|
Spirituality Of Avalon
The spirituality of ''Avalon'' is a spiritual concept originating in Celtic and Arthurian literature, and later popularized in Marion Zimmer Bradley's novel ''The Mists of Avalon'' and other novels of the so-called ''Avalon'' series. As a product of fantasy fiction, set in a fictitious British past (partly on the titular Isle of Avalon), the modern literary spiritual path draws on neopaganism, such as Wicca, druidry and what is generally known as Goddess worship or Goddess spirituality/religion.Hildebrand, Kristina. ''The Female Reader at the Round Table''. Uppsala: 2001.Morgane, J.S. ''The Spirituality of Avalon''. AVM: Germany, 2010. Religious aspects of the ''Avalon'' series are discussed in ''The Spirituality of Avalon: The Religion of the Great Goddess in Marion Zimmer Bradley's Avalon Cycle'' (2010) by J.S. Morgane, a book-length study of "the religion of the Great Mother as portrayed in Marion Zimmer Bradley's ''Avalon'' books. By looking at the literary and archaeological ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marion Zimmer Bradley
Marion Eleanor Zimmer Bradley (June 3, 1930 – September 25, 1999) was an American author of fantasy, historical fantasy, science fiction, and science fantasy novels, and is best known for the Arthurian fiction novel ''The Mists of Avalon'' and the ''Darkover'' series. Noted for the feminist perspective in her writing, her reputation has been posthumously marred by multiple accusations of child sexual abuse by her daughter Moira Greyland, and for allegedly assisting her second husband, convicted child abuser Walter Breen, in sexually abusing multiple unrelated children. Biography Born Marion Eleanor Zimmer on June 3, 1930, she lived on a farm in Albany, New York, and began writing at the age of 17. She was married to Robert Alden Bradley from October 26, 1949 until their divorce on May 19, 1964. They had a son, David Robert Bradley (1950–2008). During the 1950s she was introduced to lesbian advocacy organization the Daughters of Bilitis. After her divorce, Bradley marri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Mists Of Avalon
''The Mists of Avalon'' is a 1983 historical fantasy novel by American writer Marion Zimmer Bradley, in which the author relates the Arthurian legends from the perspective of the female characters. The book follows the trajectory of Morgaine (Morgan le Fay), a priestess fighting to save her Celtic religion in a country where Christianity threatens to destroy the pagan way of life. The epic is focused on the lives of Morgaine, Gwenhwyfar (Guinevere), Viviane, Morgause, Igraine and other women of the Arthurian legend. ''The Mists of Avalon'' is in stark contrast to most other retellings of the Arthurian tales, which consistently cast Morgan le Fay as a distant, one-dimensional evil sorceress, with little or no explanation given for her antagonism to the Round Table. In this case, Morgaine is presented as a woman with unique gifts and responsibilities at a time of enormous political and spiritual upheaval who is called upon to defend her indigenous heritage against impossible o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Avalon Series
The Avalon Series is a series of fantasy novels written by Marion Zimmer Bradley and Diana L. Paxson. Paxson took over sole authorship after Bradley's death in 1999. The series focuses on the legendary island of Avalon and the various women who have shaped its history and that of Britain. Overview The Avalon series retells the Matter of Britain from the point of view of the women behind the throne. Through a set of stories that spans several centuries, it tells of how the mystic isle of Avalon was created, its history, life in Britain under Roman authority, and how Avalon and its ancient traditions faded from the world because of a new religion, Christianity. All stories are told by women who were powerful during their lifetime, such as Eilan, High Priestess of the Forest House, Helena, mother of the Roman Emperor Constantine, and Morgaine, High Priestess of Avalon (later remembered as the sorceress Morgan le Fay). The series explores the King Arthur story and related legends t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Avalon
Avalon (; la, Insula Avallonis; cy, Ynys Afallon, Ynys Afallach; kw, Enys Avalow; literally meaning "the isle of fruit r appletrees"; also written ''Avallon'' or ''Avilion'' among various other spellings) is a mythical island featured in the Arthurian legend that first appeared in Geoffrey of Monmouth's influential 1136 ''Historia Regum Britanniae'' as a place of magic where King Arthur's sword Excalibur was made and later where Arthur was taken to recover from being gravely wounded at the Battle of Camlann. Since then, the island has become a symbol of Arthurian mythology, similar to Arthur's castle of Camelot. Avalon was associated from an early date with mystical practices and magical figures such as King Arthur's half-sister Morgan, cast as the island's ruler by Geoffrey and some of the later authors inspired by him. Certain Briton traditions maintain that Arthur is an eternal king who had never truly died but would return, and the particular motif of his rest in Morg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neopaganism
Modern paganism, also known as contemporary paganism and neopaganism, is a term for a religion or family of religions influenced by the various Paganism, historical pre-Christian beliefs of pre-modern peoples in Europe and adjacent areas of North Africa and the Near East. Although they share similarities, contemporary pagan movements are diverse, and do not share a single set of beliefs, practices, or Religious text, texts. Religious studies, Scholars of religion may characterise these traditions as new religious movements. Some academics who study the phenomenon treat it as a movement that is divided into different religions while others characterize it as a single religion of which different pagan faiths are Religious denomination, denominations. Because of these different approaches there is disagreement on when or if the term ''pagan'' should be capitalized, though specialists in the field of pagan studies tend towards capitalisation. Prominent modern pagan religions inclu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wicca
Wicca () is a modern Pagan religion. Scholars of religion categorise it as both a new religious movement and as part of the occultist stream of Western esotericism. It was developed in England during the first half of the 20th century and was introduced to the public in 1954 by Gerald Gardner, a retired British civil servant. Wicca draws upon a diverse set of ancient pagan and 20th-century hermetic motifs for its theological structure and ritual practices. Wicca has no central authority figure. Its traditional core beliefs, principles, and practices were originally outlined in the 1940s and 1950s by Gardner and an early High Priestess, Doreen Valiente. The early practices were disseminated through published books and in secret written and oral teachings passed along to their initiates. There are many variations on the core structure, and the religion grows and evolves over time. It is divided into a number of diverse lineages, sects and denominations, referred to as ''tra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Druidry
A druid was a member of the high-ranking class in ancient Celtic cultures. Druids were religious leaders as well as legal authorities, adjudicators, lorekeepers, medical professionals and political advisors. Druids left no written accounts. While they were reported to have been literate, they are believed to have been prevented by doctrine from recording their knowledge in written form. Their beliefs and practices are attested in some detail by their contemporaries from other cultures, such as the Romans and the Greeks. The earliest known references to the druids date to the 4th century BCE. The oldest detailed description comes from Julius Caesar's ''Commentarii de Bello Gallico'' (50s BCE). They were described by other Roman writers such as Cicero, Cicero (44) I.XVI.90. Tacitus, and Pliny the Elder. Following the Roman invasion of Gaul, the druid orders were suppressed by the Roman government under the 1st-century CE emperors Tiberius and Claudius, and had disappeare ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mother Goddess
A mother goddess is a goddess who represents a personified deification of motherhood, fertility goddess, fertility, creation, destruction, or the earth goddess who embodies the bounty of the earth or nature. When equated with the earth or the natural world, such goddesses are sometimes referred to as the Mother Earth or Earth Mother, deity in various animistic or pantheistic religions. The earth goddess is usually the wife or feminine counterpart of the Sky Father or ''Father Heaven''. In some polytheistic cultures, such as the Ancient Egyptian religion which narrates the cosmic egg myth, the sky is instead seen as the Heavenly Mother or Sky Mother as in Nut and Hathor, and the earth god is regarded as the male, paternal, and terrestrial partner, as in Osiris or Geb who hatched out of the maternal ''cosmic egg''. Excavations at Çatalhöyük Between 1961 and 1965 James Mellaart led a series of excavations at Çatalhöyük, north of the Taurus Mountains in a fertile agricu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Goddess Movement
The Goddess movement includes spiritual beliefs or practices (chiefly Modern Paganism, Neopagan) which emerged predominantly in North America, Western Europe, Australia, and New Zealand in the 1970s. The movement grew as a reaction to perceptions of predominant organized religion as patriarchy, male-dominated, and makes use of goddess worship and can include a focus on women, or on one or more understandings of gender or femininity. The Goddess movement is a widespread, non-centralized trend in Neopaganism, and therefore has no centralized tenets of belief. Practices vary widely, from the name and number of goddesses worshipped to the specific rituals and rites used to do so. Some, such as Dianic Wicca, exclusively worship female deities, while others do not. Belief systems range from monotheism, monotheistic to polytheism to pantheism, pantheistic, encompassing a range of theological variety similar to that in the broader neopagan community. Common pluralistic belief means that a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arthurian
King Arthur ( cy, Brenin Arthur, kw, Arthur Gernow, br, Roue Arzhur) is a Legend, legendary king of Great Britain, Britain, and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain. In the earliest traditions, Arthur appears as a leader of the post-Roman Celtic Britons, Britons in battles against Saxons, Saxon invaders of Britain in the late 5th and early 6th centuries. He appears in two early medieval historical sources, the ''Annales Cambriae'' and the ''Historia Brittonum'', but these date to 300 years after he is supposed to have lived, and most historians who study the period do not consider him a Historicity of King Arthur, historical figure.Tom Shippey, "So Much Smoke", ''review'' of , ''London Review of Books'', 40:24:23 (20 December 2018) His name also occurs in early Welsh language, Welsh poetic sources such as ''Y Gododdin''. The character developed through Welsh mythology, appearing either as a great warrior defending Britain from ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Celtic Neopaganism
Celtic modern paganism refers to any type of modern paganism or contemporary pagan movements based on the ancient Celtic religion. Types *Celtic Reconstructionist Paganism (CR) – Celtic polytheistic reconstructionism. * Celtic Neoshamanism – a kind of neoshamanism based on Michael Harner's " Core Shamanism"; proponents include John and Caitlin Matthews. *Neo-Druidism – which grew out of the Celtic revival in 18th century Romanticism. ** Ár nDraíocht Féin (ADF), formed in 1983 ** Church of the Universal Bond **Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids (OBOD), formed in 1964 ** Reformed Druids of North America (RDNA), formed in 1963 ** The Druid Network, the first contemporary pagan organization to be recognized as a charity in the United KingdomDruids Recognised; Daily Mail Angr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Witch-cult Hypothesis
The witch-cult hypothesis is a discredited theory that states the witch trials of the Early Modern period were an attempt to suppress a pre-Christian, pagan religion that had survived the Christianisation of Europe. According to its proponents, the witch cult revolved around worshiping a Horned God of fertility, the underworld, the hunt and the hunted, whose Christian persecutors identified with the Devil, and whose followers participated in nocturnal rites at the witches' Sabbath. The theory was pioneered by two German scholars, Karl Ernst Jarcke and Franz Josef Mone, in the early nineteenth century, and was adopted by French historian Jules Michelet, American feminist Matilda Joslyn Gage, and American folklorist Charles Leland later that century. The hypothesis received its most prominent exposition when it was adopted by a British Egyptologist, Margaret Murray, who presented her version of it in ''The Witch-Cult in Western Europe'' (1921), before further expounding it in books ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
