Deities and Divas

Deities and Divas PDF Author: Peter A. Jackson
Publisher: NIAS Press
ISBN: 8776943089
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 325

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Book Description
In central Thailand, a flamboyantly turbaned gay medium for the Hindu god of the underworld posts Facebook selfies of himself hugging and kissing a young man. In Myanmar’s largest city Yangon, a one-time member of a gay NGO dons an elaborate wedding dress to be ritually married to a possessing female spirit; he believes she will offer more support for his gay lifestyle than the path of LGBTQ activism. The only son of a Chinese trading family in Bangkok finds acceptance for his homosexuality and crossdressing when he becomes the medium for a revered female Chinese deity. And in northern Thailand, female mediums smoke, drink, flaunt butch masculine poses and flirt with female followers when they are ritually possessed by male warrior deities. Across the Buddhist societies of mainland Southeast Asia, local queer cultures are at the center of a recent proliferation of professional spirit mediumship. Drawing on detailed ethnographies and extensive comparative research, Deities and Divas captures this variety and ferment. The first book to trace commonalities between queer and religious cultures in Southeast Asia and the West, it reveals how modern gay, trans and spirit medium communities all emerge from a shared formative matrix of capitalism and new media. With insights and analysis that transcend the modern opposition of religion vs secularity, it provides fascinating new perspectives in transnational cultural, religious and queer studies.

Deities and Divas

Deities and Divas PDF Author: Peter A. Jackson
Publisher: NIAS Press
ISBN: 8776943089
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 325

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Book Description
In central Thailand, a flamboyantly turbaned gay medium for the Hindu god of the underworld posts Facebook selfies of himself hugging and kissing a young man. In Myanmar’s largest city Yangon, a one-time member of a gay NGO dons an elaborate wedding dress to be ritually married to a possessing female spirit; he believes she will offer more support for his gay lifestyle than the path of LGBTQ activism. The only son of a Chinese trading family in Bangkok finds acceptance for his homosexuality and crossdressing when he becomes the medium for a revered female Chinese deity. And in northern Thailand, female mediums smoke, drink, flaunt butch masculine poses and flirt with female followers when they are ritually possessed by male warrior deities. Across the Buddhist societies of mainland Southeast Asia, local queer cultures are at the center of a recent proliferation of professional spirit mediumship. Drawing on detailed ethnographies and extensive comparative research, Deities and Divas captures this variety and ferment. The first book to trace commonalities between queer and religious cultures in Southeast Asia and the West, it reveals how modern gay, trans and spirit medium communities all emerge from a shared formative matrix of capitalism and new media. With insights and analysis that transcend the modern opposition of religion vs secularity, it provides fascinating new perspectives in transnational cultural, religious and queer studies.

Spirit Possession in Buddhist Southeast Asia

Spirit Possession in Buddhist Southeast Asia PDF Author: Bénédicte Brac de la Perrière
Publisher: NIAS Press
ISBN: 8776943097
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 363

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Book Description
In dramatic contrast to the reported growing influence of doctrinal and fundamentalist forms of religion in some parts of Southeast Asia, the predominantly Buddhist societies of the region are witnessing an upsurge of spirit possession cults and diverse forms of magical ritual. This is found in many social strata, including the urban poor, rising middle classes and elite groups, and across the different political systems of Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. This volume reveals both the central historical place of spirit possession rituals in the Buddhist cultures of mainland Southeast Asia and their important contemporary roles to enhance prosperity and protection. This book examines the increasing prominence of spirit mediumship and divination across the region by exploring the interplay of neoliberal capitalism, visual media, the network cultures of the Internet, and the politics of cultural heritage and identity. It advances beyond critiques of the “secularization” and “disenchantment” theses to explore the processes of modernity that are actively producing magical worldviews and stimulating the rise of spirit cults. As such, it not only challenges the assumptions of modernization theory but demonstrates that the cults in question are novel ritual forms that emerge out of inherently modern conditions.

Yoga Is a Mantra

Yoga Is a Mantra PDF Author: Lalit K. Kilam
Publisher: AuthorHouse
ISBN: 1468539825
Category : Yoga
Languages : en
Pages : 152

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Book Description
Summarium de 'Yoga is a mantra' We as a modern Society with all the high material and technological achievements are aware of being as if in the Arca Noae. According to the prominant Western Philosophies this temporality of human beings achieved in the form of Physiological, social, cultural, material and religious gives us a sense of our self esteem. A philosophical thought propounded in 'Yoga is a mantra' based on experience and the metaphysical knowledge discovers the matrix of human Existence, Consciousness and its Conditioning. Methodology used for its deconditioning makes this philosophical thought dissimilis not only to achieve awareness for a healthy life but also makes us compassionate towards each other and above all makes us intellegere in our hearts the presence of the Lord/Dominus the creator of all the existence. A Yogin after attempting the way of yoga and its practices; asanas, pranayama, meditation and insuper the practices of Kashmiri yoga i.e. awakening of Kundalini which deals with the Consciousness 'Shiva' -as a man and 'Shakti' -as an embrio of a beautiful woman. Their cognitio sanctified in the midway between the 'Muladhara chakra' and the 'Sahasrara chakra' is an austerus technique no doubt but only justified by a Brahmin. It is a union different than achieved by the practices of Astanga yoga with the Infinitus. The ascetic technique of Kashmiri yoga is a process of transformation of the human body into a cosmic body in which the energy chakras and the veins play a consderable role profecto it can be experienced though difficult. This is the semita leading to extremus libertas.

Making Sense of “God”

Making Sense of “God” PDF Author: Norman Solomon
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 166676146X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 323

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Book Description
All over the world people talk about God and argue endlessly about what God said and what, if anything, we should do about it. Do they know what are they talking about? Do they ever seriously consider what it might look like or feel like if God actually spoke to you? How could you tell, if someone said God spoke to them, whether they were deluded, bluffing, or high on drugs? The reflections, dialogues, and arguments in this book address such questions, often with humor, sometimes provocatively as when the author suggests the ancient gods have returned to invade the institutions of our great religions, or when two spirits, William and James, viewing the world from afar, voice their doubt as to whether the human species will ever attain the pinnacles of cooperation, reason, beauty, and love. Ancient texts from the Mayan Popol Vuh through the Bible to the Chinese classics are invoked, and the discoveries of modern science from anthropology to zoology are brought into play as the reader is gently led to an appreciation of the role of religious language in modern society.

Lord Deliver Us From The Diva

Lord Deliver Us From The Diva PDF Author: Dr. Ceretta Smith
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 1304338177
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 49

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Book Description
This book speaks to very issue of how women should adorn themselves in TRUE beauty, excellence and intelligence that God gave them freely to rule and reign as daughters and princesses of God. Dr Ceretta writes with purity of heart and kindness of the Holy spirit as best as she knows how. I pray that women all over the world will read this book to discover the hidden treasures they carry within themselves and unleash that power that to change the world for so long dominated by men's Ideas of who a real woman should be.

Adventure Divas

Adventure Divas PDF Author: Holly Morris
Publisher: Villard
ISBN: 0375760636
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 322

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Book Description
After years of working behind a desk, Holly Morris had finally had enough. So she quit her job and set out to prove that adventure is not just a vacation style but a philosophy of living and to find like-minded, risk-taking women around the globe. With modest backing, a small television crew, her spirited producer-mother, Jeannie, and a whole lot of chutzpah, Morris tracked down artists, activists, and politicos–women of action who are changing the rules and sometimes the world around them. In these pages, Morris brings to life the remarkable people and places she’s encountered on the road while filming her PBS series Adventure Divas and other programs. We meet Assata Shakur, a former Black Panther and social activist and now a fugitive living in exile in Cuba; Kiran Bedi, New Delhi’s chief of police, who revolutionized India’s infamously brutal Tijar Jail with her humanitarian ethic; New Zealand pop star Hinewehi Mohi, a Maori who reinvigorates her native culture for a new generation; and Mokarrameh Ghanbari, a septuagenarian painter and rice farmer who lives in the tiny village of Darikandeh on the Caspian plains of Iran, where her creative talents run counter to the government’s strict stance on art. Along the way, Morris herself becomes a certified Adventure Diva, as she hunts for wild boar with Penan tribesmen in the jungles of Borneo, climbs the Matterhorn short-roped to a salty fourth-generation Swiss guide, and memorably becomes the first woman ever to enter the traditional camel race of the Saharan oasis town of Timia. Intelligent, phenomenally funny, and chock-full of rich and telling details of place, Adventure Divas is a pro-woman chronicle for the twenty-first century. In a pilgrimage fueled by curiosity, ideology, and full-on estrogen power, Holly Morris has paved the way for all of us to discover our own diva within and set out on our own adventures.

Extraterrestrial Legacies of God, Jesus, and the Angels

Extraterrestrial Legacies of God, Jesus, and the Angels PDF Author: Raphael-Seraphin Kutota Basisa
Publisher: Dorrance Publishing
ISBN:
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 262

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Book Description
About the Book In some way or form, this book is unassumingly a nicer and a more logical organization and interpretation of compounding existing religious writings from a variety of walks of life. Herein, they are presented as proof drawn synthetically from those multitude of intellectual sources written over the last 4,000 years evidencing that the central figure of the persona translated as the reincarnation of almighty God of Israel himself in Christian literature is simply another Extraterrestrial Alien visiting Planet Earth for a purpose. Another visitor just like those well-known Anunnaki, the Elohim, the Nephilim, the Sons of God, the Watchers, the renegade Angels or other entities over several millennia ego. And, in the many ways how it is related to the current humanity's most pressing problem of whether we are alone and unique in the Cosmos as it is linked to the much-witnessed UFO encounters phenomenon. It also well outlined the latent consequences resulting from what is presented as postulate. About the Author Raphael-Seraphin Kutota Basisa currently resides in Lynn, Massachusetts. He would consider himself a futurist, a researcher, a world’s concerned citizen, and a great human being. He is a chemical engineer by training and earned an MBA and an ABD in Applied Management and Public Policy. He has written and published several technical and non-technical documents, commentaries, articles, papers, and other books along the subjects of his expertise. He believes in extraterrestrial life in regard to religion. Basisa is a person whose research helped to recognize early on the theory that we are all descendants of Extraterrestrials and Cosmic religiosity should be recognized in modern theology.

Merriam-Webster's Vocabulary Builder

Merriam-Webster's Vocabulary Builder PDF Author: Mary W. Cornog
Publisher: Merriam-Webster
ISBN: 9780877799108
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 580

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Book Description
The ideal book for people who want to increase their word power. Thorough coverage of 1,200 words and 240 roots while introducing 2,300 words. The Vocabulary Builder is organized by Greek and Latin roots for effective study with nearly 250 new words and roots. Includes quizzes after each root discussion to test progress. A great study aid for students preparing to take standardized tests.

Capitalism Magic Thailand

Capitalism Magic Thailand PDF Author: Peter A Jackson
Publisher: ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute
ISBN: 9814951978
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 381

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Book Description
By studying intersections among new cults of wealth, ritually empowered amulets and professional spirit mediumship—which have emerged together in Thailand’s dynamic religious field in recent decades—Capitalism Magic Thailand explores the conditions under which global modernity produces new varieties of enchantment. Bruno Latour’s account of modernity as a condition fractured between rationalizing ideology and hybridizing practice is expanded to explain the apparent paradox of new forms of magical ritual emerging alongside religious fundamentalism across a wide range of Asian societies. In Thailand, novel and increasingly popular varieties of ritual now form a symbolic complex in which originally distinct cults centred on Indian deities, Chinese gods and Thai religious and royal figures have merged in commercial spaces and media sites to sacralize the market and wealth production. Emerging within popular culture, this complex of cults of wealth, amulets and spirit mediumship is supported by all levels of Thai society, including those at the acme of economic and political power. New theoretical frameworks are presented in analyses that challenge the view that magic is a residue of premodernity, placing the dramatic transformations of cultic ritual centre stage in modern Thai history. It is concluded that modern enchantment arises at the confluence of three processes: neoliberal capitalism’s production of occult economies, the auraticizing effects of technologies of mass mediatization, and the performative force of ritual in religious fields where practice takes precedence over doctrine.

The Faiths of the World

The Faiths of the World PDF Author: James Gardner
Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand
ISBN: 3382329689
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 1046

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Book Description
Reprint of the original, first published in 1858. The publishing house Anatiposi publishes historical books as reprints. Due to their age, these books may have missing pages or inferior quality. Our aim is to preserve these books and make them available to the public so that they do not get lost.