The Never Ending

§  Tree of life and  Tree of knowledge of good and Evil

§  Adam and Eves crime was disobedience and this became the original sin of all humans.

o    Sons of Noah:

§  Ham: Hebrews, African race

§  Shem:  Middle people, Semitic, Asian race

§  Japheth: north people, European/ Greek

o    Tree of Abraham: Genealogy of mankind, Middle East, and Israelites.  Islam, Christianity, and Judaism are three parts of the tree.

o    Genesis myth repudiates primogeniture: First born gets privileges and inherits.

·         Apocalypse Myth:

o    Armageddon is seen as synonym.  They are end of the world revelations mostly.

o    Messianism: Comes from the word Moshiach meaning anointed one. They believe that the messiah will bring about the final age.

o    Book of revelations:

§  Written by John Patmos.

§  Tribulation and rapture

§  Seven seals, The Four Horsemen of the apocalypse, Beast 666

§  Wrote of events from his own time, what he thought would happen.   

o    William Miller thought that the world would end in 1884. Even after that time though his followers survived.

§  Became Branch Dravidians ( Branch of David)

§  7^th day Adventist

§  Waco compound fire (suicide attempt)

§  Government did not understand them and then years later on the Waco anniversary a building was bombed.

·         Creating the canon

o    Bible

§  Old Testament: “Tankh” It includes the Torah, N’vim, and Khetuvium.

§  New Testament: Add apocrypha’s, 4 gospels, Acts of apostles, and Book of revelations.

o    Dead sea scrolls:

§  Written by Essenes

§  The contain OT works, Manual of discipline, war scroll, copper scroll, and temple scroll.

o    Gnostic gospels:

§  Created by Gnostic Christian heretics who believed in ghosts

§  Gospel of Thomas (Stigmata), Gospel of Phillip (Believed that Mary Magdalene was Jesus’ companion), etc.

o    Council of Nicaea:

§  Called by emperor Contantine of Rome. They drafted a NT canon and denied/ accepted what went in it. They wanted to create a unified Christian dogma for a united nation.

·         Miracle

o    Apparition of Fatima: She appears in front of three children and gives three prophecies.

o    Stigmata: manifestation of mystical wounds of the passion of the Christ.

o    Glossolalia: “speaking of tongues” People believe that they are speaking an ancient language but it is really just gibberish.

o    Shroud of Turin: Can be traced back to the 13^th or 14^th century. It is believed that it might be a depiction of Jesus but it is too tall for this to be true.

·         Modern Mythology

o    Urban legends spread via internet. They are products of city life.

o    The illuminati were founded by Adam Weishaupt. They tried to take over Masonic lodges all over Europe in an attempt to spark a revolution against the corrupt church.

o    Freemasons: It is a society with secrets. They teach moral precepts through use of building tools, myths, legends, etc.

§  Might have started with guilds of traveling journeymen.

§  Begun as a ritual practice by ex-knights of templar (Temple of Solomon)

§  Or they might derive from ancient cults.

§  Traced back to Grand lodge in England in 1717.

Mysticism

·         Principles of magic

o    Sympathetic: similarity

o    Contagious: contact

·         Forms of mysticism:

o    Jewish- Kabbalah- Gematria

o    Christian- Gnostic- Rosicrusians

o    Islamic- Sufis- Dervishes

o    Freemasons- sacred geometry

o    Alchemy- alchemists

·         Famous mystics

o    Pythagoras: Music of spheres

o    Plato

o    St. Theresa of Avila: Carmelite

o    Dante Alighieri: Visions

o    Julian of Norwich: God is a mother

o    St. Francis of Assisi: 1^st stigmatic

o    Joan of Arc: Visions, she is now a saint

o    Baal Shem Tor: Hasidic master of the good name

·         Limits of rationality

o    Malinowski and the Trobianders said “magic begins at the limits of rationality.

o    Baseball magic: Players have rituals that they perform

·         Altered states

o    Types

§  REM Dreaming

§  Astral projection: OBE, NDE

§  Hypnotic trance

§  Night hag: hypnogogic/ hypnomorphic

§  Spirit possession (dissociation)

§  Psychedelic/ hallucinogenic states,

§  Automatisms: Somnambulism, Glossolalia, automatic writing

o    Brain waves

§  Beta: Waking consciousness

§  Alpha: Day dreaming, light trance

§  Theta: REM dreaming, deep trance

§  Delta: Deep sleep, unconsciousness

o    Hypnosis

§  First called mesmerism after Anton Mesmer

§  Mesmer said that he could heal people through their animal magnetism but Charot found that all he was doing was putting people in a trance and he renamed it hypnosis. Sigmund Freud used hypnosis.

o    Brain structures

§  Reticular activating formation: located at the base of the spinal cord. It governs sleep and waking.

§  Pineal Gland: Located on the frontal area of brain. It releases neurohormones with changing light.

§  Left/Right brain hemisphere: analytic and creative side, cross wire. Connected at the corpus collusum.

§  Temporal lobe: Located above both ears, side of the brain.  Stimulation causes visions and sensed presence.

·         Entheogens

o    Plants/ drugs consumed for religious purpose

Santo Daime (Brazil)

Ayahuasca

Native American church

Peyote

Rastadorians (Jamaica)

Cannabis

Wiccans

Night shade, mandrake, etc

Peruvians

Coca leaf

Ravers

Ecstacy

Eleusis

Ergot

Aryans

Fly Agaric

·         Syncretism

o    Hybrid religion that combines two earlier religions. In new world most combine African polytheism with Catholic Christianity. They have been influenced by European spiritualism.

o    Santeria

§  Originated in Cuban slaves

§  Practitioners: Santeros or babalaos

§  Shrines: are usually found in people’s homes but paraphernalia can be found at botanicas.

§  Controversies: Animal sacrifices ( sued in Hialeah)

§  Intercessors: Orisha, Chango, Yemaya.

o    Vodun

§  Origin: Haiti

§  Practitioners: hougans/ mambos

§  Shrines: Peristyle sanctuary

§  Controversies: Zombies?

§  Intercessors: Iwa, Legba, Erzulie

o    Zombis

§  According to Wade Davis this is when people are paralyzed by a toxin that makes them appear dead and are then buried alive (Tetrodotoxin).

o    Rastafai

§  Originated in Jamaica when preachers were attracted to the message of Marcus Garvey.

§  They believe that Haile Selassise I is the African Messiah, that Ethiopia is the land of Zion, and that Jamaica is the Babylon Diaspora.

§  They have dread locks and “I-Tai”

§  Controversies: They use ganja in rituals.

§  They combine Christianity with Ethiopian Coptic Orthodoxy.

·         Revitalization movements

o    A deliberate, organized, conscious effort by members of a society to construct a more satisfying culture.

o    Characteristics of these movements:

§  Often Nativist- nationalists

§  Millenarian/ apocalyptic

§  Messainic

§  Reactionary- Traditionalist

§  Prophetic: founded by “trance prophet”

§  Usually anti-colonial

§  Syncretistic

§   Caused by deprivation: ethnical, social, economic, etc.

o    Stages of formation

§  Steady state

§  Increased individual/ social stress

§  Cultural distortion