#pre-vedic

[meluhha]

khatti (ancient Hittites of present-day Syria)

= kshatriya (warrior caste)/ khatri caste of punjab

not a coincidence that the first Sanskrit inscriptions were found in that region:

“the Hittites were never enemies in the Hebrew texts; in the Book of Kings, they supplied the Israelites with cedar, chariots, and horses, and in the Book of Genesis were friends and allies to Abraham” (wassup Brahma etc)

#india #south asia #punjab #kshatriya #warrior #caste #casteism #khatri #syria #hittite #ancient history #prehistory #pre history #sanskrit #vedic #aryan #indo european #brahmin #hindutva #jew #jewish #juda #israel #hebrew #abraham #brahma

[jumpforjoyae]

Exploring the Enchantment of Mussafah Kindergarten

Mussafah Kindergarten, a haven for learning and discovery in the vibrant neighborhood of Mussafah. This educational institution stands as a beacon of childhood development, providing a nurturing environment where young minds flourish and flourish.

#painting classes for kids mussafah #pre kg schools in mussafah #abacus classes near me #rubik cube for kids mussafah #mussafah kindergarten #vedic maths for kids mussafah #classes #coding #course #education

[metamatar]

here's some contextual reading on what the hindu right's recent fixations with history are by marxist historian irfan habib.

this is a layman's overview of the scientific discourses that hindutva seeks to discredit

#hindutva #aryan invasion theory #india

[aqualibr]

About Me Aka Welcome To My Blog

art by pombogay.

Hello. My name’s Mariana, I’m 19 years old and a lover of astrology. I’ve been studying it since I was a pre teen and while I don’t consider myself a professional astrologer I try and educate myself as much as I can.

My observations belong to tropical and I don’t really understand Vedic but I respect those that practice it. Not fully into Hellenistic but find it really useful.

Summary of my chart if you’re interested:

- Aquarius Sun conj Neptune both in the 7th house / Virgo moon square Mars and Pluto, both in Sagittarius doing a conj / Cancer rising conj Saturn and Lilith / Capricorn Mercury, Venus and Chiron in the 7th house.

In Vedic I’m a Purva Phalguni Nakshatra and a Shravana sun/mercury/venus + Jyestha mars.

Observations List:

Ascendant Notes I

Ascendant Notes II

Rando Astro Notes

Moon Square Mars

Ironic Astrology Things

Venus Signs As Fruits

Mars Preferences in Men +18 Notes

Songwriters Being Their Rising Sign I

#astrology #astrology community #astro notes #astro observations #astroblr #tropical astrology #vedic astrology #astrology18+

[tamblr]

Intro to Tantric Shaivism

Shiva as a god is someone who has been deeply influential in my personal spiritual journey. From watching both Lord Ram and Ravana pray to him to seeing the relationship between Shiva and Shakthi, I was always intuitively fascinated by him and that led naturally to intellectual curiosity. In the previous write up I had summarised the meaning of Tantra, this is a small introduction to Shaivism. 

Shaivism is the worship of Lord Shiva as the supreme being. It is an ancient Hindu sect that is an amalgamation of pre Vedic and Vedic traditions. As such, some scholars have dated the sect to the Indus Valley civilisation at 2500-2000 BCE. 

Shaivism has many schools of thought, two of the most popular ones being: Saiva siddhanta and Kashmiri Shaivism from which we will draw most of the metaphysics, philosophy and cosmology from but first…

Who or what is Shiva? 

The answer to this question itself could be a series all on its own but here’s two etymologies from two of the most ancient languages: Tamil and Sanskrit.

I was reading this incredible novel called Kottravai where the author describes the etymology of the word, Sivam, this is my very rough translation of the tamil text, “from the word meaning, life (Siivam), the people named their lord sivam”. From sivam comes siivan, more predominantly pronounced as jiivan meaning soul or living being. 

Indeed, one of the most ancient names of the lord is pasu-pati, lord (pati) of animals (pasu). In Saiva Siddhanta, pasu is has a further meaning of soul so the lord of souls. 

According to Monier-Williams, the Sanskrit word "Shiva" means "auspicious, propitious, gracious, benign, kind, benevolent, friendly". The root words of shiva in folk etymology are śī which means "in whom all things lie, pervasiveness" and va which means "embodiment of grace”.

While the Tamil etymology talks about who he is, the Sanskrit one gives a description of his characteristics. 

But what is he? 

He is sat-cit-ananda (being-consciousness-bliss). Or more succinctly, the universal consciousness. Kashmiri Shaivism talks about the universal consciousness as having two characteristics: prakasa (light) and vimarsa (reflective awareness) and talks about the universal consciousness as being the efficient cause whose effect is the vibration of consciousness (spanda). Here it should be noted that cause and effect are reciprocal processes where cause leads to effect and effect back to cause.

While we talk about Shiva as masculine, it is important to note that Shiva and Shakthi are a dual principle, like two sides of the same coin where Shakthi is the instrumental cause whose effect is pure energy (kundalini Shakthi). Symbolised in Ardhanadishwara.

Similarly, while Shaivism and vaishnavism are at odds with each other in many aspects, the old name for Visnu in the Tamil was Mayon, the personification of Maya (material reality, illusion) and Shaivite traditions agree that Maya is another aspect of Shakthi. The duality of Shiva and Vishnu is symbolised in Hari-Hara.

Proof of existence 

Saiva siddhanta, a school popular in South India is a philosophical school that is based on theistic realism and therefore offers a rational argument for why the universal consciousness should exist. The proof first begins with 3 laws:

All existing things have arisen and must at some time be destroyed. 

Law I, to the thesis that the world in its entirety must have been created at one point of time, and, again at one point of time, will in its entirety be destroyed; the world has a beginning and an end. 

Everything that gets destroyed must arise again; something that exists cannot become a nothing. 

Law 2, that the world's history will not end with its destruction, but that after a certain time it will be created anew out of itself; a new world-creation will follow a world- destruction. 

Whatever arises must have existed before; a nothing can't turn into an existent something

Law 3, that an eternal living something must form the basis of this world, out of which it was created, and into which it will at some time be resolved, and from which it will at another time again be created.

But why Shiva?

Why is Shiva the personification of the universal consciousness? The answer given is quite simple. 

There is a popular Tamil saying: ‘Anbe Sivam’ which means ‘love is Shiva’ or ‘shiva is love’. To quote from Saiva siddhanta: “You must worship what engages your love, you disciples of advaita.” Advaita means non-duality of subject and object and talks about the relationship between the individual soul and the divine. So from their perspective, anything that fuels your love is your personification of the divine and for Shaivites due to the history, culture and religion, Shiva is who engages their love and hence their devotion.

This is where the idea of Tantra comes into play. ‘The exploration of the inner cosmos is Tantra that helps one discover the inner architecture of one’s self and its relationship with the outer world.’ Tantric Shaivism is essentially the exploration and recognition of the soul and its relationship to Shiva, the personification of the universal consciousness.

Why use a personification?

the soul has three faculties: knowledge, will, action 

it needs something to lean on, which it then imitates and assimilates

its faculties need to be set in motion by some impulse from outside.

When you love something, you desire to understand it, be with it and you immerse your thoughts in it. In other words, you develop devotion. This is what you lean on. The qualities of the personification of the universal consciousness as being auspicious, benevolent, full of grace enable the soul to be able to imitate it and assimilate with it. This love is fuelled by culture, mythology and other personal experiences unique to each individual so theology helps set in motion the faculties of the soul. 

Knowledge - Knowledge can roughly be of two types: intellectual knowledge and instinctual knowledge. Instinctual knowledge is brought about by faith and the faith is strengthened through intellectual knowledge gathered from reading scripture, philosophy etc. Sometimes instinct can give rise to intellectual curiosity and other times intellectual exploration can give rise to a deity that is instinctually recognised by the soul. 

Will - the will is simply the ability of a person to concentrate completely on the divine and is fuelled by devotion and resilience of one’s faith and this initiates action.

Action - action is the performance of inner (meditation, chanting mantras) and outer (puja, yoga) rituals acting as a symbolic union from which the actual union with the divine occurs

One of my main resources was the book Saiva Siddhanta: An Indian School of mystical thought in addition to other resources which I would be happy to link if anyone is curious.

#hinduism #hindu gods #religion #theology #tantra #spirituality #hindublr #lord shiva

[kairologia]

astrology readings

READINGS ARE: OPEN

Below are all the services that I currently offer. Prices are listed in front of each service, plus a description of what each reading entails & what to expect. Feel free to dm if you have any questions.

→ I use:

— Western Tropical Astrology

— Traditional Hellenistic Astrology

— Whole Sign House System

→ I do not use:

— Placidus HS

— Degree Theory

— Modern Rulers (Pluto for Scorpio, Neptune for Pisces and Uranus for Aquarius)

— Vedic Astrology (I can look into it, but I am not proficient enough to offer full-blown readings!)

Readings typically take 3-10 days depending on their length/how busy I am (hence the limited amount of readings I can take at a given time). As my readings are penned by me, do not ever expect an immediate return with the end product within 24h. Copypasted pre-made readings from logicials or 4i defeat the point of the practice as each chart is extremely personal & individual and I do not believe in a one-size fits all approach. Of course, I shall keep you updated on the process and even send you snippets as you wait for the end product.

P.S : the precise time, date, and place of birth are important to give accurate information.

LIST OF SERVICES

THOROUGH NATAL CHART ANALYSIS $45

Following this template.

Includes:

· A full breakdown of your houses (whole sign house system) & their lords, with an emphasis on angular houses.

· A thorough analysis of every traditional planet.

· The role each planet plays in your chart.

· The major, most influential aspects the planet makes.

· bonus: an answer to a specific question using your natal chart.

SYNASTRY $35

Curious about the synastry between you + someone else? This reading dives deeper into the matter. Note: this reading isn’t only for romantic relationships and can be used to look at familial and platonic relationships.

CAREER ANALYSIS 30$

For people trying to change career paths, or find a path in alignment with their chart.

SINGLE'S LOVE READING 25$

If you’re single but still curious about your eros, blocks, romantic attraction & how to put yourself out there utilizing your chart as an aide— this reading is for you.

MINI NATAL CHART READING $25

A smaller, condensed natal chart reading wherein I assess your big three & houses & look for interesting natal chart finds.

ADD-ONS $5

3-card reading to accompany any of the aforementioned readings!

How to book/pay: DM me directly and I’ll walk you through the process.

#astrology #astro notes #astrological observations #hellenistic astrology #astro observations #astrology readings #astrology signs #tarot #tarot reading #zodiac #natal chart #birth chart #birth chart reading #natal chart reading #natal charts #astrology services

[shamandrummer]

The Many Lives of Mongolian Shamanism

The following is excerpted from Sky Shamans of Mongolia: Meetings with Remarkable Healers by Kevin Turner.

For thousands of years, Mongolia has been a nexus of Eurasian shamanisms that competed, mixed, and meshed across our planet's largest continent. Shamanism appears to have emerged with the very dawn of human consciousness, but archeologists can probably speak with confidence about only the past 30,000 to 70,000 years.

Archeological discoveries in Eurasia alone indicate that the practice of shamanism reaches back at least to 35,000 BCE, easily making shamanism the oldest spiritual practice known to mankind. Modern religious faiths such as Buddhism and Christianity are toddlers in comparison, and psychology is a mere newborn.

The word shaman originated from the Tungusic tribal language groups (from areas to the north and east of Mongolia), which are related to Mongolic languages. These are both part of the broader Altaic language group, which includes Turkic, Manchurian, and scores of other Inner Asian and Siberian languages, and may include Korean and Japanese at the easternmost reach. The modern term "shaman" has now been adopted by many as a catch-all word to describe those who by spiritual means seek direct access to information and healing power not ordinarily available.

The nomadic northern Siberian shamanic traditions tend to retain the highly individualistic aspects of shamanism; by contrast, a most interesting facet of Mongolian and Inner Asian shamanism is the amalgamation of the shamans' direct experiences of other realities with a religious belief system known as Tengerism (Heaven or Sky God-ism). Tengerism originated in Sumeria, one of humanity's earliest civilizations, and probably derived from the early experiences of the shamans, prophets, and mystics of pre-Mesopotamian eras.

The modern Mongolian term Tenger (or Tengri), meaning both "sky realms" and "sky spirits," almost certainly derives from the Sumerian word Dingir, also meaning both "sky realm(s)" and "deity(-ies)." The concept of divinity in Sumerian was closely associated with the heavens, evident from the shared cuneiform sign for both heaven and sky, and from the fact that its earliest form is a star shape. The name of every deity in Sumerian is prefixed by a star symbol.

Mircea Eliade proposed that Tengrism may be the closest thing we have found to a reconstructed proto-Indo-European religion. It is also evident that Tengrism's three-layered worldview is nearly identical to the tripartite world found in many kinds of shamanism, as well as the Vedic triloka ("three realms") world structure.

In Mongolian, one who travels the realms of the Tengers is called a Tengeri--"sky-dweller; sky-walker." I like to think that Luke Skywalker, the young warrior-shaman Jedi knight of the fictional Star Wars films, may have inherited his name from this tradition. Interestingly, the BBC reports that in censuses taken in 2001 regarding spiritual beliefs, hundreds of thousands of people selected "Jediism" as their faith of choice--such is the power of shamanism even in our modern myths and legends.

The earliest authenticated records of Mongolian shamanism go back to the beginnings of the Hunnu Dynasty, 209-93 CE (also known as the Xiongnu in Chinese records). Mongolian legend tells us that, during this time, a nine-year-old Hunnu boy united with a she-wolf, engendering the modern-day Mongolian people. The headdress of a shaman (circa 300–100 BCE) was found in one of the graves of Noin-Ula (Mongolian: Noyon uulyn bulsh) in northern Mongolia, and is strikingly similar to the Mongol Darkhad headdress of today. The fabric's colors, weaving methods, and embroidery are also similar to those found in fabric produced by Scythians in the Greek colonies on the Black Sea coast, leading scholars to draw links between these ancient cultures. (Scythian tribal areas were just west of Mongolian territories.)

According to historian and researcher Otgony Purev, shamans played an important role in diplomatic efforts and treaties with neighboring nations. The Hunnu emperors even constructed permanent shamanic shrines, and encouraged individual shamans to synthesize their diverse practices into a national religion. "Shamanist religion" then became part of the organizational basis of governmental and military activity.

Shamanism became the main source of education and ideology for the earliest pre-Mongol states. This continued for nearly 400 years, and ties to education remain influential in the Mongolian shamanic revival even today. With the disintegration of the Hunnu Dynasty, institutionalized shamanism returned to its more natural, individualistic and autonomous forms across a series of disparate Inner Asian kingdoms that spanned a millennium.

#mongolian shamanism #Mongolia #shamanism #shamans #book excerpt

[chiptrillino]

It's a shame fans ignore Hari Bulkan. It's very clearly a nod to Dante Basco's Filipino heritage and a way of keeping that significance alive since most of the ATLA voice actors were white instead of Asian. Although the word "Bulcan" itself comes from the influence of Spanish colonization (I cannot emphasize how horrific that colonization was and continues to be horrific on our culture; they burned everything to the point my own parents didn't know we had our own writing system, a pantheon of gods, and the fact the word "bahala" [a word Filipinos use at least once a day] comes from the name Bathala, our creator god). Hari Bundok would have been more accurate in the sense that pre-colonial Filipinos' word for mountains and volcanos are the same since, being a nation of over 7000 islands, most mountains ARE volcanos and there was no need for that distinction because we were the inhabitants.

Hari does mean king or monarch in Tagalog, but (coincidentally [?]) is also one of the names of the Hindu deity Vishnu. I say coincidentally[?] because the pre-colonial Philippines was a major trading point and essential "pit-stop" en route. Our pre-colonial writing system, Baybayin, is a brahmic script, meaning it a descendant of the Brahmi script of ancient India!

And of course, Agni is a Hindu deity. Agni lost prominence in the later/post Vedic Era, but scholars believe they were foundational to creator-preserver-destroyer thought in Hinduism, which is also significant when looking at Zuko's personal and spiritual journey and a wielder of fire.

I bring all this up not only because of representation in ATLA and ATLA fandom, but also because of the negative "social hierachry" treatment India and Southeast Asia experiences within greater Asia. We are browner, considered inferior, less beautiful, less culturally sophisticated, and have experienced a history of violent colonism more frequently, and sometimes beneath the heel of, our East and Northeast Asian cousins. For anyone with Indian or Southeast Asian heritage, that common feeling was named by comedian Ali Wong who distinguished between "fancy Asians" versus "jungle Asians"

That was really informative! Thank you for taking the time to share this with me!

#atla

[transgenderer]

On the Norse, Indic, and Iranian stories of the origin of the world from the dismembered bodies of a god, from "The Indo-European Myth of Creation", Lincoln, 1975

The general resemblance among these texts is certainly quite clear. In all of them a primordial being is killed and dismembered, and from his body the cosmos is fashioned.28 Yet, there are differences in each account (beyond the petty difference that the body-world homologies do not always match up), and it is evident that certain transformations have taken place within each culture and within each text. The dismemberment is performed by gods intwo of the accounts and by a demon in the third. The victim is accompanied by an ox in one text, a cow in another, and has no companion in the third. The act is treated as a sacrifice once, but as murder twice. Most perplexingly, the names of the victims bear no resemblance to one another. The primordial victim is Ymir in Scandinavia, Gayomart in Iran, and Purusa in India. The question must arise: Are these figures who are structurally so similar really related in any historical way ?

The answer is certainly yes, and it is here that the Old Norse version best preserves the P-I-E heritage. Old Norse Ymir, as Guintert first demonstrated, is derived from Proto-Germanic *yumlyaz, which in turn is derived from P-I-E *ya2m(i)y6s (*Ymr[mi]y6s, as it might be written in a more modern orthography), a term intimately related to P-I-E *yemo- "twin."29 This word corresponds to Lettishjumis, "double fruit"; Middle Irish emuin, "twin"; Latin geminus, "twin"; Avestan yama, "twin"; and, most significantly, to the proper names Avestan Yima = Sanskrit Yama, which literally signify "twin" as well.30 Based on this phonological and semantic correspondence, we hypothesize that there was originally a mythic correspondence and that all are derived from a figure in the P-I-E myth.

Iranian evidence supports this hypothesis, for behind the figure of Gay6mart we may discern the older figure of Yima.3' The way in which this transformation took place is somewhat complex. First, it must be recognized that in pre-Zoroastrian Iran, Yima was not merely king of the golden age, but, as Christensen so skillfully demonstrated, was regarded as first king, first mortal, and first to die.32 This tradition, however, was rejected by Zarathustra, who soundly condemns Yima the only time that he mentions him (Yasna 32.8). There is one verse, however, in which Zarathustra does make an oblique reference to the myth of creation by sacrifice: YASNA 30.4 And when these two spirits first met [the good and evil spirits], they instituted Life (gaem) and non-life, and how life should be at the end.33 Moreover, these two spirits are said to have "appeared in the beginning as two twins (yjmd) in a dream."34

In these verses several eminent Iranists have recognized that Zarathustra attempted to deal with an earlier myth of creation which he found objectionable but which he could not completely ignore.35 Thus, he philosophized the myth, changing its characters into abstract entities, but retaining the essential mythologem that the first living man died at the creation of the world. Ironically, however, a re-mythologization of Zarathustra's version took place in later centuries. In the verse cited above, the Avestan term translated "life" is gaya-, which in the Younger Avesta is often combined with the term maratan-, "mortal"36 to form the name given the first mortal man, who was created and died at the beginning of the world-Gaya maratan.37 This name comes into the Pahlavi (Middle Persian) of our Bundahisn text as Gayomart. Thus, the development is Middle Persian Gayomart < Younger Avestan Gaya maratan < Gathic Avestan gaya < Pre-Zoroaster Yima

In India, too, it seems that the figure of Yama lies behind the Purusa of the Vedic hymn. Most scholars have agreed that Yama is another First Man/First King figure and have also noted that he is the first to die, thus establishing the realm of the dead.45 Several scholars, however, have been willing to go somewhat further and equate his freely chosen death and his abandonment or transcendence (< Skt. pra-Vric-) of his body as in RV 10.13.4 with the sacrifice in Purusa in RV 10.90.46 As Dandekar, who most effectively argued the case, put it, the Purusasuikta is merely a more detailed setting of the Yama myth of RV 10.13.4.47 In light of the comparison to Ymir and Yima, I am inclined to agree. The name Purusa literally means "Man" and seems to be a title born of philosophical and theological speculation. Such speculation changed this figure's name again in the Brahmanas, as Purusa, "Man," became Prajapati, "Lord of Creatures,' but the under-lying story is still the same.48 The morphological and structural features convince us that this is the same figure encountered in Iran and Scandinavia-*Yenlo, "Twin"-first king49 and first sacrificial victim, from whose body the world was made.

honestly the purusa connection seems kind of dubious (although i mean, yama being a first-man figure and purusa just meaning "man" does seem like a strong association) but i love how elaborate and yet imo totally plausible the yima->gayomart transformation is

also if youre curious, lincoln argues that dismembering-god-to-make-the-world stories arent independent even though we see an example that should be independent in china, he argues that's influence from india. he also alludes to a similar polynesian and south american myth which must be independent but he doesnt give any details and i cant find any so no idea whats going on there

[jeannereames]

Concerning the ancient sources for Alexander the Great, I noticed you mention time and again many Roman writings, like Arrian. Do we not have any noteworthy Eastern sources dealing with Alexander? - Persian, even if contemporary to Rome, for example? Or from the territories he conquered or fought in

Great question and...alas, not really. See below, but first, here is a collection of pretty much all we have on Persia, by Amelie Kuhrt. It's currently pretty on sale, so grab it now if you want it.

Sources from Achaemenid Persia are few and far between, as much of it didn't survive Alexander (not necessarily intentionally). There are Babylonian and other Mesopotamian chronicles, which are important. We also have the Achaemenid Royal Inscriptions. But the ancient near east didn't write narrative history in the same way Greece and Rome did. Kuhrt discusses ANE traditions in her book.

We also have Indian traditions about him, but these are in languages Classicists rarely/never read, alas. But there has been some important work done on Alexander in Vedic traditions. MORE NEEDS TO BE DONE. We need to be talking more to our Indian colleagues.

Finally, there is work on the archaeology of Central Asia, as well, but the reports are primarily in Russian. Look up material on the Greco-Baktrian Kingdom.

So it's there, but not in the massive amounts we get from the West. The Sasanids do talk about Alexander...and it's not flattering. But we just don't have a lot pre-Sasanid.

#asks #ancient Persia #Achaemenid Persia #ancient Persian sources #Indian sources on Alexander #central Asian archaeology #Greco-Baktrian kingdom #Achaemenid Royal Inscriptions #Babylonian Chronicles #Mesopotamian Chronicles #non-Western sources on Alexander the Great #Alexander the Great #Classics #ANE studies #ancient near east

[nashaalya]

a few notes on studying pre-christian slavic religion:

anything ever written about slavic polytheism by v. ivanov and v. toponov is wrong. these people would claim bacchus to be a hypostasis of the buddha if they could. in general i'd say russian scholarship on slavic polytheism is quite poor, on account of the flourishing of rodnovery and similar pagan revival movements in the country—a bummer, bc the rus' are one of the two main sources on pre-christian slavic religion we have. the 'purest' records of slavic paganism we have come from where it was forgotten, where theonyms were relegated to toponymy and pre-christian rituals survived only in half-remembered folk proverbs; where neopaganism and romantic nationalism touched pre-christian slavic polytheism, they mutilated it (sometimes irreparably)

the other main source we have are the accounts of the rites and beliefs of polabian slavs—a bummer, bc the polabians appear to had practiced a deeply divergent form of slavic religion. the (taboo?) replacement of more-or-less all theonyms with honorifics and euphemisms is particularly exasperating. i imagine this was partially due to their placement at the western edge of the slavic world, and partially due to the effects of their resistance against germanic settler colonialism and christian proselytisation on polabian society and ritual

the relationship of slavic religion with that of the indo-iranian peoples is. complicated. the contact between the two was quite intense and very long, and the influence of iranic peoples (through the scythians, in particular) on early slavic society was immense. reconstructing what slavic religion looked like before iranisation is impossible, though baltic folklore might prove helpful as a point of comparison. well, unless balto-slavic and indo-iranian do in fact constitute a single clade within the indo-european family—in which case the similarities between the two might as well be ascribed to recent common descent

on the topic of (indo-)iranians—the question of a zoroastrian substrate in pre-christian slavic religion remains open! the main point of debate is the etymology of proto-slavic *divë, 'giant; demon'. descendants of the reconstructed form appear to be mostly restricted to south slavic languages, which might point to the word being borrowed from (the systematically persianised ottoman redaction of) turkish. even if the word was borrowed from proto-iranic *daywáh (whence daeva, 'demon'), iranic influence on the slavs goes way, way back before zoroaster's reforms; attempts to outright extrapolate slavic cosmology from zoroastrianism are bunk. there is no evidence of dualism in pre-christian slavic religion

so! basically: if you must compare slavic religion with other indo-european faiths, compare it with baltic religion first; iranian (scythian, etc.) religion second; indo-aryan (vedic) religion third; and germanic + finnic religions fourth, if only to sieve out the possibility of borrowings. the kievan rus' appear to have directly borrowed some deities from the iranians (like khors), without even modifying their names or bothering with interpretatio slavica—i pray the origin of other borrowed deities is just as transparent

#i'm ordinarily not this utterly preoccupied w slavic paganism #but this is the first time i've ever devoted serious attention to the subject despite being mildly interested in it for years #vampire poasting shall resume shortly

[jumpforjoyae]

Build a Strong Foundation of Learning in Your Child by Enrolling Them in Master Preschool in Abu Dhabi Mussafah

Many parents have a thought that preschool is not important and it has no useful impact on the child. So, if you are also thinking the same, here in this blog, we will take you on a tour of the importance & impact of master preschool in Abu Dhabi Mussafah on child development.

#painting classes for kids mussafah #pre kg schools in mussafah #abacus classes near me #mussafah kindergarten #rubik cube for kids mussafah #vedic maths for kids mussafah #education #kids #vedic maths #preschool #painting #coding #course #classes #drawing #rubik cube

[miirshroom]

Elden Ring Starting Classes

Compiling the true history of the Lands Between cannot be done by using only information internal to the game world. It is not meant to be. When the meaning of the in-game dialogue and other text is ambiguous, players will fill in the blanks with their own biases - *and will not know that they are doing this*. Having the story be open to interpretation does not mean "all interpretations are equal", it means that it is very revealing the things that any given person may assume when solving an open ended question.

So that is partly how I had arrived at using the starting classes as way to organize the types of external information that can help understand the metaphysical nature of the Lands Between.

Hero - Nepheli Loux wears the Champion Set, which indirectly ties this starting class to Hoarah Loux. Consider how the step-by-step classic Hero's Journey would have applied to Hoarah Loux's conquest.

Warrior - There are several scattered items in the game connecting this class to the Blind Swordsman who sealed the God of Rot. Consider how the inconsistent description of this character resembles folklore. Ainsel, Chelona, and Eiglay are examples of direct references to folk tales and mythology, but there are many more parallels to be found.

Bandit - The bandit relies on crafting items such as arrows and efficiently using and countering status effects. They pay attention to the natural landscape. There are many animals and trees in the Lands Between that can be researched to learn more about their cultural significance and biology.

Prophet - Find the parallels to real world religious practices (pre-history, pagan, Christian, etc) and burial rites. View the Lands Between as an afterlife populated by gods and souls. Also consider that one of the ways to understand the history of the Lands Between is as a step-by-step process through the tarot major arcana (where many steps are reverse readings).

Confessor - Understand the secret goals of the Golden Order. Interpret the story told through classical alchemic elements, where the desired end result is gold and the rebis. Also consider Jungian psychology which is structured around persona, self, anima/animus, and shadow. And overall understand that alchemy is a fools errand and its failure is the reason for the Shattering.

Vagabond - The vagabond has the appearance of a classic knight and is an exile from another land. Approach the game as a Dark Souls veteran. Interpret symbolic elements in the context of past Dark Souls games - what is deliberately the same and what is different?

Samurai - Approach the game as a stranger in a strange land. Pay attention to exact words and phrasing - assume that there are no outright lies, but that some of the phrasing is deliberately misdirecting. Also pay attention to the words themselves - most names have meaningful interpretations if you look up the translation or definition. Assume that there is a story behind every proper noun. Also *Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice* literally takes place in Ashina the "Land of Reeds".

Astrologer - interpret the fate in the stars. Research the Real World Western Constellations and there are a lot of parallels between major players, enemy types, and animals in the story - with specific attention to the "fate of the Carian Royal Family". For a start *Three Sisters* is both a constellation and a name for the Greek Fates. Also study the history of astronomy from antiquity until the current understanding that the sun is a star.

Prisoner - The Prisoner uses Carian Sorcery which places the moon and stars as equal. Vedic Astrology. A form of astrology that determines a person's personality type according to the position of the moon among the 12 zodiac constellations at time of birth. The entire history of the Lands Between is approximately structured as following a wheel of astrological progression.

Wretch - The Wretch is mostly interpreted in the context of every other class. Overall, evokes the extreme difficulty of trying to brute force an understanding without using any external reference as framework.

There are also some observations that cross categories. There is language of colour in visuals of the various aspects of the game, including plant-life, clothing, status effects and item descriptions. Gemstones of various colours have real world associations with months of the year, the planets, and chakras. Architecture and statues have parallels to real world cultures. Understanding how the history of real world metallurgy and chemistry evolved from roots in alchemy is also helpful.

Anyways, that's just an overview of the external stuff that is relevant. There are a lot of elements to environmental storytelling that are also being overlooked.

#elden ring #elden ring lore #media analysis #I see a deconstruction and I try to put the pieces back together again #It would be a lot easier if more people understood what it means that everyone and everything is a different aspect of the same One Great #Soul = thought #Entire Lands Between is a land of thought and memory - it's a mindscape

[kaladinkholins]

i love being southeast asian.

despite whatever unhappy history, despite the rise of ethnonationalism and racism in our countries; despite the fact that most of us remain in the global south under the invisible thumb of western empires and conglomerates, exploited by rich expats and beg-packers; despite the conservatism, the bigotry, the pain and prejudice and the corruption.

despite all that, i love where i am from. this is my home.

my hands tenderly trace the lines of our history and find within it a colourful collection of influences that continue to shape us until today:

the native malays, javanese, sundanese, minangkabau, bugis, visayan, tagalog, and other dominant peoples.

alongside indigenous tribes like the iban, kadazan, sama-bajau, temuan, penan, jakun, and hundreds upon hundreds more ethnic groups.

all of us holding onto our ancestors' mysticism and spirituality and animism, the watchful gaze of legacy fixed on us as we move through an ever-changing and modernising world (and what is modernity anyway? isn't civilisation overrated?).

and then the chinese peoples. the hainanese, hokkien and cantonese and more, many of whom came here due to trade in the pre-colonial era, but then most arrived as the imported labour for the colonial powers.

but this is their home too. we live here together, and through them we all celebrate lunar new year and the mid-autumn festival. all of us give red envelopes during our many festivals. we give oranges that symbolise prosperity and ring in the year of the rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat. we hold lion dance performances in our malls and marks. we eat and exchange mooncakes.

and then the indian peoples, though mostly tamil indians from south india, but also sikhs, malayalis, and punjabis, who arrived and assimilated and spread their culture and beliefs much earlier before the pre-colonial era, causing the indianisation of southeast asia. then more indian peoples came during the colonial era, again, as imported labour, working our fields or donning the uniform of our common oppressors, kept walled away from us despite how alike we look and sound.

because truly we do sound the same. sanskrit remains an abundant source for a large chunk of our languages. i hear the vedic mantras and can pick apart words that sound familiar. hinduism and buddhism still leaves its traces in our cultures even for those of us who've shifted to islam.

and yes, islam. we're not what the west thinks of when they talk about the muslim world, but southeast asia has some of the largest muslim populations in the world. because through trade, since the medieval times, islam came here and with it brought so many arabic influences that has come to shape our languages and customs, with plenty of our cultures having since been morphed around islamic beliefs and ideas. in malaysia and indonesia and brunei (and perhaps even certain parts of the philippines) you'll find a mosque or a prayer room everywhere you go. and every ramadan millions of us fast, every eid all of us dress up and visit each other's houses for feasts and festivities.

then of course came european colonisation at the hands of the portugese, dutch, british (in malaysia and indonesia's case we got all three), spanish, and french their reigns lasting over 400 years. and from them we came european culture and more new languages, english quickly becoming a second language (or even a first language) for so many of us, missionaries building churches and spreading the word of jesus christ as the son of god; with their fair features they draw a line between us and them, between the civilised and the barbarians, between the light-haired light-eyed and the unruly dark-haired dark-eyed.

and then comes world war 2 and the japanese invasion, and for most it was so brutal and violent, and for the rest it was miserable, with famine and inflation but we were forced to sing songs in japanese anyway, to watch their planes fly in the sky towards their enemies, to swallow their ideas in our parched throats.

and then the war ended and wounds began to heal, and then came the 1980s until now with all its shiny technology: nintendo, panasonic, television and anime, and now we have leagues of people learning japanese language and culture anyway, except now it is done wholeheartedly, and as it turns out japanese isn't even that different from our own cultures anyway. houses on stilts made of wood with thatch roofs, making our living from the sea and coast, eating rice for every meal, our phonetics and theirs so alike.

and today we have waves of their expats migrating here because of course they do, we're the Global South™ and for them it's cheap and affordable, so we have little japans sprouting here and there and sometimes i go to a random street and find signs written in japanese and read bits of broken hiragana.

and it's beautiful, being able to move through this world and find the handprints we've all left upon it. it's a wonderful amalgam of so many traditions and colours and beliefs and language all mixing around in this huge bubbling melting pot.

and i'm not chinese or indian or arab or british but when i see them on tv, i'm also seeing a part of me, i hear the words in their tongue and i recognise them as mine, i eat their food and know them as intimately as my own.

but of course our politicians, our kings and our prime ministers (and the divide-and-conquer rule of colonisers now gone) continue to divide us and make us hate each other, fanning flames of distrust and fear of that-which-is-different.

it's such a shame too, because it's so special. it's what makes us us, our dozens of creoles, the way we can speak a sentence comprising vernacular from at least four languages and we all understand each other anyway.

we have a word in malay, "rojak", which is also the name of a dish that mixes a bunch of different ingredients, and is found in malaysian, indonesian and singaporean cuisine. but where i'm from, we also say "rojak" to mean anything that's an eclectic mixture of things, things that seemingly don't go together and aren't necessarily pleasing to the eye but still, somehow, it works, in fact it tastes good, spicy and flavourful and hearty.

and that's us: southeast asia, all of it, a beautiful rojak culture. and it's ours.

#writeblr #people of color #writers on tumblr #writers of color #writing #southeast asia #asian culture #i woke up today and started feeling so many things. i looked around and felt full of love. #but i go on social media and it makes me angry and sad to see how much everyone hates each other #my love is not for what it is but what it could be #lots of my friends wish they could leave. emigrate to australia or UK or US. but even if i could i wouldn't. #this is my home. there is nowhere else. #when i was teaching and i saw those kids' faces it cemented it for me even more. #like if not for anything else i'll stay. i'll do it for them. carve out a community for them. for us. #shut up haydar #scribblings.txt

[subir-astrologer]

HOW ASTROLOGY CAN HELP TO IMPROVE ONE’S SITUATION

It is very important to understand that vedic astrology is not a magic shastra nor does the vedic astrologer have a magic wand with which they will transform one’s life from bad to good.

The astrological guidance is all about understanding and implementing the same in life to get SUCCESS OR PATH.

One should not take it granted that thru astrology one can turn bad situation into good with in single minute with the help of astrological remedies and there are all kinds of remedies for all kinds of problems. No no no . . .

If some one is facing bad time in his business then astrology can help the native in many ways when they seek guidance from a vedic astrologer :

Firstly the astrologer can tell the native about the time period of bad phase so that the native can pre-plan his course of actions for his future.

The astrologer can suggest if there is any need of transformation in the business and accordingly the native can make his decisions.

The native can be suggested to align with the ruling period of the vedic horoscope so that it will benefit the native and the native should be ready for it.

If the period of bad phase in the business is too long as per the astrologer, then the native can make some alternate plans so that he / she may not get dragged into heavy losses by taking late decisions.

One can also know about the planets involved during his / her bad periods and accordingly astrological remedies can be done to pacify the negative planets. ( pls do not take the remedy that it can turn worst into good situation, it won’t ).

One can know if business really suits his destiny as per his horoscope. If not then one need to think for alternate plans.

Understanding the current scenario of the business one can understand if it is self-driven due to his own personality ( behaviors ) or due to enemies which one need to take care.

Sometime it is seen that due to bad period in one’s life they tends to take wrong decisions so one will be cautioned if it is so with him also.

One can also know what are better opportunities for him as per his horoscope and accordingly can synch with it to get best out of it.

In a nutshell astrology does help in providing good guidance to take a healthy decision which will indirectly help the native to progress in life.

There are no astrology pills / tablets that one will take and everything will be taken care automatically.

I will take it first and wont come back here again to write articles after articles . . . ha ha ha ha ha . . . . . .

#astrology #vedic astrology #astrologer #vedic astrologer #horoscope readings #horoscope posts #horoscope analysis #horoscopes #horoscope #vedicastrology #daily horoscope #daily astrology #remedies #kundli

[shut-up-rabert]

not sure how relevant this is, but im gonna go off anyway coz im in a mood. to the previous anon who said that bjp is being extremist by removing the ABUNDANCE of mughals in textbooks.

you know what would be extremist? if they purposefully blacked out all paragraphs relating to a particular religion or dynasty.

which is what happens if you study in an indian school in some middle eastern countries. we had all (which is already the barest of bare) information related to chhatrapati shivaji maharaj, the cholas, the vedic ages etc. blackened out with thick markers. and if that wasn't enough, if they missed out on blacking something out, they'd make us do it with black or red pens. sounds fucking dystopian doesn't it? that's what extremism is.

removing chapters that glorify the rule of barbarous invaders, that too in the name of avoiding repetition, is not extremism lmao.

Lmao, not even surprised.

The truth is that Indians give too much credit to middle east because of how MBS tackles extremism in his country, which is a frustrating problem here, and UAE because they are “friendly” to other religions, right wing often uses it to put down indian muslims in various issues, but midst all this we forget that these are the same people who give their minorities the bare minimum rights so they will work, who ask immigrant workers to convert, who fund these muslim organisations that throw dirt onto us, fucking attacked Israel in support of a Palestine that wanted all Jews of the region dead.

Their communal bias is not as obvious as Pak or Bangla, because they do not have a cultural crisis ig that’s why, but believe me, their dislike for us even if we are not their priority is there.

As of what you say about Mughals being abundance and how removing them is not extremism, what can I say to that anon other than that with privilege comes ignorance. People really act like Mughal Courts singing and dancing is more important than learning about the Chola expansion, something so crucial to our history that we know nothing about, or even the dynasties of Rajputs, Marathas that played a big role in pre mughal history and mughal resistance.

These Mughals have basically eaten up our textbooks, and there’s supremacists nations out there using it to an advantage by completely deleting our indegenious history given its scarcity, because it won’t affect the current syllabus much.

#asks #hindublr #darling aankhon se aankhein chaar karne do #ncert