Mythology
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azazel http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Enoch http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enochian http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enochian_angels http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cacodemon http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agathodemon http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=agrippa+von+nettesheim+de+occulta http://images.google.com/images?q=agrippa%20von%20nettesheim%20de%20occulta
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[edit] Yezidi
The Yezidi or Yazidi (Kurdish; Êzidî) are adherents of a small Middle Eastern religion with ancient origins. There are also Yazidi refugees in Europe. The Yazidi worship Malak Ta’us, apparently a pre-Islamic peacock angel who has fallen into disgrace. Malak Ta’us has links to Mithraism and, through it, to Zoroastrianism. The Yazidi maintain a well-preserved culture, rich in traditions and customs.
According to the Yazidi, Malak Ta’us is a fallen peacock angel who repented and recreated the world that had been broken. He filled seven jars with his tears and used them to quench the fire in Hell. Yazidism also includes minor deities and some clans venerate Sheikh Adii as a saint, subservient to Malak Ta’us. There are also 6 other minor deities that are honored.
The Yazidi holy books are the Book of Revelation and the Black Book. The latter forbids eating of lettuce or butter beans and wearing of dark blue. The historical status of the book is questionable.
Historically, the Yazidis are a religious minority of the Kurds. Purportedly, they have existed since 2000 BC. Estimates of the number of Yazidis vary between 100,000 and 800,000. According to the same site, refugees in Germany number 30,000.
As a distant religious belief, many non-Yazidi people have written about them, and ascribed facts to their beliefs that have dubious historical validity. For example, horror writer H. P. Lovecraft made a reference to "... the Yezidi clan of devil-worshippers" in his short story "The Horror at Red Hook". The Yezidis have also been claimed as an influence on Aleister Crowley's Thelema. More notably, Anton Lavey drew upon the Yezidis for his own philosophy, LaVeyan Satanism, (e.g. The Law of the Trapezoid) in the "Satanic Bible" and "Satanic Rituals". In addition; The Order of the Peacock Angel, an obscure secret society based in the London suburb of Putney loosely based its rites on Yezidi beliefs as well.
[edit] Cults
Mormonism: Kolob, star/throne of God (perhaps a splinter of Angelus), houses Mormon angels such as Moroni.
Deities-
Freemasons: GAOTU "The Grand Architect of the Universe" Jabulon: Jehovah, Baal, and Osiris.
Hermeticism: Hermes-Trismegistus, Hermes and Thoth
Knights Templar: Baphomeh
Scientology: Xenu, of Teegeeack
Church Of The SubGenius: Bob
Discordianism: Eris (Greek)
Other: LaVeyan Satanism Modern Paganism/Druidism/Wicca
[edit] Afterlife
Leif Ericson or Eric the Red could reside in Valhalla, Plato and Socrates could reside in Elysium or Hades, Christian saints could reside in Angelus, Crowley could reside in Deimos, etc. People who live in the underworld can reflect on the meaning of death, life , etc. They could guide travellers, provide advice, or try to manipulate them. Other religions would have their version of the afterlife, from Maya/Inca/Aztec, African, Judaism, etc.
Roman emperors believed they were at the level of the gods, as well as Pharoahs who believed they would have the privilege of having an afterlife.
[edit] Four Elements
The Greek classical elements are Fire, Earth, Air, and Water. They represent in Greek philosophy, science, and medicine the realms of the cosmos wherein all things exist and whereof all things consist.
Plato mentions them as of Pre-Socratic origin, a list created by the ancient philosopher Empedocles.
Fire is both hot and dry. Earth is both cold and dry. Air is both hot and wet. Water is both cold and wet.
According to Galen, these elements were used by Hippocrates in describing the human body with an association with the four humours: yellow bile (Fire), black bile (Earth), blood (Air), and phlegm (Water).
Some cosmologies include a fifth element, the "quintessence." These five elements are sometimes associated with the five platonic solids.
The Pythagoreans added idea as the fifth element, and also used the initial letters of these five elements to name the outer angles of their pentagram.
Some occultists have noted that in modern science the general rule is that most visible matter can be classified as either a solid (Earth), liquid (Water), or gas (Air); a fourth classification has been discovered recently and is often called plasma (Fire). These correspond to the modern-day States of Matter.
Aristotle added aether as the quintessence, rationalizing that whereas Fire, Earth, Air, and Water were earthly and corruptible, the stars were eternal ("aether" is based on Greek for eternity) and were thus not made out of any of the four elements but rather a heavenly substance. The word aether was revived by early 20th century physicists as a term for the proposed invisible medium which permeated the universe, the luminiferous aether. The non-existence of this aether led to the overthrow of Newtonian physics and paved the way for Einstein's theories of relativity.
The classical elements in Hinduism are: Bhoomi (Earth), Jala (Water), Agni (Fire), Vayu (Air) and Akasa (Space). Together they were known as Panchabhootha (five elements).
In Chinese (Taoism) there is a similar system, which includes Metal and Wood but excludes Air. Different things in nature are associated with the five types. For example, the five major planets were named after the elements: Venus is Metal, Jupiter is Wood, Mercury is Water, Mars is Fire and Saturn is Earth. Also the Moon represents Yin, the Sun represents Yang. Yin and Yang and the five elements are recurring themes in the I Ching, which is strongly related to Chinese cosmology and Chinese astrology.
Some South Asian traditions also include the Air, Earth, Fire, Water distinctions.
The aither ("aether") is another mysterious concept related to fire. This Greek concept seems to derive directly from the akasha, its Hindu counterpart. The aither is the fifth element, together with the four others: Fire, Earth, Air, Water. Aither would correspond to Celestial Fire. These five elements are not the ones which form the world, but the ones which destroy it: fire (conflagrations); water (floods); air (winds and hurricanes); earth (earthquakes). In this connection, it seems that aither is radiative heat like the one of the sun, etc., which is able to propagate in empty space.
The doctrine of the Four (or Five) Elements is ancient in Greece, where it dates from pre-Socratic times. But it is far older in the Far East, and was widely disseminated in India and China, where it forms the basis of both Buddhism and Hinduism, particularly in an esoteric context. The Greek word aither derives from an Indo-European radix aith- ("burn, shine"). This radix figures in the name of Aithiopia (Ethiopia), which means something like "burnt land".
In Greek doctrines it seems that the aither was the celestial fire, the pure essence where the gods lived and which they breathed.
On the Heavens (or "De Caelo") is Aristotle's chief cosmological treatise: it contains his astronomical theory. According to him, the heavenly bodies are the most perfect realities, (or "substances"), whose motions are ruled by principles other than those of sub-lunar bodies. The latter are composed of one or all of the four elements (earth, water, air, fire) and are perishable; but the matter the heavens are made of is imperishable aether, so they are not subject to generation and corruption. Hence their motions are eternal and perfect, and the perfect motion is the circular one, which, unlike the earthly up- and down-ward locomotions, can last eternally selfsame. As substances, celestial bodies have matter (aether) and a form: it seems that Aristotle did regard them as living beings with a rational soul as their form (see also Metaphysics, bk. XII)
