world religions (terms idk)

Ife

the axis mundi

Esu

the trickster figure, both good and bad, but heaven and earth

Olorun

supreme god; has no shrines or sacrifices

oracles

stories/bones (tools for prophecies)

Orisha-nla

most intimate and worshipped deity

trickster figure

a type of supernatural being who tends to disrupt the normal course of life; Iktomi is the name of the Lakota’s

Wakan Tanka

the supreme reality that is also known as the Great Spirit (represented by a circle or 4 compass directions)

Moctezuma II

Aztec king who believed that Cortés was Quetzacoatl

Quetzalcoatl

“feathered serpent” from the Toltec, that is worshipped at Teotihuacan; presided over a golden age

Tolpiltzin Quetzalcoatl

Quetzalcoatl’s earthly representative

Teotihuacan

old capital; where the 5th Sun was created; home to the Pyramid of the Sun and the Moon

Tenochtitlan

the four corners of the world meet here

Tonantzin

mother goddess

Artha

“material success”

Atman

“self” or “eternal self”

Bhagavad-Gita

talked about the four goals of life; “the Song of God”; most popular text; Krishna teaches the great warrior Arjuna about bhakti marga

bhakti marga

“path of devotion”; participating in the worship of a deity

Brahman

creator of everything, not worshiped

brahmin

priests and philosophers

Brahma

the creator of the process of earth; worshipped

caste (varna) system

1)brahmin [priests] 2)kshatriya [warriors] 3)viashya [merchants] 4)shudra [laborers] (outcasts/Untouchables [work with waste])

jnana marga

“the path of knowledge”; practices of the Yogas

kama

pleasure

karma marga

“the path of works”

kshatriya

warriors

Om

syllable to distract the mind from the real world

puja

worship of God

Ramayana

talks about the life of Rama

Rig Veda

the oldest sacred text that is a collection of 1017 hymns

samadhi

trancelike state in which self-consciousness is lost and the mind is absorbed into the ultimate reality

sannyasin

wandering ascetic

Shiva

the destructor

Upanishads

ancient philosophical texts that are philosophical comments on the Vedas

Vishnu

the preserver

4 “stages” (ashramas) of life

1)student, 2)householder, 3)forest dweller, 3) sannyasin (wandering ascetic)