Re: Constructed Religions

On Sun, 3 Jan 1999, Nik Taylor wrote:

> In my current idea of the Faith has multiple levels as well, but mostly
> by age.  The first level is the Water Level, anyone born into the Faith
> is born into that Level.  For those born into it, the amniotic fluid is
> the Water.  Upon becoming an adult, one is promoted to the Fire Level
> (or perhaps Ash Level), a rite of passage involving fire (or ash, I'm
> not sure which is positive).  Priestesses are promoted to the Air Level,
> a ritual involving the blowing of air upon the individual by a priest.
> Exceptional persons, upon their death, are believed to go to the Spirit
> Level, a ritual carried out by the Goddess herself, involving her
> breathing her spirit upon the individual.
I'm reading through an old copy of the Hermetica at the moment - according
to it fire is the highest of the elements, outside the sphere of the stars
with only God beyond.  This idea seems to have survived into the middle
ages, Hildegard of Bingen's cosmology has something similar, the creation
is ringed by a region of fire.

- andrew.

Andrew Smith, Intheologus                       hobbit@earthlight.co.nz
Q. Why are there so many Smiths in the Phone Book?
A. Because they all have telephones!

-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version: 3.1
GL d+ s-:+ a32 C+ UL P? L E? W++ N+ o-- K- w O M+ V PS++ PE- Y+ PGP- t+*
5+ X- R tv b+++ DI+ D-- G e++ h- !r y-
------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------