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| the collective body of ideas that members of a culture generally share concerning the ultimate shape and substance of their reality. |
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| an organized system of ideas about the spiritual sphere or the supernatural, along with associated ceremonial practices by which people try to interpret and/or influence aspects of the universe otherwise beyond their control. |
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| concern with the sacred, as distinguished from material matters. In contrast to religion, spirituality is often individual rather than collective and does not require a distinctive format or traditional organization. |
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a sacred narrative that explains the fundamentals of human existence – where we and everything in our world came from, why we are here, and where we are going.
describes a worldview |
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| the belief in only one supremely powerful divinity as creator and master of the universe. |
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| the belief in multiple gods and/or goddesses, as contrasted with monotheism. |
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| support the concept that human beings consist of intertwined components- body/matter (physical) and mind/soul (spiritual). these nonphysical bings are seen as retaining an active interest and membership in society- freed form the body at death, the spirit continues to participate in human affairs. especially found among people having unilineal descent systems with their associated ancestor orientation. |
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| all the gods and goddesses of a people. |
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| the belief that nature is enlivened or energized by distinct personalized spirit beings separable from bodies. |
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| the belief that nature is enlivened or energized by an impersonal spiritual force or supernatural energy, which may make itself manifest in any special place, thing, or living creature. |
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| a full-time religious specialist formally recognized for his or her role in guiding the religious practices of others and for contacting and influencing supernatural powers. |
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a principle of leadership in which divine authority is passed down from a spiritual founding figure, such as a prophet or saint, to a chain of successors. religious orgainzations are maintained by rules that sefine ideological boundaries, establish membership criteria, and regulate continuity of legitimate leadership in the faith community. -- there are four major forms of spiritual lineage: biological descent, training and appointment by religious leaders, election, and recognition of a reincarnated saint.
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| a person who at will enters an altered state of consciousness to contact and utilize an ordinarily hidden reality in order to acquire knowledge, power, and to help others. |
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| a culturally prescribed symbolic act or procedure designed to guide members of a community in an orderly way through personal and collective transitions. |
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| culturally prescribed avoidances involving ritual prohibitions, which, if not observed, lead to supernatural punishment. |
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| a symbolic act carried out by an individual or a group to establish or restore purity when someone has violated a taboo or is otherwise unclean. the four elements are used in a wide range of rituals- the human bod and mind may also be subjected to rituals of internal purification by means of prayer, meditation, chanting, fasting, or dancing. |
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| a ritual that marks and important ceremonial moment when members of a society move from one distinctive social stage in life to another, such as birth, marriage, and death. It features three phases: separation (pre-liminary), transition (liminary), and incorporation (post-liminary). |
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| a ritual that takes place during a crisis in the life of the group and serves to bind individuals together |
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| specific formulas and actions used to compel supernatural powers to act in certain ways for good or evil purposes. |
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| magic based on the principle that like produces like; sometimes called sympathetic magic |
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| magic based on the principle that things or persons once in contact can influence each other after the contact is broken. |
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| a magical procedure or spiritual ritual designed to discern what is not knowable by ordinary means, such as foretelling the future by interpreting omens. |
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| magical rituals intended to cause misfortune or inflict harm. |
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| a devotion in motion. Traveling, often on foot, to a sacred or holy site to reach for enlightenment, prove devotion, and/or experience a miracle. |
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| ideologically inspired violation of a sacred site intended to inflict harm, if only symbolically, on people judged to have impure, false, or even evil beliefs and ritual practices. |
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| social movements for radical cultural reform in response to widespread social disruption and collective feelings of great stress and despair. |
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| the creative blending of indigenous and foreign beliefs and practices into new cultural forms. |
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| a process of cultural change in which a population tends toward a nonreligious worldview, ignoring or rejecting institutionalized spiritual beliefs and rituals. |
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