“Windows To Spirituality”
Serer Religion The Serer religion, or a ƭat Roog (“the way of the Divine”), is the original religious beliefs, practices, and teachings of the Serer people of Senegal in West Africa. The Serer religion believes in a universal supreme deity called Roog (or Rog). In the Cangin languages, Roog is referred to as Koox (or Kooh), Kopé...
African Divination African divination is divination practiced by cultures of Africa. Divination is an attempt to form, and possess, an understanding of reality in the present and additionally, to predict events and reality of a future time. Cultures of Africa to the year circa C.E. 1991 were still performing and using divination, both within the urban...
Traditional African Religions The traditional African religions (or traditional beliefs and practices of African people) are a set of highly diverse beliefs that include various ethnic religions. Generally, these traditions are oral rather than scriptural, include belief in a supreme creator, belief in spirits, veneration of the dead, use of magic and traditional African medicine. The role of humanity is...
Paganism Paganism (from Latin paganus, meaning “a country dweller or rustic”) is a term that has been used from antiquity to derogatorily denote polytheistic faiths. Since the term was typically used as a blanket statement to circumscribe all non-Christian (or, more broadly, non-monotheistic) faiths, it served the same pejorative purpose as the Jewish term gentile, the...
Chinese Folk Religion Chinese folk religion (Chinese popular religion or traditional Chinese religion) or Han folk religion or Shenism is the religious tradition of the Han Chinese, including veneration of forces of nature and ancestors, exorcism of harmful forces, and a belief in the rational order of nature which can be influenced by human...
Afro-American Religion Afro-American religion (also known as African diasporic religions) are a number of related religions that developed in the Americas in various nations of Latin America, the Caribbean, and the southern United States. They derive from traditional African religions with some influence from other religious traditions, notably Christianity. Characteristics Afro-American religions involve veneration of the dead, and include a creator deity along with a pantheon of...
What Is Tengrism? Tengrism, also known as Tengriism, Tenggerism, or Tengrianism, is a Central Asian religion characterized by shamanism, animism, totemism, polytheism, and monotheism, and ancestor worship. It was the prevailing religion of the Turks, Mongols, Hungarians, Bulgars, Xiongnu, and, possibly, the Huns, and the religion of the several medieval states: Göktürk Khaganate, Western Turkic...
Shamanism Shamanism is a practice that involves a practitioner reaching altered states of consciousness in order to perceive and interact with what they believe to be a spirit world and channel these transcendental energies into this world. A shaman is someone who is regarded as having access to, and influence in, the world...
Native American Religions Native American religions are the spiritual practices of the indigenous peoples of the Americas. This article focuses on Native North Americans. Traditional Native American ceremonial ways can vary widely and are based on the differing histories and beliefs of individual tribes, clans, and bands. Early European explorers describe individual Native...
Indigenous American Philosophy Indigenous American philosophy is the philosophy of the Indigenous people of the Americas. An indigenous philosopher is an indigenous person or associate who practices philosophy and has a vast knowledge of various indigenous history, culture, language, and traditions. Many different traditions of philosophy have existed in the...
Folk Religion In religious studies and folkloristics, folk religion, popular religion, or vernacular religion comprises various forms and expressions of religion that are distinct from the official doctrines and practices of organized religion. The precise definition of folk religion varies among scholars. Sometimes also termed popular belief, it consists of ethnic or regional religious customs under the umbrella of...
Inca Religion the Inca religion was a large melting pot of beliefs. Since the Sapa Inca was a god, religion and government were in many ways intertwined. In the heterogeneous Inca Empire, polytheistic religions were practiced. Some deities, such as Inti, Pachamama and Viracocha, were known throughout the empire, while...
Maya Religion The traditional Maya religion of the extant Maya peoples of Guatemala, Belize, western Honduras, and the Tabasco, Chiapas, and Yucatán states of Mexico is part of the wider frame of Mesoamerican religion. As is the case with many other contemporary Mesoamerican religions, it results from centuries of symbiosis with Roman Catholicism. When its pre-Spanish antecedents are taken into account,...
Gitche Manitou Gitche Manitou (Gitchi Manitou, Kitchi Manitou, etc.) means “Great Spirit” in several Algonquian languages. Christian missionaries have translated God as Gitche Manitou in scriptures and prayers in the Algonquian languages. Manitou is a common Algonquian term for spirit, mystery, or deity. Native American Churches in Mexico, United States and Canada often use this...
Totem Pole Totem poles are monumental carvings, a type of Northwest Coast art, consisting of poles, posts or pillars, carved with symbols or figures. They are usually made from large trees, mostly western red cedar, by First Nations and indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest coast including northern Northwest Coast Haida,...
The Great Spirit The Great Spirit has at times been conceptualized as an “anthropomorphic celestial deity,” a God of creation, history and eternity, who also takes a personal interest in world affairs and might regularly intervene in the lives of human beings. There have been, and may be, many different speakers...
