Organizations: Order of Herpa the Mace
Created On Saturday, 14 April 2018 20:16 By David Tannen
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BackgroundTheologyHerpa the Mace is the most mystical of Agrikan orders. Its priests believe that in every living being— and indeed in everything that exists— there is a tiny spark of the divine essence of Manrasusha, the First God of primal fire. Agrik, orderial theology suggests, seeks to 'ignite' these sparks, turning them into flaming pyres that will burn away all else and leaving the pure, uncorrupted Eternal Flame of Manrasusha himself— at first in the individual soul, then in Nyonia as a whole. Followers of Herpa the Mace engage in a number of consciousness-altering practices. Some of these practices, like meditation, are designed to help the follower focus upon the fiery spark in his soul to the exclusion of all else. Others, like ecstatic dancing and the ingestion of hallucinatory drugs, are intended to place devotees in a state whereby Agrik can enter into them and set those sparks alight. Still other activities, like fire-walking, handling hot-coals, and the deliberate self-infliction of pain are designed to be purgative— to help 'burn away' all in the soul that is not part of that fiery spark. As a general rule, only the most basic forms of mystical practice are taught to laity and the priests reserve much for their own. In the course of their mystical activities, priests of Herpa the Mace sometimes experience an 'inspired' or 'enthusiastic' state, where the deity himself seems to have entered into them or even to have possessed them entirely. This is often accompanied by speaking in tongues, the utterance of prophecy, the granting of visions, or the performance of unusual (often violent or self-destructive) acts. Some priests seem to be more prone to such experiences than others. |