imaging "worship"

From: BEThexton <bethexton_at_...>
Date: Thu, 24 Jul 2003 16:47:32 -0000


So, worship of gods seems pretty easy to understand, it is all about sacrifice. It is almost a transaction. "Orlanth, lord of winds, I give you my time, my thoughts, and my goods. Please bless with me your mastery of the winds and storms." type thing.

"Western" veneration I think I grok, but could be wrong. It is more like "Saint Bata, first and greatest cobbler, inventor of shoes and all the cobblers tools and rules. Please guide us in your path, that we may share some small fraction of your perfection." I view it sort of as ritualized flattery. You do just as they said you should do, and spend some time agreeing that they were the best and affirming that you follow their rules, and you get a bit of their insight into things.

Spirits.....kind of escape me. Sure, it is called "ecstatic worship," but that only gets me so far.

For starters, what is the verb? You sacrifice to a god, you venerate a saint, you ???? a spirit? Adore? Bond with? ?????

Second, obviously you need to achieve an altered state of conciousness somehow, but then what? Do you gain the ability to think like a spirit, so you can convince it work with you? Or do they just like it when you party? i.e. I don't quite get what it is, beyond spinning around in circles, fasting, taking drugs, whatever that is the key to "worshipping" a spirit.

I hope someone can help me out here. By the way, I was just thinking of how I'd describe all of this to a new player, and I realized that I just couldn't explain the link between the ecstatic part and the magic part properly.

Regards;

Bryan

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