 (Elven) Inquisitor: Then you’re Mythal and Morrigan’s mother? Morrigan: As well as a witch who prolongs her unnatural life by possessing the bodies of her daughters. Flemeth: That’s what you believe, is it? Morrigan: I found your grimoire, and I am no fool, old woman. Flemeth: (Chuckles.) If only that were so. My daughter ran from me long ago. I’ve let her be… until now, it seems. Option 5 (Triggered) Inquisitor: If Mythal is within you, why not reveal yourself? Flemeth: And to whom should I reveal myself? Inquisitor: To the elves? To everyone? Flemeth: (Laughs.) I knew the hearts of men even before Mythal came to me. It is why she came to me. They do no want the truth, and I… I am but a shadow, lingering in the sun. Option 6 Inquisitor: If Mythal is a part of you, why haven’t you helped us? We’ve called to you, prayed to you… Flemeth: What was could not be changed. Inquisitor: What about now? You know so much… Flemeth: You know not what you ask, child. Option 7 (If Elven) (History) Inquisitor: I know the name “Flemeth.” My people call you Asha’bellanar, the woman of many years, and speak of your legend. Inquisitor: It says, long ago, you left your husband for a lover. Your husband then tricked you, killed your lover, and imprisoned you. Then a spirit came to offer you vengeance. Mythal–that’s what you spoke of. Flemeth: One day, someone will summarize the terrible events of your life so quickly. But, yes, I was that woman. That is how my tale began. Inquisitor: Flemeth appears in other legends, helping heroes for reasons of her own. Flemeth: I nudge history, when it’s required. Other times, a shove is needed. (Chuckles.)

The initial dialogue tree after discovering that Flemeth is Mythal is a minefield of information that needs to be pieced together, it is such a shame that this tree cannot be exhausted and you must choose a branch. Option 1 has me curious, as this is during the Breach Crisis, the danger that Corypheus poses with his plan to assault the Black City with the aid of the Orb of Destruction, it seems that Flemeth is familiar with what? Corypheus? The Blight? The Orb? The Veil? 

Option 2 and Option 3 offer little, except to reaffirm Flemeth’s interest in an OGB Kieran and that she now has control over the person who has drank from the Well of Sorrows. 

Options 4 and Options 5 are dependent on the race of the Inquisitor. Option 4 leaves us with more questions after Flemeth answers the PC cryptically. What is not mentioned in this branch is Flemeth is known to the Dalish as Asha’bellinar, the Woman of Many Years, if you trigger the Investigate - History option, aka. Option 7 then your PC regurgitates the legend of Flemeth and in my personal opinion, organically triggers Morrigan’s mention of how she, wrongly, believes Flemeth extends her life. ‘Then a spirit came to offer you vengeance’, this reaffirms the theory that whatever Mythal is now could be considered a spirit or a demon, depending on how we classify vengeance. 

But that begs the question: are the Elvhen spirits made flesh? 

Part 3 has been split up into multiple parts as it grew into a monster. Stay tuned for Part 2/2! 

[biblenewsprophecy]

Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood

What are the goals of Hamas? What are its ties to the Muslim Brotherhood? Do they have the same end goal? Nadia Matar reported that the Palestinian Authority once waved flags that said, when translated into English, “On Saturdays, we will murder the Jews,” she said. “On Sundays, we will murder the Christians.” Do many Muslims intend to dominate much of the world? Does the Muslim Brotherhood want dominance from Spain to Indonesia? Do they and others in Islam look forward to a time when a caliphate will be ruled by one called the Imam Mahdi? Does this leader have any characteristics that are similar to the prophesied King of the South of Daniel 11? Is this leader supposed to arrive after a period of chaos according to Islamic hadiths? Does that sound similar to coming after the beginning of sorrows that Jesus spoke of in the 24th chapter of Matthew as well as after the start of the rides of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse of Revelation 6:1-8? Is the rise of a leader who will lead a pan-national Islamic confederation something that Christians should watch for? Dr. Thiel and Steve Dupuie address those topics in this video.

A written article of related interest is available titled 'PA: “On Saturday, we murder the Jews; On Sunday, we murder the Christians”'

Related Items:

‘PA: “On Saturday, we murder the Jews; On Sunday, we murder the Christians”’

Is the Future King of the South Rising Up? Some no longer believe there needs to be a future King of the South. Might Egypt, Islam, Iran, Arabs, or Ethiopia be involved? Might this King be called the Mahdi or Caliph? What does the Bible say? Two videos of related interest are: The Future King of the South is Rising and The Rise and Fall of the King of the South. Here is a version the Spanish language: ¿Esta Surgiendo el Rey Del Sur?

The Muslim Brotherhood and the Rise of the King of the South The Bible tells of the formation of a power of nations that are in the Middle East and North Africa that are part of the final “King of the South” (Daniel 11:40-43) The Muslim Brotherhood wishes to have an Islamic empire with basically the same nations. This YouTube video explains what to expect from such a confederation.

Why Terrorism? Is Terrorism Prophesied? What does the Bible teach? Which nations may be affected? Here is a link to a related sermon: Terrorism, Christianity, and Islam. Here is a shorter video: Afghanis: Potential terrorists?

The Arab and Islamic World In the Bible, History, and Prophecy The Bible discusses the origins of the Arab world and discusses the Middle East in prophecy. What is ahead for the Middle East and those who follow Islam? What about the Imam Mahdi? What lies ahead for Turkey, Iran, and the other non-Arabic Muslims? An item of possibly related interest in the Spanish language would be: Líderes iraníes condenan la hipocresía de Occidente y declaran que ahora es tiempo para prepararse para el Armagedón, la guerra, y el Imán Mahdi.

The Prophesied ‘Islamic’ Confederation Where is an Islamic caliphate prophesied? Will one happen? Should you be concerned about it? A related video is Will an Arabic Calphiphate Destroy the West? Libya, Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia in Prophecy What is ahead for North Africa? What does the Bible teach?

Gaza and the Palestinians in Bible Prophecy What does the Bible teach about Gaza and the fate of the Palestinians? Here is a link to two related videos: Gaza and Bible Prophecy and Gaza and Palestine in Prophecy.

Lost Tribes and Prophecies: What will happen to Australia, the British Isles, Canada, Europe, New Zealand and the United States of America? Where did those people come from? Can you totally rely on DNA? Do you really know what will happen to Europe and the English-speaking peoples? What about the peoples of Africa, Asia, South America, and the islands? This free online book provides scriptural, scientific, historical references, and commentary to address those matters. Here are links to related sermons: Lost tribes, the Bible, and DNA; Lost tribes, prophecies, and identifications; 11 Tribes, 144,000, and Multitudes; Israel, Jeremiah, Tea Tephi, and British Royalty; Gentile European Beast; Royal Succession, Samaria, and Prophecies; Asia, Islands, Latin America, Africa, and Armageddon;  When Will the End of the Age Come?;  Rise of the Prophesied King of the North; Christian Persecution from the Beast; WWIII and the Coming New World Order; and Woes, WWIV, and the Good News of the Kingdom of God.

LATEST BIBLE PROPHECY INTERVIEWS

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[jojo3978-blog]

In this world anything is possible, the only thing that will stop you its money I think as a woman, you should love yourself and every part in your body, do not let nobody belittle you and stop competing with others because i know a lot of woman do things to make other people happy. be confident about yourself. In the article Laura said " people be motivated not only by desire but by concern or self-doubt" that's so true, they worry about what people have to say, that's why so many women are ashamed of themselves. Labiaplasty is a plastic surgery where they reduce the lips of your vagina, they injected fat from the other part of the body to make your vagina firm and tighter. I'll say for the appearance, I think a lot of women want their vagina look young, and get compliments when they are getting intimate. Labiaplasty and female genital mutilation are both similar. they both have something to do with vagina, make it more attractive. However, the difference is that female genitale mutilation is when they remove your clitoris so you won't feel  any type of sensation, no pleasure at all. They mostly preform this type of surgery in Africa, some tribes' think that is part of their culture, but American women love getting their vulva tighter and firm and that does not go only for  American women. example: Grace Hamilton AKA Spice is a Jamaican singer. She got a plastic surgery to make her vagina look bigger and more firm. I was watching a movie " commerce de charme" by Elodie Pierre, Sandy was a stripper/prostitute, that's how she lives her life. One day, she met a guy at her friend party who like her. Every time they guy ask about her job she lies, but he always believe in her. Sandy never want it to get intimate with the guy, she always said she will wait after marriage. One day, just before the marriage she went to get a surgery to tighten her vagina. She did it because she was ashamed to tell the guy about her past and she did not want him to leave her, but some women are low self-esteem, they do not care about their own opinion. They do not try to learn their body but they worry so much about what people have to say.  what I conclude from Davis reading is that women act like playboy. They treat their bodies like object because everyday they want to change something or get a different shape. they are not happy in their own skin and that's so sad.

[dealwithityourway]

Humans are space orcs.

Fake nails. Piercings. Implants. Nose surgery. Breast surgery. Tummy tucks. Elf ears.

Alien species examining the metal in the humans ears.

"Yes Zee?"

"Well human-james I couldn't help but notice you have metal in your skin in different parts of your ears. Is that something you are born with or to mark your level in your democracy?" Zee remembering seeing some tribes in Africa using similar pieces of jewelry to dictate leadership roles.

"I am not born with them, nor do they dictate my standings in our democracy Zee."

Zee gives James a puzzled look

"You better sit down for this one bud. So some humans choose to put metal in their ears as they grow up and go through life. Some parents even choose at an age as little as three months to pierce their children's ears. Other like myself chose to do so later in life"

Zee has a look of shock on their face. "But human-James! Why would you chose to do this to yourself?

"The honest answer? For fun" James shrugs

"I liked the look of them and decided I wanted them. Some people go even further in the process and pierce other parts of their body's. Eyebrows, lips, cheeks, tongues. The lost goes on and on. Some are even brave enough to get their reproductive organs pierced."

Zee looks disgusted as James explains piercings.

" I know it's a little strange and possibly a little gross to you, but for us it's a way to decorate our bodies. It's a way for us to enjoy the way we look more. In a way it's like how your species can change the colours of your stripes"

" We change the colours of our stripes as a form of communication not because we want to"

"This is a form of communication for us. Usually if I see someone else with piercings I know that I can talk to that person about it. Plus there are worse things we could do to our bodies than simply shoving odd bits of metal into it."

Zee looks at James with horror and intrigue.

"Alright Zee I'll show you some pictures and maybe explain to you some of the things humans do. So this here is a picture of what's called a silicone implant. Most commonly found in the shape of horns on humans heads or as other shapes on the tops of their hands. These here are called fake nails. So we take a plastic like substance and glue it to our nails"

Zee gets excited for a moment " OH! You mean like human-sarah does!"

"Yes Zee, just like Sarah does." James chuckles.

"Then we get into more complicated procedures, such as tongue splitting, making our ears pointy and multiple types of plastic surgery. "

Zee looks like he is about to deposit his breakfast back onto the table.

"I see. Well while this has been truly informative, I must now go pass this information on to others" Zee scurries from the table, his stripes changing colours as he goes.

[lupinepublishers]

lupine publishers|The Shamanistic Theory of Schizophrenia: The Evidence for Schizophrenia as a Vestigial Phenotypic Behavior Originating in Paleolithic Shamanism

The Shamanistic Theory of Schizophrenia: The Evidence for Schizophrenia as a Vestigial Phenotypic Behavior Originating in Paleolithic Shamanism

Abstract Ever since the first detailed descriptions of shamans by pioneering anthropologists of the 19th century, researchers have pondered the similarities between shamanism and schizophrenia. Where some theorists have seen compelling parallels, others have dismissed such similarities as coincidence. This review draws upon the latest knowledge in medical genetics, evolutionary science, religious studies, psychology, anthropology and medical history, in order to catalogue all of the possible links between the institution of shamanism and the medical condition of schizophrenia. Major discrepancies between the two phenomena are also examined. It is concluded that schizophrenia could have possibly originated in Upper Paleolithic shamanism - a constitutional behavioral trait that may have once been adaptive for modern hominids. Keywords: Schizophrenia; Shaman; Evolution; Religion; Psychosis; Divination

Introduction In its simplest form, the shamanistic theory of schizophrenia proposes that the core features of schizophrenia are akin to the primary qualities of shamanism; and that psychosis provided certain evolutionary advantages to prehistoric hominid tribes. The idea that shamanism could be comparable to medical forms of insanity can be traced back to early academic expeditions assigned to explore the Siberian wilderness during the late 18th century [1]. There has since been an ongoing and unresolved debate between anthropologists, psychiatrists and other scientific experts as to the merits of the association. This review does not venerate shamanism or spirituality but simply reviews the possible phylogenetic history of psychosis, beginning with upper paleolithic shamanism, and ending with the emerging concept of schizophrenia during humankind’s transformation to post-Rennaisaince secular societies. Moreover, this research agenda does not offer any obvious insights about the medical treatment of psychosis, which is usually needed due to the pronounced suffering so often associated with the condition [2-4]. Defining Shamanism The term shaman is derived from a word meaning “to know in an ecstatic manner” in the language of the Evenki, an indigenous people of southern Siberia [5]. What these Siberian shamans knew was the landscape of the ethereal spirit world. Their functions were akin to spiritual practitioners from other traditional societies throughout the globe and referenced under such terms as medicine man, diviner, sorcerer, magician, juggler, witch doctor, exorcist or medium. Perhaps the most descriptively accurate term for a traditional spiritual leader is magico-religious practitioner, however, this expression is not as popular as shaman. The most unique attribute related to shamans is the perceived ability to possess spiritual powers allowing one to communicate with a world beyond the observable realm, often through trance-like states [6]. As a consequence of this special insight, shamans were expected to heal the sick or preside over rites of passage such as birth, coming of age, marriage and death. They typically led tribal rituals involving a community’s procurement of food, such as rain dances or divining the movement of prey, as well as conducting ceremonies in anticipation of war. One interesting point about shamanism is that, just like mental illness, it was often perceived as something that overcame an individual. In South Africa, for example, the Thonga people divided medicine men into two groups, “ordinary” and a special group who suffered possession by the spirit bubabyi bya psikwembu, which literally means “the madness of the gods”

[7]. The idea that a young person, male or female, hearing voices or acting erratically must answer the call to become a shaman has been repeatedly described by pioneering anthropologists visiting traditional societies throughout the world. Psychotic-Like Symptoms Have Been Repeatedly Described in Shamans A recurrent pattern observed throughout the anthropological literature is that young adults were inevitably directed towards the social role of shaman (i.e., magico-religious practitioner) whenever they experienced auditory hallucinations, feelings of possession or irrational suspiciousness. Some of the earliest accounts of psychotic- like behaviors in shamans were detailed in the early 20th century by the anthropologist Vladimer Bogaraz who studied the traditional cultures of northern Russian peoples, such as the Chukchee, Yakuts and Evenki [8]. One of the first psychiatrists with anthropological skills was George Devereux who studied the Mohave people around the 1930s [9]. He was convinced that most shamans were “mentally deranged”, and many were outright psychotic. Another psychiatrist, B.J. F. Laubscher, who practiced in rural South Africa during the early 20th century, was convinced that most of the South African tribal witch doctors were “psychotic persons in remissive phases” [10]. There are dozens more examples of psychotic-like behaviors ascribed to shamans in the anthropological literature [11], which are beyond the scope of such a review. In a 1967 paper entitled “Shamans and Acute Schizophrenia” [12], the psychiatrist Julian Silverman highlighted several parallels between shamanism and schizophrenia. He conjectured that the main difference between the two phenomena was that in “primitive” cultures, psychosis is respected as a form of “expanded consciousness” while Western cultures denigrate such experiences, and consequently intensify the natural anxieties associated with psychotic experiences. In 2002, my colleague Jeff Reiss and I examined whether such ideas could withstand the scrutiny of basic evolutionary theory, as well as the newest medical discoveries around schizophrenia [13]. Two years earlier, the pioneering evolutionary psychiatrists John Price and Anthony Stevens wrote an extensive treatise drawing parallels between prophets and schizotypal personalities [14]. Price and Stevens, however, later refined their formulation, acknowledging that historical prophets were likely a form of magico-religious practitioner [15]. A new crop of neuroscience researchers, perhaps more familiar with dimensional approaches to diagnosis, have argued that subclinical forms of schizophrenia (e.g., Schizotypal Personality Disorder) are better candidates for shamanism [16-19]. Such fine discrimination, however, may not be essential when one considers that psychosis in traditional societies appears to be less debilitating [19-21], while also acknowledging the most psychotic individuals (i.e., phenotypic extremes) would not necessarily have become shamans [22]. The Disparate Social Space Occupied by an Occu- pation (Shamanism) Versus a Medical Affliction (Schizophrenia): Many shamans have had a negligible propensity towards psychosis, which requires explanation. It must be understood that shamanism is a social role (i.e., occupation) while schizophrenia is defined by a constellation of mostly involuntary motor behaviors and sensory experiences. Therefore, the two phenomena are not exactly equal. This situation is akin to comparing very tall individuals and basketball players. In one case, the individual is being defined by an easily definable trait (height) while the latter is a social role particularly fitting for tall persons. One fascinating feature of shamanism, with potentially monumental implications, is its universality despite the belief that cultural diffusion cannot adequately explain its widespread existence throughout every traditional society ever surveyed [23]. Such observations implicate a constitutional predisposition towards the social role of shamanism. Accordingly, the cultural institution of shamanism

is akin to other identifiable cultural practices such as culinary traditions, sexual habits, and war rituals. The universality of such social practices is seemingly maintained by innate behavioral tendencies: hunger for culinary traditions, erotic feelings for sexual practices, and tribalism and aggression for war rituals. Without the constant presence of certain innate behavioral tendencies, each cultural practice would eventually fade and disappear. Therefore, it can be argued that the social role of shaman requires psychosis to be only episodically introduced into paleolithic tribes, and not necessarily to be present in every shaman. Towards a Definition of Spirituality and Religion There is no academic consensus on the definition of religion. In fact, textbooks on the psychology of religion have often sidestepped a distillation of the concept [24]. Nonetheless, one reasonable definition is that religion is “a system of beliefs in a divine or superhuman power, and practices of worship or other rituals directed toward such a power” [25]. The terms “divine and superhuman power” may, however, be better represented by the term “supernatural agent” [26]. Spirituality typically connotes an individual’s intimate relationship to supernatural ideas while religion usually refers to any accompanying formalized systems. Religion as a Form of Communication To fully appreciate the role of shamans in religious practices, it may be useful to recognize that religion can be framed as a form of human communication [27,28]. Hominids communicate in a myriad of ways (e.g., language, facial expression, music, humor); and each form of communication is better suited to transmit different aspects of social information. Moreover, communication is

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[lamortexiii]

Cryptic Mystic: We Are the Mask

The things you like, how you socialize, your reactions - all make up parts of your personality. Deciphering the truth from the lies; we possess the ability to morph who we are. How much/what do we mask, and what purpose does “masking” serve? This month’s blog dives deep into a few topics that all tie together to create one collective theme. As most things in life, these topics are intertwined. You’ll likely take something different from this blog than the next person, but that’s how my blogs are, as you probably well know… Now, without further adieu, let’s jump into this one.

To start, I’d like to take a moment to ask that you visit the website 16personalities.com and take their personality test. I guarantee you’ll gain valuable insight into your personality, and how you compare with others. It may even help you to better understand yourself or others. I always get the result of “Protagonist: ENFJ-A”. This result hasn’t changed in the last 5 years, however, psychologists and layperson test-takers alike will let you know that throughout life the results can change. So, on a scale of 1-100, here are my detailed results: 

MIND (Introversion VS extroversion): 89% extroverted

ENERGY (intuitive VS observant): 79% intuitive

NATURE (thinking VS feeling): 53% feeling

TACTICS (judging VS prospecting): 94% judging

IDENTITY (assertive VS turbulent): 56% assertive

Personality is a somewhat stable thing but has the potential to change over time in certain ways. There are some parts of us that I fully believe will never change. I term those the “concrete personality factors.” However, there are plenty of things about our personality that we can change if we try. Strong willpower and mind can aid in changing one's personality traits that are malleable. The not-so-malleable personality traits are much harder to change (if changing them is even possible) and would take a great amount of self-discipline and maybe even some serious professional therapy. My perspective: embrace who you are! If there is something about yourself that you would like to change because it is harmful to yourself or others, then work towards that change. At the end of the day, you are the only person who holds the key to changing who YOU are. The choice is ultimately yours. I tell people, no amount of therapy can change a person unless they truly want to change in the first place. Just like no one else can force you to change. Changing requires work and effort on YOUR part. 

So how do masks tie into all of this? People hide who they are behind metaphorical masks all of the time. We see this in several realms, however not all always apply in this context to everyone. We see examples of people “masking” who they really are through makeup, clothing, behaviors, and actions on a daily basis. Some are better at hiding who they are than others, and some of these folks you likely believe that you know who they are, but in reality, you have no idea. That’s one of the interesting things about the internet - you can be whoever you want to be. Whether that is your true self or a figment of who you are, the internet is a place where we see the most “masking.” Deciphering the truth from the lies in this digital world can be challenging.

I’ll tell you a story about an encounter I had early on in the age of technology and computers. Back in the olden days of dial-up internet, we had these things called chat rooms. Haha. Okay, I’ll stop acting like most of you don’t know what the hell dial-up and that whole era of technology looked like because I’m sure that a majority of you experienced it firsthand like me. Anyway, so I was in a chat room talking with random strangers. I really hit it off with this one guy. We liked a lot of the same music and had a similar style. He sent me some pictures and I thought he was attractive. We had good conversations. It was a good friendship so far, so after talking with him for a few months I decided to set up a meeting. I decided to be on the safe side just in case and take a friend with me to meet him for the first time. A friend of mine needed to go visit her boyfriend so she agreed to give me a ride to the location and agreed to leave me there while she ran to her boyfriend’s house only if I was comfortable. If I wanted her to stay she agreed that she would stay with me. We drove the 30 minutes into town and approached the location in her pickup truck. As we came closer to the building I could see a guy standing outside of the building (it was a bar) and he was smoking a cigarette. He was wearing all black, chains hanging off of his pants, and a front-facing black baseball-style cap. I knew that had to be him. We stopped in front of the building and he walked towards the truck on the driver's side where my friend was sitting. Upon reaching the window, he looked absolutely nothing like the picture he had sent me. In fact, he was much older than the picture he had sent me. Yes, you can laugh, your friendly neighborhood witch Kavita was officially catfished before catfishing was a thing. *cue laughter* He had an extremely creepy energy coming off of him (and not the good kind). He asked what we were up to, and I told him we had some errands to run, but that I just wanted to stop by and say hi. He was eyeballing me like a piece of meat. I grew intensely uncomfortable. The tension in the air was so thick you could cut it with a knife. My friend sensed that this was not the meeting I had intended and explained to him that we had to go, but that it was good meeting him and quickly drove away. She began laughing, looked over at me with a sheepish smile, and said, “what in the fuck was that?!” 

Oh, the early days of the internet. It was the wild west. It still is to a certain extent, but back then it was a much different time. My story paints an important picture about how people can easily put on a mask to impress others or to lure in their prey. I’ll never be certain of that man’s intention, but he lied about many things for one reason or another and that’s not cool. 

Looking at masks from a literal perspective and their origin, the first masks are from at least 9000 years ago. They were thought to have been used for occult rituals in countries like China and Africa. Some masks were to ward off evil spirits, while others were used for disguise, entertainment, or even for religious worship. The earliest masks were made from tree bark and leather. Some of these masks were in the shape of a human face, however, some were shaped like animal faces. Animal face masks often symbolized the connection between native people and nature. Many tribes and ancient cultures (some of which still exist today) gave utmost importance to nature, animals, and the world around them. As time went on, sometimes animal masks were used in sync with someone’s zodiac as a form of personal representation.

Masks have come a long way since their invention. Today masks can be used for protection (as we know all too well in this day and age), as well as to supply oxygen and other drugs during procedures or in life-threatening situations. We see people wear masks on Halloween (counting the days over here!) as well as for social gatherings, such as a masquerade-themed party or on New Year’s Eve. 

So, we’ve talked about metaphorical masks as well as masks in the literal sense. I hope that you were able to take something from this blog. Whether you learned something new that you found interesting or maybe you even learned something about yourself through that personality quiz. Until next month, be easy and stay safe out there my fellow earth wanderers. 

<3 - K

Cryptic Mystic Blog by PsychVVitch @psychvvitch

www.LaMorteXiii.com

[photonflight]

Hello, I read and loved your last post. I know this is not what it was about but you mentioned it later on briefly that there is a difference between BIPOC groups of the same basic descent. When is it appropriate to distinguis between?

When is it okay to talk about different varieties of cultures?

When it comes to Representation.

Will try to make this as SPECIFIC and detailed as possible with examples.

In cases where unity among an entire ethnic group is promoted, it may be counterproductive to insist on dividing or differentiating between a group. Similarly when one is referring to a culture, the place of origin and its entire diaspora fall under that culture. (For example when Indian and African culture is discussed usually, the diaspora is not separated as they are also considered Indian and African or descended from them, so they are also part of the culture.

The diaspora here meaning people who are descended from these groups, mixed with these ethnicities or grew up in the cultures outside of the country of origin.)

example: Ordinarily, people of Asian descent or of the Asian diaspora all refer to themselves as Asian, and this can be done without distinguishing the region of Asia or the country or culture, because it’s a broad term to describe people of or descended from people of Asia. It is also used by people who know they are of Asian descent but are not exactly sure what part of Asia their ancestry lies. This does not mean they’re not Asian. Some people are just not able to trace the exact origin of their family beyond the broad term, and it would be unfair to tell them they aren’t Asian or aren’t Asian enough because of this. The same could be said for European people and those descended of them. There are different countries with different cultures and there is a European diaspora as well but they can also all choose to identify broadly as European, because they are.

When speaking of Representation, however it is important to note differences to avoid interchanging and erasing some cultures in favor of others, because when it comes to representation SPECIFICALLY, every cultural group does not represent each other.

Even if you belong to one variety of culture in a broader ethnicity, for example what is acceptable for Indo-Caribbean people may be unacceptable or offensive to Indians from India. This is not to deny the cultural similarities between them, but acknowledge the cultural differences make them all independent of each other and worthy of note. Not to divide them, but to compare them.

For example, when talking about Latin America on a whole any examples may be used, but when a role calls for representation for an Argentinian person, a Costa Rican person would not be ideal because while they’re both Latin American, they are not the same, two different countries and cultures

Another example is the diaspora of African people globally. The movement of Pan-Africanism calls for unity among all Black people around the world, and in a case like that, it may not always be appropriate to differentiate or separate each person.

However, when it comes to representation, and the role calls for a Caribbean Person, it cannot be accurately filled by an American or European or Asian person who does not have Caribbean roots, but it can be filled by an American or European or Asian person who does unless the role explicitly states the character is strictly from the Caribbean with no other influence.

It is not gatekeeping or saying they aren’t “Caribbean enough” to say that someone without Caribbean roots cannot represent Caribbean people, or to say that someone who isn’t Caribbean, and isn’t of Caribbean descent whatsoever is not Caribbean, because they’re not.

I don’t know why people fight and argue this point. If you’re not you’re not, and it doesn’t make you better or worse than anyone who IS. It just means you may not be right for a role.

Similarly, if a role calls for a Trinidadian actor, casting a Trinidadian-American is appropriate unless the role specified the character is born and raised in Trinidad, but casting a Jamaican-American or Jamaican person is absolutely a problem because they’re different cultures and doing so promotes the interchanging of unrelated cultures that leads to stereotypes, ideas, preconceptions, perceptions of attitudes and beliefs from one culture being imposed on people of a completely different culture who have nothing to do with it. As a Trinidadian person, I’ve had so many non Caribbean people say “yeah mon” to me although in Trinidad that’s not our slang.

Doing this is what leads to cultural misinterpretation and misrepresentation.

African American and Afro-Caribbean people are of different cultures, countries and speak a different language entirely. By using an African American person (who does not have Caribbean roots) to represent an Afro-Caribbean person, it results in erasure of Caribbean culture because while they are both diaspora culture African groups and cultures, they are very different and cannot be interchanged or substitute each other. And vice versa.

In Disney’s The Little Mermaid as revealed in an interview with Samuel E. Wright, Sebastian was intended to have a Trinidadian accent, but as the actor couldn’t do it, they told him to just do a Jamaican accent because they felt there was no difference, when in fact Trinidad and Jamaica don’t even speak the same language. (According to Communication Studies Syllabus by the Caribbean Examinations Council for the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination)

This would also be true if a character is meant to be from an African country, and assuming they were also meant to be Black, were played by an African American person (without ancestry from that specific country) or an Afro-Caribbean person (without ancestry from that country). There would be erasure of accent, culture, and even mannerisms as what may be normal in America or the Caribbean may not be acceptable in that African country, something I learned in my university History course AND Linguistics (Phonetics & Phonology) course

Similarly, refusal of people to acknowledge the differences between the cultures of the Caribbean islands is why SO MANY NON CARIBBEAN PEOPLE think that all Caribbean people are Jamaican or have Jamaican accents when all the islands in fact speak a different variety of Creole altogether. The refusal to let Caribbean people fill Caribbean roles also adds to this, because people who don’t know any better tend to give every Caribbean character a Jamaican accent, examples below:

(See Ajay Chase, Haitian with a Jamaican accent/ and George, Guyanese with a Jamaican accent/ Sebastian the Crab, Trinidadian coded with a Jamaican Accent)

Again, this distinction is drawn for the purpose of accurate representation because this is an appropriate context. However, if the matter at hand was regional integration then similarities would be examined over differences; so this is just to remind you that there’s an appropriate time and place to do this. Don’t go throwing this at people randomly, you asked me about a specific time to do this and I am answering.

Another reason why it’s important to research a specific culture when creating a character is because you can say you are creating, for example, an Indian character, but There are separate cultural groups in India as well and customs vary throughout. If you treat them as generic, you may add elements that are offensive. This is because what may be acceptable in one Indian culture may be a taboo in another one, and so cross-breeding these cultures may cause problems when people from the actual cultures encounter your character.

Even AFRICA isn’t one country with one culture, the different tribes possess different cultures, and therefore when creating African-coded characters it is better to focus on a specific tribe instead of combining random “African” (which is again not a country) elements. Every African culture is different although the people are all African. If you are referencing African culture it’s best to focus on a specific country THEN focus on a tribe from that country, instead of copying and pasting elements cut and dry from every tribe and mashing them together; some tribes don’t have a friendly history with each other and it may be offensive to just combine their elements.

Similarly, when the recent hate crimes against Asian Americans are being spoken about, it is important to make the distinction that the most recent victims are East Asians, because Asian is only a broad category that does not make a distinction between Asians based on region. People that look East Asian as opposed to those who look like they’re from another part of Asia might be more at risk for a COVID-19 motivated hate crime, because people do see a difference. (Although these racist people believe that anyone that appears East Asian is Chinese because they can’t tell the difference, they can differentiate between someone who appears to be South Asian and someone who appears to have features that are more East Asian; putting that specific group at risk.)

Just like if a role just calls for an “Asian” character anyone from any Asian country can be used, but if it calls specifically for East Asian, it would be misrepresentation to put an Indian person in that role if they aren’t mixed at all, and if it calls for someone who is 100% East Asian, then in theory it would be misrepresentation to place someone who is mixed or from another region of Asia to fill that role, but anyone from any East Asian country may be cast.

If the role is narrowed from East Asian to Japanese, then a distinction must be made between East Asian actors. A Chinese or Korean person in the role instead would be misrepresentation, because the role calls for a Japanese person, even though they all fall under the general term East Asian, which falls under the general term of Asian

It isn’t gatekeeping, it is what is required under the topic of accurate representation. By saying that differentiating between different BIPOC cultures is unnecessary because “they’re all BIPOC”, it gives room for people to misrepresent them and interchange them.

Representation is where we have to make these distinctions; but remember there is a time and a place to do so.

It’s not gatekeeping to say that if you are DEFINITELY* not part of a culture then it’s inaccurate to say that you represent it.

In fact, BIPOC can erase each other too. Pro-Black African American YouTubers constantly raise the issue of Light Skinned Black Americans and even mixed Americans being cast in roles meant for unambiguous, non mixed Dark-Skinned Black Americans. They believe it takes roles from them and perpetuates colorism because according to them, lighter skinned women and mixed women have different features and are treated differently in America than dark-skinned women, so they feel that they cannot be represented by them as they can’t relate to them; which leads to them feeling like they are being erased by members of their own group. (see video by I Am Eloho on YouTube: “Jorja Smith REMIX PROVES Bi-racial women erase DSBW” (Dark Skinned Black Women).

*Definitely here means if you are not a part of a group or it’s diaspora whatsoever. Does not apply to people who are of the diaspora because they are considered part of the group under normal non-specific circumstances

[rosaguard]

❀ . ━  ❛ ON AERIS’ DESI IDENTITY.

for the sake of making this question easier to answer, I’ll be breaking it up into parts ( yes, i tend to ramble about other things before fully getting to my overall point ). as always, i’m black - not south asian - but i do my best to research before speaking about a culture i do not belong to.

verumking asked : some questions about brown aeris because i'm. forever heart eyes tbh. // you've drawn a lot of parallels between hinduism and the cycle of life on gaia, and also the conflict between aeris' human desires and her duties as a cetra. is her desi identity something she specifically attributes to her cetra heritage? does she begin to embrace it in her day-to-day life at all-- i.e. making and wearing henna, cooking traditional food, etc? how do her views on her identity change with each incarnation? 

          this is a somewhat difficult question to answer simply because fin.al fa.ntasy often picks and chooses which game is going to be the one™ where the culture and identity of the people within the game actually matters and when it does not ( on a side note: the series in general has a bad habit of using real locations with brown people as inspiration for settings in the game and not reflecting the real people and culture of those locations within the games. half of xii’s party being white people from a desert region literally inspired by the middle east is a glaring example of this ). anyway, i would say vii itself easily places itself within the category of there not being any real sense of culture - or at least nothing of any real substance in my opinion. by that i mean things like how the sector 5 and 7 slums are essentially the same in the remake ( outside of the former being ‘greenier’ ) even though it doesn’t make sense for the equivalent of two mini-cities that are kind of semi-lawless / mostly left to fend for themselves by shinra to not have more of a difference regarding their identities: how they operate, how the people act within them, etc.

         there’s also the fact that one of the most well known locations within the game is a christian-styled church within the sector five slums...and yet no religion is ever mentioned within the game’s worldbuilding. the church’s very existence could be seen as ironic if there was actual commentary on humans ( unknowingly ) building a false religion over time as a result of the void created after their ancestors willing choose to abandon their connection to the planet but there isn’t any. humanity, at least within the context of this universe, are essentially treated as the equivalent of atheists that don’t ‘believe’ in the planet being a living organism that deserves to be respected. meanwhile the cetra, the closest thing the game has to a religious group, don’t really seem to follow any specific tenets of a faith outside of protecting the planet and cultivating life on it. basically, i find it weird that a human-made structure and the symbolism that comes with it is imprinted onto aeris of all characters. 

        on one hand i get the logic behind it: she’s easily the most ‘spiritual’ character of the group ( if not the whole game ) and is canonically white / ’western’ inspired as nom.ura put it so western concepts of what is pure / holy is going to be applied to her from a pure aesthetic standpoint alone. from the church, to her somewhat overused prayer pose™, and her own final limit break which has white angels taken straight out of christian art descend from the heavens in its animation sequence, this specific imagery is given to her a lot - even if it doesn’t make sense from an in-universe perspective. the reason i even bring any of this up is that i think how culture is used and applied to certain characters is already inconsistent which is worth pointing out. aeris’ own identity already clashes with itself in canon - some of it being fully intentional and a part of her arc ( her desires as an individual vs her duty as a cetra ) while some of it ( basically everything stated above ) is...definitely not? 

✿ : is her desi identity something she specifically attributes to her cetra heritage?

        yes and no. however, before i fully elaborate on why, i have to touch on how i view the cetra as a whole. i’ve always saw them as people who, while nomadic, still have individual ‘tribes’ they belong to / travel with and it would’ve been common for members of one group to branch off and intermingle / travel with another ( or even just travel on their own for a while ). the more the cetra travel and expand their ‘network’ across the entire planet, it’s only natural that groups are going to start forming their own unique differences, whether it’s with looks, how they speak, and their culture, with their bond to the planet and their duty being what ties them all together. the cetra being separated into specific tribes is also directly supported within canon: 

ifalna: 2000 years ago, our ancestors, the cetra, heard the cries of the planet. the first ones to discover the planet's wound were the cetra at the knowlespole*. 

ifalna: then, just as it had at the knowlespole. it approached other cetra clans...... infecting them with... the virus.

while the cetra capital, the city of the ancients, is in knowlespole ( the modern equivalent of the region that the icicle inn and the northern crater is ), ifalna confirms that other clans beyond it exist. although the details around jenova’s arrival and defeat are unclear, from ifalna’s retelling of what happened ( and her distraught response while doing so ) it seems as if all of the cetra that first encountered jenova were either killed or infected before jenova moved on to do the same to other clans. this more than likely results in entire sub-cultures and histories lost before jenova is sealed away by the cetra aeris descends from ( which would explain why there’s not much recorded information on the cetra within the universe ). 

      one also has to remember the groups of cetra that branched away from the others and become humans. although they abandoned their duties, it’s very likely that they still retained aspects of cetra culture and it just changed / adapted over a period of two thousand years. with the cetra mostly wiped out and forgotten about, i don’t find it realistic for aeris, at least at the beginning of the game, to really know which ‘parts’ of herself come from where; especially since there would realistically be desi-coded humans that haven’t had ties to the cetra in thousands of years. although i headcanon both her mother and father as brown / desi, aeris doesn’t know who her father, professor gast, even is and the years she spent with her mother were in complete captivity. based on aeris’ ignorance about the white materia ( ex. her thinking it was useless originally ) and the cetra in general, one would assume that ifalna wasn’t able to teach aeris much due to not wanting to reveal anything to shinra since they were likely under constant surveillance. there’s also the fact that aeris outright rejects being a cetra as a child and tries ( yet fails ) to assimilate into ‘human’ culture:

“well…” kyrie replied. “there’s a crumbling church in the slums, where we played together. we did things like pretending to hold wedding ceremonies. aeris was always in the church, taking care of the flowers on her own. sometimes we talked about it. one day, aeris told me to go home quickly. i thought she was being mean because i stepped on her flowers.”

“when i got home in a bad mood, my parent’s bodies were being carried to the house. i heard it from my grandmother. about the lifestream and the ancients. i thought it was just a fairytale at the time, but after that— i figured aeris was an ancient. ...hey, what do you think i said when i met aeris after that? i said ‘you creep me out’.” - kyrie revealing her relationship with aeris after learning of her death in the kids are alright novel.

     i guess the real world equivalent of what i’m trying to say would be similar to how i’m black / african american but do i really associate myself and my identity with africa beyond a surface level? the answer is no. how could i when i don’t know anything of my ancestors, african americans are generally robbed of learning about our history, and i don’t even know what ‘part’ of africa i come from. navigating your identity, your culture, and your heritage is extremely complicated and i don’t really see it being any different for aeris. she doesn’t have any way to truly ‘discover’ and connect with her cultural identity - even if she wasn’t actively rejecting it. 

✿ : does she begin to embrace it in her day-to-day life at all? i.e. making and wearing henna, cooking traditional food, etc?

      she does - although it’s a gradual process that doesn’t start until she leaves midgar. canonically, it’s not even until cosmos canyon that aeris finally begins to ‘connect’ to her heritage and fully understand what it means to be a cetra:

aeris: i learned a lot. the elders taught me many things. about the cetra... and the promised land...i'm...... alone... i'm all alone now... 

however, in between chasing sephiroth, almost dying, and then saving the world, she doesn’t have much time to come to terms with everything that she learned there. in my blog canon, she does eventually leave edge a few years after its built to begin traveling on her own and eventually finds herself back in cosmos canyon. realistically, the elders there don’t have all the answers for her but her simply studying there is an important stepping stone to reclaiming a part of herself that she never got to know - or really accepted ( her parents also studied and met there so her life would be coming full circle in a way ). 

      so with all that said, i see aeris’ ‘embracing’ her desi heritage the most with fashion at first since she technically already does - regardless of whether she realizes it or not. the ultimania for the remake includes concept art for the cetra ( which can be viewed fully here ) and they’re specifically said to have been designed to have similarities to aeris - meaning that aeris’ current style of clothing is meant to embody her ancestors. highlighting a cetra design that looks weirdly similar to aeris herself, this cetra’s outfit - at least to me - feels similar to clothing popular in india and other parts of south asia: 

if the dress was taken out and a few alterations was made to her top and half-skirt, it could easily resemble how a lehenga choli piece is worn. the top piece of her half-skirt also resembles the look of an oddiyanam, a type of waist ornament that women in south india wear.

there are other cetra’ accessories that resemble jewelry common in india as well: the armlet on the unnamed cetra resembles a bajuband ( a similar one can be found here ) and bangles similar to a kangan or churi, commonly worn by women across south asia, are prominent in both aeris and the cetra’s overall designs too. 

     with mehndi / henna, i definitely see her wearing it across her hands and feet but it’s mostly similar to whenever she wears traditional dresses: it’s reserved for special occasions / celebrations. with that said, that’s more so when she’s grown accustomed to applying henna herself without messing up or someone else is doing it for her. it wouldn’t be uncommon to see aeris’ hands decorated with different patterns every few months: a direct result of using her own body as practice when first learning how to draw designs ( if you want to get full fantasy with it, the designs glowing against her skin when she uses magic would be neat ). as a side note: for those who don’t know, there is a short story about aeris’ time in the shinra labs. it contains a drawing by her, which is also in the remake, that has more designs for the cetra ( you can see the unedited version here ):

     also aeris cooking? l o l. joking aside, in my three years of writing aeris i’ve never really put much thought into her style of cooking, what type of food she specifically likes to eat, etc. outside of the fact that i don’t think she is much of a cooker at all ( probably because i’m not one either ). however, i cannot let a question go answered so! i’m probably going to sound redundant mentioning cosmos canyon again at this point but it really is due to the fact that it’s specifically the source of her connecting to who she is. the drawing she drew in a trance as a child even includes a location that is more than likely cosmos canyon ( and yes, i checked to compare ). the most notable npcs there are all brown and i do see them all being people of color that have come from different parts of the planet to share knowledge and learn amongst each other. although her main purpose of living in cosmos canyon the years she’s there is to study her people and record her own knowledge ( i’ll touch on this later ), it also provides her with an opportunity to connect with other people that are desi-coded like her on a more personal-level. 

     am i basically saying she probably tasted some type of chaat ( dahi vada specifically ) for the first time after leaving midgar and never looked back? yes. it’s not until aeris leaves midgar that she gets to experience trying out various food from her own culture as well as food from cultures outside of it in general ( not that these foods didn’t exist in midgar but she’s poor and doesn’t really have the means / opportunity to try them before ). aeris definitely becomes a fan of dishes that are savory with gravy, can be eaten with sauces like chutney ( she likes red chili, spicy coconut and mango chutney the most ), or dishes based around vegetables ( although if there’s spinach it, don’t tell her because ew ), fish or lamb. dishes such as rajma, samosas, sambar, biryani ( it’s probably one of the first desi dishes she would cook on her own ), pakora ( she’s definitely eaten chili pepper pakoras without a sweat ), etc. are all up her alley. aeris admittedly also has a sweet tooth so snacks like kozhukkattai, gulab jamun served with ice cream, etc. also appeals to her greatly™.

    the process of eating these dishes when they’re made by other people vs actually introducing them into her day to day eating habits are two different things though. not to say that she wouldn’t make an effort to try - she definitely will but learning how to cook these dishes takes time ( especially if you’re already not much of a cook. ). incorporating them into her daily lifestyle wouldn’t be an instant process but it will happen eventually.

✿ : how do her views on her identity change with each incarnation? 

     as the embodiment of the lifestream, aeris is constantly consuming information between each reincarnation. the lifestream houses memories and knowledge since the planet’s very inception so she literally has thousands of years of information to sort through and process between each new ‘life’. the different cetra clans that were mentioned earlier? aeris would technically have the ability to trace back the memories of her entire lineage and discover which clan she’s from if she wanted to. with every incarnation, she’s learning a little more about her people, where she comes from, etc. and being a cetra starts to feel like less of a burden to her and a role she starts to embrace / actively take pride in. while there will come a time where she’s not the ‘last cetra’ anymore, aeris essentially becomes an eternal record keeper for her people.

once she begins working with the WRO, it’s actually her idea to start an annual celebration event ( or festival ) during the anniversary of meteorfall. despite her people being nomadic and spread out, the cetra had a capital city and it’s not far fetched to assume that it was used as a place for the cetra to converge during important events, celebrations, etc. through aeris, aspects of their culture begin to live on in new ways such as the meteorfall festival which becomes a celebration of life and the planet itself. while the festival isn’t intended to have any real world parallel, i do think the symbolism of the diwali festival is fitting for the events of sephiroth’s defeat / lifestream and holy destroying meteor:

 diwali symbolizes the spiritual victory of light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance.

overall, no matter how many times she reincarnates, aeris always returns to cosmos canyon to record everything she knows, whether its her own life experiences, the memory of her people, or their culture, so that her children, her grandchildren, and so on can always have knowledge of their history and identity in a way that she wasn’t able to.

✿ : brown aeris says thanks for reading!

i hope this was a satisfying answer to your questions! i try to do my best with honoring the cultures i’m talking about and not treating them in a haphazardly and/or lazy way. i wanted to explain her journey of being someone not really connected to their heritage at all and explaining the process she goes through in a realistic way without..making it surface level? hopefully i achieved that!

[herald-divine-hell]

The Failure Toward Islam in Dragon Age

This is a response to @shimmrgloom. He asked to go into detail about why I consider the Qunari a poor representation of historical Islam.

Warning: this will be a long post.

-

Let us start off the bat with most likely the most superficial reasoning why the Qunari and the Qun are meant to represent Islam. First and foremost, the world: “Qunari” is merely a switch around of the world “Qu’ran”, the holy book of Islam, just with an added “i” at the end. But you may be wondering: Herald, surely that was so coincidence? Not particularly, I say, no. BioWare does not accidentally name things - Templar is not coincidentally a term that they used to describe violent oppressors who serve the Thedas’ most religious and centralized body. Something so similar, describing a people who come from a land that is foreign to the rest of Thedas, a foreign way of life, and who are - to the minds of the Thedosians - quintessentially different that it leads to contempt and distrust almost automatically in their first meetings.

Background:

Now, some history over Islam. Islam, as most people know, was founded in the 7th century by the Prophet Muhammad, who revolutionized the societal framework of the Arabian Peninsula. Once a sandy land filled with bickering tribes that fought each other more and less than the outside the great powers of their heyday, the Eastern Roman Empire and the Sassanid Persian Empire. What Muhammad did, and not only did he start the world’s second largest religion, was unthinkable at the time. Instead of unifying the tribes in a manner of merely just conquest, though Muhammad was indeed a fearsome warrior and tactian, Muhammad utilized religion, and bounded everyone under the idea of the Ummah - the community of Islam - which thoroughly demolished any idea that kinship was greater than religion (though the idea would continue on to the modern age, with the rise of nationalism, to muddy the waters even further.) Now, it was near impossible for any one tribe to claim superiority over the other. All were equal in the eyes of God, and so the community should see each other as equals. (Again, the idea was there, but slavery was, and still is, prevalent, though Muhammad was known to have freed many of slaves throughout his life, with one of the first converts in Islam to have been an African slave.)

During the time of the Prophet, and the later successors to him after his death, known as the Caliphs, raids were conducted against the warring Romans and Persians at their Arabian border. It was only after a while did the Arabs commit a full offensive attack, utterly demolishing and annexing the Persians, and conquering large swaths of North Africa, including one of the Eastern Romans’ most prized provinces, Egypt. In only a few short decades, the Rashidun Caliphs - those who were companions and close friends and were, actually, elected by a council to be the successors, akin to a weaker sense of democracy - crafted an administrated dominion that was larger than Rome during its height. Most commonly, a lot of Westerners believe that the Arabs actively sought to convert their newly conquered subjects to Islam, and while there is a law that says a non-Muslim may not take a high ruling position in the government, (which would later change, as many religions and ethnics became the second highest positions in some islamic states) and that they must pay a higher tax, known as the jizyah, most of Islam’s converts came from the people’s own free will (if they lived under the Caliphate, most likely paying less in taxes was a large incentive) or from trade, as the Mali Empire and others showed, or it came from other governing powers, like the Turks or the Mongolians, adopting the religion of their subjects. Though, it primarily came from trade.

After the fall of the Rashidun Caliphate under Caliph Ali (and I’m not even going to get into the First Fitna, or the First Islamic Civil War, nor am I going to get into the Sunni-Shia split that occurred during the rule of the first Caliph, Abu Bakr.) the Umayyad family rose to power and claimed the Caliphate for themselves. Now, the Umayyads were different then the Rashidun - all five Caliphs were elected - but the new Caliphs were hereditary, adopted with even more practices from the more sophisticated Byzantines and Persians. During their rule, the first contacts between Islam and the West properly. (Prior to this, the only real meetings were between the Eastern Romans and the Caliphates, with a few incursions into Sicily.) The Umayyds swept up into the Iberian Peninsula, where Spain and Porturgal, and a little bit of the United Kingdom through Gibraltar, now resides, and moved into a little of southern France - though it was merely a tiny raid, Western History would compare it to a major victory for Christendom. (It did stop Islamic movement into Western Europe, but the Ottomans would show that Islam did not leave Europe entirely. The Umayyads would not continue heading into France for numerous reasons. Number one being that there was a massive rebellion occurring in the central part of the Caliphate, and two, their power would be extremely diminished.)

Now, after the Umayyads, come the Abbassids, the new Islamic Caliphate - and though not the largest, it was considered to be the greatest in terms of cultural and scientific importance for Islam. For under the Abbassids, Islam would begin its golden age. In this time, men like Ibn Sina, the Father of early medicine, or ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi, the Father of algebra, or ibn Hayyan, the father of modern pharmacy, would live in thrive. The Islamic Marco Polo, ibn Battuta, who traveled across Asia and Africa more times that one would consider necessary, would be born. The House of Wisdom, created by Caliph Harun al-Rashid, where Muslims, Jews, and Christians would work side by side, peacefully. (And even in Islamic Iberia, under the rule of the overthrown Umayyads, intellect bloomed, especially for the Jewish people.) And one of the first modern university in Islam, and the known world at the time, the University of al-Qarawiyyin, by Fatima al-Fihri, was also established during its time, and is still open to this day. 

Why am I harking on and on about the glories of men and women long dead? What does this have to do with the Qunari? Well, everything.

The Qunari:

As I mentioned before, the Qunari are meant to be the historical counterparts of the Islamic caliphates during its time. Why, you may ask? Well, for starters, their entire relationship with Thedas (Europe) is identical to Islam...from a European perspective.

The Qunari are invaders, fanatics about spreading their philosophy/religion/way of life to all the world who does not follow it. Now, out of everything I just explain, surely it has no connection to Islam? But it does. To Europe, their safety was in constant threat by Islam, especially the Byzantiums. Which was not unwarranted to be believed - the Arabs had tried to siege down Constantinople twice, and the Seljuk Turks, whom overwhelmed the Caliphate to establish their own nation over the Middle East, while allowing the Caliph to remain nominally head of Islam, had pushed deep into Anatolia, nearly to Constantinople, which sparked the Crusades.

What we got from the Qunari wasn’t not Islam as we noted, not totally at least. (which is fair. You typically don’t want to take everything from real life in your fantasy world) But it is the way Europe has viewed Islam for over one thousand and four hundred years. But unlike Europe being wrong, from what we get of the Qunari, from actual interactions, especially from the Iron Bull, of the Qun, we can assume that the Thedosian xenophobia is seemingly justified. Islam is foreign, and the West has always perceived the Near East as foreign, mystical, animistic. (This goes way back to Ancient Greece and Rome) And unlike our world, the Qunari is all of that, and more.

Instead of getting intellectual growth and cultural prosperity, we get what the modern West considers the Islamic fanatics, but as the entirety of the group. The Qunari wants to subsequent Thedosian and Andrastian doctrine to the philosophy of the Qun (Sha’ria) Instead of wearing armor, they wear tight ropes that show off skin that is alien in color, and have horns that are exotic. (Just like how Europe saw Muslim women as seductresses, with near-translucent cloths for clothing) Instead of being tolerant to other peoples religions - which the early Muslims were very much were, especially during their times - the Qun would take no one else, but Qunari. All will have to convert, or risk death, imprisonment in a mine, or worse. They are “reeducated” by the Qun, to follow orders and to die for their philosophy. Where do we see that? ISIL, Al-Qaeda, the Taliban - contemporary fanatics, but they are the near closet to Islam as the Qunari get.  What we see is a mockery to beliefs that Islam had stood for over a thousand years.

We do not get the Qunari preserving ancient Tevinter documents. We do not get ibn Sina, and other Islamic philosophers and investors that changed the world - for better, or for worse. We get nothing that shows Islam during the time period that Thedas is meant to take place, but the rest of the Thedas easily can pass for their historical time period, except with fantastical creatures. Even with the Ottomans, sure they took boys to make them guards and an elite infantry, and thats the fairest you can say that looks like the Qunari during that time period, but thats it. 

All in all, the Qunari is meant to take the place of Islam, while demolishing everything Islam was and is, instead propping forth centuries old propaganda and stereotypes and fears.

I do acknowledge that the Qunari are not entirely Islamic in society - they have large aspects from Communism and Confucianism - but their historical and geopolitical placement in Thedas, alongside their foreign policy toward Thedas is merely Islamophobia in its entirety. And that hurts to say, because the Qunari could had been something more, but BioWare did not even try to recon it. Sure, they are technologically advance, but at what cost? Slavery? Conquest? Everything that I have learned since I was a child about the terror of Islam? It’s true for the Qunari, and its hurt. Don’t get me wrong, I find the Qunari fascinating, and I can’t (hopefully) wait to learn more about them in DA4, but it still hurts to see my history so tarnished by BioWare’s lack of even proper research.

[merrilldidnothingwrong]

Just a random question but what do you think Anders, Alistair and Isabela's favorite music genres would be? This is also random but I'm Black (only African American though sadly) and like to think that Rivain is similar to the Carribean and Africa and so they have traditional dances that originate from certain tribes and stuff. So I headcanon Isabela would do those dances while listening to music. I'd like to think she tries to teach the DA2 crew them too in fun.

ohh i like your hc!

since alistair and anders were raised away from their homeland, and dont really feel much of a connection (or for anders he was so young when he was taken away he wouldnt remember much), i think the warden or the companions would teach them about music, alistair wouldnt be impressed with coulsand, since they’re human, but would love to hear about music from the dalish, city elves and the dwarves. like alistair would ask zevran, sten and oghren, about music more than cousland.

for anders he’d talk to isabela, merrill, and maybe sebastian too.

as for the music itself i think alistair would like something light with a lot of different instruments that he could tell his own story to, something the dalish play. some lutes, wind, i want to say organ but lmao i dont think organ (piano) exist in thedas. im not sure how to describe it. i did a google search for fantasy music, and i think thats how i imagine it.

as for anders i think he’d like something heavier, something to vent his anger and frustration, i think hed like what isabela was telling him bc it has a lot of rhythm/soul but also maybe some dwarven music. i imagine lots of heavy drums, lots of chanting, yelling? not a lot of dancing. i cant imagine anders is a good dancer, but he tries, oh my god does he try. not that he doesnt appreciate all the music, i think he does, except for humans. its all boring rubbish.

i think youre right about isabela, since she grew up in antiva, nothing in thedas is to her liking. except maybe city/dalish elves, because she has a lot of respect for them. and its magical.

imagining anders tall self trying to dance is quite a hilarious sight, thanks for that visual anon 🤣🤣

[kemetic-dreams]

                                     Comparative Religions

 ATR (African Traditional Religion) Introduction Three religions dominates African continent: ATR, Islam and Christianity. African Traditional Religion has grown out of the African soil. It is not brought from outside. It is best distinguished as ATR. It is described as the product of thinking and experience of African forefathers and mothers of former generations. This religion is found in all African peoples. Africans who live according to their traditional ways are very religious. Africans have many different kinds of beliefs due to the fact that there are many ethnic groups and tribes in Africa. It is not proper to say there an African Traditional Religion. The truth is, every ethnic group has its own set of beliefs. The observation that is understandable is that there are many similarities between the traditional beliefs of Africans in Africa. Therefore we speak of African Traditional Religion thinking of those common things. 

The African Traditional Religion has no founder. It evolved through many centuries, before the westerner come to Africa. Different fathers played a role in the development of this religion. It is not documented. It has no sacred book or Scripture. It is written in the hearts, history and experience of the people. It is passed with the word of mouth. It has never been accused of heresy, falsehood or deception. There are no religious controversies. There is no claim of purity. There is no authority to say what it was before or what it would be in the future. African Religion is open to new ideas. Some ideas of the past has been forgotten because people found them useless and did not carry them over to the next generation. It affects the whole person, the whole clan or tribe. Some writers use to say an African always carry his religion even to the parliament. It is taken everywhere around the world. The practice begins at early childhood until the last moment at death. A person must be born in a particular African people in order to be able to follow African Religion. The people from Europe, America, and Asia cannot be converted to African Religion as it is more removed from their geographical and cultural setting. African Traditional Religion is very pragmatic and apply to the need as it arises. It has supplied answers and direction to many African life, as such people are unwilling to abandon it quickly otherwise they feel insecure afterwards, unless something else give them additional or greater sense of security. It is said that even if they are converted to another religion like Christianity and Islam they do not completely abandon their traditional religion immediately. The religion remains with them for several generations and sometimes centuries. In reality the converted mix their traditional religion with the newly embraced religion. The idea behind is to gain from both religions. 

African Traditional Religion influences every area of an African life. It shapes the character, and culture of the people. It is hard to destroy its beliefs. 2 Wrong ideas: African Religion is ancestor worship. This is just one part of it It is superstitious It is animism or paganism It is magic or fetishism African Religion embraces all these four ideas in its belief. Where to look for and find African Tradition Religion? • It is found in rituals, ceremonies and festivals of the people: Birth, giving of names, circumcision, initiation ceremonies, marriage, funerals, harvest festival, need for rain • It is found in shrines, sacred places and religious objects: Graves, caves, rocks, hills, mountains, tree, objects tied around people’s neck, legs and waists. Other objects are kept in pockets, bags or placed on gates or ground. • It is found in art and symbols: wood, stools, calabash, bones, sticks, pots, handcraft, domestic animals, and human bodies. It is represented by insects, birds, animals, trees, colours, etc. • It is found in music and dance: Drums, flute, rattle, etc. Religious festival are accompanied by songs and dance. Music is used to spread religious ideas. • It is found in proverbs, riddles and wise saying: There are proverbs that speak of God, human relationship, man, nature of things etc. Riddles are for entertainment but some contain religious ideas. 

Wise saying are about the world in general. • It is found in names of people and places: African names have meaning that are also religious. • It is found in myth and legends: Stories, myth, legend, biographies • It is found in beliefs and customs: religious ideas, and that which people approve and do. Beliefs influences behaviour and what to do in life. 

Five essential parts of African Religion a. Beliefs: God; Spirits; human life; magic; witchcraft; the hereafter b. Practices, Ceremonies and festivals: Praying, sacrifices, offering, rituals, customs, birth, harvest, raining seasons, dancing and singing c. Religious objects and places: Holy places, shrines, groves, hills, mountain, rivers, caves, amulets, charms, marks d. Values and morals: Truth, justice, love, right and wrong, respect, decency, agreements, promises, integrity, blame e. Religious officials: Priests, rain makers, ritual elders, diviners, medicine men, kings and rulers

 Question: Conversion of Africans does not mean that they have abandoned ATR? How true is this? 3 Three types of heritage Historical heritage Cultural heritage Religious heritage Culture deals with things such as the way people live, behave, act, and their physical as well as their intellectual achievement. It is shown in art and literature, dance, music, drama, style of building and people’s clothing, in social organization, political system, in religion, ethics, morals, philosophy, in customs, and institution of the people in their values and laws and their economic life (John Mbiti, 1975:8) 

Structure of African reality (Hierarchy of power) GOD SPIRITS (ANCESTORS) SPIRIT MANIFESTATION WORSHIP Ceremonial items: Home made brew; blood of a goat, chicken, sheep or cows Material used: For knowing the will of ancestors: bones, shells For healing: herbs, roots, and human body parts For power: beads, amulets, buffalo tail, fetishes PRACTIONERS Doctors: specializes in one disease or a general doctors Diviners: experts at unveiling the spiritual causes of disease Sorcerers: Claim power and contact with spirit and can cast spell KINGS AND CHIEFS PARENTS 

 4 Major Beliefs of African Traditional Religion THE SUPREME BEING All Africans generally believe in the Supreme being, called God Origin: No one knows how this belief originated. How did Africans come to know that there is God? People believed through reflecting on the universe (general revelation) People realized their limitations People observed the forces of nature The Supreme being has name or names. Almost every ethnic group has a name for this great God. What is the name of God used in your tribe or people? What personal pronoun and gender used to describe this God? The names reveals what people think about God. The names reveal His attributes What God is: God is spirit. He is not a human being. He is not visible, for one has ever seen Him. No one can surely describe Him. He is not made. He exists on His own. He has no father, mother, neither child. God is the creator of everything. He is the first cause, the original source. He sustains. He is all knowing and nothing is hidden from Him. He shares human images: He sees, hears, smells, tastes. He eats, sleeps, play, walk, rejoices, get angry, thinks, remembers. He is everywhere present like air. At the same time He is very far from the universe and His creature. God is unknowable. He cannot be explained. African turn to God when in trouble and seeking peace, happiness, and security. He does not do anything more for people. He does not interfere with man who is the centre. Man ignore Him and wait for the need to arise. Worship is to keep contact with the invisible world so that there is harmony. In this way prayers, sacrifices, offering are done and rituals performed. No human being can get near to God or talk to Him. He is the author of both good and evil. He causes people to sin. He is feared as a judge and full of wrath.

 5 How different is this God with the God of the Bible whom Christian believe? Is this God the same with the Christian God? ATR versus Christianity • Deism (far from people) Omnipresent and Transcendent Psalm 139 • There is no personal contact Jesus is the way to God John 14:6 • Ancestors are mediators Jesus is the only mediator between God and man 1 Timothy 2:5 • No relationship with God Personal relationship through Jesus (Father) John 1:14, 3:16 • He is not interested with Creation Jesus is God incarnate, Emmanuel, who died John 1:14 • He is full of wrath and is a judge Wrath and love are His attributes John 3:36; Romans 1:18 • He does not communicate He speaks directly through His word Hebrews 1:1-2 • He is regarded as the fist ancestor God is eternal Psalm 90:2; Genesis 1:1 • No mention of His holiness God is holy and hates sin 1 Peter 1:16 • God is not concerned with sin Every sin is against a holy God Genesis 6:5; Romans 3:23; Psalm 51:5 THE SPIRITS There are two kinds of spirits: Human spirits: The spirits of those who were people on earth Those who died long ago and are forgotten Those who died recently and are remembered up to the 4th and 5th generation. They indwell people. They are used by diviners, mediums and medicine men. Nature spirits: The spirits that were created as spirits The spirits are found all over Africa. The animistic belief is embraced. Animism is s religious belief, which recognizes the spirits as indwelling every created things and controlling the physical world. Most world religions share the belief of animism, even though they would not call themselves animists. Animists or those who follow this belief, build their lives around the belief that nature spirits are powerful. The spirit world is stronger than humans. The nature spirits live in forests, trees, waterfalls, strange shaped rocks, caves, villages, hills, etc. Some of those spirits are believed to follow people as they move like the shadow. The spirit also indwell animals like, snakes (python), goats, bulls, tiger, giraffe, baboon, etc. 

 6 The spirits also manifests themselves in the form of these animals. They are easily recognized by the locals, thikoloshe, mamlambo, house snake, perennial or fountain snakes, etc. Different things are done to protect people from the spirits. The spirits are highly honoured and feared. Their help is sought for anything. ATR man can do nothing without consulting the spirits for permission or approval. In occasion like illness, marriage, childbirth, work, study, trip, poor harvest, accidents, family conflict, and war, spirits are consulted. Relationship between the spirits and the physical world is going on and requires human effort. Human effort is required to ensure the goodwill of the spirits and to ensure that they are not offended or neglected. Spirits want to be served and as such hold people in fear. Special methods are used for contact: Trained or gifted men are required to help Ecstatic trance is practiced just like the shaman Mediums, or divination, fortune telling Offering some rituals The local healers prescribe certain plants and herbs for use. We cannot deny the existence of spirits. They are around, but do not control the world and neither possess or indwell all created things. The spirit that we know, are created by God, and can only function as along as God permits them to function. 

The Almighty God is the creator and sovereign ruler of heaven and earth (Hebrews 1:3, Colossians 1:16; Psalm 24:1; Psalm 50) Man should not seek protection or help from the spirits , but only from Jesus Christ because of His work on the cross. He defeated all evil angels and He also controls them. The knowledge of Jesus Christ through Salvation should liberate all Christian with African Traditional belief or Animism from the fear of spirits who indwell all created things. Christians must also know that their bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, and therefore cannot be indwelt by evil spirit ( 1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19-20; Romans 8:9-10; John 14:23). Christians can boldly and fearlessly evangelize all men without fear of being indwelt by a demon. There could be demonic attacks of different kind though, but remember the power of God and the one who is in you that He is greater than the one who is in the world. Who are the spirits according to the Bible? The Bible speaks of evil spirit, wicked spirit, unclean spirit, demons and Satan. These all were created holy by God but they chose to sin with Satan. God cast them out of heaven. Now they operate on earth in the sky above (Ephesians 6:10-17).

 7 ANCESTOR SPIRITS (ANCESTOR WORSHIP) The main point of interest in African Traditional Religion is the belief and worship of ancestors. Ancestors are used as the mediators between the Supreme Being and man. It is known that not everyone who dies becomes an ancestor. He has to have had a position of authority He had to have adult sons or children depending on the tribe The spirits of those who died and come back to life are the ancestors These ancestors receive honour and worship as long as the tribe still remembers them. Only those who are remembered are worshipped. The names of the forefathers are sometimes forgotten and for fear of harm, when worshipping the priest or head of the family would announce the word even you whom we do not know. The dwelling place of the ancestors is not known. Some say in the caves, in the trees, grave, under the earth, in the high places (forests). The effective way to contact the ancestors is through sacrifices done either by the head of the family or the aunt. The items used are normally meat, blood of animal, or human blood or part, homemade beer, etc. The people do not know whether the ancestor will do them harm or good. Therefore, it is important to appease them or keep contact at all costs. Ancestors may cause sickness or difficulties in the family that would require the diviner or medium to deal with it. Generally, every time the diviners are called or consulted, the ancestors would say the people have done something wrong in the religion or custom. Africans worship the ancestors because that answers the deepest need of their relationship with those they know. What is the Christian response to ancestor’ spirits? First we must clarify that ancestor spirits are spirits of the departed forefathers and mothers. The spirits of people you know died. This is the general understanding of ancestor spirit. These spirits have gone to either Hades to wait for final judgement or to heaven in the presence of Jesus. Secondly ancestor spirits are what the Bible calls demons or evil spirits (1 Corinthians 10:18-22). These are the fallen angels who rebelled with Satan, the Devil in heaven and were cast out. They are waiting for their judgement and damnation (Matthew 8:28-32; 25:41). Their main function is to deceive men and encourage unbelievers to continue living in opposition and rebellion against God. These evil spirit (demons) impersonate the deceased and act as if they are the person.

 8 Helping people who live in fear of ancestor spirit The unbelievers must be evangelized. They need the gospel. The message of the cross is the power of God to save those who believe (1 Corinthians 1:18; Romans 1:16; Acts 8:18-23; 13:8-11; 16:17- 18). • We should teach the people and inform that Adam the first man had no ancestor, and ancestor spirit (Genesis 2:5, 7; 1 Corinthians 15:44-47) • We should preach the cross (death of Jesus Christ: atonement, sin, forgiveness and purity). Emphasis must be made on Christ’s defeat of the supernatural beings (evil spirits including Satan):Colossians 2:14-15; Ephesians 4:8-10; Hebrews 2:14-15; Revelation 1:17-18; Matthew 12:22-30; 1 John 3:5, 8). • Christians need a lot of pastoral care and counselling. Inform Christians that issues such as death, sickness, poverty, impotency (barrenness) , demonic attack, unemployment, dreams, etc. lead to reversion to ATR. • We should teach Christians the sufficiency of Christ using Colossians and Hebrews. Encourage the people to read the gospels. • We should inform Christians that we are in spiritual warfare, therefore we need the whole armour of God (Ephesians 6:10-17). • It is important to build strong spiritual foundation by teaching the doctrine of sin (total depravity), the sovereignty of God in salvation, creation and redemption, angelology and the victory of Christ over supernatural evil spirits as well as eschatology (Revelation 12:9; 20:7, 11-20) • We should teach Christians to trust Jesus, His word and the finished work on the cross and the resurrection. Every believer should wholeheartedly believe God’s unfailing promises (1 John 4:4; Matthew 28:20; John 1:12-13) • We should encourage our people to receive medical attention where need be (James 5:14- 16; 1 Timothy 5:22-25)

 DEATH AND LIFE AFTER DEATH Death is one of the most feared act in African environment. The origin of death is unknown. As such many myth were introduced. Death cam because the messengers failed to carry their given tasks. There is no myth on how death will be removed from the world. Death meant a separation of God from man. Causes of death Someone is often blamed for the death of a person • Sorcery, witchcraft, and evil magic • Spirits: the body was not properly laid or some taboos broken and that angered the spirits • Curse, breaking the taboos or oath • Natural death: It is sometimes acknowledged that God call old people to leave this life, but its rare. Even in this instances physical causes are attributed to somebody i.e. sicknesses, disease, old age, accident, lightning, earthquake, flood, drowning, animal attack, etc. 9 Rituals of death Disposal of the body requires certain ritual to be performed in preparation for disposal Burial of belonging with the body, some items are placed on the graveyard after burial. In other parts of Africa The belief is that the departed need weapons to defend himself along the way, food because he might be late for evening meal or need that on his way, other properties so that he may not arrive empty handed, etc, Funeral rites for different age groups: children, unmarried people, married, chiefs or kings, etc. The rites are intended to send the departed peacefully and to keep the link between the living for normal life. Feasting and sons of mourning: there are various signs and symbols to sho that there is death. Manual labour stops for a day or more. Shaving of the hair as sign of separation and new hair is sign of new life, smearing white, etc. Hereafter According to African Traditional Religion, there is no break between life and death. After death a proper funeral must be organized with necessary ceremonial rituals. This is done to prevent the dead person from wandering around. It is believed that if the dead person fail to get a place he wanders and becomes a ghost. Place of the departed. It is unknown. Different beliefs. Among those beliefs there is no one mentioning heaven or hell. • Neighbourhood of the homestead • Woods, forests, lakes, hills, rivers and riverbanks • There is a land of spirits in the underworld or underground • The dead goes to a place just similar to this world. It is another world. They do all that is done in this world. When a person dies his body is destroyed but his spirit lives on. The spirit receives s his body which is identical to his earthly body so that he can move around as spirit. A deceased is gathered to his forefathers, and it is finished with him. He is completely dead if no one remembers that ancestors. There is no hope of heaven or despair lf hell. Witches and sorcerer are not allowed in the spirit world (world of the dead) because they are cut off from the tribe. Some tribes feed witches and sorcerers with hyenas. Remembering of the ancestors Food and drink for the dead during festivals Consultation and rituals through the diviner or medium Naming the dead in prayer Naming children after the deceased 10 What is the destiny of man according to the Scripture? The Bible clearly teaches that there are two different places where spirits of a person goes after death. He goes to Hades if he is an unbeliever or heaven (Paradise) if he is a Christian: Luke 16:19- 31; 23:43; 2 Corinthians 12:2-4; Revelation 6:9 After the final judgement the unbelievers will be cast into the lake of fire (Gehenna): Matthew 25:41; Revelation 20:11-15 Christians will not be judge but enter into eternity with Christ the Sovereign Saviour and Lord (John 5:24; Revelation 21-22). There is no teaching on heaven and hell in ATR. As a result people live and die without hope and only fear of hell. They comfort themselves by saying they are going to their ancestors whom they have no idea where they are. In reality ATR has no definite answer as to where do the spirits go after death. They believe the spirit depart from the body and lives on. Some say they go to places like caves, forest, valleys, rivers, graves, or indwell people or animals, etc. Before the spirits get a permanent place they just wander all around the earth. 

What is the doctrine of sin and salvation in ATR? Salvation is surely taught in the Bible. It is totally foreign and unknown in ATR. There is no teaching on inherent sin (Sin nature, total depravity, total corruption and human inability). There are expression and proverbs that are used to describe a depraved heart, wicked or evil heart. The doctrine of sin and the fall as taught in Genesis 3 is unknown in ATR. Adam and Eve are not found in their stories (myth). People in Africa do not basically sin against God, but rather they sin against the ancestors, against the members of the family or clan. Sin is evil acts to those whom one is related to. There is no sin of omission, but emphasis is on commission. An act becomes sin, more especially when the act is found or discovered. If not discovered it is fine. Issues like failure to take parental responsibilities, child abuse, and maltreatment of wives is not sinful in African Traditional beliefs. It might raised as a concern by some parents or families. ATR emphasizes that people should live in peace with one another especially those of the same family and clan. The truth of the matter is that there is no genuine peace outside Christ. Peace starts with out relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Then we have peace in our hearts, and peace with fellow men. And then continue to pursue peace and endeavour to live at peace with all men (Hebrews 12:14; Romans 12:18). The Bible says, “Sinners have no peace” (Isaiah 57:21). The word of God reveals that the heart of the problem is the heart. All evil acts and thought comes out of the heart (Mark 7:21-23; Jeremiah 17;9; Genesis 6:5; 8:20). ATR is mainly concerned with physical world full of spirits and the inhabitants thereof. As such the problem Africans Religion face is physical: illness, drought, barrenness, poverty, conflicts, death, marriage, etc. Therefore deliverance is from all these misfortunes. One is then delivered or saved from demonic attack, evil spirits attack, or witchcraft, etc. The practice of deliverance is either offering a sacrifice or receiving protection from a diviner or a religious man (priest or prophet). our 11 A person is also saved from sickness, troubles or bad luck / misfortune or curse. These are done through prayers, laying on of hands, getting some items or obeying the instruction of the diviner or religious figure head. Salvation is also from witchcraft (Sorcery) and other enemies. This needs some items or object to keep at home or carry on your body. The effect of being saved or delivered is seen through the physical health, calm situation or prosperity enjoyed by the family through a member who gets a well paying job or accumulate a lump some of money. To those who mixed ATR with Christianity or biblical practices, salvation is though baptism or being a member of the church, etc. The question we should ask our ATR followers is: What are you saved from? And Who saved you? Romans 3:23; 5:12-14, 18:21; 6:23; Matthew 1:21; John 16:8-11 MAGIC AND TABOO Africans believe that everything has life force, which cause good thing or evil. The force is found in arm bangles, special words uttered, African medicine, etc. 

Diviners (witchdoctors) are considered the ones having more power in ATR. Magic This form part of the African Religion or belief. There two kinds of magic: White Magic Black magic White Magic: This magic is used for good reason Traditional healers or medicine man use it. They try to find the source of evil, whether it is a sorcerer or a taboo. When the evil is discovered, the medicine man or healer gives the afflicted protection against his enemy. He may use bangles, powder, tattoo markings, leather necklaces, etc. Some of those items received from the medicine man or healer are believed to bring happiness, harmony and prosperity. Black Magic: This magic is used for bad reason or purpose People use this to harm someone. Those who use this magic are called sorcerer or wizards who practice witchcraft. Africans believe that witches must be destroyed. More often people who are disliked by the community are associated with witchcraft and are called witches. This leads to suffering, expulsion from the community or death. People are warned to take care of things such as hair, nails, clothes hanging outside at night, using certain words or phrases, visiting certain places, eating food from certain families, receiving gifts from certain people, etc. The witches or sorcerer are believed to have power to pick the ground where one has tread and cause cancer or something evil. 

 12 Taboo Defined: prohibition imposed by social custom, isolation of something as sacred or accursed. Words or speech, items or clothes, conduct, food, places What is the Christian answer to white magic, black magic and taboos? Magic is sinful and associated with activity of Satan. It does not matter whether it is white or black magic. Old Testament forbids the practice as sinful, as well as those who use magic as means of getting help as involved in sin. Leviticus 19:31: mediums and familiar spirits defile the seeker Leviticus 20:6 Deuteronomy 18:10-12 Isaiah 8:19-20 Groups who practiced magic Egyptian magician and wise men: Exodus 7:11, 22; 8:7, 181-19 Babylonian magicians: Daniel 2:2, 10-11 The New Testament addresses magic as sinful (Members of the flesh) Galatians 5:19-20 sorcery Revelation 21:8 Revelation 22:15 Individuals and groups who practiced magic Acts 8:9-11 Simon Magus Acts 13:8-11 Elymas Acts 19:19 Magicians The Bible speaks of miracles wrought by human agents in the name of Jesus, not magic. All man-made rules are set to instil fear in the hearts of children and other people. Taboos are key elements used to keep the people in bondage. Taboos are not vows or oaths, but certain words forbidden to be uttered as it is believed that they would bring harm or disturbance in a person or family. The English word for that is “Spell” (Deuteronomy 10:10-12). There are also practices forbidden and even places not to be visited, and even food not to be eaten (1 Corinthians 8:4-13). Taboos includes the prohibition to do certain things or sit at a particular places. We are delivered from all fear of magic and taboos. We are forbidden to practice them or encourage people to do them (Colossians 2:22). We do believe that no man has power to inflict harm or cause damage through or by his words from a distance, unless there is demonic connection.

 13 THE CREATION OF MAN AND THE BEGINNING OF THE WORLD There are so many myths about the creation of man and beginning of the world. Almost every tribe or people in Africa has its own story. Majority believe that God created the universe. Others say someone great created the world. Evolution is a concept foreign to African Traditional Religion. There is no clear evidence how the creation took place. Africans has no slightest thought that the universe will come to an end. Man is said to have come from the clay, from marsh, from a hole, from the leg of god, he was brought from the sky to earth. It is thought that at first man was living in harmony and immortality and in fellowship with the Supreme Being (God). Man is the centre of the universe. At that time heaven was very close to earth, and that a rope tied them up. Later on God went away from man because of sin. He went away not to be interested in him forever. There are many reasons given coming from different tribes, as to why God left. God was tired of man’s requests Man wiped his dirty fingers on the sky A woman pounding in her mortar lifted her pestle too high and kept poking God in the eye, and God decided to go up higher. Smoke get into God’s eye, when man set the grass on fire. The hyena broke the rope joining heaven and earth. There is a sense of disobedience on the part of man in all the myths. Consequences Man lost his immortality This came about because God’s messenger was too slow to bring the message to man that he would die. Others say that the hyena was sent with the message that man would die and reach man first. A great division or separation existed which cannot be mended by anyone. What is the biblical doctrine of creation and separation? There are many stories about creation of man in Africa. There are also many myths about the separation of God and man. The Bible teaches that God created man from the dust and gave him the breath of life (Genesis 2:7). Man was created good and righteous according to the likeness of God (Genesis 1:26-28). The Bible teaches that man separated himself from God because of disobedience (Sin): Romans 5:12; Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-16, 22-24. God did not go away from man, but man ran away and hid himself from the presence of God. God showed great interest in man. He also showed His care and love. He sought the man, found him and asked him what happened, disciplined him and reminded him of the consequences of sin (Genesis 3:7-9, 10-24). More than that He promised a deliverer who will come on behalf of man to deal with man’s problem and enemy (Genesis 3:15). 14 God spoke directly with Adam and Eve. He clothed them (Genesis 3:21). Then he banished (sends them out of His garden. Man is born an enemy of God. He sees God as unjust and unapproachable. Man created his own way of appeasing God and worship (Isaiah 53:6; 59:1-2). ATR introduced ancestral worship. All that was rebellion and sinning. Because of the separation there was no relationship between man and God. Man opted to follow the devil and his demons (John 8:44) Jesus, the deliverer, Son of God came to reconcile man to God through the cross (2 Corinthians 5:18- 20; Romans 5:20; John 3:16; 1 Timothy 2:5). 

The weaknesses of ATR • There is no Jesus Christ. There is no Grace and Faith in Christ • There is no special revelation of God through the Scripture. Due to the fact that it is not documented anywhere, it is open to changes and can also be in different form in other ethnic group. • There is no teaching on total depravity and repentance. But there is promotion and encouragement of sin and sinful activities. • God is not concerned about the sin of the people. There is no final judgement (Hell) • There is no hope of the future. Heaven and eternity with God is foreign to an African rooted in ATR. • Salvation is only physical and not spiritual • The mediator of Africans are both saved and unsaved ancestors • This religion promotes fear in the lives of the people • Since then, they have not found the remedy for death. • There are endless sacrifices offered without intended result. The ancestors demand things from the people without providing for them. • It is ethnic and cultural. It depends on specific tradition and culture. • There is no absolute standard of morality (lying, adultery, polygamy, greed, incest, etc.) • It emphasizes nature worship, worship of man and spirits. • Most of its ritual practices are done at night • It claim special revelation in the form of dreams and visions • It is a family, communal religion Why ATR should be rejected? ! It has no inspired Word of God. It contradict the Bible in its understanding of the mediator. ! It does not provide salvation of the soul by grace through in faith in Christ ! It does not have a Saviour ! It does not clarify the purpose of life 

 15 Questions ! Why is ATR still exerting much influence on African people despite many years of intensive missionary work and evangelism? People are sinners from birth. Poor evangelism (pragmatic methods). African Theology encourages appropriation of it. Syncretistic practices in the church. Traditional leaders promote it. Africans do not want to loose what their forefathers established. There is a need of identity. ! Why do those who convert to Christianity return in certain moment of their lives to some aspects of ATR? Lack of discipleship and counselling. Immaturity and bad advice. Parental authority. Profession of faith without genuine conversion. ! What are things that sustain ATR in Africa? Fear: ancestral spirit, witchcraft, taboos, death ! What is the future of ATR? Unsaved Africans start practising ATR at an early age. The traditional leaders hold strongly to ATR. The government leaders (State presidents) are followers of ATR and promote it. Practical questions (Kurios and Morena) • The home of your friend has been struck by lightning twice and one of the children has died already. Your friend asks you what can he do about the problem. What do you advice? • A Christian woman is plagued by disease all the time. Her grandmother who is a traditional healer tells her she should go and be trained to become a traditional healer herself. What should she do? • You have a baby that cries a lot during the night. Other people tell you this problem has something to do with the ancestors spirits. You should probably change the name of the child. What are going to do? • New people have moved in and become your neighbours. Since they move in one of your children has become ill and you yourself have lost your job. People say these people are practicing sorcery on you. What are going to do? • Should the church allow church members to consult ancestors?` • If a church member consult a diviner because of some serious problem, should he or she be disciplined?