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Elemental and Directional Correspondences With Oriental Gods,

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    Elemental and Directional Correspondences With Oriental Gods,

    SuzakuSeiryuuGenbuByakko http://www.onmarkproductions.com/htm...l#.UW871bWG18E
    I'd rather be a could-be if I cannot be an are;
    because a could-be is a maybe who is reaching for a star.
    I'd rather be a has-been than a might-have-been, by far;
    for a might have-been has never been,
    but a has was once an are.

    -Milton Berle-

    #2
    Re: Elemental and Directional Correspondences With Oriental Gods,

    Huang Long is sometimes associated with the Si Xiang and is the yellow dragon of the center and representative of earth element in the eastern elemental organization. Each of the guardian beasts also represents a season (another common trait among directional guardians). The Azure Dragon represents Spring, the Vermilion Bird represents Summer, the White Tiger represents Autumn, and the Black Tortoise represents Winter. The elemental associations for each directions are pretty subjective depending both on the element system and the attributes of the spirits/deities as perceived by the summoner and of course the way the summoner feels. The way in which you associate the Si Xiang with the western element system is pretty interesting and is described in a way that does make sense.

    Directional guardians can be found in cultures around the world. Even christians recognize the archangels (Gabriel, Micheal, Raphael, and Uriel) as representitive of the cardinal points, sometimes even elements and seasons as well. Another group of asian guardians the Si Xiang are similar to the four heavenly kings in that they represent elements, seasons, cardinal directions and are worshipped widely as deities in their own right. They are Tamonten, Jikokuten, Komokuten and Zojoten. Many people like to seal their circles with spirits/deities representing the four cardinal directions and/or elements. There are obvious parallels in directional deities across the world and it's always interesting to see what is similar and what is difference between them.
    Circe

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      #3
      Re: Elemental and Directional Correspondences With Oriental Gods,

      I am very glad to see someone else who has done some good research on this subject! Yes I am aware of the seasonal associations as well, they are, in fact, some other reasons as to why I like my current elemental “translation” from the five to the four.

      Summer – South – Fire is consistent
      Winter – North – Earth is consistent so associating Genbu with Earth rather then Water kept everything else the same.
      Spring – East – Water depends on the tradition and who you ask. As I said before I have no problem with water being in the east primarily because that is where the ocean is for me but also because I associate spring with a lot of rain and generally very wet and muddy.
      Fall – West – Air – again it depends on who you ask if Air should be in the west but here at least it is always very windy in the fall so I have always tied air with that season so it made the association simple for me.

      I have studied the Chinese names/versions a little and have looked into the Four Heavenly Kings a bit but I feel more strongly connected with the Japanese names/versions of the guardian beasts. I even tried at the beginning of my studies (9ish years ago) to use the Five element system in western Paganism rather then the four because that was the system I was most familiar with from my martial arts and pressure point training, but there just wasn’t enough material that early in my studies to make it viable.

      The reason this came up was because in the chapters I just finished we went over the different associations for the elements and a large portion of that was spent on spirits and representatives such as the archangels and the dwarves from the Norse. But all of his examples where of western traditions and as I’ve said before I’m also trying to study the Japanese traditions/pantheon so I set about looking for associations that would allow me to continue on in the lessons without tweaking them TOO much but still work with those I was called to. (I believe in tweaking knowledge and practices after one learns the teachers way of doing it.)
      I'd rather be a could-be if I cannot be an are;
      because a could-be is a maybe who is reaching for a star.
      I'd rather be a has-been than a might-have-been, by far;
      for a might have-been has never been,
      but a has was once an are.

      -Milton Berle-

      Comment


        #4
        Re: Elemental and Directional Correspondences With Oriental Gods,

        Personally I like the four element system too. Tweaking is usually needed if you're trying to translate a deity or practice into a totally different system
        Circe

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