GEOMANTIC GLOSSARY M-Z plus Sources
[ Part 1: A-L is located HERE]
M
Mana: "In Polynesian culture, mana is a spiritual quality considered to have supernatural origin-a sacred impersonal force existing in the universe. Therefore to have mana is to have influence and authority, and efficacy-the power to perform in a given situation. This essential quality of mana is not limited to persons-peoples, governments, places and inanimate objects can possess mana. There are two ways to obtain mana: through birth and through warfare. People or objects that possess mana are accorded respect because their possession of mana gives them authority, power, and prestige. The word’s meaning is complex because mana is a basic foundation of the Polynesian worldview" (Wikipedia: Mana).
Manitou: "Manitou is a term used to designate spirit beings among many Algonquian groups of Native Americans. ...This spirit is seen as a (contactable) person as well as a concept. Everything has its own manitou-every plant, every stone, even [at least certain] machines" Manitu; manituwak (pl.) (Wikipedia: Manitou). The Prairie Siouan term for an analogous concept is Wakonda/Wakanda. -LF
Maypole. Symbolic connection to both phallic stone and axis mundi/world tree.
Megalith: Large stone, altered or placed culturally. Megalithic monuments made from large stones in Europe date generally to the Neolithic
Mellowed Earth/Mellow the Earth.
Motte and bailey: Remnant of Norman castle mound (motte) surrounded by defensive earthwork (bailey) (Devereux 2003: 15)
Mythic geography (Devereux 2000: 122-) see also ethnogeography
N
Natural Systems/Ecosystems: Interaction of physical ecosystems (natural systems of geology, soil, topography, geomorphology, biota, etc.) all interact with the nonphysical, just as the human spirit/soul affects and is affected by the human body. Do something to the physical ecosystem, and there are spiritual effects. Do something to the nonphysical system (magic, prayer, energywork, psychology, ritual, actions of violence such as murder, etc.) and the physical system will suffer the effects as well. It is true interaction. (LF) (See Place memory, imprint, etc.)
Neg: Short for negative entity, a term coined by Robert Bruce.
Nemeton: "A nemeton was a sacred space of ancient Celtic religion. Nemeta appear to have been primarily situated in natural areas, and, as they often utilized trees, they are often interpreted as sacred groves. However, other evidence suggests that the word implied a wider variety of ritual spaces, such as shrines and temples. Evidence for nemeta consists chiefly of inscriptions and place-names, which occur all across the Celtic world. Toponyms related to the word nemeton occur as far west as Galicia, Spain, as far north as Scotland, and as far east as central Turkey. ...Pliny and Lucan wrote that druids did not meet in stone temples or other constructions, but in sacred groves of trees. In his Pharsalia Lucan described such a grove near Massilia in dramatic terms more designed to evoke a shiver of delicious horror among his Roman hearers than meant as proper natural history: no bird nested in the nemeton, nor did any animal lurk nearby; the leaves constantly shivered though no breeze stirred. Altars stood in its midst, and the images of the gods. Every tree was stained with sacrificial blood. the very earth groaned, dead yews revived; unconsumed trees were surrounded with flame, and huge serpents twined round the oaks. The people feared to approach the grove, and even the priest would not walk there at midday or midnight lest he should then meet its divine guardian" (Wikipedia: "Nemeton") (also in Pennick 1989: 261)
Nightmarcher path. Traditional locations in the Hawaiian islands where the processions of spirits are seen; there are various types, including processions of the gods, of chiefs, and of other kinds of the dead. Huaka’i po: n. Night procession or parade, especially the night procession of ghosts that is sometimes called ‘oi’o.
Nomos: Each place has its nomos, its characteristic rule of action, or customary form of making itself felt, or specific way of being in the world" (Walter 1988: 117). See toponomy, toponomist.
Nostalgia: A painful return home (Walter 1988: 25).
Numinous: “A feeling of awe and eeriness at a sacred place possessing the haunting quality of being the abode of some localized spirit, a numen loci” (Devereux 2000: 151).
O
Ombilicus Mundi: The main plot of the novel Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco revolves around search of the Ombilicus Mundi (Latin: The Navel of the World), the mystic Center of The Earth which is supposed to be a certain point from were a person could control the energies and shapes of the earth thus reforming it at will. The novel takes this even further by suggesting that monuments like the Eiffel Tower are nothing more than giant antennae to catalyze these energies.(Wikipedia: "Telluric Current")
Omphalos: umbilicus; navel of the world or of a region/location. Hawaiian: piko; Ioway: retwa. Saxon: nowl. A place where magic or prayer is performed, or oracles/divination/prophecies given. (Pennick 1989: 262)
Ond: the cosmic breath which pervades and animates all existence;
old euro: pneuma, önd, eight winds, nwyvre, vital spirit; east anglian 'nameless art': spirament
alchemists: anima mundi, quintessence, universal plastic medium
dowser/rhabdomants: earth rays, radiesthetic fields, telluric lines, geobiological fields, earth energies
Occultists: etheric currents, vril
christian: lines of spiritual power
alternative scientist5s: odyle, orgone, field anomalies, field intensity variations
East: chi, prana, ki
[Indigenous: orenda, mana, nyi, etc.]
not good or bad; energy source of life or death, creation or edstruction; only effects on humans do we call it good or bad
Ond in conformity with natural patterns and colors of place, if no human activity [still that does not mean necessarily for humans; could be 'bad' for humans]. Ond is neutral, picks up surrounding influences, becoming a kind of medium for those influences. Unaltered, it is in alignment with the Anima Loci, which varies and fluxes in its character. In certain earth forms it manifests as Nwyvre, the Dragon power.
Human activity affects the patterns/colors of Ond, and thereby the place/anima loci.
Places where Ond (life-breath) accumulates, stagnates, or is lost
-correspondences as in human body, as in sites; correspondence with organ in human body [compare Hawaiian concept of kino lau]; character of site discernable only by effects and not by analysis [ known by its fruits]; important concept that one site is not bad or good, all necessary on p. 39 for harmony
-Sources of önd in the landscape: streams, springs, waterfalls), coastline (esp. rocky shores); rocky areas which are electrically active or radioactive, such as quartz-bearing rocks [or geomagnietism] [or volcanic rock]; underground water in streams and deeper structures like fault lines and areas of tectonic activity; A complex landscape with great variety: small valleys and hills, serpentine watercourses where all aspects in balance, neither flowing away/dissipating rapidly, or accumulating in stagnation
Woodlands and groves of trees, especially hilltop clumps with variety of trees spaced apart
Sites where cycles of moon and sun apparent
Combinations, seasides, lakes, rivers, waterfalls, high points with distant views, rocky promoniotories and outcrops, changes in landscape or uniqe geological features, grasslands with occasional trees, notable trees; tree over a stone, or waterfall in geo-zone etc.
(Pennick 1989: 262)
On-lay: Altered Anima Loci. Comes into being when the önd of site is altered by an act of will. Ritual act (exorcism or consecration) [magico-religious] or act of will not normally considered so, such as unmindful construction of secular building, or intentional but mindless vandalism. Under on-lay, anima loci are suppressed but still present. Because by definition on-lay different from anima loci, must renew on-lay periodically or anima loci will re-manifest, bringing quality of önd back into line with anima loci (Pennick)
A spell or incantation pronounced on (laid-on) a place (Pennick 1989: 262)
Ondvegissulur: Main pillars of a wooden temple; most sacred part of the building (ond + ve part of the word) (Pennick 1989: 262)
Oracle: Place where prophecy or advice sought, from gods, often with intermediary priest/ess. (Devereux 2000: 132-133)
Orlog (Old Norse): the magical history of a place, the geomythic qualities and anecdotes are an integral part of a sacred site. nonmobile property like buildings in a specific setting achieve own personalities/character (Pennick) [see also Jackson's 'The Haunting'] Fate; also Saxon wyrd (Pennick 1989: 262). Also, alag (Pennick 1989: 259).
P
Paganism (Devereux 2000: 134-135)
Pareidolia: "Pareidolia ( /pærɨˈdoʊliə/ parr-i-doh-lee-ə) is a psychological phenomenon involving a vague and random stimulus (often an image or sound) being perceived as significant. Common examples include seeing images of animals or faces in clouds, the man in the moon or the Moon rabbit, and hearing hidden messages on records played in reverse. The word comes from the Greek para- ("beside", "with", or "alongside", in this context meaning something faulty or wrong, as in paraphasia, disordered speech) and eidōlon ("image"; the diminutive of eidos - "image", "form", "shape"). Pareidolia is a type of apophenia." "Pareidolia is a type of apophenia involving the perception of images or sounds in random stimuli, for example, hearing a ringing phone while taking a shower. The noise produced by the running water gives a random background from which the patterned sound of a ringing phone might be "produced". A more common human experience is perceiving faces in inanimate objects; this phenomenon is not surprising in light of how much processing the brain does in order to memorize and recall the faces of hundreds or thousands of different individuals. In one respect, the brain is a facial recognition, storage, and recall machine - and it is very good at it. A byproduct of this acumen at recognizing faces is that people see faces even where there is no face: the headlights & grill of an automobile can appear to be "grinning", individuals around the world can see the "Man in the Moon", and a drawing consisting of only three circles and a line which even children will identify as a face are everyday examples of this" (Wikipedia: Pareidolia). (see Apophenia) [Besides things like seeing Jesus' face in a tortilla or Mary in a water stain, and of course many EVPs in ghost hunting; another well-known example of pareidolia is the "satellite photo of a mesa in Cydonia, often called the Face on Mars. Later photographs from other angles destroyed the illusion" (Wikipedia: Pareidolia).
pathetecture: "The process of building feelings and meanings by the arrangement of material objects, especially through construction, dilapidation, and excavation" (Walter 1988: 215).
Pattern recognition: "Pattern recognition involves identification of faces, objects, words, melodies, etc. The visual system does more than just interpret forms, contours and colors. Pattern recognition refers to the process of recognizing a set of stimuli arranged in a certain pattern that is characteristic of that set of stimuli. Pattern recognition does not occur instantly, although it does happen automatically and spontaneously. Pattern recognition is an innate ability of animals." (Wikipedia: Pattern_recognition_(psychology)). (see apophenia; pareidolia; simulacra)
periegete; "A guide to a place" (Walter 1988: 215)
Petrosomatoglyph: "A petrosomatoglyph is an image of parts of a human or animal body incised in rock. [Natural or sculpted; This includes footprints in stone, as well as representations of male or female genitalia, such as phallic stones or ringstones, which might be also simply simulacra. -LF] Many were created by Celtic peoples, such as the Picts, Scots, Irish, Cornish, Cumbrians, Bretons and Welsh. These representations date from the Early Middle Ages; others of uncertain purpose date back to megalithic times. They were an important form of symbolism, used in religious and secular ceremonies, such as the crowning of kings. Some are regarded as artefacts linked to saints and folklore heroes, such as King Arthur....The word comes from the Greek πέτρα - petra ("stone"), σῶμα - soma ("body"), and γλύφειν - glyphein ("to carve"). Feet are the most common; however, knees, elbows, hands, head, fingers, etc., are also found. The term petrosomatoglyph should not be confused with petroglyph, which covers all incised representations of living or non-living things, or with pictograph, which is an image drawn or painted on a rock face, and both of which contribute to the wider and more general category of rock art. Petroforms, or patterns and shapes such as labyrinths and mazes made by many large rocks and boulders in rows over the ground, are also quite different. Stylised representations of parts of the body are often open to dispute and are therefore on the fringes of acceptability as identifiable petrosomatoglyphs. Natural objects, such as rock crystals and rock formations which look like petrosomatoglyphs, whole animals, plants, etc., are collectively called 'mimeoliths' " (Wikipedia: Petrosomatoglyph)
Phallic stone. Also on Molokai.
philochoria (see corophilia) (Walter 1988: 215)
Pilgrimage (Devereux 2000: 135)
place: "A location of experience; the container of shapes, powers, feelings, and meanings" (Walter 1988: 215) (see topos); “Places are contexts for human experience, constructed in movement and memory, encounter and association”
(Tilley 1994:15). Preucel and Matero.
Placemaking: “The social practices of constructing place and is intimately associated with the public inscription of collective memories. It is as characteristic of Indigenous cultures as it is of modern Western capitalist societies. Because the making of place is an inherently political process, certain places may be incorporated into sanctioned views of the social imaginary. Places of resistance, such as battlefields, may be sanitized and depoliticized as that are incorporated into specific narratives emphasizing the continuity of past and present. Alternatively, they may be recuperated and used to deny continuity as a means of challenging the dominant social order. What is and is not considered to be a place is thus part of an ongoing dialogue and the site of contestation and negotiation. The refashioning of space into place is a technology of reordering reality,a nd its success depends upon the degree to which this refashioning is concealed in the details of material culture and site plan (Boyer 1994, in Preucel and Matero, in Rubertone 2009: 84).
Place-memory: (some excerpts from Graves, chapter 11) "...It is, I believe, foolish to try to ignore place-memories and their effects on us; but I think it is still more foolish to go 'ghost-hunting', prodding likely looking sites in various ways to see if a place-memory appears. It's true that one may do so: but they have little choice in when or whether they appear, because they are impersonal memories, and they are anyway less likely to appear when prodded because the active or 'trying' state of mind that ghost-hunting implies is diametrically opposed to the 'emptiness' of mind in the retriever that seems to be an essential part of the conditions for their appearance. The danger in ghost-hunting is that other types of haunting may appear instead. More often than not these will be active and probably malevolent types, such as true ghosts, elementals, 'guardians', poltergeists and other oddities lying around at other levels of the mind and elsewhere; and these are more likely to appear - in your mind and imagination, if not elsewhere - if you go looking for them, for by doing so you effectively call them into existence through you. I don't want to go into all the technicalities of this here; but it is a real danger that should not be ignored. The other point we have to realise is that since place-memories are simply memories of how someone has felt, or thought, or perceived at that place when it was active, we have to learn to be careful not only of what we do physically at those places, but also what we feel, what we think, what we perceive. In other words, we have to be careful, at such sites, of what we do at every level of our being. Place-memories can affect us, and negatively so if they happen to be negative; but it's useful to remember that we create them in the first place, for others or for ourselves to find at a later - or earlier - date. It's up to us, where we have the choice, to make sure that the atmosphere of a place is left as we would wish to find it. We can do this semi-consciously, by watching our feelings and thoughts in places, particularly if the place we happen to be at is, as the Exorcism Report puts it, a 'desecrated' site. But we can also do it deliberately, by constructing an emotion, a feeling, a thought, with a view to implanting it in the place. "
Exorcism Report not just to places in general but specifically to sacred sites and the apparent natural energy-matrix, research work suggests that we can ignore most of one category (ghosts proper, the 'spirits of the departed')
and a sub-group of the poltergeist category (those due to 'an uncontrolled human subconscious in the house'). Although these are related to places, they are tied more to people at those places than the places themselves. There is admittedly some evidence that certain types of sites tend to hold 'spirits of the departed', or to increase 'uncontrolled human subconscious' poltergeist activity, but I don't think it's particularly important to our theme; and above all I don't want to get trapped into a discussion of the existence or nonexistence of the human soul or spirit. I'll leave that kind of discussion to the Churchmen: I assume they know what they're talking about in that respect.
This leaves us with part of the poltergeist category, and four others: 'magicians', 'human sin', 'place-memories' and 'demonic interference'. If we place magically induced poltergeist into the 'magician' category, and include poltergeists due to 'non-human mischievous sprites' as a sub-group of the 'demonic interference' category (for reasons that should become clear later), we are down to four categories of hauntings related to the 'earth -acupuncture' matrix.
Because we are dealing with the interaction of people and place, we can re-form these four categories into three others with a different emphasis, this time on the type of activity behind the haunting: the three new categories are:
'unconscious human interaction with the place' (tapping into place memories)
'conscious or deliberate human interaction with the place' (magicoreligious/ritual)
'non-human interaction with the place' (genius loci)
Basically, these are the Report's categories of 'place-memories', 'magical interference' and 'demonic interference' respectively, with various sub-groups of the old 'human sin' category included in the first and second, and possibly the third, new categories. But the Report was only concerned with negative or destructive interaction with places, and all these three categories have constructive aspects as well. If we call them 'place-memory ghosts and ghouls', 'magicians' and 'angels and demons', these three categories form between them a framework through which we can study not only hauntings, but also the energies behind them, the energies of nature on which our 'earth-acupuncture' operates." (Tom Graves, Needles of Stone)
Planetary grids: Hartmann grid/Globalnetzgitter; Curry; Peyre; Wittman; et al (Devereux 2000: 137-138)
Portal: Also known as a doorway, a gate, or a mystery spot. "The idea of a "portal" or a "doorway" to another dimension is not a new one. many researchers believe that there are places all over the world that serve as "doorways" from our world to another. These doorways are thought to provide access for entities to enter our world. they may be the spirits of people who have lived before, or they could be something else altogether. some researchers even believe that they could be otherworldly beings from another dimension. if that sounds far-fetched, believe me, it isn't as strange as it sounds. The entities sighted, reported and even photographed around what many believe to be "portals" could be the spirits of the dead.... or something much stranger." Often acquired a reputation for being a haunted location. "one of the most common locations for these "doorways" seem to be in cemeteries. Now, as a rule, most cemeteries are not haunted, but in the past few years, ghost hunters have collected dozens and dozens of anomalous photographs taken in cemeteries. There seems to be no explanation why many of these cemeteries would become haunted unless they provided access for spirits, or entities, to pass from one world to the next. Of course, some of the cemeteries are haunted in the traditional manner.... it's the ones that aren't which causes the puzzle. it is possible that these sites were "haunted" long before a cemetery was located there. it is possible that them psychic draw of the area was what caused our ancestors to locate a cemetery there in the first place. They may have felt there was something "sacred" or "spiritual" about the place and without realizing why, they placed a burial ground there and made it a protected place. The native americans chose their burial grounds in this manner, although they did it consciously. They found a place to bury and honor the dead which they felt was more closely connected to the next world." The Bell Witch Cave is suggested as on possible portal. Compare to Vortex.
Sources for this quote are: (http://northwalesparanormal.com/page20.htm) and (http://www.prairieghosts.com/portal.html) Neither of these sources refer to the other, so I am not sure which was the original. Therefore I am citing both at this time.
post-onlay: places where on-lay (see) (altered anima loci) once existed but no longer operating. If the place has not been rendered alfreka (see), then anima loci still present even if it is weakened. It can re-manifest if no new on-lay is created or not made alfreka. If alfreka, then open to any new influence, conscious or unconscious, that comes into contact; önd will then be patterned according to those influences. Alfreka post-onlay particularly prone to destructive influences, as well as new on-lays which since anima loci gone, no conflicts (Pennick)
Psychic archaeology (Devereux 2000: 138-140).
Psychogeography: "Psychogeography, a subfield of geography, was defined in 1955 by Guy Debord as "the study of the precise laws and specific effects of the geographical environment, consciously organized or not, on the emotions and behavior of individuals." Another definition is "a whole toy box full of playful, inventive strategies for exploring cities...just about anything that takes pedestrians off their predictable paths and jolts them into a new awareness of the urban landscape.""In a dérive one or more persons during a certain period drop their usual motives for movement and action, their relations, their work and leisure activities, and let themselves be drawn by the attractions of the terrain and the encounters they find there… But the dérive includes both this letting go and its necessary contradiction: the domination of psychogeographical variations by the knowledge and calculation of their possibilities." (Wikipedia: Psychogeography).
Pyramid (Devereux 2000: 140-143)
R
Reginnaglar: "Divine nails, driven into the main posts of a building as a sacred act" (Pennick 1989: 262)
Rock art: pictographs, petroglyphs (Devereux 2000: 145-148)
Ruins: "physical remains shaping a location of experience that is past but not completed" (Walter 1988: 215)
S
Sacbe: (Mayan) "white way," ancient causeway (Devereux 2003: 15)
Sacred place; sacred site (Devereux 2000: 150-151)
Sanctified (Anima Loci): Reinforced natural pattern; physical manifestation of the essential nature of a sacred place when anima loci recognized; önd is patterned and colored in conformity with anima loci, but patterns never fixed, but flow and change to changes of anima loci, no dissonance. When recognized, harmony if human actions reinforce/enhance/develop the potential of site, through self-similarity of action to existing quality of place. [Become more 'itself']-- this is through artifacts, ceremonies, activities that create harmony between place and human..participation in self-ordering system, not imposition of system
At places of sanctity humans become expressions or embodiments of anima loci.
"As time passes, through repetition and evolution, the place's orlog is sanctified: the qualities of the Amina Loci are intensified. By these means, the latent spirit of the Anima Loci can be brought forth into manifestation on the material level. Then, a truly sacred place has coem into being. The invisible is made visible ...Sanctity does not merely acknowledge or reproduce some specific perception of the Anima Loci. " (Pennick 42).
Shamanic landscape: Coined by Devereux “to designate unusual and poorly understood ancient ritual landscapes and ceremonial features in the Americas that seem to have developed out of pre-Columbian shamanic traditions. Such landscapes contain distinctive ground markings or figures, which fall into three basic categories: terrestrial effigies or ‘geoglyphs’, abstract geometric and meander linear patterns, and straightline markings and tracks. Locations such as the Nazca lines contain examples of all three categories, but they can also occur separately and in isolation. The features are constructed in various ways depending on terrain and local conditions: petroforms (outlines in small rocks and boulders), intaglios (etchings or engravings onto desert surfaces) and earthwork structures. In complex and hierarchical prehistoric Native American cultures like that of the Maya, the straight-line markings sometimes developed into more formalized and ceremonial engineered structures, such as roads and causeways” (Devereux 2000: 155). (Devereux 2000: 155-160).
Simulacra: “A simulacra is something that coincidentally looks like something else, such as the design on the wings of a butterfly looking like eyes or the texture on a tree trunk conjuring the appearance of a person’s face. …A way of looking that seems to have been fostered by ancient and traditional peoples” (Devereux 2000: 160-162). The Sleeping Giant is a simulacrum seen from Helena. (also See Michell 1979).
Sipapu: Hopi emergence hole in a Kiva.
Sitting Out: A practice of “sitting out” in specific traditional locations by seers and other seekers to summon spirits or see visions. A term from Northern Europe, Scandinavia, and Iceland; such locations include crossroads, burial mounds, etc. (Devereux 2000: 162-163). Compare Vision quest/fasting.
Sleeper: “Sleepers are people who die ritually in such a way as to keep the soul within the body after death. Through this action, the soul interacts with the land, the spirits of the land, and the people. Most of the sleepers gave of themselves freely in service. Later, this practice degenerated in some cultures to a form of forcible entrapment” (McCarthy 2011: 236). Archaeology sometimes excavates burial sites with sleepers, which can have extreme negative impacts on the land and the people so connected. It is not always easy to determine the difference between an ordinary burial and a sleeper interment. One sign is extreme care to keep the body intact and preserved by those who interred them. “While ever the body stayed intact the sleeper or ancestor would be able to pass between death and life, the Underworld and the surface world,” often for thousands of years. While the Sleepers sleep, they dream and keep the world in balance; such tales are often carried down in folktales; some are very old, their cultures and worldview/psychology can be very different. Because their functions are so important, often Guardians were interred nearby or with the Sleeper, to ensure the grave/Sleeper is protected and undisturbed. (For more, see McCarthy 2011: 236-253). Another source that describes a Sleeper, though not by that name, is “Tomb of a King” (Stewart).
Soakage: (Australian) spring or seepage in desert region
Songline: Otherworld route in Australian aboriginal traditions, aka "dream journey routes" or "dreaming tracks"; the Yolngu people of Arnhemland call them djalkiri, "footprints of the ancestors" (Devereux 203: 21-22).
Souterrain/Fogou (from French 'sous terrain', meaning 'under ground') is a name given by archaeologists to a type of underground structure associated mainly with the Atlantic Iron Age. These structures appear to have been brought northwards from Gaul during the late Iron Age. Regional names include earth houses, fogous and Pictish houses. The term souterrain has been used as a distinct term from fogou. In Cornwall the regional name of fogou is applied to souterrain structures. The design of underground structures has been shown to differ among regions; for example, in western Cornwall the design and function of the fogou appears to correlate with a larder use" (Wikipedia: Souterrain). "A fogou or fougou[citation needed] (pronounced "foo-goo") is an underground, dry-stone structure found on Iron Age or Romano-British defended settlement sites in Cornwall. Fogous have similarities with souterrains or earth-houses of northern Europe and particularly Scotland including the Orkney Islands. Fewer than 15 confirmed fogous have been found" (Wikipedia: Fogou).
spirit paths/spirit ways: (Devereux 2000: 167-169).
Spirit trap: “…A net or tangle of threads or similar convlouted artefact, as this could bind spirits and stop their movement - especially their entry into a house; …straight features [spirit paths] were seen as being able to enhance the passage of spirits.” Examples include Ojo de Dios-looking Bavarian spirit trap, patterns of pebbles in front of a door, nets, cat’s cradles, labyrinths, witch bottles, dream catchers, etc. Staves with such devices on top were set “into the ground at some haunted spot or on an old, rarely used track - especially one leading to or from a cemetery.” “Today’s researchers and scholars often overlook the fundamental difference in former and modern worldviews: the old one teemed with spirits, ours is empty of them. It can make all the difference when trying to interpret certain kinds of obscure ancient site, landscape or tradition” (Devereux 2000: 166-167).
Blue/green paint around windows and doors in New Mexico.
Plants with geomantic functions.
Sprites: Thunderstorm phenomena
Stafgardr: stave-surrounded sacred enclosure (Pennick 1989: 262)
Structure of mutual immanence: "The system of effective presences dwelling together in a place" (Walter 1988: 215).
Stela: Inscribed/carved upright slab/pillar (stelae, pl.)
Stranded track: "Poorly defined track in open country; specifically, the route of a track that has developed into more than one parallel course" (Devereux 2003: 16).
Sweeping: (Devereux 2000: 171)
Systems approach/systems theory (Devereux 2000: 171)
T
Tajul muluk/Tiang seri: Traditional Malay geomancy for siting and/or designing buildings. "It was traditionally practiced by shamans (dukun or bomoh) and architects from Malaysia and Indonesia. The term tajul muluk comes from the Arabic word taj-al-mulk meaning 'royal crown of jewels.'" There are points of commonality between this system and those of the Chinese (feng shui) and Indians (vastu shastra). (Wikipedia: "Tiang_Seri")
Telluric Current: "A telluric current (from Latin tellūs, "earth") is an electrical current which moves underground or through the sea. Telluric currents result from both natural causes and human activity, and the discrete currents interact in a complex pattern. The currents are extremely low frequency and travel over large areas at or near the surface of the Earth" "Telluric currents are phenomena observed in the Earth's crust and mantle. In September 1862, an experiment to specifically address Earth currents was carried out in the Munich Alps (Lamont, 1862). The currents are primarily geomagnetically induced currents, which are induced by changes in the outer part of the Earth's magnetic field, which are usually caused by interactions between the solar wind and the magnetosphere or solar radiation effects on the ionosphere. Telluric currents flow in the surface layers of the earth." (Wikipedia: "Telliuric Current"). "Telluric current" A Dictionary of Earth Sciences. Ed. Ailsa Allaby and Michael Allaby. Oxford University Press, 1999.
Also see “The Little Saint” for an example (speak of moving buildings and megaliths using telluric currents).
Temenos: sacred enclosure around a temple, etc. (Pennick 1989: 262)
Terrestrial zodiacs (Devereux 2000: 173). Also compare Dave Flynn’s observations on the counties of Montana.
Territorial Spirit
According to some Christians (generally within Charismatic and Pentecostal traditions, and especially Kingdom Now theology), Territorial Spirits are demons who rule over certain geographical areas in the world.
This belief has been popularized by the novel This Present Darkness, as well as by the ministry of C. Peter Wagner.
Place in spiritual warfare
The existence of territorial spirits has been seen to be significant in spiritual warfare, and forms a part of what C. Peter Wagner has called "Strategic-Level Spiritual Warfare" (SLSW). Wagner advocates the practice of learning the names and assignments of demonic spirits as the first step to effective spiritual warfare.
Biblical passages used in support of the concept
Deuteronomy 32:8-9
In both the Septuagint and the Dead Sea Scrolls, Deuteronomy 32:8-9 refers a time when God divided the nations of the earth among the "sons of God" (Israel is excepted as the special possession of God Himself). Given the meaning of this phrase in the Book of Job, it is suggested that this is a reference to the origin of territorial spirits who were, at one time, angels administering the earth on God's behalf. The question remains, however, as to whether these spirits are malevolent.
Psalm 82 contains an episode in which God stands in the assembly of the "gods" and condemns them for their injustice. God declares that as a result of their wickedness these beings will "die" like men. The Psalm closes with the declaration that now all nations belong to the Lord. It has been suggested that God confronts the territorial angels he set over the nations of the earth, who have now fallen and become demons. As a result of their rebellion, God revokes their right to administer their territory in his name.
Daniel 10: This passage concerns the visitation of a strange "man" to the prophet Daniel. This man explains to Daniel that he was delayed by the "Prince of Persia" (10:13), but was helped by "Michael, one of the chief princes" (a reference to the archangel Michael, who was recognized in Jewish literature to be a chief angel guarding over Israel). Later in the chapter, the man warns Daniel that soon the "Prince of Greece" (10:20) will join his Persian counterpart to make war upon them.
Considering the fact that Michael is generally recognized as an angel, it is likely that the "Princes" that Michael fights against from Greece and Persia are also spiritual beings. The fact that these spirits are given names in reference to location (Greece and Persia) suggests that these demonic spirits had a geographical oversight.
In Romans 8:38-9 Paul presents the reader with a number of polar opposites. In the midst of this Paul contrasts angels with "principalities" (Gr. archai ). "Principalities" may be a synonym for "demons".
In Ephesians 6:12, in the context of the Armor of God, Paul refers to the spiritual beings which oppose the work of God in the world as "rulers" (Gr. archai ), "powers" (Gr. exousias ), and "world forces" (Gr. kosmokratoras ).
Revelation talks about multiple evil angels, who are currently "chained" in certain earthly locations, being released by God so that they will kill many on earth. There is no clue as to how much autonomy they currently possess.
Criticism of the concept of territorial spirits is twofold. The first line of criticism regards their existence, while the second regards the appropriate response from Christians.
Tinker argues that it is a misnomer to speak of territorial spirits, since the spirits referred to in the above biblical passages "are to be more associated with political and religious power and ideologies."
Opponents of this theological construct and associated beliefs in "spiritual warfare" point out that while the Bible may describe some form of demonic control over geography, it does not prescribe many of the behaviors and teachings that proponents advocate in response. There is no mention in either the Hebrew Bible or the New Testament of believers banding together and praying a form of "spiritual warfare" against particular territorial demons. The battles occurring in the spiritual realms (as described in Daniel 10) have no Biblically identified link to the actions and prayers of God's people in the physical world.
The concept of territorial spirits and the development of specific spiritual warfare techniques has generated much discussion in the Christian missions community. Critical exchanges of views may be found in periodicals like the Evangelical Missions Quarterly (such as in volume 31, number 2 published in 1995), and in conferences sponsored by the Evangelical Missions Society. Scholars such as Robert J. Priest, Paul Hiebert and A. Scott Moreau detect animist ideas in the arguments of supporters of the theory of territorial spirits. Robert Guelich of Fuller Theological Seminary does not find the concept of territorial spirits within the gospels, and has analyzed this problem in a critical review of Frank E. Peretti's novel This Present Darkness.
The question of territorial spirits and spiritual warfare was the topic of critical exchanges at the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization's conference in Nairobi, Kenya in 2000. Out of this conference came a consultation document, as well as many technical papers, that was published as the book Deliver Us From Evil. (Wikipedia.org: “Territorial Spirit”) (also see Spiritual Mapping; Spiritual Warfare)
Theoria: "An ancient way of grasping experience that involves all the senses and feelings" (Walter 1988: 215). "Originally, theoria meant seeing the sights, seeing for yourself, and getting a worldview. ...The term theoria originally implied a complex but organic mode of active observation- a perceptual system that included asking questions, listening to stories and local myths, and feeling as well as hearing and seeing. It encouraged an open reception to every kind of emotional, cognitive, symbolic, imaginative, and sensory experience-- a holistic practice of thoughtful awareness that engaged all the senses and feelings" (ibid.: 18-19).
Therapeutae: "People who give close attendance" (therapeia) (Walter 1988: 215).
thin place (Irish)
Thirdspace: “The geographer Edward Soja (1996) has offered what is perhaps
the most systematic engagement with Foucault's notion of heterotopia.
He notes that while Foucault's ideas are frustratingly incomplete,
they provide valuable glimpses into what Soja calls "Thirdspace," the
geohistories of otherness. He suggests that most critical evaluations
of Foucault's work have missed a fundamental point, namely that his
alternative envisioning of spatiality directly challenges all conventional
modes of spatial thinking (Soja 1996:163). Heterotopias are not simply
other spaces to be added to previously existing spaces in our analyses,
but rather foster radically different ways of conceptualizing space. For
Foucault, we need to engage with heterotopologies and heterochronologies
because they allow us to highlight the spatio-temporal dimensions of
power-knowledge relations (Soja 1996:170). In what follows, we discuss
the heterotopic features of Coronado State Monument by focusing on
naming, representation, authenticity, and performance…
NAMING
Naming is not a neutral practice. To give a place a name is to situate
it within a knowable universe and to assert a form of possession. The
knowable universe is itself historically constituted, a palimpsest of the
knowledge of all previous generations. It is also the subject of potential
contestation and negotiation since who has the right to name a place, to
single it out from all other places in the landscape, reveals the historically
specific dynamics of power relations operative in a particular society.
Naming is thus the preeminent act of placemaking and a technology of
domesticating peoples and lands by making familiar what might otherwise
be foreign and threatening. The politics of naming are particularly
evident in the colonial context of land acquisition when the names of the
colonizers are used to appropriate the place-names and, by extension,
the lands of the colonized. (p. 85)
REPRESENTATION
Any investigation of place must also engage with the issue of historical
representation. Since the Enlightenment, the dominant view has been
that statements about the past must correspond to the events to which
they refer and the narrative as a whole must correspond to the general
sequence of events (White 1987:40). It is the content alone that has truth
value. As poststructuralists have shown, this correspondence theory of
representation is incomplete since it fails to acknowledge that there is no
single narrative sufficient to capture the past. Rather, there are always
multiple narratives that come from different political interests and viewpoints
… Moreover, the specific forms of these narratives
also convey important meaning. It is the variety of the relevant narratives
both in content and form that creates place. To represent a place
thus requires a consideration of all prior cultural representations of that
place. (p. 88)
AUTHENTICITY
Authenticity is perhaps the most significant, but elusive and debated,
quality to be associated with cultural works and their interpretation.
In common parlance, the word authentic means having an undisputed
origin, worthy of trust, reliance, or belief. It comes from the Greek
authentes, meaning author, and in its earliest uses its connotations
were original, genuine, or firsthand as opposed to copied, counterfeit,
or imaginary. The concept of authenticity is a cultural construct of the
modern Western world, which, from Rousseau to Trilling, has ultimately
had to do with the definition of our true self, our individual existence.
Authentic objects, buildings, and sites are those origina,J to their creators
or possessors; they are unique to their time and place. As cultural
property, they therefore stand for the people who made and used them.
And in their collection, display, and interpretation, we appropriate their
authenticity into our personal experience. (p. 91)
PERFORMANCE
One of the ways in which places and events become instantiated in
cultural consciousness is when they are publicly performed in historical
dramas and pageants. Such performances have more than simply
entertainment value, in that they have the potential to trigger emotional
responses among participants and audiences. They are the contexts
par excellence where existing power relations are alternatively established,
celebrated, mocked, and subverted. Theater and spectacle are
thus meta discursive commentaries about the contemporary social order,
which selectively highlight certain aspects of the past that are deemed
foundational or original. (p. 94)
HETEROTOPIA CASE STUDY= “Kuaua Pueblo is a particularly informative case study. Hewett initially
planned to restore the village in its entirety to provide an "authentic" visitor
experience for the Coronado Cuarto Celebration in 1940. However,
he quickly scaled back his plan in the face of cost overruns and chose
to rebuild the village as a ruin. In making this decision, he exploited the
popular Romanticist aesthetic associated with ruins. Because his excavations
failed to identify evidence for Spanish contact, he decided to treat
Kuaua as a type-site for the kind of village that the Spaniards encountered
Placemaking on the Northern Rio Grande 197
during their entradas. But in doing this, Hewett deen1phasized Kuaua's
own specific history and its relationships to contemporary descendant
communities. The story of Kuaua is thus a powerful reminder of how
place is constructed through the selective presentation of history to justify
the cultural and political hegemonies of the emerging Anglo culture
of New Mexico.
Kuaua is thus a heterotopia, a place where New Mexico's history
is simultaneously represented, contested, and inverted. It redounds
in ironies. For example, Coronado State Monument stands today as
Coronado's principle legacy memorialized in architecture. However,
there is no archaeological evidence that he ever set foot in the village. 2
The Pueblo village visible today is, in fact, a pseudoruin, an artificial
reconstruction lying on top of an actual Pueblo Indian village. The
reconstruction is now over 60 years old and experiencing substantial
degradation due to the processes of erosion (Figure 4.7). Decisions need
to be made whether to stabilize it or to return it as closely as possible
to its original pre excavated condition. It thus affords a remarkable
opportunity to investigate the meaning of cultural landscapes in all their
complexity as both transmitters and receivers of memory and cultural
identities. As a place of memory, Kuaua endures, serving to connect
the present to various pasts, both "authentic" and contrived. As a
place of cultural and historical significance, it continues to be subject
to interpretations by various stakeholders, expressed through ongoing
interventions.” (Preucel and Matero 2009: 96-97).
Tide: one of 8 divisions of the day
Tikkun olam: (Hebrew: תיקון עולם) "is a Hebrew phrase that means "repairing the world." In Judaism, the concept of tikkun olam originated in the early rabbinic period. The concept was given new meanings in the kabbalah of the medieval period and further connotations in modern Judaism" (Wikipedia: Tikkun Olam)
Topistics: "A holistic mode of inquiry designed to make the identity, character, and experience of a place intelligible" (Walter 1988: 215).
Topoclasm: "Destruction of a place" (Walter 1988: 215).
Topomorphic revolution: "A fundamental change in the mode of dwelling together in a place" (Walter 1988: 215).
Toponomist: "A seeker of placeways, a student of topistics"; from topos + nomos (see each). "A toponomist takes a special interest in the genius loci, or the spirit of the place, and in the power of human energy to shape places" (Walter 1988: 128).
Topophilia
Topos: "Place, a container of experience" (Walter 1988: 72). Aristotle: "The sense of pure position" (Walter 1988: 117). Topos is not as old as chora; topos first appeared in the work of Aeschylus (approx. 470 B.C.). In the classical language, topos "tended to suggest mere location or the objective features of a place, and Aristotle made it into an abstract term signifying pure position" (Walter 1988: 120).
Topotherapy: "The responsive dwelling, close attendance, cultivation, and care of a place" (Walter 1988: 215)
Tor: "Natural, often heavily eroded, rock summit of a hill. Sometimes appplied to a distinctive, solitary hill" (Devereux 2003: 16).
U
Utopia: Term introduced by Thomas More, as double play on words, from Greek: eu topos (good place) and ou topos (no place) (Walter 1988: 24).
V
Vastuvidya: geomantic tradition of Hindu India, based upon Vedic philosophy (Hindu scriptures, five elements, Vastu Purusha Mandala, and more). "The Vastu Purusha is the presiding deity of any site. Usually he is depicted as lying on it with the head in the northeast and legs in the southwest but he keeps changing position throughout the year. ...Vastu shastra prescribes desirable characteristics for sites and buildings based on flow of energy called Vaastu Purusha. ...Energy is primarily considered as emanating from the center of the building. Many people believe that it comes from the North East corner but in fact it comes from the Brahmasthan or center of the building. It originates from subtle earth energy called Vaastu Purusha and subtle cosmic energy (Unified Field) called Vastu Purusha which meet in the center of the building and then spread outward in all directions. these two energies unite and form the five elements which then distribute in the for corner zones" (Wikipedia: "Vastu_shastra").
Ve: Triangular sacred enclosure; the rope and posts surrounding it is the vebond (Pennick 1989: 263).
Vintana: geomantic tradition of Madagascar (Pennick). Vintana means destiny (Wikipedia: "Madagascar").
Vision quest (Devereux 2000: 179)
vortex
Votive landscape
W
wahi kapu: "Wahi is defined as: Place, location, position, site, setting. Kapu is defined as: Taboo, prohibition; special privilege or exemption from ordinary taboo; sacredness; prohibited, forbidden; sacred, holy, consecrated; no trespassing, keep out. So One'ula is a wahi kapu, a sacred forbidden special place since it contains the burial sites of our sacred Kings, Queens... Our ali'i kapu..." (Kaiana).
wahi pana: (Hawaiian) legendary place; place of renown
Wakanda: Something ancient and mysterious at a location, a spirit/power/manifestation/ occurrence; also used to denote a deity/god, Thunder or Creator (also see Manitou) (LF)
Ward (The Ward): The spiritual protection of a settlement at night by supernatural powers (Pennick 1989: 263)
Wayfinding: "Wayfinding encompasses all of the ways in which people and animals orient themselves in physical space and navigate from place to place." "Historically, wayfinding refers to the techniques used by travelers over land and sea to find relatively unmarked and often mislabeled routes. These include but are not limited to dead reckoning, map and compass, astronomical positioning and, more recently, global positioning." (Wikipedia: Wayfinding). Natural navigation is another line of investigation, finding one's way on land or sea by reading the landscape/ocean and sky. -LF.
Whirlpool. Mitchpool (England). Manifestation of the water spirit, a dangerous location (Pennick 1989: 102)
Wih: An unsheltered, outdoors image of a deity (Pennick 1989: 263)
wilderness: "A location of unsettled experience" (Walter 1988: 215)
Will/Will-o-the-Wisp: luminescent manifestation of ond (Pennick 1989: 263)
World navel; omphalos; axis mundi; Yggdrasil; earth navel; middle of the world; sipapu; seventh direction (here) (Devereux 2000: 180-181) see devereux of mappae mundi, maps of the world that correspond to one’s worldview.
Wyrd: Urdr; Fat. Old English spelling of one of the three Fate sisters. (Devereux 2000:183).
Y
Yarthkin: malevolent earth spirit (vs. hytersprite, benevolent earth spirit) (Pennick 1989: 263)
Yattara: geomantic tradition of Burma (according to Pennick). The Yattara bell is in one of the enclosures on Sirigutta Hill, one of which includes a statue of the Buddha. On the bell are inscribed spells and astrological tables with instructions on how, when, and in what circumstances it should be struck as an occult offensive that would disrupt the invaders' astrological charts (Manrique 1995: 132-134).
Yew (Devereux 2000: 184-185)
Yggsdrasil (Devereux 2000: 185-186).
Yries: Spirit-paths or pagan-trackways marked by rags, shoes, or other offerings (Pennick 1989: 263)
Z
Zones of Strangeness: Locations with a high incidence of reported paranormal phenomena; paranormal hotspots
SOURCES
Amorth, Gabriel.
Devereux, Paul. 2000. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Ancient Earth Mysteries. London: Cassell & Co.
===2003. Fairy Paths & Spirit Roads: Exploring Otherworldy Routes in the Old and New Worlds. London: Vega/Chrysalis.
Fagan, Brian. 1998. From Black Land to Fifth Sun: The Science of Sacred Sites. Reading, Massachusetts: Helix Books, Addison-Wesley.
Graves, Tom. Needles of Stone.
Hantman, Jeffrey L. 2009. Jamestown’s 400th Anniversary: Old Themes, New Words, New Meanings for Virginia Indians. In Rubertone
Kaiana. Ephemeral Life, "Wahi Kapu." 28 May 2011; retrieved 28 April 2012. (http://kaiana.blogspot.com/2011/05/wahi-kapu.html)
Kingston, Karen. 1997. Creating Sacred Space with Feng Shui. Broadway Books.
Lawless, Sarah. 2011. "Land Guardianship." The Cauldron No. 142, Nov. 2011. Accessed on her website, "The Witch of Forest Grove," at http://witchofforestgrove.com/2012/03/25/land-guardianship/ (posted Mar. 25, 2012; accessed Apr. 29, 2012).
Manrique, Angel. 1995. Land of the Great Image: Being Experiences Of Friar Manrique In Arakan (A Province In Western Burma), Between The Years 1630-1676. Asian Educational Services.
Martin, Malachi. Hostage to the Devil.
McCarthy, Josephine. 2011. Magical Knowledge Book II: The Initiate. Mandrake of Oxford.
Patterson, Barry. Art Of Conversation With The Genius Loci.
Pennick, Nigel. 1979. The Ancient Science of Geomancy: Man in Harmony with the Earth. London: Thames and Hudson.
====1989. Practical Magic in the Northern Tradition. London: Aquarian Press.
Preucel, Robert W. and Matero, Frank G. 2009 "Placemaking on the Northern Rio Grande: A View from Kuaua Pueblo." In Rubertone.
Rubertone, Patricia E. 2009. Archaeologies of Placemaking: Monuments, Memories, and Engagement in Native North America. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press.
Sheffield, Ann Groa. 1997/2000. Landtaking and Leavetaking: Rituals for Moving House. (http://medoburg.org/heresies/landtaking.asp )
Stewart, R.J. “Tomb of a King. The Underworld Initiation (see also http://www.dreampower.com/land.html).
Thurnell-Read, Jane. 1995. Geopathic Stress: How Earth Energies Affect Our Lives. Element Books.
Tilley, Christopher, 1994, A Phenomenology of Landscape. Oxford: Berg.
Ulukau. Hawaiian Electronic Library.
“Breaking Strongholds in Your City: How to Use Spiritual Mapping Tomake Your Prayers More Strategic, Effective and Targeted (Prayer Warriors)”, Peter C. Wagner, June 1993
Walter, E. V. 1988. Placeways: A Theory of the Human Environment. Chapel Hill and London: The University of North Carolina Press.
Welch, John R. 2009. Multiple Places, Histories, and Memories at a Frontier Icon in Apache Country. In Rubertone
White, Hayden V. 1987. The Content of the Form: Narrative Discourse and Historical
Representation. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press,
Wikipedia.org
Wong, Eva. A Master Course in Feng Shui.
M
Mana: "In Polynesian culture, mana is a spiritual quality considered to have supernatural origin-a sacred impersonal force existing in the universe. Therefore to have mana is to have influence and authority, and efficacy-the power to perform in a given situation. This essential quality of mana is not limited to persons-peoples, governments, places and inanimate objects can possess mana. There are two ways to obtain mana: through birth and through warfare. People or objects that possess mana are accorded respect because their possession of mana gives them authority, power, and prestige. The word’s meaning is complex because mana is a basic foundation of the Polynesian worldview" (Wikipedia: Mana).
Manitou: "Manitou is a term used to designate spirit beings among many Algonquian groups of Native Americans. ...This spirit is seen as a (contactable) person as well as a concept. Everything has its own manitou-every plant, every stone, even [at least certain] machines" Manitu; manituwak (pl.) (Wikipedia: Manitou). The Prairie Siouan term for an analogous concept is Wakonda/Wakanda. -LF
Maypole. Symbolic connection to both phallic stone and axis mundi/world tree.
Megalith: Large stone, altered or placed culturally. Megalithic monuments made from large stones in Europe date generally to the Neolithic
Mellowed Earth/Mellow the Earth.
Motte and bailey: Remnant of Norman castle mound (motte) surrounded by defensive earthwork (bailey) (Devereux 2003: 15)
Mythic geography (Devereux 2000: 122-) see also ethnogeography
N
Natural Systems/Ecosystems: Interaction of physical ecosystems (natural systems of geology, soil, topography, geomorphology, biota, etc.) all interact with the nonphysical, just as the human spirit/soul affects and is affected by the human body. Do something to the physical ecosystem, and there are spiritual effects. Do something to the nonphysical system (magic, prayer, energywork, psychology, ritual, actions of violence such as murder, etc.) and the physical system will suffer the effects as well. It is true interaction. (LF) (See Place memory, imprint, etc.)
Neg: Short for negative entity, a term coined by Robert Bruce.
Nemeton: "A nemeton was a sacred space of ancient Celtic religion. Nemeta appear to have been primarily situated in natural areas, and, as they often utilized trees, they are often interpreted as sacred groves. However, other evidence suggests that the word implied a wider variety of ritual spaces, such as shrines and temples. Evidence for nemeta consists chiefly of inscriptions and place-names, which occur all across the Celtic world. Toponyms related to the word nemeton occur as far west as Galicia, Spain, as far north as Scotland, and as far east as central Turkey. ...Pliny and Lucan wrote that druids did not meet in stone temples or other constructions, but in sacred groves of trees. In his Pharsalia Lucan described such a grove near Massilia in dramatic terms more designed to evoke a shiver of delicious horror among his Roman hearers than meant as proper natural history: no bird nested in the nemeton, nor did any animal lurk nearby; the leaves constantly shivered though no breeze stirred. Altars stood in its midst, and the images of the gods. Every tree was stained with sacrificial blood. the very earth groaned, dead yews revived; unconsumed trees were surrounded with flame, and huge serpents twined round the oaks. The people feared to approach the grove, and even the priest would not walk there at midday or midnight lest he should then meet its divine guardian" (Wikipedia: "Nemeton") (also in Pennick 1989: 261)
Nightmarcher path. Traditional locations in the Hawaiian islands where the processions of spirits are seen; there are various types, including processions of the gods, of chiefs, and of other kinds of the dead. Huaka’i po: n. Night procession or parade, especially the night procession of ghosts that is sometimes called ‘oi’o.
Nomos: Each place has its nomos, its characteristic rule of action, or customary form of making itself felt, or specific way of being in the world" (Walter 1988: 117). See toponomy, toponomist.
Nostalgia: A painful return home (Walter 1988: 25).
Numinous: “A feeling of awe and eeriness at a sacred place possessing the haunting quality of being the abode of some localized spirit, a numen loci” (Devereux 2000: 151).
O
Ombilicus Mundi: The main plot of the novel Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco revolves around search of the Ombilicus Mundi (Latin: The Navel of the World), the mystic Center of The Earth which is supposed to be a certain point from were a person could control the energies and shapes of the earth thus reforming it at will. The novel takes this even further by suggesting that monuments like the Eiffel Tower are nothing more than giant antennae to catalyze these energies.(Wikipedia: "Telluric Current")
Omphalos: umbilicus; navel of the world or of a region/location. Hawaiian: piko; Ioway: retwa. Saxon: nowl. A place where magic or prayer is performed, or oracles/divination/prophecies given. (Pennick 1989: 262)
Ond: the cosmic breath which pervades and animates all existence;
old euro: pneuma, önd, eight winds, nwyvre, vital spirit; east anglian 'nameless art': spirament
alchemists: anima mundi, quintessence, universal plastic medium
dowser/rhabdomants: earth rays, radiesthetic fields, telluric lines, geobiological fields, earth energies
Occultists: etheric currents, vril
christian: lines of spiritual power
alternative scientist5s: odyle, orgone, field anomalies, field intensity variations
East: chi, prana, ki
[Indigenous: orenda, mana, nyi, etc.]
not good or bad; energy source of life or death, creation or edstruction; only effects on humans do we call it good or bad
Ond in conformity with natural patterns and colors of place, if no human activity [still that does not mean necessarily for humans; could be 'bad' for humans]. Ond is neutral, picks up surrounding influences, becoming a kind of medium for those influences. Unaltered, it is in alignment with the Anima Loci, which varies and fluxes in its character. In certain earth forms it manifests as Nwyvre, the Dragon power.
Human activity affects the patterns/colors of Ond, and thereby the place/anima loci.
Places where Ond (life-breath) accumulates, stagnates, or is lost
-correspondences as in human body, as in sites; correspondence with organ in human body [compare Hawaiian concept of kino lau]; character of site discernable only by effects and not by analysis [ known by its fruits]; important concept that one site is not bad or good, all necessary on p. 39 for harmony
-Sources of önd in the landscape: streams, springs, waterfalls), coastline (esp. rocky shores); rocky areas which are electrically active or radioactive, such as quartz-bearing rocks [or geomagnietism] [or volcanic rock]; underground water in streams and deeper structures like fault lines and areas of tectonic activity; A complex landscape with great variety: small valleys and hills, serpentine watercourses where all aspects in balance, neither flowing away/dissipating rapidly, or accumulating in stagnation
Woodlands and groves of trees, especially hilltop clumps with variety of trees spaced apart
Sites where cycles of moon and sun apparent
Combinations, seasides, lakes, rivers, waterfalls, high points with distant views, rocky promoniotories and outcrops, changes in landscape or uniqe geological features, grasslands with occasional trees, notable trees; tree over a stone, or waterfall in geo-zone etc.
(Pennick 1989: 262)
On-lay: Altered Anima Loci. Comes into being when the önd of site is altered by an act of will. Ritual act (exorcism or consecration) [magico-religious] or act of will not normally considered so, such as unmindful construction of secular building, or intentional but mindless vandalism. Under on-lay, anima loci are suppressed but still present. Because by definition on-lay different from anima loci, must renew on-lay periodically or anima loci will re-manifest, bringing quality of önd back into line with anima loci (Pennick)
A spell or incantation pronounced on (laid-on) a place (Pennick 1989: 262)
Ondvegissulur: Main pillars of a wooden temple; most sacred part of the building (ond + ve part of the word) (Pennick 1989: 262)
Oracle: Place where prophecy or advice sought, from gods, often with intermediary priest/ess. (Devereux 2000: 132-133)
Orlog (Old Norse): the magical history of a place, the geomythic qualities and anecdotes are an integral part of a sacred site. nonmobile property like buildings in a specific setting achieve own personalities/character (Pennick) [see also Jackson's 'The Haunting'] Fate; also Saxon wyrd (Pennick 1989: 262). Also, alag (Pennick 1989: 259).
P
Paganism (Devereux 2000: 134-135)
Pareidolia: "Pareidolia ( /pærɨˈdoʊliə/ parr-i-doh-lee-ə) is a psychological phenomenon involving a vague and random stimulus (often an image or sound) being perceived as significant. Common examples include seeing images of animals or faces in clouds, the man in the moon or the Moon rabbit, and hearing hidden messages on records played in reverse. The word comes from the Greek para- ("beside", "with", or "alongside", in this context meaning something faulty or wrong, as in paraphasia, disordered speech) and eidōlon ("image"; the diminutive of eidos - "image", "form", "shape"). Pareidolia is a type of apophenia." "Pareidolia is a type of apophenia involving the perception of images or sounds in random stimuli, for example, hearing a ringing phone while taking a shower. The noise produced by the running water gives a random background from which the patterned sound of a ringing phone might be "produced". A more common human experience is perceiving faces in inanimate objects; this phenomenon is not surprising in light of how much processing the brain does in order to memorize and recall the faces of hundreds or thousands of different individuals. In one respect, the brain is a facial recognition, storage, and recall machine - and it is very good at it. A byproduct of this acumen at recognizing faces is that people see faces even where there is no face: the headlights & grill of an automobile can appear to be "grinning", individuals around the world can see the "Man in the Moon", and a drawing consisting of only three circles and a line which even children will identify as a face are everyday examples of this" (Wikipedia: Pareidolia). (see Apophenia) [Besides things like seeing Jesus' face in a tortilla or Mary in a water stain, and of course many EVPs in ghost hunting; another well-known example of pareidolia is the "satellite photo of a mesa in Cydonia, often called the Face on Mars. Later photographs from other angles destroyed the illusion" (Wikipedia: Pareidolia).
pathetecture: "The process of building feelings and meanings by the arrangement of material objects, especially through construction, dilapidation, and excavation" (Walter 1988: 215).
Pattern recognition: "Pattern recognition involves identification of faces, objects, words, melodies, etc. The visual system does more than just interpret forms, contours and colors. Pattern recognition refers to the process of recognizing a set of stimuli arranged in a certain pattern that is characteristic of that set of stimuli. Pattern recognition does not occur instantly, although it does happen automatically and spontaneously. Pattern recognition is an innate ability of animals." (Wikipedia: Pattern_recognition_(psychology)). (see apophenia; pareidolia; simulacra)
periegete; "A guide to a place" (Walter 1988: 215)
Petrosomatoglyph: "A petrosomatoglyph is an image of parts of a human or animal body incised in rock. [Natural or sculpted; This includes footprints in stone, as well as representations of male or female genitalia, such as phallic stones or ringstones, which might be also simply simulacra. -LF] Many were created by Celtic peoples, such as the Picts, Scots, Irish, Cornish, Cumbrians, Bretons and Welsh. These representations date from the Early Middle Ages; others of uncertain purpose date back to megalithic times. They were an important form of symbolism, used in religious and secular ceremonies, such as the crowning of kings. Some are regarded as artefacts linked to saints and folklore heroes, such as King Arthur....The word comes from the Greek πέτρα - petra ("stone"), σῶμα - soma ("body"), and γλύφειν - glyphein ("to carve"). Feet are the most common; however, knees, elbows, hands, head, fingers, etc., are also found. The term petrosomatoglyph should not be confused with petroglyph, which covers all incised representations of living or non-living things, or with pictograph, which is an image drawn or painted on a rock face, and both of which contribute to the wider and more general category of rock art. Petroforms, or patterns and shapes such as labyrinths and mazes made by many large rocks and boulders in rows over the ground, are also quite different. Stylised representations of parts of the body are often open to dispute and are therefore on the fringes of acceptability as identifiable petrosomatoglyphs. Natural objects, such as rock crystals and rock formations which look like petrosomatoglyphs, whole animals, plants, etc., are collectively called 'mimeoliths' " (Wikipedia: Petrosomatoglyph)
Phallic stone. Also on Molokai.
philochoria (see corophilia) (Walter 1988: 215)
Pilgrimage (Devereux 2000: 135)
place: "A location of experience; the container of shapes, powers, feelings, and meanings" (Walter 1988: 215) (see topos); “Places are contexts for human experience, constructed in movement and memory, encounter and association”
(Tilley 1994:15). Preucel and Matero.
Placemaking: “The social practices of constructing place and is intimately associated with the public inscription of collective memories. It is as characteristic of Indigenous cultures as it is of modern Western capitalist societies. Because the making of place is an inherently political process, certain places may be incorporated into sanctioned views of the social imaginary. Places of resistance, such as battlefields, may be sanitized and depoliticized as that are incorporated into specific narratives emphasizing the continuity of past and present. Alternatively, they may be recuperated and used to deny continuity as a means of challenging the dominant social order. What is and is not considered to be a place is thus part of an ongoing dialogue and the site of contestation and negotiation. The refashioning of space into place is a technology of reordering reality,a nd its success depends upon the degree to which this refashioning is concealed in the details of material culture and site plan (Boyer 1994, in Preucel and Matero, in Rubertone 2009: 84).
Place-memory: (some excerpts from Graves, chapter 11) "...It is, I believe, foolish to try to ignore place-memories and their effects on us; but I think it is still more foolish to go 'ghost-hunting', prodding likely looking sites in various ways to see if a place-memory appears. It's true that one may do so: but they have little choice in when or whether they appear, because they are impersonal memories, and they are anyway less likely to appear when prodded because the active or 'trying' state of mind that ghost-hunting implies is diametrically opposed to the 'emptiness' of mind in the retriever that seems to be an essential part of the conditions for their appearance. The danger in ghost-hunting is that other types of haunting may appear instead. More often than not these will be active and probably malevolent types, such as true ghosts, elementals, 'guardians', poltergeists and other oddities lying around at other levels of the mind and elsewhere; and these are more likely to appear - in your mind and imagination, if not elsewhere - if you go looking for them, for by doing so you effectively call them into existence through you. I don't want to go into all the technicalities of this here; but it is a real danger that should not be ignored. The other point we have to realise is that since place-memories are simply memories of how someone has felt, or thought, or perceived at that place when it was active, we have to learn to be careful not only of what we do physically at those places, but also what we feel, what we think, what we perceive. In other words, we have to be careful, at such sites, of what we do at every level of our being. Place-memories can affect us, and negatively so if they happen to be negative; but it's useful to remember that we create them in the first place, for others or for ourselves to find at a later - or earlier - date. It's up to us, where we have the choice, to make sure that the atmosphere of a place is left as we would wish to find it. We can do this semi-consciously, by watching our feelings and thoughts in places, particularly if the place we happen to be at is, as the Exorcism Report puts it, a 'desecrated' site. But we can also do it deliberately, by constructing an emotion, a feeling, a thought, with a view to implanting it in the place. "
Exorcism Report not just to places in general but specifically to sacred sites and the apparent natural energy-matrix, research work suggests that we can ignore most of one category (ghosts proper, the 'spirits of the departed')
and a sub-group of the poltergeist category (those due to 'an uncontrolled human subconscious in the house'). Although these are related to places, they are tied more to people at those places than the places themselves. There is admittedly some evidence that certain types of sites tend to hold 'spirits of the departed', or to increase 'uncontrolled human subconscious' poltergeist activity, but I don't think it's particularly important to our theme; and above all I don't want to get trapped into a discussion of the existence or nonexistence of the human soul or spirit. I'll leave that kind of discussion to the Churchmen: I assume they know what they're talking about in that respect.
This leaves us with part of the poltergeist category, and four others: 'magicians', 'human sin', 'place-memories' and 'demonic interference'. If we place magically induced poltergeist into the 'magician' category, and include poltergeists due to 'non-human mischievous sprites' as a sub-group of the 'demonic interference' category (for reasons that should become clear later), we are down to four categories of hauntings related to the 'earth -acupuncture' matrix.
Because we are dealing with the interaction of people and place, we can re-form these four categories into three others with a different emphasis, this time on the type of activity behind the haunting: the three new categories are:
'unconscious human interaction with the place' (tapping into place memories)
'conscious or deliberate human interaction with the place' (magicoreligious/ritual)
'non-human interaction with the place' (genius loci)
Basically, these are the Report's categories of 'place-memories', 'magical interference' and 'demonic interference' respectively, with various sub-groups of the old 'human sin' category included in the first and second, and possibly the third, new categories. But the Report was only concerned with negative or destructive interaction with places, and all these three categories have constructive aspects as well. If we call them 'place-memory ghosts and ghouls', 'magicians' and 'angels and demons', these three categories form between them a framework through which we can study not only hauntings, but also the energies behind them, the energies of nature on which our 'earth-acupuncture' operates." (Tom Graves, Needles of Stone)
Planetary grids: Hartmann grid/Globalnetzgitter; Curry; Peyre; Wittman; et al (Devereux 2000: 137-138)
Portal: Also known as a doorway, a gate, or a mystery spot. "The idea of a "portal" or a "doorway" to another dimension is not a new one. many researchers believe that there are places all over the world that serve as "doorways" from our world to another. These doorways are thought to provide access for entities to enter our world. they may be the spirits of people who have lived before, or they could be something else altogether. some researchers even believe that they could be otherworldly beings from another dimension. if that sounds far-fetched, believe me, it isn't as strange as it sounds. The entities sighted, reported and even photographed around what many believe to be "portals" could be the spirits of the dead.... or something much stranger." Often acquired a reputation for being a haunted location. "one of the most common locations for these "doorways" seem to be in cemeteries. Now, as a rule, most cemeteries are not haunted, but in the past few years, ghost hunters have collected dozens and dozens of anomalous photographs taken in cemeteries. There seems to be no explanation why many of these cemeteries would become haunted unless they provided access for spirits, or entities, to pass from one world to the next. Of course, some of the cemeteries are haunted in the traditional manner.... it's the ones that aren't which causes the puzzle. it is possible that these sites were "haunted" long before a cemetery was located there. it is possible that them psychic draw of the area was what caused our ancestors to locate a cemetery there in the first place. They may have felt there was something "sacred" or "spiritual" about the place and without realizing why, they placed a burial ground there and made it a protected place. The native americans chose their burial grounds in this manner, although they did it consciously. They found a place to bury and honor the dead which they felt was more closely connected to the next world." The Bell Witch Cave is suggested as on possible portal. Compare to Vortex.
Sources for this quote are: (http://northwalesparanormal.com/page20.htm) and (http://www.prairieghosts.com/portal.html) Neither of these sources refer to the other, so I am not sure which was the original. Therefore I am citing both at this time.
post-onlay: places where on-lay (see) (altered anima loci) once existed but no longer operating. If the place has not been rendered alfreka (see), then anima loci still present even if it is weakened. It can re-manifest if no new on-lay is created or not made alfreka. If alfreka, then open to any new influence, conscious or unconscious, that comes into contact; önd will then be patterned according to those influences. Alfreka post-onlay particularly prone to destructive influences, as well as new on-lays which since anima loci gone, no conflicts (Pennick)
Psychic archaeology (Devereux 2000: 138-140).
Psychogeography: "Psychogeography, a subfield of geography, was defined in 1955 by Guy Debord as "the study of the precise laws and specific effects of the geographical environment, consciously organized or not, on the emotions and behavior of individuals." Another definition is "a whole toy box full of playful, inventive strategies for exploring cities...just about anything that takes pedestrians off their predictable paths and jolts them into a new awareness of the urban landscape.""In a dérive one or more persons during a certain period drop their usual motives for movement and action, their relations, their work and leisure activities, and let themselves be drawn by the attractions of the terrain and the encounters they find there… But the dérive includes both this letting go and its necessary contradiction: the domination of psychogeographical variations by the knowledge and calculation of their possibilities." (Wikipedia: Psychogeography).
Pyramid (Devereux 2000: 140-143)
R
Reginnaglar: "Divine nails, driven into the main posts of a building as a sacred act" (Pennick 1989: 262)
Rock art: pictographs, petroglyphs (Devereux 2000: 145-148)
Ruins: "physical remains shaping a location of experience that is past but not completed" (Walter 1988: 215)
S
Sacbe: (Mayan) "white way," ancient causeway (Devereux 2003: 15)
Sacred place; sacred site (Devereux 2000: 150-151)
Sanctified (Anima Loci): Reinforced natural pattern; physical manifestation of the essential nature of a sacred place when anima loci recognized; önd is patterned and colored in conformity with anima loci, but patterns never fixed, but flow and change to changes of anima loci, no dissonance. When recognized, harmony if human actions reinforce/enhance/develop the potential of site, through self-similarity of action to existing quality of place. [Become more 'itself']-- this is through artifacts, ceremonies, activities that create harmony between place and human..participation in self-ordering system, not imposition of system
At places of sanctity humans become expressions or embodiments of anima loci.
"As time passes, through repetition and evolution, the place's orlog is sanctified: the qualities of the Amina Loci are intensified. By these means, the latent spirit of the Anima Loci can be brought forth into manifestation on the material level. Then, a truly sacred place has coem into being. The invisible is made visible ...Sanctity does not merely acknowledge or reproduce some specific perception of the Anima Loci. " (Pennick 42).
Shamanic landscape: Coined by Devereux “to designate unusual and poorly understood ancient ritual landscapes and ceremonial features in the Americas that seem to have developed out of pre-Columbian shamanic traditions. Such landscapes contain distinctive ground markings or figures, which fall into three basic categories: terrestrial effigies or ‘geoglyphs’, abstract geometric and meander linear patterns, and straightline markings and tracks. Locations such as the Nazca lines contain examples of all three categories, but they can also occur separately and in isolation. The features are constructed in various ways depending on terrain and local conditions: petroforms (outlines in small rocks and boulders), intaglios (etchings or engravings onto desert surfaces) and earthwork structures. In complex and hierarchical prehistoric Native American cultures like that of the Maya, the straight-line markings sometimes developed into more formalized and ceremonial engineered structures, such as roads and causeways” (Devereux 2000: 155). (Devereux 2000: 155-160).
Simulacra: “A simulacra is something that coincidentally looks like something else, such as the design on the wings of a butterfly looking like eyes or the texture on a tree trunk conjuring the appearance of a person’s face. …A way of looking that seems to have been fostered by ancient and traditional peoples” (Devereux 2000: 160-162). The Sleeping Giant is a simulacrum seen from Helena. (also See Michell 1979).
Sipapu: Hopi emergence hole in a Kiva.
Sitting Out: A practice of “sitting out” in specific traditional locations by seers and other seekers to summon spirits or see visions. A term from Northern Europe, Scandinavia, and Iceland; such locations include crossroads, burial mounds, etc. (Devereux 2000: 162-163). Compare Vision quest/fasting.
Sleeper: “Sleepers are people who die ritually in such a way as to keep the soul within the body after death. Through this action, the soul interacts with the land, the spirits of the land, and the people. Most of the sleepers gave of themselves freely in service. Later, this practice degenerated in some cultures to a form of forcible entrapment” (McCarthy 2011: 236). Archaeology sometimes excavates burial sites with sleepers, which can have extreme negative impacts on the land and the people so connected. It is not always easy to determine the difference between an ordinary burial and a sleeper interment. One sign is extreme care to keep the body intact and preserved by those who interred them. “While ever the body stayed intact the sleeper or ancestor would be able to pass between death and life, the Underworld and the surface world,” often for thousands of years. While the Sleepers sleep, they dream and keep the world in balance; such tales are often carried down in folktales; some are very old, their cultures and worldview/psychology can be very different. Because their functions are so important, often Guardians were interred nearby or with the Sleeper, to ensure the grave/Sleeper is protected and undisturbed. (For more, see McCarthy 2011: 236-253). Another source that describes a Sleeper, though not by that name, is “Tomb of a King” (Stewart).
Soakage: (Australian) spring or seepage in desert region
Songline: Otherworld route in Australian aboriginal traditions, aka "dream journey routes" or "dreaming tracks"; the Yolngu people of Arnhemland call them djalkiri, "footprints of the ancestors" (Devereux 203: 21-22).
Souterrain/Fogou (from French 'sous terrain', meaning 'under ground') is a name given by archaeologists to a type of underground structure associated mainly with the Atlantic Iron Age. These structures appear to have been brought northwards from Gaul during the late Iron Age. Regional names include earth houses, fogous and Pictish houses. The term souterrain has been used as a distinct term from fogou. In Cornwall the regional name of fogou is applied to souterrain structures. The design of underground structures has been shown to differ among regions; for example, in western Cornwall the design and function of the fogou appears to correlate with a larder use" (Wikipedia: Souterrain). "A fogou or fougou[citation needed] (pronounced "foo-goo") is an underground, dry-stone structure found on Iron Age or Romano-British defended settlement sites in Cornwall. Fogous have similarities with souterrains or earth-houses of northern Europe and particularly Scotland including the Orkney Islands. Fewer than 15 confirmed fogous have been found" (Wikipedia: Fogou).
spirit paths/spirit ways: (Devereux 2000: 167-169).
Spirit trap: “…A net or tangle of threads or similar convlouted artefact, as this could bind spirits and stop their movement - especially their entry into a house; …straight features [spirit paths] were seen as being able to enhance the passage of spirits.” Examples include Ojo de Dios-looking Bavarian spirit trap, patterns of pebbles in front of a door, nets, cat’s cradles, labyrinths, witch bottles, dream catchers, etc. Staves with such devices on top were set “into the ground at some haunted spot or on an old, rarely used track - especially one leading to or from a cemetery.” “Today’s researchers and scholars often overlook the fundamental difference in former and modern worldviews: the old one teemed with spirits, ours is empty of them. It can make all the difference when trying to interpret certain kinds of obscure ancient site, landscape or tradition” (Devereux 2000: 166-167).
Blue/green paint around windows and doors in New Mexico.
Plants with geomantic functions.
Sprites: Thunderstorm phenomena
Stafgardr: stave-surrounded sacred enclosure (Pennick 1989: 262)
Structure of mutual immanence: "The system of effective presences dwelling together in a place" (Walter 1988: 215).
Stela: Inscribed/carved upright slab/pillar (stelae, pl.)
Stranded track: "Poorly defined track in open country; specifically, the route of a track that has developed into more than one parallel course" (Devereux 2003: 16).
Sweeping: (Devereux 2000: 171)
Systems approach/systems theory (Devereux 2000: 171)
T
Tajul muluk/Tiang seri: Traditional Malay geomancy for siting and/or designing buildings. "It was traditionally practiced by shamans (dukun or bomoh) and architects from Malaysia and Indonesia. The term tajul muluk comes from the Arabic word taj-al-mulk meaning 'royal crown of jewels.'" There are points of commonality between this system and those of the Chinese (feng shui) and Indians (vastu shastra). (Wikipedia: "Tiang_Seri")
Telluric Current: "A telluric current (from Latin tellūs, "earth") is an electrical current which moves underground or through the sea. Telluric currents result from both natural causes and human activity, and the discrete currents interact in a complex pattern. The currents are extremely low frequency and travel over large areas at or near the surface of the Earth" "Telluric currents are phenomena observed in the Earth's crust and mantle. In September 1862, an experiment to specifically address Earth currents was carried out in the Munich Alps (Lamont, 1862). The currents are primarily geomagnetically induced currents, which are induced by changes in the outer part of the Earth's magnetic field, which are usually caused by interactions between the solar wind and the magnetosphere or solar radiation effects on the ionosphere. Telluric currents flow in the surface layers of the earth." (Wikipedia: "Telliuric Current"). "Telluric current" A Dictionary of Earth Sciences. Ed. Ailsa Allaby and Michael Allaby. Oxford University Press, 1999.
Also see “The Little Saint” for an example (speak of moving buildings and megaliths using telluric currents).
Temenos: sacred enclosure around a temple, etc. (Pennick 1989: 262)
Terrestrial zodiacs (Devereux 2000: 173). Also compare Dave Flynn’s observations on the counties of Montana.
Territorial Spirit
According to some Christians (generally within Charismatic and Pentecostal traditions, and especially Kingdom Now theology), Territorial Spirits are demons who rule over certain geographical areas in the world.
This belief has been popularized by the novel This Present Darkness, as well as by the ministry of C. Peter Wagner.
Place in spiritual warfare
The existence of territorial spirits has been seen to be significant in spiritual warfare, and forms a part of what C. Peter Wagner has called "Strategic-Level Spiritual Warfare" (SLSW). Wagner advocates the practice of learning the names and assignments of demonic spirits as the first step to effective spiritual warfare.
Biblical passages used in support of the concept
Deuteronomy 32:8-9
In both the Septuagint and the Dead Sea Scrolls, Deuteronomy 32:8-9 refers a time when God divided the nations of the earth among the "sons of God" (Israel is excepted as the special possession of God Himself). Given the meaning of this phrase in the Book of Job, it is suggested that this is a reference to the origin of territorial spirits who were, at one time, angels administering the earth on God's behalf. The question remains, however, as to whether these spirits are malevolent.
Psalm 82 contains an episode in which God stands in the assembly of the "gods" and condemns them for their injustice. God declares that as a result of their wickedness these beings will "die" like men. The Psalm closes with the declaration that now all nations belong to the Lord. It has been suggested that God confronts the territorial angels he set over the nations of the earth, who have now fallen and become demons. As a result of their rebellion, God revokes their right to administer their territory in his name.
Daniel 10: This passage concerns the visitation of a strange "man" to the prophet Daniel. This man explains to Daniel that he was delayed by the "Prince of Persia" (10:13), but was helped by "Michael, one of the chief princes" (a reference to the archangel Michael, who was recognized in Jewish literature to be a chief angel guarding over Israel). Later in the chapter, the man warns Daniel that soon the "Prince of Greece" (10:20) will join his Persian counterpart to make war upon them.
Considering the fact that Michael is generally recognized as an angel, it is likely that the "Princes" that Michael fights against from Greece and Persia are also spiritual beings. The fact that these spirits are given names in reference to location (Greece and Persia) suggests that these demonic spirits had a geographical oversight.
In Romans 8:38-9 Paul presents the reader with a number of polar opposites. In the midst of this Paul contrasts angels with "principalities" (Gr. archai ). "Principalities" may be a synonym for "demons".
In Ephesians 6:12, in the context of the Armor of God, Paul refers to the spiritual beings which oppose the work of God in the world as "rulers" (Gr. archai ), "powers" (Gr. exousias ), and "world forces" (Gr. kosmokratoras ).
Revelation talks about multiple evil angels, who are currently "chained" in certain earthly locations, being released by God so that they will kill many on earth. There is no clue as to how much autonomy they currently possess.
Criticism of the concept of territorial spirits is twofold. The first line of criticism regards their existence, while the second regards the appropriate response from Christians.
Tinker argues that it is a misnomer to speak of territorial spirits, since the spirits referred to in the above biblical passages "are to be more associated with political and religious power and ideologies."
Opponents of this theological construct and associated beliefs in "spiritual warfare" point out that while the Bible may describe some form of demonic control over geography, it does not prescribe many of the behaviors and teachings that proponents advocate in response. There is no mention in either the Hebrew Bible or the New Testament of believers banding together and praying a form of "spiritual warfare" against particular territorial demons. The battles occurring in the spiritual realms (as described in Daniel 10) have no Biblically identified link to the actions and prayers of God's people in the physical world.
The concept of territorial spirits and the development of specific spiritual warfare techniques has generated much discussion in the Christian missions community. Critical exchanges of views may be found in periodicals like the Evangelical Missions Quarterly (such as in volume 31, number 2 published in 1995), and in conferences sponsored by the Evangelical Missions Society. Scholars such as Robert J. Priest, Paul Hiebert and A. Scott Moreau detect animist ideas in the arguments of supporters of the theory of territorial spirits. Robert Guelich of Fuller Theological Seminary does not find the concept of territorial spirits within the gospels, and has analyzed this problem in a critical review of Frank E. Peretti's novel This Present Darkness.
The question of territorial spirits and spiritual warfare was the topic of critical exchanges at the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization's conference in Nairobi, Kenya in 2000. Out of this conference came a consultation document, as well as many technical papers, that was published as the book Deliver Us From Evil. (Wikipedia.org: “Territorial Spirit”) (also see Spiritual Mapping; Spiritual Warfare)
Theoria: "An ancient way of grasping experience that involves all the senses and feelings" (Walter 1988: 215). "Originally, theoria meant seeing the sights, seeing for yourself, and getting a worldview. ...The term theoria originally implied a complex but organic mode of active observation- a perceptual system that included asking questions, listening to stories and local myths, and feeling as well as hearing and seeing. It encouraged an open reception to every kind of emotional, cognitive, symbolic, imaginative, and sensory experience-- a holistic practice of thoughtful awareness that engaged all the senses and feelings" (ibid.: 18-19).
Therapeutae: "People who give close attendance" (therapeia) (Walter 1988: 215).
thin place (Irish)
Thirdspace: “The geographer Edward Soja (1996) has offered what is perhaps
the most systematic engagement with Foucault's notion of heterotopia.
He notes that while Foucault's ideas are frustratingly incomplete,
they provide valuable glimpses into what Soja calls "Thirdspace," the
geohistories of otherness. He suggests that most critical evaluations
of Foucault's work have missed a fundamental point, namely that his
alternative envisioning of spatiality directly challenges all conventional
modes of spatial thinking (Soja 1996:163). Heterotopias are not simply
other spaces to be added to previously existing spaces in our analyses,
but rather foster radically different ways of conceptualizing space. For
Foucault, we need to engage with heterotopologies and heterochronologies
because they allow us to highlight the spatio-temporal dimensions of
power-knowledge relations (Soja 1996:170). In what follows, we discuss
the heterotopic features of Coronado State Monument by focusing on
naming, representation, authenticity, and performance…
NAMING
Naming is not a neutral practice. To give a place a name is to situate
it within a knowable universe and to assert a form of possession. The
knowable universe is itself historically constituted, a palimpsest of the
knowledge of all previous generations. It is also the subject of potential
contestation and negotiation since who has the right to name a place, to
single it out from all other places in the landscape, reveals the historically
specific dynamics of power relations operative in a particular society.
Naming is thus the preeminent act of placemaking and a technology of
domesticating peoples and lands by making familiar what might otherwise
be foreign and threatening. The politics of naming are particularly
evident in the colonial context of land acquisition when the names of the
colonizers are used to appropriate the place-names and, by extension,
the lands of the colonized. (p. 85)
REPRESENTATION
Any investigation of place must also engage with the issue of historical
representation. Since the Enlightenment, the dominant view has been
that statements about the past must correspond to the events to which
they refer and the narrative as a whole must correspond to the general
sequence of events (White 1987:40). It is the content alone that has truth
value. As poststructuralists have shown, this correspondence theory of
representation is incomplete since it fails to acknowledge that there is no
single narrative sufficient to capture the past. Rather, there are always
multiple narratives that come from different political interests and viewpoints
… Moreover, the specific forms of these narratives
also convey important meaning. It is the variety of the relevant narratives
both in content and form that creates place. To represent a place
thus requires a consideration of all prior cultural representations of that
place. (p. 88)
AUTHENTICITY
Authenticity is perhaps the most significant, but elusive and debated,
quality to be associated with cultural works and their interpretation.
In common parlance, the word authentic means having an undisputed
origin, worthy of trust, reliance, or belief. It comes from the Greek
authentes, meaning author, and in its earliest uses its connotations
were original, genuine, or firsthand as opposed to copied, counterfeit,
or imaginary. The concept of authenticity is a cultural construct of the
modern Western world, which, from Rousseau to Trilling, has ultimately
had to do with the definition of our true self, our individual existence.
Authentic objects, buildings, and sites are those origina,J to their creators
or possessors; they are unique to their time and place. As cultural
property, they therefore stand for the people who made and used them.
And in their collection, display, and interpretation, we appropriate their
authenticity into our personal experience. (p. 91)
PERFORMANCE
One of the ways in which places and events become instantiated in
cultural consciousness is when they are publicly performed in historical
dramas and pageants. Such performances have more than simply
entertainment value, in that they have the potential to trigger emotional
responses among participants and audiences. They are the contexts
par excellence where existing power relations are alternatively established,
celebrated, mocked, and subverted. Theater and spectacle are
thus meta discursive commentaries about the contemporary social order,
which selectively highlight certain aspects of the past that are deemed
foundational or original. (p. 94)
HETEROTOPIA CASE STUDY= “Kuaua Pueblo is a particularly informative case study. Hewett initially
planned to restore the village in its entirety to provide an "authentic" visitor
experience for the Coronado Cuarto Celebration in 1940. However,
he quickly scaled back his plan in the face of cost overruns and chose
to rebuild the village as a ruin. In making this decision, he exploited the
popular Romanticist aesthetic associated with ruins. Because his excavations
failed to identify evidence for Spanish contact, he decided to treat
Kuaua as a type-site for the kind of village that the Spaniards encountered
Placemaking on the Northern Rio Grande 197
during their entradas. But in doing this, Hewett deen1phasized Kuaua's
own specific history and its relationships to contemporary descendant
communities. The story of Kuaua is thus a powerful reminder of how
place is constructed through the selective presentation of history to justify
the cultural and political hegemonies of the emerging Anglo culture
of New Mexico.
Kuaua is thus a heterotopia, a place where New Mexico's history
is simultaneously represented, contested, and inverted. It redounds
in ironies. For example, Coronado State Monument stands today as
Coronado's principle legacy memorialized in architecture. However,
there is no archaeological evidence that he ever set foot in the village. 2
The Pueblo village visible today is, in fact, a pseudoruin, an artificial
reconstruction lying on top of an actual Pueblo Indian village. The
reconstruction is now over 60 years old and experiencing substantial
degradation due to the processes of erosion (Figure 4.7). Decisions need
to be made whether to stabilize it or to return it as closely as possible
to its original pre excavated condition. It thus affords a remarkable
opportunity to investigate the meaning of cultural landscapes in all their
complexity as both transmitters and receivers of memory and cultural
identities. As a place of memory, Kuaua endures, serving to connect
the present to various pasts, both "authentic" and contrived. As a
place of cultural and historical significance, it continues to be subject
to interpretations by various stakeholders, expressed through ongoing
interventions.” (Preucel and Matero 2009: 96-97).
Tide: one of 8 divisions of the day
Tikkun olam: (Hebrew: תיקון עולם) "is a Hebrew phrase that means "repairing the world." In Judaism, the concept of tikkun olam originated in the early rabbinic period. The concept was given new meanings in the kabbalah of the medieval period and further connotations in modern Judaism" (Wikipedia: Tikkun Olam)
Topistics: "A holistic mode of inquiry designed to make the identity, character, and experience of a place intelligible" (Walter 1988: 215).
Topoclasm: "Destruction of a place" (Walter 1988: 215).
Topomorphic revolution: "A fundamental change in the mode of dwelling together in a place" (Walter 1988: 215).
Toponomist: "A seeker of placeways, a student of topistics"; from topos + nomos (see each). "A toponomist takes a special interest in the genius loci, or the spirit of the place, and in the power of human energy to shape places" (Walter 1988: 128).
Topophilia
Topos: "Place, a container of experience" (Walter 1988: 72). Aristotle: "The sense of pure position" (Walter 1988: 117). Topos is not as old as chora; topos first appeared in the work of Aeschylus (approx. 470 B.C.). In the classical language, topos "tended to suggest mere location or the objective features of a place, and Aristotle made it into an abstract term signifying pure position" (Walter 1988: 120).
Topotherapy: "The responsive dwelling, close attendance, cultivation, and care of a place" (Walter 1988: 215)
Tor: "Natural, often heavily eroded, rock summit of a hill. Sometimes appplied to a distinctive, solitary hill" (Devereux 2003: 16).
U
Utopia: Term introduced by Thomas More, as double play on words, from Greek: eu topos (good place) and ou topos (no place) (Walter 1988: 24).
V
Vastuvidya: geomantic tradition of Hindu India, based upon Vedic philosophy (Hindu scriptures, five elements, Vastu Purusha Mandala, and more). "The Vastu Purusha is the presiding deity of any site. Usually he is depicted as lying on it with the head in the northeast and legs in the southwest but he keeps changing position throughout the year. ...Vastu shastra prescribes desirable characteristics for sites and buildings based on flow of energy called Vaastu Purusha. ...Energy is primarily considered as emanating from the center of the building. Many people believe that it comes from the North East corner but in fact it comes from the Brahmasthan or center of the building. It originates from subtle earth energy called Vaastu Purusha and subtle cosmic energy (Unified Field) called Vastu Purusha which meet in the center of the building and then spread outward in all directions. these two energies unite and form the five elements which then distribute in the for corner zones" (Wikipedia: "Vastu_shastra").
Ve: Triangular sacred enclosure; the rope and posts surrounding it is the vebond (Pennick 1989: 263).
Vintana: geomantic tradition of Madagascar (Pennick). Vintana means destiny (Wikipedia: "Madagascar").
Vision quest (Devereux 2000: 179)
vortex
Votive landscape
W
wahi kapu: "Wahi is defined as: Place, location, position, site, setting. Kapu is defined as: Taboo, prohibition; special privilege or exemption from ordinary taboo; sacredness; prohibited, forbidden; sacred, holy, consecrated; no trespassing, keep out. So One'ula is a wahi kapu, a sacred forbidden special place since it contains the burial sites of our sacred Kings, Queens... Our ali'i kapu..." (Kaiana).
wahi pana: (Hawaiian) legendary place; place of renown
Wakanda: Something ancient and mysterious at a location, a spirit/power/manifestation/ occurrence; also used to denote a deity/god, Thunder or Creator (also see Manitou) (LF)
Ward (The Ward): The spiritual protection of a settlement at night by supernatural powers (Pennick 1989: 263)
Wayfinding: "Wayfinding encompasses all of the ways in which people and animals orient themselves in physical space and navigate from place to place." "Historically, wayfinding refers to the techniques used by travelers over land and sea to find relatively unmarked and often mislabeled routes. These include but are not limited to dead reckoning, map and compass, astronomical positioning and, more recently, global positioning." (Wikipedia: Wayfinding). Natural navigation is another line of investigation, finding one's way on land or sea by reading the landscape/ocean and sky. -LF.
Whirlpool. Mitchpool (England). Manifestation of the water spirit, a dangerous location (Pennick 1989: 102)
Wih: An unsheltered, outdoors image of a deity (Pennick 1989: 263)
wilderness: "A location of unsettled experience" (Walter 1988: 215)
Will/Will-o-the-Wisp: luminescent manifestation of ond (Pennick 1989: 263)
World navel; omphalos; axis mundi; Yggdrasil; earth navel; middle of the world; sipapu; seventh direction (here) (Devereux 2000: 180-181) see devereux of mappae mundi, maps of the world that correspond to one’s worldview.
Wyrd: Urdr; Fat. Old English spelling of one of the three Fate sisters. (Devereux 2000:183).
Y
Yarthkin: malevolent earth spirit (vs. hytersprite, benevolent earth spirit) (Pennick 1989: 263)
Yattara: geomantic tradition of Burma (according to Pennick). The Yattara bell is in one of the enclosures on Sirigutta Hill, one of which includes a statue of the Buddha. On the bell are inscribed spells and astrological tables with instructions on how, when, and in what circumstances it should be struck as an occult offensive that would disrupt the invaders' astrological charts (Manrique 1995: 132-134).
Yew (Devereux 2000: 184-185)
Yggsdrasil (Devereux 2000: 185-186).
Yries: Spirit-paths or pagan-trackways marked by rags, shoes, or other offerings (Pennick 1989: 263)
Z
Zones of Strangeness: Locations with a high incidence of reported paranormal phenomena; paranormal hotspots
SOURCES
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Graves, Tom. Needles of Stone.
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Kingston, Karen. 1997. Creating Sacred Space with Feng Shui. Broadway Books.
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