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Earth Goddess in English Paganism

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Earth Goddess in English Paganism The Place of the Earth- Goddess Cult in English Pagan Religion By Gary G. Stanfield Kansas City, Missouri, USA. Copyright 2014 (USA Copyright Office). Page 1 Table of Contents Table of Contents ..................................................................... 2 Chapter 1: Introduction ............................................................. 5 A)Purposes and Objectives ...................................................... 5 B)Vocabulary, Grammar, and Spelling ...................................... 6 C)The Concept of Theological Diversity ..................................... 7 D)The Unified Theology Model in Previous Studies .................... 10 E)Lack of Importance of an Earth Goddess in Prior Studies ........ 11 F)Advice On How Works are Cited .......................................... 13 G)Preview of the Substantive Chapters ................................... 16 Chapter 2: Cultic Practice and Formal Lore ................................. 19 A)Folk Religion .................................................................... 20 B)Cult and Myth ................................................................... 22 C)Conclusion ....................................................................... 27 Chapter 3: Kwoth — Holy Spirit and a Supreme Deity ................. 29 A)The Nuer as a People ........................................................ 29 B)Holy Spirit in Nuer Religion ................................................ 30 C)Example of the Refraction Principle ..................................... 33 D)Kwoth and Doctrinal Flexibility ........................................... 36 E)Application to English Polytheism ........................................ 36 Chapter 4: Neoplatonic Theology .............................................. 38 A)Summary of the Case to This Point ..................................... 38 B)Objectives of This Chapter ................................................. 38 C)Introductory Remarks ....................................................... 39 D)Polytheism with a Supreme Deity ....................................... 43 E)Immortal Mental Executives ............................................... 46 F)Evaluations Not Friendly to Earth Religion ............................ 52 G)Epistemology ................................................................... 52 H)Critique ........................................................................... 53 Chapter 5: An Earth-Goddess Cult in a Bifurcated Religion ........... 56 A)Summary of the Case to This Point ..................................... 56 B)Sources of Data ................................................................ 56 C)Cultural Context of Tallensi Religion .................................... 57 D)Overview of the Cult Structure ........................................... 58 E)The Ancestor-God Cult ....................................................... 58 F)The Earth Goddess Cult ..................................................... 60 G)Teng Cult Organization ...................................................... 68 H)Some Conclusions ............................................................ 69 Chapter 6: Norse Theologies .................................................... 71 A)Major Documentary Sources .............................................. 71 B)Earth Religion ................................................................... 76 C)Cosmic Super-Deity Theology ............................................. 79 D)Polycentric Theology: The Borrson Brothers Partnership ........ 84 E)Óðin as Pinnacle Deity of Deity-Compound (Ásgarð) .............. 91 F)Polycentrism: More Wights and Other Objects Emerge ........... 97 G)Summary and Conclusions ............................................... 105 Chapter 7: Two Roman Earth Goddesses ................................. 109 A)Introduction ................................................................... 109 B)General Description of Roman Earth Goddess Religion ......... 110 C)Earth Mother, the Soil Goddess ......................................... 114 D)Mother of Deities ............................................................ 121 E)Conclusions .................................................................... 137 Chapter 8: Earth Religion in Proto-Germanic Times ................... 139 A)Ancient Geographies ....................................................... 139 B)Cultural Turbulence ......................................................... 141 C)Earth Goddesses ............................................................. 143 D)Major Conclusions ........................................................... 147 Chapter 9: Documented Earþ Belief and Practice after 650 CE .... 149 A)Introduction ................................................................... 149 B)Documented Prayers and Magic ........................................ 150 C)Omissions in Other Evidence ............................................ 164 D)Conclusions .................................................................... 168 Chapter 10: Circumstantial Evidence from after 650 CE ............. 170 A)Importance of Nonverbal Clues ......................................... 170 B)Venues .......................................................................... 171 C)Buried Objects as Offerings .............................................. 184 D)Artistic Images ............................................................... 187 E)Conclusions from Circumstantial Evidence .......................... 217 Chapter 11: The Earþ Cult Per Se ........................................... 219 A)Overview of Previous Content ........................................... 219 B)A People’s Cult ............................................................... 220 C)Intellectual and Emotional Basis of Earþ-Cult Theology ........ 221 D)Alternatives Regarding Ultimate Creation ........................... 224 E)Natural Species of Deity ................................................... 225 F)Deity as Offspring of Spiritual Beings ................................. 231 G)The Theological Meaning of “Mother” in the Earð Cult .......... 232 H)Deity and Mankind as Relatives ........................................ 235 I)Rites .............................................................................. 235 J)Conclusions .................................................................... 239 Chapter 12: Os ..................................................................... 242 A)Clarification of Divine Kinship ........................................... 242 B)Linguistic Evidence of Bad Candidates ............................... 243 C)“Os” Had Strongly Positive Connotations ............................ 245 D)“Os” Did Not Denote a Physical Object ............................... 247 E)Did Os Denote “Wóden”, “God”, or “Deity”? ........................ 248 F)Os in English Theology ..................................................... 254 G)Some Contra Considerations ............................................ 259 H)Summary ....................................................................... 261 Chapter 13: Summary and Conclusion ..................................... 263 A)Initially-Announced Objectives .......................................... 263 B)Background Material ........................................................ 263 C)Evidence of the Earð Cult ................................................. 266 D)Conclusion ..................................................................... 269 Appendix A: Methods ............................................................ 270 A)Presentation and Investigation ......................................... 270 B)Scanty and Mostly Indirect Evidence .................................. 273 C)Warnings and Disclaimers ................................................ 274 D)On Being Different .......................................................... 274 E)Effects of Experimental Practice ........................................ 275 Appendix B: Author’s Biases ................................................... 277 A)Personal Religious Background ......................................... 277 B)Paradigms and Cults ........................................................ 279 C)Channeling by the Evidence ............................................. 280 Appendix C: English Non-Christian Dedicated Religious Venues ... 282 A)Sites Named as Dedicated Venues .................................... 282 B)Sites Not Named as Dedicated Venues ............................... 289 C)Summary ....................................................................... 290 Appendix D: Analyses of Surviving Latin Prayers ....................... 292 A)A Prayer from The Aeneid ................................................ 293 B)Julian’s Sermon on Mother of Deities ................................. 294 C)Prayer from Greek-Style Games of 17 BCE ......................... 300 D)A Prayer from Statius’ Thebiad ......................................... 302 E)Herb-Gatherer’s Prayer .................................................... 305 F)Overall Conclusions ......................................................... 317 List of References ................................................................. 318 Chapter 1: Introduction A) Purposes and Objectives In general this book also makes possible a much clearer and more accurate understanding of English Paganism and early medieval English culture in general during the years of about 450 CE to 1100 CE. This book shows that English Paganism was
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