Your religion of choice

[Nefastos]

The solitude of the vast northern landscape, where the presence of the sky is quite tangible & and the earth is firm, is for me the most accurate mirror of the Spirit.

I'm happy for you, who can feel like that. I know the feeling you speak of - the majesty of the calm northern spirit - but it's not for me. I feel a constant, bitter-sweet longing to my soul's home country in the southern Europe, although I have seldom visited it in this life.

"Parempi omalla maalla / vetonenki virsun alta,
kuin on maalla vierahalla / kultamaljasta metonen."

("Better in your own country / even water off your sole
than in a foreign country / honey from a golden bowl." - Kalevala 7:285-288)

[Eradicatus]

I would go with Buddhism considering I do the best I can to have a set of value of morals and understanding towards all walks of life, while society may perceive someone as what they least expect, and want them to follow by their standards, I however prefer not to be amongst those who have caused a great deal of pain towards that which means them no harm.

[TheQizilbash]

Salute to all folks. Technically I have no religion of choice since my religion is totally hereditary which comes from paternal line with strict regulations and i'm a part of priesthood mechanism. I'm an adherent of and unorthodox form of Shamanism(unlike Orthodox Mongolian version) called Alevism. Some calls it Islam due to statehood policies, but it is not. Ancient God "Tengri" of our Shamanism evolved into an Abrahamic form, but preachers are not in Abrahamic forms. Preserving an entity despite a millenia of oppression and persecution is not so easy.

[obnoxion]

Salute to all folks. Technically I have no religion of choice since my religion is totally hereditary which comes from paternal line with strict regulations and i'm a part of priesthood mechanism. I'm an adherent of and unorthodox form of Shamanism(unlike Orthodox Mongolian version) called Alevism. Some calls it Islam due to statehood policies, but it is not. Ancient God "Tengri" of our Shamanism evolved into an Abrahamic form, but preachers are not in Abrahamic forms. Preserving an entity despite a millenia of oppression and persecution is not so easy.

Welcome to out forum! I've just leartn about Alevism a few days ago (from Ensi-Lugal), and i'm very, very interrested about it. I'd love to find out more about it very quickly. Could you recommend any reliable resources on Alevism in the internet?

[TheQizilbash]

Salute to all folks. Technically I have no religion of choice since my religion is totally hereditary which comes from paternal line with strict regulations and i'm a part of priesthood mechanism. I'm an adherent of and unorthodox form of Shamanism(unlike Orthodox Mongolian version) called Alevism. Some calls it Islam due to statehood policies, but it is not. Ancient God "Tengri" of our Shamanism evolved into an Abrahamic form, but preachers are not in Abrahamic forms. Preserving an entity despite a millenia of oppression and persecution is not so easy.

Welcome to out forum! I've just leartn about Alevism a few days ago (from Ensi-Lugal), and i'm very, very interrested about it. I'd love to find out more about it very quickly. Could you recommend any reliable resources on Alevism in the internet?

Thanks obnoxion, it was Ensi-Lugal who invited me to forum. I will try to recommend you some sources about Alevism. But some of internet sources may be quite contaminated by Islamic assimilationist policies or Shia contaminated sources. My humble opinion is to not take them serious.

http://www.revers-sun.fi/english/tengriism.html

You can trace roots of Alevism in Tengriism since Tengri is still part of us.

Also most sources in internet can inform you about sociological sides of Alevism because it also became a sociological+educational problem recently.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4BYBBCAZ8M

Some sources can mark us as "Shamanic Muslims". It can sound more accurate. But still i do not find Muslim-part impressive because we do not worship 3 or 5 times like Sunni or Shia Muslims. In general, there is no offical mechanism to provide control over Alevism or Alevis and i'm pretty sure it will never be in future. Because unorthodox kind of heathenry makes the control of Alevism harder.

No Alevi wants to state openly, or very few Alevis know about evolving gods issues. Lets make something clear. Divinity of Altaic God Tengri in fact never died but evolved into an Abrahamic one, a different kind of trinity called Allah-Mohammad-Ali. But Ali was the most superstitious among themselves. Hence the classic Tengri the sky-celestal God evolved into Ali the human-Tengri.

http://www.belgeler.com/blg/16rx/sorgul ... zi-alevi-s

This article written in Turkish, i couldn't find the English written but it was the most controversial article on Alevism on Elazığ(Eastern Anatolia) Alevis in general. The article says, Ali became the Tengri.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0mYNQT89VA

The video about Tengriist roots of Alevism, but as i stated before i'm a part of priesthood and even as a hereditary priest it took my years to understand this fact.

[obnoxion]

Thank you for the links! These shed some very interesting light on the matter, especially coming from inside the faith.

The link to Tengriism was perhaps the single most interesting thing. As i've understood, tengirism is nowdays considered a sort of "new age trend" in Central Asia. So it was nice to hear from the Times documentary/raport that although the Alevi ceremony seemed new age, it is actually "incredibly old". So this survival of unbroken lineage of Tengriism is absolutely intriguing thought. It makes perfect sense that such survival is only made possible by the assimilation of islamic themes.

I would be very grateful if you could reccomend one or two good books on Alevism. But they would have to be in english.

[Dracerium]

I would choose wicca in all ways. Well, it affects still to my work with brotherhood but I dont see as a bad thing. I can remember something that Nefastos said on his radio-interview: all womans seems to be like wiccas. I admit it that its always nice to be on religion which also worships womanhood, but this has also bad side. Wicca is also misunderstood to be religion which worships only womens as goddesses. Its not like that as I see it. I see that wicca worships also masculinity and womanhood because they create balance together. And nature comes to it also, nature has to be honored.

[Heith]

I chose other and neo-paganism -Even if I dislike this "neo" thing, it was still closest in definition. I agree wholly with fra obnoxion. To me the greatest thrill and inspiration is always found in Ultima Thule, the cold north and the traditions that come with it. I've lived in a southern country for a short period of time and even if the remains of the ancient civilizations there are much more visible than what has survived in the north, I never really felt at home under the blazing sun.

For me the closest religions, I'd say shamanism, particularly the northern forms and heathenism. To me it seems like the most natural option- the myths and stories are based around animals and archetypes that are familiar to me as I live here. But this taste it's more diverse than that as well- if I go to big museums abroad, I almost always find that the art work I liked the most was made by someone in a northern country. There's something about the colors that appeal to me- a little murky I guess.

As to women being wiccans, perhaps I'm the exception that confirms the rule. I'm a complete barbarian! (But if I recall correctly, fra Nefastos said something on the lines of, women being more drawn to wicca than men. In which case I've to agree as most wiccan covens probably consist of a majority of women)

[obnoxion]

I chose other and neo-paganism -Even if I dislike this "neo" thing, it was still closest in definition. I agree wholly with fra obnoxion. To me the greatest thrill and inspiration is always found in Ultima Thule, the cold north and the traditions that come with it.

It is kind of curious that, although Shamanism of the Northern variety is the Religion of my Heart, other North Europian traditions have always felt very distant. Odinism, Druidry and the Grail myths just don't seem to resonate in me deep enough. Same goes for the American Indian Traditions.

I feel closer to North-East - to Russia, Mongolia, Tibet. Spiritually i would describe myself as a Silk Road Syncronist, and of all the Great Religoiu's books, the most inspiring has so far been the Old Testament.

Though perhaps such combination isn't complitely unheard of. For example, John Steinbeck's novel "To A God Unknown" is at the same time the best modern book about pagan religious experience, and at the same time it shows such insight of deeper Old Testament spirituality that it can only be compared to William Blake.

[Sebomai]

I selected Christianity, though I've had horrible experiences every time I've tried to embrace it in a church-type setting. Either I'd give Orthodoxy a go as Roman Catholicism and Protestantism have both failed me terribly. Or I've failed them. I don't know for sure, I just know I don't get along well with them. I suspect the same would be true with Orthodox but I'd give it a try at least. In the end, maybe I'd be a recluse Christian who didn't associate with other Jesus people because they all worshiped the Christ Idol that the church authorities pushed on them.

I also selected Hinduism. I have a deep and abiding pull towards Saivism and I have three very, very large books on the subject put out by an American institute for Hindu studies, Saivite in particular, that I'm going to read sooner or later. Hopefully sooner.

Lastly, I selected other. The northern shaman of the Finnish variety is glorious to me. I've read the Kalevala twice, love it more each time. And while I know that's not the be all and end all of Finnish spirituality and that it was very tampered with, there's still a sense in there of something truly wonderful. Also, I've lived in Minnesota for many years of my life and that climate is about as close as America comes to the Northern European experience of winter. It suits me. It suits me well.