has anyone had any encounters with physical entities?

[Nembra]

I don't know much about Protestant Christianity or Christianity in general so can't comment on that but I do know about history and this is wrong.

Pity you don't since this could have informed your answer greatly

Like most literature the BibIe is up to interpretation of the reader. Its why theres so many schisms and why some churches are more or less tolerant. In the times of SIavery sIaveholders wouId use the BibIe to justify SIavery. Did you ever hear about the curse of Cain or Ham in history. That was used to justify the modern American sIavery.

That's exactly where knowledge about the Church could have helped.

As I have already implied (twice, once in the very fragment you quoted) the whole Biblical narrative often leads to conclusions wildly contradicting common interpretations of some particular verses. Using that story to justify slavery is in many, many points starkly dissonant with the rest of the book and Christian tradition. My "blanket statements" don't cover such cases, as I thought I made clear.

 

[Lu_CiD]

So summarise some of it with a more general answer: the US is a strange place for cultural phenomena. Protestant Christianity is often in many ways a half-wilted, warped bunch of offshoots with primitive intellectual tools, completely stunted mysticism and some franky repugnant takes on theology and morality. In terms of spirituality and interpretation of scriptures Catholic and Orthodox churches should, I think, be treated as the mainline variants.

Morality is not perceived as objective (not to settle whether an objective morality exists). What people think of as good or evil is at least largely a product of their culture. The ideas, for example, that slavery is wrong or that people are in some way equal are products of a fundamentally Christian culture and, ultimately, derivations from the biblical moral code. That is, the moral code the bible as a whole seems to set up, not some particular Old Testament story about a particular moment in moral development of ancient Israel.

Gospel of Judas was almost certainly written by Gnostics about three centuries after the whole incident, and this story about Lilith being Yahveh's consort is I'm pretty sure a Jewish folk story absent from scriptures completely. Also, about Baal, the Bible calls by that name something like five or six different deities, simply not bothering to distinguish and using a word meaning "Lord". Thanks for the articles, I'll look at them when I have a while.

Find it, open it. Your past is meant to belong to you.

Protestants originated in Europe. I belive it was a German, Martin Luther who started it. being that its over half of what Christianity is now and spreads more each day and that catholics have a very fucked history as well it just goes back to what I was saying in the first place the whole of Abrahamic religions are tainted. none actually follow the teachings of Jesus really the rise and spread of capitalism and well as surfism before by the "god" given rulers is a pretty evident of that. not to mention the rejection of manhood books and men deciding on the divinity of christ himself.
the gnostic were far closer to the truth of thongs than the church really ever was. the church was made as a means of controlling early Christianity. as far as the stuff with Baal, its well known that yahweh was his rival any none agendad biblical school can attest to that.
as for lilithyes it was through the rabinical texts that it eas mentioned.

however your quick to dismiss the old testament as curly cultural and distance yourself from it, however it was included and never rebuked so that acceptance and the history of the treatment of women and children for that matter in the whole of the Abrahamic religions has been horrible up and until recent times. any meaningful reforms have only been recently made and those are falling as well speak in the us and there are certainly movements all over to do the same in the rest of the western world. Not tension how lgbtqia people were treated.

yes your right bit it's only been recently that ive even put together that the door and the fawn maybe related tbh. before that I just had these weird experiences where the door had these black tenderals of emptiness writhing from its gaps and there was this voice pleading for me not to go not to open it so it was a strong emotional experience when I found it outside of those states. but yes I will explore it.

 

[Nembra]

Protestants originated in Europe. I belive it was a German, Martin Luther who started it. being that its over half of what Christianity is now and spreads more each day and that catholics have a very fucked history as well it just goes back to what I was saying in the first place the whole of Abrahamic religions are tainted. none actually follow the teachings of Jesus really the rise and spread of capitalism and well as surfism before by the "god" given rulers is a pretty evident of that. not to mention the rejection of manhood books and men deciding on the divinity of christ himself.
the gnostic were far closer to the truth of thongs than the church really ever was. the church was made as a means of controlling early Christianity. as far as the stuff with Baal, its well known that yahweh was his rival any none agendad biblical school can attest to that.
as for lilithyes it was through the rabinical texts that it eas mentioned.

I mean, I appreciate you sharing your opinions, but I have no idea what I'm supposed to do with that honestly. It's I reckon largely kind of wrong in complicated ways, but you're saying it a bit as if you were trying to lecture me rather than discuss anything

however your quick to dismiss the old testament as curly cultural and distance yourself from it, however it was included and never rebuked so that acceptance and the history of the treatment of women and children for that matter in the whole of the Abrahamic religions has been horrible up and until recent times. any meaningful reforms have only been recently made and those are falling as well speak in the us and there are certainly movements all over to do the same in the rest of the western world. Not tension how lgbtqia people were treated.

Why would it be rebuked? It's completely fine if interpreted as the Church interprets it.

 

[Ohana]

As I have already implied (twice, once in the very fragment you quoted) the whole Biblical narrative often leads to conclusions wildly contradicting common interpretations of some particular verses. Using that story to justify slavery is in many, many points starkly dissonant with the rest of the book and Christian tradition. My "blanket statements" don't cover such cases, as I thought I made clear.

I agree those intreprations were complete bogus. I shouId have made that clearer since readers definitely inform their own intreprations but their own intreprations can be compIete bogus to what the orginaI text is.

The reason behind the bogusness is also why your intrepation of it being against sIavery is aIso not completely founded. I onIy realize this now but historically the sIave trade of the late 1500-1600s and 1700s maybe a bit 1800s too was unique.

OId testament story where moses frees Hebrews from sIavery I don't think from memory is about the same story. Most peopIe point to it being an aIIegory without historicaI evidence. So what was the story about? I think it might have got mass mistranslated in the 1500s and Egypt colonized that area. Even if there was forced Iabour it wasn't the same as the trans Atlantic sIave trade since I think historicaI records show not many mass migrations of peopIes to different lands.

Therefore, the BibIe cannot even begin to even have a stance on the trans AtIantic sIave trade since nothing Iike it was present at the time it was written. Maybe if the BibIe was made more sooner it couId but it IiteraIIy cannot since the thing we think about sIavery today is not what wouId have been present in those times.

 

[Firetree]

Pity you don't since this could have informed your answer greatly

That's exactly where knowledge about the Church could have helped.

As I have already implied (twice, once in the very fragment you quoted) the whole Biblical narrative often leads to conclusions wildly contradicting common interpretations of some particular verses. Using that story to justify slavery is in many, many points starkly dissonant with the rest of the book and Christian tradition. My "blanket statements" don't cover such cases, as I thought I made clear.

Yet those 'particular verses' remain in the text as 'remnants ' ... just like the terms GodS ... and the other 'give aways ' ;

OT ; Leviticus 25 '' 44 “‘Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves. 45 You may also buy some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your property. 46 You can bequeath them to your children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life ... ''

NT ; Ephesians 6 '' 5 Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. 6 Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. 7 Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, 8 because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free.

similar to


Colossians 3 '' 22 Bondservants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but in sincerity of heart, fearing God. 23 And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men

Post automatically merged: Monday at 11:47 PM

...

OId testament story where moses frees Hebrews from sIavery I don't think from memory is about the same story. Most peopIe point to it being an aIIegory without historicaI evidence. So what was the story about? I think it might have got mass mistranslated in the 1500s and Egypt colonized that area. Even if there was forced Iabour it wasn't the same as the trans Atlantic sIave trade since I think historicaI records show not many mass migrations of peopIes to different lands.

...

Its fairly well accepted now that outside the restrictions of religious belief ( and this is massive with Abrahamic religion - being the root of Judaism , Christianity , Islam and Baha'i ) , that is in the fields of history and archaeology , that the Bible is a concoction that started to get put together around the time of Josiah and before that the area , temples and religion , were Egyptian and Canaanite . Most of the OT is borrowed stories from other cultures and some made up stuff .

The exodus is a story made up to try and show that the 'Jews' were not some Canaanite faction of hill dwelling , miscreants that started raiding the trade routes and 'civilized' towns and gradually moved into power vacuums created by other conflicts .

On a realistic level , people migrated in and out of Egypt all the time .

here is the 'non faith ' evidence in detail ;

Intro ;

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he also has specific lectures on Exodus .

 

[Nembra]

I agree those intreprations were complete bogus. I shouId have made that clearer since readers definitely inform their own intreprations but their own intreprations can be compIete bogus to what the orginaI text is.

The reason behind the bogusness is also why your intrepation of it being against sIavery is aIso not completely founded. I onIy realize this now but historically the sIave trade of the late 1500-1600s and 1700s maybe a bit 1800s too was unique.

OId testament story where moses frees Hebrews from sIavery I don't think from memory is about the same story. Most peopIe point to it being an aIIegory without historicaI evidence. So what was the story about? I think it might have got mass mistranslated in the 1500s and Egypt colonized that area. Even if there was forced Iabour it wasn't the same as the trans Atlantic sIave trade since I think historicaI records show not many mass migrations of peopIes to different lands.

Therefore, the BibIe cannot even begin to even have a stance on the trans AtIantic sIave trade since nothing Iike it was present at the time it was written. Maybe if the BibIe was made more sooner it couId but it IiteraIIy cannot since the thing we think about sIavery today is not what wouId have been present in those times.

Well, not directly, since slavery is (in Christian ethics) difficult to judge morally as a whole, since only individual decisions can have moral weight. "Owning someone" is a weird, kind of incoherent social construct anyway. It does, however, work nicely if we assume that everyone is born owning their body (sounds obvious, was not for most of the history), since both stealing (abducting) someone and knowingly trading stolen goods is strictly forbidden under the eighth commandment. Isn't capitalism beautiful when it does that?

 

[Lu_CiD]

mean, I appreciate you sharing your opinions, but I have no idea what I'm supposed to do with that honestly. It's I reckon largely kind of wrong in complicated ways, but you're saying it a bit as if you were trying to lecture me rather than discuss anything

I wasnt trying to lecture you really sorry I came off like that. I guess what seems apparent to me i need to explain better and with more receipts. my apologies for being so short.
though as badly as I stayed the points I did I still stand by them and ill go through point by point as to show these are not opinions and of course change the way I said things.

Why would it be rebuked? It's completely fine if interpreted as the Church interprets it.

the church has interpreted it differently up until recently it was the used as the call for colonialism among other atrocities. so when used as a pretext for subjugation, mass rape and murder throughout history it would seem pertinent to be disavowed at the least.

Post automatically merged: Yesterday at 9:05 AM

OId testament story where moses frees Hebrews from sIavery I don't think from memory is about the same story. Most peopIe point to it being an aIIegory without historicaI evidence. So what was the story about? I think it might have got mass mistranslated in the 1500s and Egypt colonized that area. Even if there was forced Iabour it wasn't the same as the trans Atlantic sIave trade since I think historicaI records show not many mass migrations of peopIes to different lands

not only does it not have any historical evidence its extremely likely that there wasn't even a large presence of Jews in Egypt at all none the less a whole slave class.
the whole story of where the Jews came from is bogus as well. throughout the old Torah the caananites are presented as the villains when they were in fact where the Jews came from.

Post automatically merged: Yesterday at 9:09 AM

this g

Well, not directly, since slavery is (in Christian ethics) difficult to judge morally as a whole, since only individual decisions can have moral weight. "Owning someone" is a weird, kind of incoherent social construct anyway. It does, however, work nicely if we assume that everyone is born owning their body (sounds obvious, was not for most of the history), since both stealing (abducting) someone and knowingly trading stolen goods is strictly forbidden under the eighth commandment. Isn't capitalism beautiful when it does that?

oes back to the way women and children were treated being property at best.

all Abrahamic "ethics" always have been and always will be not only flawed but the antithesis of how ppl should be treated and treat one another.

 

[Nembra]

I wasnt trying to lecture you really sorry I came off like that. I guess what seems apparent to me i need to explain better and with more receipts. my apologies for being so short.
though as badly as I stayed the points I did I still stand by them and ill go through point by point as to show these are not opinions and of course change the way I said things.

It's fine, I'm not offended or anything. It's just really a tight knot of claims that seem completely misinformed or unreasonable to me. Like, you namedrop capitalism as a symptom of a tainted religion, and I don't really see a logical chain here. The gnostics had an empoverished, mutilated theology compared to the Church. They had some interesting insights indeed, but the whole system is kind of a step backwards in comparison. Baal just means "lord", and was sometimes used as a somewhat flirty way to call your husband. Hebrews called that all foreign, masculine deities. That's probably just something like half or it that comes to mind immediately.

the church has interpreted it differently up until recently it was the used as the call for colonialism among other atrocities. so when used as a pretext for subjugation, mass rape and murder throughout history it would seem pertinent to be disavowed at the least.

That's not exactly true though. The Church is indeed getting more refined in its understandings, especially since recent reforms; but subjugation, mass rape and murder were always understood to be clearly and directly forbidden. Even the Pope doesn't speak for the Church if he clearly contradicts the scripture and tradition.

this goes back to the way women and children were treated being property at best.
all Abrahamic "ethics" always have been and always will be not only flawed but the antithesis of how ppl should be treated and treat one another.

I'm sorry, I don't see how that follows.

 

[Phillian]

Well, I think I had, a few years ago... In fact, it is one of the many reasons why I feel connected to the ocean and the moon. I had just left an emotional farewell to my maternal grandmother; my family had to go to the harbor to check their boat, and I decided to go with them, since I needed to be near the sea after seeing my grandmother's lifeless body lying in a casket. We took the boat for a small ride across the dock area. I sat at the edge, only staring into the ocean, trying not to go on a spiral of thoughts about my relationship with death, when suddenly I noticed a figure under the water; her silhouette was nothing like any animal or sea being that I had seen or studied... Yet, I did not fear; I felt drawn and at the same time, relief, as if a maternal force was embracing me...

At the time, I thought it was some sort of siren or mermaid that I had glimpsed, and in a way I was not wrong. Only years later did I realise she was a deity with whom I had always felt a connection and realise on that day she let her glimpse her because I was feeling that I was slowly losing my maternal figures... Ever since then, when I feel lonely I walk to the sea and speak to the sea as if she was there to listen to me, sometimes she answer me with the sea, other times her answer come in a form of a vision or dream, while others times comes clear as if she was sitting next to me, talking to one of her children...

Aside from that, all my other contacts with entities had been through lucid dreams, meditation, and through mediums.

 

[Firetree]

Well, I think I had, a few years ago...

Okay .... first of all , as soon as I started reading your post I got a tingle ..... what is going on here . So much flashed through my mind :

In fact, it is one of the many reasons why I feel connected to the ocean and the moon.

as soon as I read that , I sorta knew what was coming ;

I had just left an emotional farewell to my maternal grandmother; my family had to go to the harbor to check their boat, and I decided to go with them, since I needed to be near the sea after seeing my grandmother's lifeless body lying in a casket. We took the boat for a small ride across the dock area.

.... not that I had this expereince , no grief or departed relative but

I sat at the edge, only staring into the ocean, trying not to go on a spiral of thoughts about my relationship with death, when suddenly I noticed a figure under the water; her silhouette was nothing like any animal or sea being that I had seen or studied... Yet, I did not fear; I felt drawn and at the same time, relief, as if a maternal force was embracing me...

This part ! Soooo familiar : I am young standing at the waters edge ; salt water but a type of enclosed estuary . I am in shallow water, standing , looking into the water into a deep channel with the tide surging through it and seaweed flowing and billowing on the bottom . The weed is long and thin and flowing, mostly green but there are some browns in there as well. I notice it is flowing and billowing strangely , like long hair . I look closer and in there I see an eye looking back at me ! Then I can see a face in there ... its ' a lady ' .... down there under the water . Its certainly not a fish or a dolphin or a seal !

I start to worry and think she will not be able to breath down there under the water ... what is she doing down there , how did she get there . Then I thought , since the previous did not make sense ... wait , maybe it is a reflection in the water of something in the sky ? I didnt think it made no sense either that a woman might be in the sky, anyway I looked up . Above me was like the sky had split open in a vesica ( yoni) shape and in the middle was a woman beaming down on me . many years later I saw a painting of Our Lady de Guadalupe .... MY GOODNESS there she is ! or very similar anyway .

Not exactly her , but certainaly a very similar radiating 'split' in the sky / aura around her . Note the Moon and star emblems , the small boy at the base and the man offering devotions .

very maternal energy and yes very embracing, but also 'beaming' energy into me .

At the time, I thought it was some sort of siren or mermaid that I had glimpsed, and in a way I was not wrong.

Exactly ! I had the same confusion and then came to the same conclusion . 'Mermaid' is an aspect of her . So much so that I have made a little shrine to her ; I dug out and made a large fish pond , built and arch over it with plants around and bought a mermaid sculpture I 'happened ' to find in a town a long way from home , on a spontaneous trip . She is sitting and learning to one side and holding a shell up that water comes out of and into the pond

Only years later did I realise she was a deity with whom I had always felt a connection and realise on that day she let her glimpse her because I was feeling that I was slowly losing my maternal figures...

There are different versions of her . many years later (I never put all this together until mid life ) I realised that as a child I went to 'Our Lady Star of the Sea' school . There she is again ... 'Stella Maris ' - 'Our Lady ' she is the patron of sailors and all who travel on the sea .

Especially looks after those that get in trouble 'on the ocean ' - see below *

Ever since then, when I feel lonely I walk to the sea and speak to the sea as if she was there to listen to me, sometimes she answer me with the sea, other times her answer come in a form of a vision or dream, while others times comes clear as if she was sitting next to me, talking to one of her children...

Yes ! Thats it . In a way, since that first day I got 'zapped', I still feel that connection and many times 'things come through' that connection . It was like a beam of light and a noise that came from her and smacked me right in the third eye .

I think we all encounter different versions of her . here are some more thoughts ; first generally about her , and then more specifically , how she can relate individually .

generally, of course she is a form of 'The Goddess ' clearly linked to the 'Goddess of the Stars ', in her highest aspect ; Nuit ;

and obviously the Moon . Internally she might be , or connected in some way , or is generating our individual anima : 'soul spirit life' .

There is another aspect as well ; the sea is a symbol of our unconscious ; the surface is the consciousness and what lies beneath that is vast . Magick, psychology and similar explore the unconscious . It can be smooth sailing or rough seas . Personally I have been blessed with a stability there but not all are so fortunate . For one who explores these realms she is also a guide and protector .

On to relation to individuals ( I can only speak of mine ) ; my natal chart is strongly Lunar and Neptunian ; this energy is VERY Neptunian .... which can be an issue if unfocused ( fortunately it is well aspected to Mercury and has grounding in earth ) .

I feel she is also of the class of 'Tutilary spirit ' and , in my case , also something to do with 'genius loci ' ( a spirit in a certain location or associated with an area )

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Aside from that, all my other contacts with entities had been through lucid dreams, meditation, and through mediums.

Thanks for your story . It was curious that I sorta , knew what was coming and got excited about it before I read it ... mermaids and everything .

 

[Lu_CiD]

t's fine, I'm not offended or anything. It's just really a tight knot of claims that seem completely misinformed or unreasonable to me. Like, you namedrop capitalism as a symptom of a tainted religion, and I don't really see a logical chain here. The gnostics had an empoverished, mutilated theology compared to the Church. They had some interesting insights indeed, but the whole system is kind of a step backwards in comparison. Baal just means "lord", and was sometimes used as a somewhat flirty way to call your husband. Hebrews called that all foreign, masculine deities. That's probably just something like half or it that comes to mind immediately

first off the whole capitalism part. our version of capitalism is just the latest in societal measures to consolidate and keep power centralized. all Abrahamic religions especially Christianity has been heavily and effectively used for that very purpose. and when it wasnt quite fitting the bill it was changes by the rulers of that time. the hyper capitalist Christian nationalism we see in the us and abroad is a symptom of this.

there were many secs of gbosticism from the beginning of Christianity. some were a little out there but a consensus of what there beliefs where far outweigh what modern Christianity is in any form. however you reallg wanna stack it. gnostic "books" are still part of the Bible and influence the rest. if anything the none gnostic sects were a perversion. (this is the only part of this thats opinion based)

Ba'al was a storm deitiy first and foremost all the other stuff that you mentioned comes from that. i belive Hedad was what Ba'al came from and theh both predate Yeweh.

That's not exactly true though. The Church is indeed getting more refined in its understandings, especially since recent reforms; but subjugation, mass rape and murder were always understood to be clearly and directly forbidden. Even the Pope doesn't speak for the Church if he clearly contradicts the scripture and tradition.

they often just took the guise of holy wars but their are clearly defined regulations for all wars up to and including rape and pilliging the land and ppls (for slaves).
the churches actions speak for itself. you can't say "oh we never wanted to do that or we never thought it was ok" all the while doing it. that not how it workes and is very dishonest imo. I mean the same can be said for all the pedophiles that church projects as opposed to its victims. that illustrates quite well despite what they say or have said they ate interested only in power. which the Gnostics, to their credit, were absolutely not.

Post automatically merged: Today at 1:14 AM

Well, I think I had, a few years ago... In fact, it is one of the many reasons why I feel connected to the ocean and the moon. I had just left an emotional farewell to my maternal grandmother; my family had to go to the harbor to check their boat, and I decided to go with them, since I needed to be near the sea after seeing my grandmother's lifeless body lying in a casket. We took the boat for a small ride across the dock area. I sat at the edge, only staring into the ocean, trying not to go on a spiral of thoughts about my relationship with death, when suddenly I noticed a figure under the water; her silhouette was nothing like any animal or sea being that I had seen or studied... Yet, I did not fear; I felt drawn and at the same time, relief, as if a maternal force was embracing me...

At the time, I thought it was some sort of siren or mermaid that I had glimpsed, and in a way I was not wrong. Only years later did I realise she was a deity with whom I had always felt a connection and realise on that day she let her glimpse her because I was feeling that I was slowly losing my maternal figures... Ever since then, when I feel lonely I walk to the sea and speak to the sea as if she was there to listen to me, sometimes she answer me with the sea, other times her answer come in a form of a vision or dream, while others times comes clear as if she was sitting next to me, talking to one of her children...

Aside from that, all my other contacts with entities had been through lucid dreams, meditation, and through mediums.

oh wow thats absolutely beautiful. that kind of embrace is so meaningful especially when your heartbroken with loss. thank you for sharing this may I ask what that entities name is?

 

[Nembra]

first off the whole capitalism part. our version of capitalism is just the latest in societal measures to consolidate and keep power centralized. all Abrahamic religions especially Christianity has been heavily and effectively used for that very purpose. and when it wasnt quite fitting the bill it was changes by the rulers of that time. the hyper capitalist Christian nationalism we see in the us and abroad is a symptom of this.

I have a suspicion you have no idea what capitalism is. I can't say I'm sure, because you aren't really making rational arguments here, but that's what I'd say provokes what you said here. Maybe elucidate me, it's frankly not easy to dig through a concatenation of claims in search of some connective threads.

there were many secs of gbosticism from the beginning of Christianity. some were a little out there but a consensus of what there beliefs where far outweigh what modern Christianity is in any form. however you reallg wanna stack it. gnostic "books" are still part of the Bible and influence the rest. if anything the none gnostic sects were a perversion. (this is the only part of this thats opinion based)

Consensus is worthless among ignorants. You don't seem to know what Christianity actually is, you keep confusing it with what some self-proclaimed christians do against their own professed beliefs. How can you even propose such a comparison? I have seen and participated in works on the scale gnosticism has not even a way of describing, miracles orders of magnitude beyond any spells I read of here.

Ba'al was a storm deitiy first and foremost all the other stuff that you mentioned comes from that. i belive Hedad was what Ba'al came from and theh both predate Yeweh.

Yeah, one of the Baals certainly was a storm deity, so did El who later became Yahveh. Maybe it's even the same figure in some way.

they often just took the guise of holy wars but their are clearly defined regulations for all wars up to and including rape and pilliging the land and ppls (for slaves).
the churches actions speak for itself. you can't say "oh we never wanted to do that or we never thought it was ok" all the while doing it. that not how it workes and is very dishonest imo. I mean the same can be said for all the pedophiles that church projects as opposed to its victims. that illustrates quite well despite what they say or have said they ate interested only in power. which the Gnostics, to their credit, were absolutely not.

There is no "we". Why are you trying so hardly to judge a religion by actions that clearly contradict with it? I feel right now as you would feel if I said Lilith is evil because someone somewhere murders people in her name and calls themself her priest.

 

[Phillian]

Okay .... first of all , as soon as I started reading your post I got a tingle ..... what is going on here . So much flashed through my mind :

This part ! Soooo familiar : I am young standing at the waters edge ; salt water but a type of enclosed estuary . I am in shallow water, standing , looking into the water into a deep channel with the tide surging through it and seaweed flowing and billowing on the bottom . The weed is long and thin and flowing, mostly green but there are some browns in there as well. I notice it is flowing and billowing strangely , like long hair . I look closer and in there I see an eye looking back at me ! Then I can see a face in there ... its ' a lady ' .... down there under the water . Its certainly not a fish or a dolphin or a seal !

Not exactly her , but certainaly a very similar radiating 'split' in the sky / aura around her . Note the Moon and star emblems , the small boy at the base and the man offering devotions .

There are different versions of her . many years later (I never put all this together until mid life ) I realised that as a child I went to 'Our Lady Star of the Sea' school . There she is again ... 'Stella Maris ' - 'Our Lady ' she is the patron of sailors and all who travel on the sea .

Especially looks after those that get in trouble 'on the ocean ' - see below *

Thanks for your story . It was curious that I sorta , knew what was coming and got excited about it before I read it ... mermaids and everything .

Curiously, you mention "Stella Maris" because she is often associated with her or the Virgin Mary, especially by those who combine Umbanda & Catholic faith; however, the mermaid deity I saw goes by another name:

These are some arts representing her, with the one on the right the classic portrait of her for those who practise a cult to her but are also Catholic. Her name is Yemanjá (Iemanjá), but she also goes by other names. Her name means "Mother whose children are like fish." She was, at her roots in Nigeria, a deity of the river, but with time and as Africans were taken from their homeland, she became something more... Nowadays she is associated with the ocean, maternity, femininity, and the moon. She is also worshiped quite often by sailors and fishermen; in fact, sailors are one of the entities that often work and appear in rituals dedicated to her.

There are other entities and beings that work with her, and even in the Yoruba tradition, there are a few Orixas that work along with her. Not surprisingly, aside from sailors, mermaids and ondinas are among the beings who work with her, and some of the songs that are chanted to her (known as "Pontos") call her a mermaid, or the queen of the mermaids and the sea. She is a very kind being, and it is rare to witness her wrath, but like the ocean, if required, she can be devastating, like a tsunami.

oh wow thats absolutely beautiful. that kind of embrace is so meaningful especially when your heartbroken with loss. thank you for sharing this may I ask what that entities name is?

Her name is Yemanjá (or Iemanjá), and that is how she is known nowadays. She is an Orixa from Yoruba, Umbanda & Candomblé traditions.

 

[Lion]

When I was a kid in Brazil, I lived in Bahia and every year (maybe more often) there would be a celebration for Yemanja. People would come down to the sea with hundreds of white flowers and put floats into the water with statues and candles. There would be lots of candomble (I think thats what it was) dancing, group singing and drumming at the same time. ... My mother (who was from Brazil) used to tell stories about how on one occasion one of the processions taking these things to the sea was met by a competing procession from the local catholic church which had been set up to compete with it and after a short period people would start leaving the catholic procession and joining the Yemanja procession because the whole thing was so intoxicating and seductive and beautiful. ....There are some books on this ...Yemanya, Orisha, Goddess, and Queen of the sea By Raven Morgaine is one of them...

 

[Xemuno]

I'm trying to read the thread on this topic, but I'm finding many digressions and tangents. I know many people have a lot of questions and a great deal of knowledge, but it's good for those who visit the forum for questions or are interested in a particular topic to find some thematic coherence. Otherwise, the topics get so sidetracked that when someone makes a contribution near the end of the thread, it feels out of place or out of context because it starts with particle physics and ends up talking about the World Cup...