Sacred Forests of Asia
Sacred Forests of Asia

Author: Chris Coggins

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2022-05-30

Total Pages: 349

ISBN-13: 1000577805

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Presenting a thorough examination of the sacred forests of Asia, this volume engages with dynamic new scholarly dialogues on the nature of sacred space, place, landscape, and ecology in the context of the sharply contested ideas of the Anthropocene. Given the vast geographic range of sacred groves in Asia, this volume discusses the diversity of associated cosmologies, ecologies, traditional local resource management practices, and environmental governance systems developed during the pre-colonial, colonial, and post-colonial periods. Adopting theoretical perspectives from political ecology, the book views ecology and polity as constitutive elements interacting within local, regional, and global networks. Readers will find the very first systematic comparative analysis of sacred forests that include the karchall mabhuy of the Katu people of Central Vietnam, the leuweng kolot of the Baduy people of West Java, the fengshui forests of southern China, the groves to the goddess Sarna Mata worshiped by the Oraon people of Jharkhand India, the mauelsoop and bibosoop of Korea, and many more. Comprising in-depth, field-based case studies, each chapter shows how the forest’s sacrality must not be conceptually delinked from its roles in common property regimes, resource security, spiritual matters of ultimate concern, and cultural identity. This volume will be of great interest to students and scholars of indigenous studies, environmental anthropology, political ecology, geography, religion and heritage, nature conservation, environmental protection, and Asian studies.

The Sacred Forest
The Sacred Forest

Author: Henry Kam Kah

Publisher: LIT Verlag Münster

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 370

ISBN-13: 3643906110

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The sacred forest is a concrete place with a rich symbolic meaning. For the Laimbwe ethnic group of the North West Region of Cameroon, it is the centre of the social life, around which the people organize their matrilineal system. Henry Kam Kah describes the origin, development and the changes in matriliny as a gender construction from an insider point of view. Using written material and interviews with 150 persons, he shows how the system overcame all the various challenges since the 18th century, especially the rejection of matriliny by the colonial powers and Christian missionaries. With this study, Henry Kam Kah calls into question different prejudices of a Eurocentric gender research which believes in the dominance of patriarchal structures and the decline of other gender systems under the impact of global influence and pressure. Henry Kam Kah is Senior Lecturer at the Department of History of the University of Buea (Cameroon).

Feng Shui for the Soul
Feng Shui for the Soul

Author: Denise Linn

Publisher: Hay House, Inc

Published: 2000-08-01

Total Pages: 406

ISBN-13: 1401930328

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Bestselling author of Sacred Space and feng shui expert Denise Linn demonstrates how to create environments of harmony, spiritual balance, and beauty at home—and in all areas of life. Part One explains how to develop your intuition to understand the deeper meaning of your home. This includes tips on dowsing, finding the hidden message of your surroundings, and how to deal with clutter. In Part Two, the author presents little-known information on how to activate the dynamic forces of nature within your home in order to revitalize your physical and spiritual health. In Part Three, you gain an understanding of the ancient tradition of the Native American Medicine Wheel and teachings on the four cardinal directions, allowing you to bring energy and spirituality into your home—and your life. Going much further than conventional works on feng shui, this unusual and practical book is a comprehensive look at both centuries-old techniques and the latest research. It shows how to create a domestic and professional environment where your spirit is nurtured so that you can be “at home” wherever you are—and at home with the universe.

The Phantom Forest
The Phantom Forest

Author: Liz Kerin

Publisher: Inkshares

Published: 2019-07-16

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13: 1947848488

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“Right from the very first page you’re drawn into the dark atmosphere of the world. There’s an expectant menace in every situation. . . Surprisingly, this is the author’s first novel and on this evidence I’d say dark fiction has a new rising star.” —British Fantasy society Every tree in the sacred Forest of Laida houses a soul. And each of those souls will return to the mortal world for many future lives. But not all of them deserve to. Seycia’s father told her this story as a child—a story of the most holy place in the Underworld, the Forest of Laida, where all souls go to rest before embarking on a new life. But Seycia’s father is dead now, and his killer has put a target on her back. After she is chosen for her village’s human sacrifice ritual, Seycia is transported to the Underworld and must join forces with Haben, the demon to whom she was sacrificed. Together, they journey to the forest in the Underworld where all souls grow in a quest to destroy the tree of the man who killed her.

Unafraid of the Sacred Forest
Unafraid of the Sacred Forest

Author: Ronaldo Lidorio

Publisher: Biography

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781845502355

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Ghana is considered one of the success stories of West Africa. Its government is relatively stable and the widespread use of English, as part of its colonial heritage, gives it easier access to the world at large. If Ronaldo and Rossana Lidorio were expecting a lightly Westernised African state when they went to the north of Ghana as missionaries such preconceptions were soon dispelled. They came up against formidable cultural and language barriers, illiteracy and human sacrifice. Where would you start if you entered a society where there are only 6 days to the week and no such thing as a year (and consequently no birthdays)? Where polygamy is a virtue and sisters are regularly swapped? Where the most powerful person in the village is not the tribal chief but the Witch Doctors, who have practiced their art for thousands of years? One of the themes, as you read this exciting story of modern missionary endeavour, is the counter-cultural one of ?sacrifice'. Ronald and Rossana worked on the foundations of others who prepared the way and alongside similarly committed people. 17 churches have now been planted in this previously un-reached area and 81 church leaders trained. The Konkomba tribes are now sending their own evangelists into other areas to bring the Good News of Christ to more people.

Sacred Groves and Local Gods
Sacred Groves and Local Gods

Author: Eliza F. Kent

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2013-03-26

Total Pages: 251

ISBN-13: 0199895473

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In recent years, India's "sacred groves," small forests or stands of trees set aside for a deity's exclusive use, have attracted the attention of NGOs, botanists, specialists in traditional medicine, and anthropologists. Environmentalists disillusioned by the failures of massive state-sponsored solutions to ecological problems have hailed them as an exemplary form of traditional community resource management. For in spite of pressures to utilize their trees for fodder, housing, and firewood, the religious taboos surrounding sacred groves have led to the conservation of pockets of abundant flora in areas otherwise denuded by deforestation. Drawing on fieldwork conducted in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu over seven years, Eliza F. Kent offers a compelling examination of the religious and social context in which sacred groves take on meaning for the villagers who maintain them, and shows how they have become objects of fascination and hope for Indian environmentalists. Sacred Groves and Local Gods traces a journey through Tamil Nadu, exploring how the localized meanings attached to forested shrines are changing under the impact of globalization and economic liberalization. Confounding simplistic representations of sacred groves as sites of a primitive form of nature worship, the book shows how local practices and beliefs regarding sacred groves are at once more imaginative, dynamic, and pragmatic than previously thought. Kent argues that rather than being ancient in origin, as has been asserted by other scholars, the religious beliefs, practices, and iconography found in sacred groves suggest origins in the politically de-centered eighteenth century, when the Tamil country was effectively ruled by local chieftains. She analyzes two projects undertaken by environmentalists that seek to harness the traditions surrounding sacred groves in the service of forest restoration and environmental education.

Shinto, Nature and Ideology in Contemporary Japan
Shinto, Nature and Ideology in Contemporary Japan

Author: Aike P. Rots

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2017-09-07

Total Pages: 276

ISBN-13: 1474289959

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Shinto, Nature and Ideology in Contemporary Japan is the first systematic study of Shinto's environmental turn. The book traces the development in recent decades of the idea of Shinto as an 'ancient nature religion,' and a resource for overcoming environmental problems. The volume shows how these ideas gradually achieved popularity among scientists, priests, Shinto-related new religious movements and, eventually, the conservative shrine establishment. Aike P. Rots argues that central to this development is the notion of chinju no mori: the sacred groves surrounding many Shinto shrines. Although initially used to refer to remaining areas of primary or secondary forest, today the term has come to be extended to any sort of shrine land, signifying not only historical and ecological continuity but also abstract values such as community spirit, patriotism and traditional culture. The book shows how Shinto's environmental turn has also provided legitimacy internationally: influenced by the global discourse on religion and ecology, in recent years the Shinto establishment has actively engaged with international organizations devoted to the conservation of sacred sites. Shinto sacred forests thus carry significance locally as well as nationally and internationally, and figure prominently in attempts to reposition Shinto in the centre of public space.