/jp/ - Otaku Culture

>>48106056
>Not especially, although I did go to pray to a lot of shinto shrines
Any big ones? Touhou related?
>shinto just attracts me more
There's something about it that feels almost like looking into an alternative reality where animism and polytheism was still the norm. The only religion to give me this "damn we've really lost something" feeling. The writings of the Tsubaki grand shrine associated people are great and I'll try to make some sort of a synopsis of them before the thread expires. But I also find Buddhism very resonant.
>Noh and Butoh
Butoh I am not very familiar with, but apparently Noh has an extremely strong mythological, if not explicitly Shinto-flavored religious, element to it all. It's one of those Japanese artforms where the devoted practice of the art is considered a form of spirituality in itself IIRC.
>I see it as the seed of the sacred.
Can you elaborate on this more?
>It had something to do with alchemy and Jesus' role in the psychology of man for him, iirc.
I see, interesting. Yellow, black, red and white are the colors associated with Western alchemy that I can remember offhand.
>What you say here interests me particularly.
The Archive is worth reading (maybe, hopefully) if you can stomach the amount of text. It's the most coherent attempt at putting together my thoughts about this all into one place which I've managed. But I don't think I have any final answers.
>I hope you the best in your endeavors
I hope the best for you too anon, once the search really begins it can get very intense.
> I can give you an overview or the translation, whichever you prefer. As long as I have the link for it.
I was supposed to put the link into the post but I guess I forgot.
https://web.archive.org/web/20100815091939/http://animeiji.s80.xrea.com/event/easterndawn/report1.html
A full translation would be great, but if it's too much of a hassle an overview is fine. I can cram the text bit by bit into Google Translate on my own time.
>>48106092
>Base 60 was used by mesopotamians in 3000 before JC.
Interesting. Do you think it's related to Jupiter's cycle?
>Also, I don't get this Halloween thing to be honest.
It's very commercialized but there were ceremonies around this time of the year in many European cultures. Halloween is of Celtic origin if I am not mistaken. Besides, the veil really is at the thinnest around this time.

>>47604072
>an intrusion upon one's own 'mental space,' >extremely unpleasant to think about
>consider their own thoughts to be a sanctuary
I understand. There's two points about this.

First off ultimately the vast majority of such intrusions can be shrugged off. I won't say it's necessarily easy. Some entities can be very forceful and persistent. I think they are an exception, something you have to call, something you have to go looking for. Maybe if you live right next to a notorious paranormal hotspot the enitites will be much more difficult to deal with.

The key here too is ultimately the ability to let go of things. If something you don't want to deal with brushes against your mindstream, don't get too attached to it. If it's something really alluring or scary it can be very hard, but it's possible. You don't have to follow any ideas they give that you don't want to.

There are of course more forceful ways too. I am slightly suspicious towards many Western banishment rituals after reading Egregores by Mark Stavish, but a lot of stuff that gets new ageyly called "energy cleanses" works.

Secondly, you are already under the influence of all kinds of things. Your ideas aren't generally speaking 100% your own, they come from long chains of influence. Whether it's spirits or more mundane influence doesn't matter that much in the end. Your mental space is already being invaded. This can drive some people into existential crisis. But ultimately you, the real (You) can choose what kind of influences, spiritual or mundane, you want to subject yourself to. This is a skill you can cultivate.
>>47604072
>which of course lends itself to its own issues
Yes, most notably that "like attracts like" applies really strongly to the spirit realm. There are also adversary reactions sometimes, yes, but often it really is kind of a feedback loop. The more spooked you are, the more you draw in entities that like it when you are spooked...

In the end, it's your choice, but just be mindful of this and that there is a lot you can do personaly to avoid getting too tangled with bad actors. You don't need a gun with you at all times if you know how to avoid the bad neighbourhoods, so to say.

And I have to say, there were times when I was really scared when things started happening. The kami can be extremely intense. But I didn't give into the fear and ultimately had the most positive, meaningful, growth-facilitating experience of my life.
>I can't fuckin' remember any of 'em
I see. How long have you been at it? Month or two? There are certain medications and "medications" and habits that interfere with dreaming but I'm not gonna assume anything. Just be aware of such. And of course fear and anxiety of possibly experiencing something might also be a blockage.
>Considering it originally came from what was essentially a polytheistic religious environment, it's not unreasonable to suggest that it isn't too fundamentally different.
Yeah I obviously don't believe in the Christian capital-G God, but there are a lot of more esoteric interpretations of "God" that line up with my ideas more.

What it is, I don't know. It's been interpreted variously as some kind of impersonal logos, the divine masculine principle or just the deity of a Semitic tribe that gew out of it's origin point.

If it's some kind of latent consciousness of the universe, well, then every other deity and spirit is part of it. If it's the divine masculine principle, then Christianity just doesn't worship the divine feminine principle (the Catholics kinda smugled this in with the importance of Mary). If it's just a single but very petty deity, then there is a whole world of other options. You could see it as kind of Yahweh is an aspect of the divine masculine which stems from the logos of the universe type of thing too.
>I thought it would be more like asking your teacher to pose nude to learn about anatomy
Anon...the Keine doujins...put them down anon...