民俗ネオ神道 – minzoku NEO-shintô – Compatibility of minzoku NEO-shintô Sources

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	Table of Contents shintô and minzoku NEO-shintôCompatibility

Compatibility of minzoku NEO-shintô Sources – 03 / 03 / 2013

On the issue of minzoku NEO-shintô, just how compatible are contempory Paganism, Heathenry, and shintô? What follows is a comparison of the values within the "Parametric Analysis* for identity as a contempory Pagan" with the values for identity as a contemporary Heathen and identity as a shintôist.

* Note: "The Parametric Analysis depends on the competence and judgment of the user; thus, it is important to remember a PA is normative rather than definitive: it looks for what a competent user of the concept at hand would normally say about an instance of the concept (what distinctions a user with good judgment would usually make about the distinctions being made)." ¹

Contact with Participating Spirits – "Intellectual or spiritual power in hetero-human phenomena (including objects and places)."

Identity	Values for Contact with Participating Spirits
Pagan	Yes – Mandatory (Gods, Goddesses, Spirits of Place, Elementals, the Dead)
Heathen	Yes – Mandatory (Aesir, Vanir, Alfar, Jotnar, Dvergar, Land Wights, Trolls, the Dead)
shintô	Yes – Mandatory (butsu, bosatsu, kami, yôkai, sorei, the Dead)

State of Participating Spirits – "State of Participating Spirits with regard to time and space." Possible values are Immanent, Dwelling, Transcendent.

Identity	Values for State of Participating Spirits
Pagan	Immanent – "Indwelling, inherent; actually present or abiding in; remaining within" with specific reference to Participating Spirits
Heathen	Dwelling – "Appear within a particular space and remain for a limited time."
shintô	Dwelling – "Appear within a particular space and remain for a limited time."

Status of Participating Spirits – "How Participating Spirits are to be treated." Possible values include Designated, Dynamic, and Pantheistic.

Identity	Values for Status of Participating Spirits
Pagan	Pantheistic – "Tolerant of all participating spirits"
Heathen	Dynamic – "A group is designated, but new Participating Spirits can be accredited and enter the group"
shintô	Pantheistic – "Tolerant of all participating spirits"

Identity	Values for Register of Experience
Pagan	Nature – Mandatory (Environmental, Acknowledgement of Dependence) Self – Mandatory (Personal Experiences) Others – Optional (Art, Tradition, Elders, Outsiders)
Heathen	Stories and Myth – Mandatory (Folklore, Culture) The Social Group – Mandatory (Kindred, Family) Nature – Mandatory (Environmental, Acknowledgement of Dependence) Academia – Optional (History, Archeology, Linguistics)
shintô	dai shizen – Mandatory The Social Group – Mandatory (Village, Family, School, Employer)

Practices – "The practices through which the group expresses it's identity."

Identity	Values for Practices
Pagan	Yes – Worship, Participation (i.e., Offering), Magic, Divination, Prayer, Meditation No – Non-practice (proper practice is undiscovered) or Primal Life (life is not separate from practice)
Heathen	Mandatory – Participation (i.e., Gifting & Offering), Cultural, Study Optional – Worship, Magic, Divination, Prayer
shintô	Worship, Participation (i.e., Offering), Magic, Divination, Prayer, Meditation, Cultural

Psychic Phenomena – "The general acceptance of, and explanation for Psychic Phenomena. (ESP)"

Identity	Values for Psychic Phenomena
Pagan	Accepted – No comment Participating Spirit helper Gift from Participating Spirit Natural capacity
Heathen	Accepted – No comment Participating Spirit helper Gift from Participating Spirit Natural capacity
shintô	Accepted – Possession by Participating Spirit Gift from Participating Spirit Natural capacity

After examining the values for each of the parameters, a case can be made – from the viewpoint of the practitioners of these three groups – that while distinct these groups are much more similar than dissimilar. In fact, none of the values of any group in any particular parameter are mutually exclusive with those of the other two groups.

Adapted from Stone (2007) and Stone (2008)
¹ Stone, C. J. (2007). Contemporary Paganism: A Parametric Analysis. Unpublished manuscript.
Stone, C. J. (2008). Religion: A Parametric Analysis. Unpublished manuscript.