A place where Pagans, Wiccans, & Witches can call home
Religious Similarities
Spiritual Similarities:
It's often been said that if people would look beyond their differences, they'd find they have much more in common than they think. Learning about other belief systems doesn't mean you have to take on any part of those beliefs or practices. But understanding why others feel they way they do about certain issues and topics can go a long way to understanding each other. In other words, if you can learn about your neighbor and what they belief, then you can find a common ground for communication and understanding.
On this page, I'd like to try and show from my perspective, the similarities of the positive belief systems. We all practice the same things, we use different names to label our rituals and ceremonies. Take a look and see if you can find some similarities not listed here.
Witchcraft
Sects There are many traditions/sects within the religion of Witchcraft. Often gathering in the form of a Clan or Coven.
Prayer Meditate, Cast Spells, deliver incantations, light candles & incense, sing, ring a bell
Spiritual Teachers Witches & Wizards, Shamans & Shamanka, Priests & Priestesses
General Practices Worship through holidays known as Sabbats which typically fall upon the 8 seasonal changes of the year, working days known as Esbats, with ritual & ceremony. Rituals are held indoors and outdoors, often in a circle. Where ever you can build a circle, you have a ritual space.
There is no "bible" type spiritual text for Witchcraft. Many covens or clans have their own written or oral history known as a Book Of Shadows or a Grimoire.
Believe in a universal divine force which encompasses all things. Often worshiped as the God/Goddess as a view of balance in all things. Or recognizing the male and female aspects of God as separate entities; yet part of the whole. The God & Goddess have many different names and are honored (not worshiped) through mythological pantheons which give the divine form by which a practioner can focus their energies. Often hold a belief in reincarnation and what is commonly known as karma. Magikal rituals are used as a means of honoring the God/Goddess and the nature of the universe. Pagans believe there are lessons set upon our path to help teach us about ourselves and to overcome the karma we've created in a past life or an earlier time in this life. Through that understanding we grow in enlightenment and wisdom.
Misconceptions: The biggest misconception about pagans is that they worship the devil. This is the farthest thing from the truth. Pagans do not believe in the existence of Satan, so it would be hard to worship that kind of deity in the first place. Another misconception is that Pagans don't believe in sin. Well, from the Christian way of thinking, we don't. But we do believe in karma. What you put out you will get back; good, bad or indifferent. We call it the Law of Accountability. You are responsible for your thoughts and actions, and must take the consequences those actions create. Rituals do not consist of sacrifices of any kind. A sacrifice would be considered a dishonor of life for self gratification. That kind of disrespect is an affront to pagan belief.
Metaphysical
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sects New Age, Metaphysical
Prayer Meditate, light candles & incense, sing, chant
Spiritual Teachers No title, though there are Metaphysical Ministers throughout the world.
General Practices No formal holidays, rituals or ceremonies. Many Metaphysicians celebrate various religious holidays from Christmas to Ramadan. Practices are held in a chapel or spiritual 'center'.
There is no spiritual 'bible' written text. Metaphysics is the science beyond physics and therefore all research and resources are valid.
Believe in a universal divine force which encompasses all things of which they are part. You alone are not God, but you, I and all things around us make up God. Metaphysicians hold a belief in reincarnation and what is commonly known as karma. They believe there are lessons set upon our path to help teach us about ourselves and to overcome the karma we've created in a past life or an earlier time in this life. Through that understanding we grow in enlightenment and wisdom.
Misconceptions: Believers are Godless, they have no belief in a supreme being at all. As defined in a Christian or Jewish faith, this would be an accurate statement. Metaphysicians and New Age practioners believe that "God", often referred to as 'The Divine' is not above or separate from ourselves, but rather the result of all things combined as one. Another misunderstanding is that New Agers are flighty and always searching, never finding. Metaphysical practioners and New Age are very introspective, always looking to improve oneself through the lessons of life. They don't believe in sin. Well, from the Christian way of thinking, no they don't. But like the Pagan, what you put out you will get back; good, bad or indifferent.
Christian
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sects Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran, etc.
And yes The Catholic denomination is part of Christianity
Prayer Pray, light candles & incense, sing, meditate
Spiritual Teachers Priests, Nuns, Ministers, Bishops, Cardinals, The Pope, Deacons
General Practices Worship through organized services, rituals & ceremonies. Recognize several holidays relating to events in their religions history. Or Adopted from other beliefs as a means for easy conversation to Christianity. Worship is held in a church or chapel for prayer, ritual and worship.
Recognize the Holy Bible as their written history and spiritual text. This book is found in many forms, many interpretations and has a rich history of how it has evolved to today's common versions.
Believe in a supreme being which created and encompasses all things, known as the one God, Jehovah or Yahweh. God sent his only son, Jesus, to earth to teach the ways of God and become the savior of mankind through crucifixion and resurrection. Through the acceptance of Christ into your life, and being baptized, you are guaranteed a place in Heaven.
Misconceptions: I struggled on this one, so I asked a friend of mine who is a devout Catholic what she thought the misconceptions of Christianity are. Here's what she said. The main misunderstanding is that Christians are closed minded. That might be true with some believers, but I think you can say the same for all faiths. There are always extremists in every group. The second misconception is every Christian's mission is to convert the world to Christianity. Again, that might be the way of some extremists, but not the majority of Christians. She did strongly suggest that all Christians study any pre-King James version of the bible in order to understand many of the original ideals within the religion.
Jewish
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sects Orthodox, Hebrew, Modern, etc
Prayer Pray, light candles & incense, sing, chant
Spiritual Teachers Rabbi
General Practices Worship through organized services, rituals & ceremonies. Recognize several holidays relating to events in their religions history. Worship is held in a synagogue for prayer, ritual and worship. In the Kabalaistic Calendar, there are 4 spiritual holidays that follow the seasonal changes of the year.
Recognize the Tora as their written history and spiritual text. Along with the Kabala (or Cabala), which is often called the book of Jewish Mysticism.
Believe in a supreme being which created and encompasses all things. This means that there exists a Being that is complete in all ways and He is the cause of all else that exists. He is what sustains their existence and the existence of all that sustains them.
The word torah means "a teaching". The Torah is HaShem’s teaching to the Jewish people. In the Torah HaShem tells us how to live. The Torah has many mitzvos (commandments) in it. They are HaShem’s instructions to us. The Torah also contains stories. These stories are true and teach us about our history and our relationship with HaShem.
The daily prayers follow a basic pattern with some variations on Shabbos, Yomim Tovim (holidays) and other special days.
Consider this as well, like the Celts and Native Peoples, The Hebrew community is well known for it's many tribes of Israel. Although male and female are not worshiped, they are honored as two opposing forces, often seen through the story of Adam and Hava (Adam and Eve). The Kabala itself has a tone of "spells" within it, as the Hebrew/Jewish book of mysticism, it has many magikal undertones. Many Cabalists also keep a spiritual journal, much like a Witches Grimoire. They often name the journal after a holy man. One can even be found on the net called Romach Pinchas www.rachlin.org.il in Hebrew. Another similarity with pagans, one of the most important holidays to Paganism is Samhain. The Hebrew have a similar word Samehin, meaning 'To be happy'.
Misconceptions: One of the interesting misconceptions is that Jews do not believe in Jesus. They do, but they view him as a prophet, not the Savior foretold. Another misconception is that Jews worship money. Again, untrue. Jews intertwine their entire life with their spiritual beliefs. Thus their work is a means of worship and honor. To care for yourself, your family and your home is showing respect for the gifts given to you by God.
To learn more, please visit Talmud Torah: Basic Jewish Education
Muslim
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sects Islam, Muslim, Shite, Sunni
Prayer Prayer is performed 5 times a day. There is a specific ritual used for these prayers. They include specific words and movements.
Spiritual Teachers An Emam (the equivalent of a priest). An Emam can be a woman or a man.
General Practices Worship through ritual & ceremonies. There are only 2 major holidays. Ramadan and Ede which is after Ramadan. Ramadan is the time of spiritual cleansing, Ede is a celebration of the new spiritual life to come for the year. Worship is often held in a mosque and led by an Emam.
Believe in a supreme being which created and encompasses all things, known as the one and only God. He was not created, he is the mighty, merciful and compassionate God. They believe in Jesus as the prophet of God. David, Isaac, Joseph are also prophets. Muslims believe that when Jesus was placed on the cross, God reached down and removed him before the crucifixion. Replacing Jesus with another man. God took Jesus and sat him by his side, allowing him to live so that he might return again and proclaim God's truth. To them Jesus is alive, he never died. He is merely waiting by the hand of God to return. They do believe in Heaven, Hell and the Devil as well.
Muslim's believe in magik, but the practice of magik is not allowed. They believe that one who dabbles in magik is susceptible to the influences of the Devil and therefore susceptible to the corruptive powers of black magik. Good magik is practiced through one's deeds in day to day life. They believe in psychic powers as a gift from God, but not as something one can practice and learn.
To learn more, try visit The Muslim Fellowship
The biggest misconception of Muslims is that they are all terrorists. This is totally untrue! Most Westerners know nothing of the realities and beauties of Islam. Since the time of the Crusades, propaganda has been circulated to convince the ignorant that Islam is hard, warlike, narrow-minded, and either sensual or puritanical--depending on which of these seemed more shocking at the time! Islam as Muslims have always known it--the religion of tolerance, harmony, wisdom, and above all, peace--remains a stranger to those who have not lived it.
Islam means Peace, Muslim is Belief in Islam. So Muslim is the Belief of Peace. Another misconception is that women are 2nd class citizens. Again, untrue. Women are seen as the primary leaders of their culture. In fact, the Muslims were the first culture to give women the right to vote 1400 years ago. Soon after women were allowed to own their own land and not long after that they were considered as an equal of man.
I would like to thank my friend Sam for helping me with this section of the Similarity posting. Without his help, this would have remained a blank section for some time to come.
Native
American
Peoples
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sects Nations of the U.S., Canada, Central & South America
Prayer Chant, practice a form of meditation, light incense
Spiritual Teachers Medicine Men & Medicine Women
General Practices Worship through rituals & ceremonies. Holidays are often festivals that coincide with seasonal events. Ie: Harvest time.
There is no spiritual 'bible' written text. Most Native Peoples have a very rich oral history that is still passed down through generations today.
Believe in a universal divine force which encompasses all things. Often called 'The Great Spirit'. Most (if not all) Native peoples practice respect for all things as the corner stone for their spiritual lives. In doing so, they are honoring the Great Spirit and all things sacred in the world. Native peoples lived/live in tribal communities and are often associated with a larger 'nation' of peoples. Many Native Americans believe in communicating with all nature spirits, from plants to animals and more. When death comes, many people believe an animal messenger will come to guide their journey to the Great Spirit.
Misconceptions: There's not enough room here for the misconceptions of Native Peoples. But if I were to select one, I'd share the one so often told to me by wise brethren who live the life each day. Natives are ignorant and simple minded. Well, hopefully if you're reading this, you know how ignorant that statement is. Native Americans are very intelligent and artistic people who learned long ago how to live with the natural world around them, without abusing it or taking from it and never giving back to it.
Celtic
Shamanism
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sects Celtic regional traditions or clans
Prayer Chant, meditate, light candles & incense, use various musical instruments, cast spells, or magik circles, rely heavily on psychic abilities for divination, teaching and healing.
Spiritual Teachers Shamans & Shamankas, Priests & Priestesses
General Practices Worship through rituals & ceremonies. Holidays are often festivals that coincide with seasonal events. Ie: Harvest time. They honor all things seen and unseen; and have great reverence for the divine force of the world/universe. The believe in the balance of all things, and strive to live in balance with the natural world around them and spiritual world that runs through them.
The Celts in general have an extremely rich oral history. Little was ever written or inscribed on paper, stone or other decorations. But their history is now stuff of legend and myth and can be a fascinating journey of research.
Believe in a universal divine force which encompasses all things. Often called God/Goddess. Practioners respect for all things is the corner stone for their spiritual lives. In doing so, they are honoring the Gods and all things sacred in the world. They share similarities with Native American Peoples, so consider a few of these: Both Celts and Native Peoples lived/live in a clan community often associated with a larger geographical area of peoples (ie: a common example.. The Clan McCloud were Highlanders; The Seminoles were part of the Cherokee nation). You can see more about this below.
Misconceptions: Most practioners consider themselves to be a form of Pagan, therefore their misconceptions are identical or at least very similar. That Celtic Shamanism is a modern creation. For more about this, you might want to read the Celtic Shamanism article on this site.
Buddhist
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sects Theravada, Mahayana, Vajrayana are the major sects
Prayer Chant, meditate, light candles & incense, ring a bell or gong
Spiritual Teachers The Dalai Lama, Monk, Priest and Nuns.
General Practices Worship through ceremonies, festivals, and prayers.
Buddhism is more a way of life and philosophy than a religion. Buddhism explains a purpose to life, it explains apparent injustice and inequality around the world, and it provides a code of practice or way of life that leads to true happiness. Buddhists sometimes pay respect to images of the Buddha, not in worship, nor to ask for favors. They believe in karma and reincarnation in the form of transmigration.
For more information, visit The Buddha Net
Misconceptions: That Buddhists worship Buddha as a God. They are some how 'weak' or inferrer in some manner because of their great respect for all life forms, for peace and non violence.
Hindu
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sects Saivism, Vaishnavism, Shaktism and Smartism are the 4 major sects.
Prayer Chant, meditate, light candles & incense, pray
Spiritual Teachers Priests
General Practices Worship through ceremonies, festivals and rituals
Also called Sanatana Dharma, "eternal religion," and Vaidika Dharma, "religion of the Vedas," Hinduism encompasses a broad spectrum of philosophies ranging from pluralistic theism to absolute monism. The 4 major sects share a vast heritage of culture and belief: karma, dharma, reincarnation, all-pervasive Divinity, temple worship, sacraments, manifold Deities, the many yogas, the guru-nishya tradition and a reliance on the Vedas as scriptural authority. They believe in God as the creator of the universe, and worship idols as tangible representations of God. As such they honor many different gods and goddesses.
Please visit Hindu.org for more information.
It's often been said that if people would look beyond their differences, they'd find they have much more in common than they think. Learning about other belief systems doesn't mean you have to take on any part of those beliefs or practices. But understanding why others feel they way they do about certain issues and topics can go a long way to understanding each other. In other words, if you can learn about your neighbor and what they belief, then you can find a common ground for communication and understanding.
On this page, I'd like to try and show from my perspective, the similarities of the positive belief systems. We all practice the same things, we use different names to label our rituals and ceremonies. Take a look and see if you can find some similarities not listed here.
Witchcraft
Sects There are many traditions/sects within the religion of Witchcraft. Often gathering in the form of a Clan or Coven.
Prayer Meditate, Cast Spells, deliver incantations, light candles & incense, sing, ring a bell
Spiritual Teachers Witches & Wizards, Shamans & Shamanka, Priests & Priestesses
General Practices Worship through holidays known as Sabbats which typically fall upon the 8 seasonal changes of the year, working days known as Esbats, with ritual & ceremony. Rituals are held indoors and outdoors, often in a circle. Where ever you can build a circle, you have a ritual space.
There is no "bible" type spiritual text for Witchcraft. Many covens or clans have their own written or oral history known as a Book Of Shadows or a Grimoire.
Believe in a universal divine force which encompasses all things. Often worshiped as the God/Goddess as a view of balance in all things. Or recognizing the male and female aspects of God as separate entities; yet part of the whole. The God & Goddess have many different names and are honored (not worshiped) through mythological pantheons which give the divine form by which a practioner can focus their energies. Often hold a belief in reincarnation and what is commonly known as karma. Magikal rituals are used as a means of honoring the God/Goddess and the nature of the universe. Pagans believe there are lessons set upon our path to help teach us about ourselves and to overcome the karma we've created in a past life or an earlier time in this life. Through that understanding we grow in enlightenment and wisdom.
Misconceptions: The biggest misconception about pagans is that they worship the devil. This is the farthest thing from the truth. Pagans do not believe in the existence of Satan, so it would be hard to worship that kind of deity in the first place. Another misconception is that Pagans don't believe in sin. Well, from the Christian way of thinking, we don't. But we do believe in karma. What you put out you will get back; good, bad or indifferent. We call it the Law of Accountability. You are responsible for your thoughts and actions, and must take the consequences those actions create. Rituals do not consist of sacrifices of any kind. A sacrifice would be considered a dishonor of life for self gratification. That kind of disrespect is an affront to pagan belief.
Metaphysical
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sects New Age, Metaphysical
Prayer Meditate, light candles & incense, sing, chant
Spiritual Teachers No title, though there are Metaphysical Ministers throughout the world.
General Practices No formal holidays, rituals or ceremonies. Many Metaphysicians celebrate various religious holidays from Christmas to Ramadan. Practices are held in a chapel or spiritual 'center'.
There is no spiritual 'bible' written text. Metaphysics is the science beyond physics and therefore all research and resources are valid.
Believe in a universal divine force which encompasses all things of which they are part. You alone are not God, but you, I and all things around us make up God. Metaphysicians hold a belief in reincarnation and what is commonly known as karma. They believe there are lessons set upon our path to help teach us about ourselves and to overcome the karma we've created in a past life or an earlier time in this life. Through that understanding we grow in enlightenment and wisdom.
Misconceptions: Believers are Godless, they have no belief in a supreme being at all. As defined in a Christian or Jewish faith, this would be an accurate statement. Metaphysicians and New Age practioners believe that "God", often referred to as 'The Divine' is not above or separate from ourselves, but rather the result of all things combined as one. Another misunderstanding is that New Agers are flighty and always searching, never finding. Metaphysical practioners and New Age are very introspective, always looking to improve oneself through the lessons of life. They don't believe in sin. Well, from the Christian way of thinking, no they don't. But like the Pagan, what you put out you will get back; good, bad or indifferent.
Christian
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sects Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran, etc.
And yes The Catholic denomination is part of Christianity
Prayer Pray, light candles & incense, sing, meditate
Spiritual Teachers Priests, Nuns, Ministers, Bishops, Cardinals, The Pope, Deacons
General Practices Worship through organized services, rituals & ceremonies. Recognize several holidays relating to events in their religions history. Or Adopted from other beliefs as a means for easy conversation to Christianity. Worship is held in a church or chapel for prayer, ritual and worship.
Recognize the Holy Bible as their written history and spiritual text. This book is found in many forms, many interpretations and has a rich history of how it has evolved to today's common versions.
Believe in a supreme being which created and encompasses all things, known as the one God, Jehovah or Yahweh. God sent his only son, Jesus, to earth to teach the ways of God and become the savior of mankind through crucifixion and resurrection. Through the acceptance of Christ into your life, and being baptized, you are guaranteed a place in Heaven.
Misconceptions: I struggled on this one, so I asked a friend of mine who is a devout Catholic what she thought the misconceptions of Christianity are. Here's what she said. The main misunderstanding is that Christians are closed minded. That might be true with some believers, but I think you can say the same for all faiths. There are always extremists in every group. The second misconception is every Christian's mission is to convert the world to Christianity. Again, that might be the way of some extremists, but not the majority of Christians. She did strongly suggest that all Christians study any pre-King James version of the bible in order to understand many of the original ideals within the religion.
Jewish
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sects Orthodox, Hebrew, Modern, etc
Prayer Pray, light candles & incense, sing, chant
Spiritual Teachers Rabbi
General Practices Worship through organized services, rituals & ceremonies. Recognize several holidays relating to events in their religions history. Worship is held in a synagogue for prayer, ritual and worship. In the Kabalaistic Calendar, there are 4 spiritual holidays that follow the seasonal changes of the year.
Recognize the Tora as their written history and spiritual text. Along with the Kabala (or Cabala), which is often called the book of Jewish Mysticism.
Believe in a supreme being which created and encompasses all things. This means that there exists a Being that is complete in all ways and He is the cause of all else that exists. He is what sustains their existence and the existence of all that sustains them.
The word torah means "a teaching". The Torah is HaShem’s teaching to the Jewish people. In the Torah HaShem tells us how to live. The Torah has many mitzvos (commandments) in it. They are HaShem’s instructions to us. The Torah also contains stories. These stories are true and teach us about our history and our relationship with HaShem.
The daily prayers follow a basic pattern with some variations on Shabbos, Yomim Tovim (holidays) and other special days.
Consider this as well, like the Celts and Native Peoples, The Hebrew community is well known for it's many tribes of Israel. Although male and female are not worshiped, they are honored as two opposing forces, often seen through the story of Adam and Hava (Adam and Eve). The Kabala itself has a tone of "spells" within it, as the Hebrew/Jewish book of mysticism, it has many magikal undertones. Many Cabalists also keep a spiritual journal, much like a Witches Grimoire. They often name the journal after a holy man. One can even be found on the net called Romach Pinchas www.rachlin.org.il in Hebrew. Another similarity with pagans, one of the most important holidays to Paganism is Samhain. The Hebrew have a similar word Samehin, meaning 'To be happy'.
Misconceptions: One of the interesting misconceptions is that Jews do not believe in Jesus. They do, but they view him as a prophet, not the Savior foretold. Another misconception is that Jews worship money. Again, untrue. Jews intertwine their entire life with their spiritual beliefs. Thus their work is a means of worship and honor. To care for yourself, your family and your home is showing respect for the gifts given to you by God.
To learn more, please visit Talmud Torah: Basic Jewish Education
Muslim
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sects Islam, Muslim, Shite, Sunni
Prayer Prayer is performed 5 times a day. There is a specific ritual used for these prayers. They include specific words and movements.
Spiritual Teachers An Emam (the equivalent of a priest). An Emam can be a woman or a man.
General Practices Worship through ritual & ceremonies. There are only 2 major holidays. Ramadan and Ede which is after Ramadan. Ramadan is the time of spiritual cleansing, Ede is a celebration of the new spiritual life to come for the year. Worship is often held in a mosque and led by an Emam.
Believe in a supreme being which created and encompasses all things, known as the one and only God. He was not created, he is the mighty, merciful and compassionate God. They believe in Jesus as the prophet of God. David, Isaac, Joseph are also prophets. Muslims believe that when Jesus was placed on the cross, God reached down and removed him before the crucifixion. Replacing Jesus with another man. God took Jesus and sat him by his side, allowing him to live so that he might return again and proclaim God's truth. To them Jesus is alive, he never died. He is merely waiting by the hand of God to return. They do believe in Heaven, Hell and the Devil as well.
Muslim's believe in magik, but the practice of magik is not allowed. They believe that one who dabbles in magik is susceptible to the influences of the Devil and therefore susceptible to the corruptive powers of black magik. Good magik is practiced through one's deeds in day to day life. They believe in psychic powers as a gift from God, but not as something one can practice and learn.
To learn more, try visit The Muslim Fellowship
The biggest misconception of Muslims is that they are all terrorists. This is totally untrue! Most Westerners know nothing of the realities and beauties of Islam. Since the time of the Crusades, propaganda has been circulated to convince the ignorant that Islam is hard, warlike, narrow-minded, and either sensual or puritanical--depending on which of these seemed more shocking at the time! Islam as Muslims have always known it--the religion of tolerance, harmony, wisdom, and above all, peace--remains a stranger to those who have not lived it.
Islam means Peace, Muslim is Belief in Islam. So Muslim is the Belief of Peace. Another misconception is that women are 2nd class citizens. Again, untrue. Women are seen as the primary leaders of their culture. In fact, the Muslims were the first culture to give women the right to vote 1400 years ago. Soon after women were allowed to own their own land and not long after that they were considered as an equal of man.
I would like to thank my friend Sam for helping me with this section of the Similarity posting. Without his help, this would have remained a blank section for some time to come.
Native
American
Peoples
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sects Nations of the U.S., Canada, Central & South America
Prayer Chant, practice a form of meditation, light incense
Spiritual Teachers Medicine Men & Medicine Women
General Practices Worship through rituals & ceremonies. Holidays are often festivals that coincide with seasonal events. Ie: Harvest time.
There is no spiritual 'bible' written text. Most Native Peoples have a very rich oral history that is still passed down through generations today.
Believe in a universal divine force which encompasses all things. Often called 'The Great Spirit'. Most (if not all) Native peoples practice respect for all things as the corner stone for their spiritual lives. In doing so, they are honoring the Great Spirit and all things sacred in the world. Native peoples lived/live in tribal communities and are often associated with a larger 'nation' of peoples. Many Native Americans believe in communicating with all nature spirits, from plants to animals and more. When death comes, many people believe an animal messenger will come to guide their journey to the Great Spirit.
Misconceptions: There's not enough room here for the misconceptions of Native Peoples. But if I were to select one, I'd share the one so often told to me by wise brethren who live the life each day. Natives are ignorant and simple minded. Well, hopefully if you're reading this, you know how ignorant that statement is. Native Americans are very intelligent and artistic people who learned long ago how to live with the natural world around them, without abusing it or taking from it and never giving back to it.
Celtic
Shamanism
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sects Celtic regional traditions or clans
Prayer Chant, meditate, light candles & incense, use various musical instruments, cast spells, or magik circles, rely heavily on psychic abilities for divination, teaching and healing.
Spiritual Teachers Shamans & Shamankas, Priests & Priestesses
General Practices Worship through rituals & ceremonies. Holidays are often festivals that coincide with seasonal events. Ie: Harvest time. They honor all things seen and unseen; and have great reverence for the divine force of the world/universe. The believe in the balance of all things, and strive to live in balance with the natural world around them and spiritual world that runs through them.
The Celts in general have an extremely rich oral history. Little was ever written or inscribed on paper, stone or other decorations. But their history is now stuff of legend and myth and can be a fascinating journey of research.
Believe in a universal divine force which encompasses all things. Often called God/Goddess. Practioners respect for all things is the corner stone for their spiritual lives. In doing so, they are honoring the Gods and all things sacred in the world. They share similarities with Native American Peoples, so consider a few of these: Both Celts and Native Peoples lived/live in a clan community often associated with a larger geographical area of peoples (ie: a common example.. The Clan McCloud were Highlanders; The Seminoles were part of the Cherokee nation). You can see more about this below.
Misconceptions: Most practioners consider themselves to be a form of Pagan, therefore their misconceptions are identical or at least very similar. That Celtic Shamanism is a modern creation. For more about this, you might want to read the Celtic Shamanism article on this site.
Buddhist
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sects Theravada, Mahayana, Vajrayana are the major sects
Prayer Chant, meditate, light candles & incense, ring a bell or gong
Spiritual Teachers The Dalai Lama, Monk, Priest and Nuns.
General Practices Worship through ceremonies, festivals, and prayers.
Buddhism is more a way of life and philosophy than a religion. Buddhism explains a purpose to life, it explains apparent injustice and inequality around the world, and it provides a code of practice or way of life that leads to true happiness. Buddhists sometimes pay respect to images of the Buddha, not in worship, nor to ask for favors. They believe in karma and reincarnation in the form of transmigration.
For more information, visit The Buddha Net
Misconceptions: That Buddhists worship Buddha as a God. They are some how 'weak' or inferrer in some manner because of their great respect for all life forms, for peace and non violence.
Hindu
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sects Saivism, Vaishnavism, Shaktism and Smartism are the 4 major sects.
Prayer Chant, meditate, light candles & incense, pray
Spiritual Teachers Priests
General Practices Worship through ceremonies, festivals and rituals
Also called Sanatana Dharma, "eternal religion," and Vaidika Dharma, "religion of the Vedas," Hinduism encompasses a broad spectrum of philosophies ranging from pluralistic theism to absolute monism. The 4 major sects share a vast heritage of culture and belief: karma, dharma, reincarnation, all-pervasive Divinity, temple worship, sacraments, manifold Deities, the many yogas, the guru-nishya tradition and a reliance on the Vedas as scriptural authority. They believe in God as the creator of the universe, and worship idols as tangible representations of God. As such they honor many different gods and goddesses.
Please visit Hindu.org for more information.
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