Tamijhiin Spirituality
History
The earliest records of Tamijhiin spirituality come from the rare carvings that survive from the first Opal City, now over 2000 years old. The limited text of these carvings consolidates the records preserved in Tamijhiin oral traditions.
Although outsider scholars doubt the tales, the histories recited by distal Tamijhiin shamans are surprisingly consistent. The shamans explain this with reference to their spiritual connection with the shamans who came before them but more sceptical scholars suggest that the extent of communication between tribes is greater than it might seem to an outsider at first.
The first spirit recorded as being worshipped by the Tamijhiin was the Opal Queen. The legend states that the Opal Queen made herself incarnate when the World-Spirit became the universe in order to be closer to the World-Spirit. The Opal Queen was a spirit from the Nexus but existed in the flesh in the Opal City according to the legend. The Opal Queen either created the Tamijhiin in her image or raised them from a bestial state to full sentience depending on the storyteller.
After some time when the Tamijhiin lived in a vast realm with the Opal City as its capital, some catastrophe forced the Tamijhiin to leave the Opal City and the Opal Queen returned to the Nexus. Most of the nomadic Tamijhiin continue to worship local guardian spirits wherever they go, although there is no confirmed record of any incarnate spirit in any confirmed record since the Opal Queen (and even her existence is disputed by non-Tamijhiin scholars).
Cosmological Views
The shamans set out the cosmos as follow:
- There is an infinite void.
- There is a Shimmering Citadel, which houses the King of Heaven and the lesser gods who are served by angels. The Citadel is an extension of the perfection of the creator and is built from the glimpsing primordial order. The Citadel is considered distant and unreachable by shamans because it lies beyond the Nexus.
- There is a vast arcane wilderness characterised, the source of all magic, between the glistening bastion and the material world. This realm is called the Nexus and is populated by charismatic spirits. The Nexus is characterised by interplay between order and chaos. Chief amongst the spirits is the Master of the Arcane who goes by many other names.
- The material world which is enveloped within the Nexus is sometimes called the Universe. The material world emerged from the World-Spirit built from order and chaos within the void, which lends it its impermanence.
- Some versions of the oral cosmology feature a parallel dark universe called the Abyss which is like the material world but is not enveloped by the Nexus and so is detached from the rest of the cosmos. These version posit that the Creator built the Abyss as a prison for gods who tried to overthrow the King of Heaven. The Citadel is not very important to the day-to-day practice of Tamijhiin spirituality so it is fairly clear why these stories are sometimes emitted.
Type
Religious, Other
Alternative Names
Saajhemwa, Sahimua
Demonym
Tamijhiin spiritualist, saajhemiin, sahimui
Deities
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