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Spiritual Spotlight Series with Rachel Garrett, RN, CCH

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 16, 2026 47:53

This episode we are taking a quick break from our overall story of Uno no Sarara (aka Jito Tenno) and we are focusing on Ise Shrine and Amaterasu, the Sun Goddess. There is a lot, for a bit more, check out our podcast blogpost at: https://sengokudaimyo.com/podcast/episode-153 Rough Transcript Welcome to Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan. My name is Joshua, and this is Episode 153: Ise and the Sun Goddess. In the newly built hall of the Fujiwara Palace, the nobles of the court were gathered for a grand banquet. Snow-white walls were off-set by bright crimson pillars and trim, highlighted by bright green windows. The nobles themselves were a rainbow of colors, arranged as they were by rank. At the head of it all, on a dais, sat the Queen herself, Uno no Sarara. However, the attention was no longer on her. Instead, it was on another figure, standing in front of the assembled audience. A quiet spread throughout the hall, the court listening as Hieda no Are began to tell the story of the Sun Goddess in the Plain of High Heaven. They listened to the story of her and Susano'o, and of the backward flayed horse. They heard the tale of the Heavenly Rock Cave, and of all that came after, including the sending of the August Grandchild, Ninigi. They listened to the story—the story of Yamato. Last episode, we talked in more detail about Uno No Sarara—starting from her early years as the daughter of Naka no Ohoe, granddaughter of Soga no Kurayamada, and child-bride to her uncle, Ohoama. I'll admit we didn't look too hard at that last bit, and I don't have enough information to confirm what exactly "marriage" entailed in that context, but it is still something that I find tremendously creepy and, unfortunately, anything but unique. So I'm not going to dive too much further into it right now but… ew. We talked about how she gave birth to her son, Kusakabe, in Kyushu, during the war on the continent, and how she eventually left for Yoshino with her husband when he retired from court, presumably to outsmart his court rivals, who were positioning him to be taken out. She also is said to have played a part in the planning and execution of the resulting Jinshin no Ran, later helping her husband govern the realm. And now, she was on the throne, overseeing the completion of many of the projects started in the reign of her husband. This included the completion of the Kiyomihara code, the Fujiwara palace, and the support given to the institution of Ise Grand Shrine. This episode, I want to dive into that last topic: the emphasis in Uno no Sarara's reign on Ise Shrine and its focus, the Great God, Amaterasu no Ohokami. Although the Chronicles talk about Amaterasu as one of the founding deities of the Yamato royal line, there is plenty of evidence that this story was grafted into the tales at a later date, and that worship of Amaterasu, at least as anything more than a minor deity, likely also started relatively late. Some have even suggested that Ise Shrine itself wasn't even built until the late 7th century. So, all of this focus on Ise and Amaterasu appears to be part of the larger effort to structure the physical, cultural, and spiritual landscape of the new Yamato state. Last episode we mentioned how, according to the Nihon Shoki, Ohoama turned to worship towards Ise. Well, specifically, he worshipped Amaterasu Ohokami. So let's take a moment and talk about what we know of the history of this Great God of Heavenly Brightness. Unfortunately, most of that history is based on what we know of the kami from works like the Nihon Shoki, the Kojiki, and the Sendai Kuji Hongi, all of which came out in the 8th century or so. As such, it can be hard to know what things were actually like, earlier on, as opposed to what was added or removed later. Much of what I'm going to be talking about, today, I'm going to be pulling from a book written in 2017 by Mark Teeuvwen [Tayvin?] and John Breen titled "A Social History of the Ise Shrines", as well as Michael Como's work "Weaving and Binding: Immigrant Gods and Female Immortals in Ancient Japan", published in 2009, along with other sources. In their book, Breen and Teeuwen point out that for those who do not take the events of the Nihon Shoki and Kojiki at face value, there are two primary theories for the origin of the worship of Amaterasu: an early theory and a late theory. The early theory places the development of the worship of Amaterasu in the 5th and 6th centuries, during the reigns of such figures as Wakatakeru no Ohokimi, aka Yuuryaku Tennou. The Late Theory places the development in the 7th century, largely at the feet of such figures as Ohoama and Uno no Sarara herself. We'll take a look at the evidence and see what it says. I would note that compared to the official history, both of these would be very late theories. According to Ise Grand Shrine even today, Amaterasu arrived in Ise in the 26th year of Ikume Iribiko, aka Suinin Tennou, as stated in the Nihon Shoki, which corresponds to 4 BCE if you take the dating of the Nihon Shoki to be accurate. Of course, we've already spent plenty of time talking about the problems with the Nihon Shoki prior to the 6th century CE, as well as how the political nature of the text affected what it contained. So to kick things off, let's address the biggest question of all: why don't we believe that Amaterasu no Ohokami was always the primary deity of the pantheon of Yamato, at the very least, if not all of the Wa people of the archipelago? After all, isn't she a sun goddess, and isn't sun worship fairly well documented among the ancient Japanese? Just take a look at words like "Hiko" and "Hime", referring to rulers as sun man and sun woman. Also note that early on, worship seems to have centered around places such as mountaintops, which focused worship towards the sky and the highest point. In fact, as wet rice paddy agriculture became the dominant economic factor driving the engine of the archipelago in the Yayoi and early kofun period, early shrines were very likely about bringing the spirit of the mountain from the mountaintop and giving them a home amongst the rice fields.. And then we have the stories. Don't the ancient stories all tell about Amaterasu as the ruler of Takama no Hara, the Heavenly Plain? And isn't it her grandchild that then descends to the earth to pacify the Land of the Reed Plains—aka the Japanese archipelago? Well let's take a look at those same stories, which we've covered in earlier episodes of the podcast. The first deities mentioned in the Chronicles are deities like Ama no Minaka Nushi, Lord of the August Middle of Heaven; Takami Musubi, High August Growth; and Kami Musubi, Divine August Growth. There are other deities, like Kuni Toko Tachi, but they are barely mentioned again. Later we get Izanagi and Izanami, the masculine and feminine, who create the world and give birth to numerous deities from that point on. Among the children of Izanagi are said to be Amaterasu, Tsukiyomi, and Susano'o. Amaterasu, Heaven's Brightness, represents the sun while Tsukiyomi represents the dark of the moon. Susano'o is then the god of the storms and seas, and was sent to the Nether Land, the Ne no Kuni. Right away we see that there are numerous different stories listed in the Nihon Shoki for just about everything. Only the Kojiki gives everything as a single, coherent narrative, but surely the readers in the 8th century would have known some of these other stories, and thus the Nihon Shoki gives the alternates as well. Now the main narrative of the Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki tells us that Ama-terasu no Oho-kami was born to rule over everything. In the Nihon Shoki, Izanagi and Izanami specifically mention that divine destiny in Amaterasu's creation—although actually, in that part of the text, the deity they are creating is named Oho-hiru-me no Muchi; the Great Sun Female Holder. And in the next entry they call Amaterasu: Ama-terasu Oho-hiru-me. Tsukiyomi, the deity of the moon, is made to be her consort, and they are supposedly sent to rule the plain of Heaven, Takama no Hara. The problem is that there are other entries that suggest that Takama no Hara already had a ruler: Taka-mi-Musubi. Reading the sections on Taka-mi-Musubi, we see a deity who is said to have produced 1500 children, himself—no mention of Izanagi and Izanami. Some of his children are mentioned as Omohi-kane: the Thought-Combining deity, and Sukuna-bikona: the Little-Prince-Named deity. Amatsu Hiko Hiko Ho Ninigi no Mikoto, the August Heavenly Prince, Prince Ho-ninigi, is not just a grandson of Amaterasu no Ohokami, but also a grandchild of Taka-mi Musubi. In at least one story, Takami Musubi is the one who wants Ninigi no Mikoto to become the ruler of the Central Land of the Reed Plains. Towards that end, he gathers the various kami and chooses someone to go down and prepare the way—Ama-ho-hi no Mikoto—who was to quote-unquote "expel and subdue" the evil gods of that land. We covered this story in episode 21 and 22. When that doesn't work, he gathers them again, sending others to try and do the same. Eventually he sends Takemikazuchi and Futsunushi down. All of this sounds like Taka-mi Musubi, whose name appears to refer to being the "high" deity, was the one in charge. In addition, we have the court ritual from sources like the Engi Shiki, which illustrates the deities that were invoked for the protection of the palace and the royal family. These were: Kami-musubi, Takami-musubi, Iku-musubi, Taru-musubi, Tamatsume-musubi, Oomiya-no-me, Oomiketsu-no-kami and Kotoshironushi. One might notice a lot of the "musubi" names among the deities, and a distinct lack of appeal to Amaterasu. If Amaterasu were the central deity and ancestral deity of the royal family, why is she not invoked in the rituals of the court itself? The thought, here, is that these rituals are likely much older than the worship of Amaterasu, and while Amaterasu would come to prominence in the stories that the court would tell, it was much more difficult for them to rearrange the traditional rituals to put her front and center. Those rituals were maintained by ritualist families like the Nakatomi, and they weren't likely to change the rituals willy-nilly, even for a sovereign. That was playing with supernatural fire, after all—if you changed the rituals, would they still even be effective? Granted, rituals do change, so it isn't a perfect argument; perhaps it was just not considered to be important enough to make the change since it was not something that anyone except the court ritualists needed to worry themselves over. Either way, it appears that we do have a list of deities that may have been the deities of the ruling elite prior to the rise of Amaterasu and Ise shrine more generally. We have a few other clues of what was going on in the narrative. For instance, we see the story from the reign of Mimaki Iribiko, aka Sujin Tennou, also called the First Sovereign of Yamato, despite the legendary figures inserted prior to his reign. It is in this chapter that we see a note that Ama-terasu no Oho-kami and Yamato no Oho-kuni-dama, which is to say the Spirit of the Country of Yamato, were both worshipped together in the hall—that is in the royal palace itself. And yet apparently Mimaki Iribiko feared these deities residing with him in the palace, and he had their worship moved to locations outside of the palace. Amaterasu's worship was given to Toyosuki-iri-bime, one of Mimaki Iribiko's daughters, and established in the district of Shiki, in Yamato. Yamato no Ohokunidama, on the other hand, was given over to Nunaki-iri-bime no Mikoto, another daughter through a different wife. but we are told that she was lean, and her hair was falling out, and so she couldn't perform the rites. Turning our attention back to Ama-terasu—in the reign of Ikume-Iribiko, aka Suinin Tennou, son and heir of Mimaki Iribiko, the worship of Ama-terasu would pass from Mimaki Iribiko's daughter, Nunaki Iri Bime to Ikume Iribiko's daughter, Yamato Hime. She would move the worship site from Shiki to Uda, in the shadow of Mt. Miwa, and then proceed over to the upper banks, or Kawakami, of Isuzu, in the district of Watarai. Here, in one of the alternate stories about this episode, we get the Great God of Yamato—Ohoyamato no Ohokami—speaking through a medium to warn the sovereign that he had better be careful. Mimaki Iribiko had not been quite thorough enough in his worship, so he had not had a long life, and if Ikume Iribiko didn't do the same, he would suffer a similar fate. And so, in a record eerily similar to what we see in the previous reign, the worship of the "Great God of Yamato", the Oho-Yamato no Oho-kami, is given to Nunaki-waka-hime—as opposed to Nunaki-Iri-bime—who also fails in the task because of her emaciated body. This also introduces Fukayu nushi, an ancestor of the Nakatomi, who was the one who divined what should be done. There is so much to unpack in these stories. For one, the kami bring power, but also danger. One can try to placate the kami, but it isn't like a ritual will always work, and the story is of the sovereign being actively afraid of what they might do, so they were removed from the palace. Then there is the fact that we see two seemingly similar names—Ohoyamato no Ohokami and Yamato no Kunidama both seem like we are talking about the same spirit of Yamato, though some would point out that one is the spirit of the country and one is the great kami of the country, so, clearly different. Both are also being given to someone named "Nunaki—something-something—Hime", and in both cases Nunaki seems to fail in her task because she is apparently not hot enough for the kami. She's described as too thin and emaciated or balding. We aren't given the lineage of Nunaki Waka Hime, but Nunaki Iri Bime is connected with the land of Owari. Nunaki Iri-bime is said to be the daughter of Mimaki Iribiko and Ohoama Hime, ancestor of the Owari no Muraji. Owari was the land that supported Ohoama during the Jinshin no Ran. Finally, in both cases, we see the worship of the spirit of Yamato being given over to someone name "Nagochi", later identified as Nagochi no Sukune, ancestor of the Yamato no Atahe. One more note—closely on the heels of moving these two kami out of the palace, we see that the court brings in the worship of Oho-mono-nushi, the god of Mt. Miwa, under Ohotataneko, the ancestor of the Miwa clan. So the stories here account for Ama-terasu being moved to Watarai and why she isn't worshipped in the palace. It also places Oho-mono-nushi at the center of worship in Yamato. Oho-mono-nushi and Miwa continue to dominate the narrative from here on out, with a few notable exceptions, such as with Okinaga Tarashi Hime, aka Jingu Tennou and her mythical conquest of the Korean peninsula. I'm sure that had no political implications at all given everything that had happened with Baekje, Silla, and the Tang dynasty in the latter half of the 7th century. Other than scenes like that, however, the Miwa clan and worship of the Miwa deity appear frequently in the narrative. It is clear that Mt. Miwa, and its deity, were important, and when Breen and Teeuwen hypothesize that when Naka no Ohoe, which is to say Tenji Tennou, took the drastic step of moving the capital up to Ohotsu, in the land of Afumi, he also brought the Miwa deity with him. Those Afumi court rituals were conducted under the auspices of the Nakatomi, and particularly the auspices of Nakatomi no Kane, who would become one of the chief opponents of Ohoama during the Jinshin no Ran in 672. After that conflict, Ohoama and his wife, Uno no Sarara, were building new traditions using Ise and constructing new legends. Legends that would be under their control and influence and which would further bolster their rule from the city that they had designed to fit inside of this newly constructed cosmological framework. And yet this also brings up what seems like an obvious question. If Ise Shrine and the worship of Amaterasu were so central to Ohoama and Uno's plans, then why would they put it so far away? Proponents of the "early" theory of the development of Amaterasu and Ise Shrine suggest that the answer lies in the text of the Chronicles. That there is some truth to the idea that there was worship in Yamato and that, for various reasons, it moved out to Watarai district early on and developed into Ise Shrine. Those who hold to the "late" theory of development see all of those stories as later inserts meant to explain away why Ise Shrine was so far away—and perhaps why Amaterasu was not included in the cool-kami club of court ritual. Teeuwen and Breen mention a few of the theories, from Naoki Koujiro stressing Ise as a strategic gateway between Yamato and Eastern Japan to Tanaka Takashi proposing that the movement of Amaterasu to Ise is actually a stand-in for one or more military campaigns to that area to bring it under Yamato control. And before we move too much further in the narrative, let's talk about how Ise is physically and geographically situated. Ise is part of modern Mie prefecture, on the eastern edge of the Ki peninsula. It is at the southern end of a series of adjoining alluvial plains that follow the coastline north to the modern prefectures of Aichi and Gifu—the ancient provinces of Owari and Mino. The capital of Ise Province used to be in Suzuka, near the the two Tsubaki shrines which both lay claim to the title of Ise no Ichinomiya, the First shrine of the land of Ise, and the pass that served as one of three major routes from eastern Japan into the Home Provinces and beyond. This puts Ise about as far away as you can get from the capital of the province without going over the mountains, themselves. It also puts it a good deal south of most major travel routes. If you are going to Ise shrine then it is pretty clear you were going to Ise shrine, as there isn't a lot of evidence for anything else in the area. The Shrine itself is actually made up of two primary shrine complexes. There is the Naiku, the inner shrine, and the Geku, or outer shrine. The Naiku, or inner shrine, is probably the area most people think about. It is at the foot of the mountains where the Shimamichi River joins the Isuzu River and both flow out of the mountains. The Naiku contains the shrine to Amaterasu no Ohokami, and is famous for its layout, where there are actually two shrine enclosures, one next to the other. The main shrine is then rebuilt in the empty enclosure every 20 years, at which point the worship is moved to the new shrine, the old shrine is torn down, and the cycle is started once again. The Outer Shrine, or Geku, is further north, and probably not as well known to foreigners. The Geku is said to enshrine the spirit of Toyouke-bime, a kami dedicated to food. According to the traditions of the Geku itself, Toyouke-bime was enshrined in the Geku at the command of Wakatakiru no Ohokimi, aka Yuuryaku Tennou, based on a dream. Regarding the history of why the Shrines—both Inner and Outer—are located here, archaeological evidence doesn't give us a lot to suggest that these might be the case. Despite the presence of the Miya River near Ise Shrine, we haven't found evidence of a large harbor or port, like we might expect if it was the jumping off point for crossing Ise Bay—or even the center of another large polity. Instead, the areas to the north—around Fujikata and Matokata inlets, for instance—show much more evidence of occupation and, presumably, use. Heck, the modern district of Fujikata is in the town of "Tsu", which literally means "port". And the capital area of Suzuaka and the Ichinomiya of Tsubaki Grand Shrine is even farther north, still. So who, if anybody, was living down in the area of Ise Shrine? If we look at the progression of tomb mounds in the area in previous centuries, we see that they start in the Matokata region in the 5th century and work their way down towards the south, with late 5th century tombs found in the district of Taki, the district bordering on Watarai and modern Ise City to the northwest. It is also where you can find the Saikuu, the site of the old purification palace for the Shrine Princesses. Grave goods seem to show close ties with Yamato, in the Nara basin. While the tombs expanded to the south through the 5th century, they appear to have stopped altogether in the 6th century—or at least we haven't found any. This may indicate that the political situation had changed and there was no group in the area that could organize the labor for such an undertaking. Whether that was because Yamato was taking it as corvee labor or just that population had dwindled due to war, famine, or something else, I don't know that we could say. Around the year 600, at the opening of the 7th century, we do see a large grave mound erected in the core area of what would later become Ise Shrine, on the east side of the Miya River, overlooking what would become the Geku, the Outer Shrine of the Ise complex. For those who aren't aware, Ise Grand Shrine is a large complex of shrines, and it is divided into two main areas. The "inner shrine", or Naiku, is where most people go, and it is the site of the famous shrine building that is supposed to be rebuilt every 20 years. The Geku is the "outer shrine" complex, technically dedicated to Toyouke hime, a kami of agriculture. The kofun overlooking the outer shrine is known as the Takakurayama kofun. This is a round kofun, about 35 to 40 meters in diameter, with a horizontal stone chamber. It is the largest in the Ise region. It has been mentioned in records going back to at least the Kamakura era, and even though most of the grave goods are gone, there is evidence that it was richly appointed. Given its shape and location, there were even those in later centuries who connected it with the Heavenly Rock Cave in which Amaterasu hid according to the ancient stories. The fact that there was nothing around this area and suddenly we see a giant tomb mound is pretty puzzling. Why was it built here? Is it connected to the founding of the Outer Shrine in some way, or is that just coincidental? Teeuwen and Breen point out that it is pretty rare for a large tomb mound to be build in the precincts of an active shrine, which suggests that whatever was happening there, that area was not part of the shrine grounds. That said, I have to wonder if the ritual worship at the kofun might not have later been transformed or coopted into something else. There also is no other indication that the Outer Shrine area was used for ritual purposes any earlier than the kofun would have been built. In contrast, around the Inner Shrine area, several kilometers away, there are caches of beads dated to the 5th, 6th, and 7th centuries in a small valley where a brook runs down from Mt. Asama, not too far from the current shrine complex. Teeuwen and Breen suggest that this may relate to the "upper reaches of the Isuzu River", mentioned in the Chronicles, and that it may have had to do with rituals related to water supply—hence being found at the point where the water was coming down from the mountains. And yet, despite these finds, there really aren't any large scale archaeological remains that have been discovered east of the Miya river, though there are modest signs of dwelling and habitation, and some minor burials mounds. Compare this to Tsubaki shrine, the home of Saruta Hiko no Kami, and the main shrine of Ise, situated in the ancient capital of Ise no Kuni. Downstream from there are numerous tomb mounds and indications of habitation. So this was probably the center for early sun worship in the region. Teeuwen and Breen conclude that all of this indicates that the region of Taki and areas east of the Miya river were probably more of an outpost—no major powerful chieftains or large polity had set up in the region. In the late 6th century, some power had to move in to build Takakurayama kofun, but that was an outlier. Maybe this area just largely fell under Yamato hegemony. And perhaps that was the key. Perhaps initially this wasn't a place to center power and authority, but rather it was more like a prison. It was a place far away from the court, where a deity that was more of a threat could be kept away from the palace and the sovereign. Perhaps Amaterasu, or whoever the kami was at the time, was placed out here because of the threat they posed, much as the Chronicle seems to suggest—just not necessarily at the time that is suggested. One of the aspects of the mythmaking that we see in the Chronicles appears to be the stress on the Amatsu kami and Kunitsu Kami—the Heavenly deities and the Earthly deities. The Heavenly deities are those in Takama no Hara, and they are the progenitors of the royal line. On the other hand are the earthly kami, the Kunitsu Kami, those dwelling on the earthly plane. In the stories that were recorded in the Nihon Shoki, before the August Grandchild of Takami Musubi and Ama Terasu descended to take control of the Central Land of the Reed Plain, they sent down heavenly kami as warriors to subdue the earthly kami. On the one hand, this may have been driven by some kind of deep memory of early conquests of the archipelago by various forces. However, these legends also served another purpose, in that they set up the royal family's right to rule, and appear to establish a de facto hierarchy between those families descended from the Heavenly Kami and those descended from the earthly Kami. Another thing that Teeuwen and Breen point out and that is that Amaterasu is not necessarily a female deity, to start with. In fact, Amaterasu was probably easily overlain atop the worship of Oho-mono-nushi of Mt. Miwa, at least early on. To that point, they note stories where Oho-mono-nushi and other deities were commonly depicted as arrows, snakes, or similarly phallic imagery finding or even penetrating women who were thought to have a connection with them. This suggests a context of these priestesses being married to the kami, and even fits in with early descriptions of individuals like the famous Queen Himiko being a spiritual leader as well as a political one. If the original Amaterasu was conceived of as a male deity, then this could also explain the tradition of the Saigu, the consecrated shrine princess. We only see a few royal princesses designated to the position up to this point in the narrative, and, beyond Tokosuki Iri bime and Yamato hime, we don't necessarily learn much more. One wonders if there weren't other royal princesses likewise sent elsewhere to serve other deities. We know about Nunaki Iri Hime, and presumably Nunaki Waka Hime. There was also Yamato Totohi Momoso Hime, who was married to Oho-mono-nushi. Presumably there were others who just never ended up in the stories that were passed down. The idea of a kami taking a "wife" and connecting that to the idea of women holding these priestly positions seems to fall in line with much of what we see, though, as I said, we only hear occasionally about the appointment of royal princesses to the position until the reign of Ohoama. That's when we see specifics about appointments, the purification palace in Hase, and other arrangements. It makes you wonder more than a little bit if Royal Princess Ohoku was, perhaps, the first royal princess to actually be appointed. It would have been easy enough to add in previous "shrine princesses" into the lineage, especially far enough back that nobody could really fact check it. We also see Royal Princess Taki journey to Ise with her companions, Princess Yamashiro no Hime and Lady Ishikawa. It is intriguing that this practice was temporarily interrupted during the reign of Uno no Sarara, as I mentioned last episode. Could this have something to do with a female ruler on the throne and a corresponding lack of urgency about having a female representative at Ise? And in stories about Amaterasu, she is frequently shown with certain masculine qualities. When she confronts her younger brother, Susano'wo, she is concerned that he might try to take her authority from her, so she meets him decked out in armor, her hair tied up in a typical male fashion, with a bow, ready for a fight. It would be just as easy to imagine that Amaterasu and Susano'wo were brothers, contending over rulership. Add to all of that the idea that kami were often personifications of various natural phenomena or ideas, and Japanese is not a naturally gendered language, and there are those that believe that the stories of Amaterasu were not necessarily about a female deity in the beginning, but a male deity, similar to Ohomono Nushi and others, who then took on a feminine persona. On the other hand there are passages in the old stories recounted in the Chronicles that clearly make Amaterasu out to be a woman. To start with the activities she is associated with, such as weaving, are often associated with women as something they do in the home. This is a tradition carried over from the continent, along with silk and the techniques to weave it. In the lands where silk production started, there are silkworm goddesses and the gendered nature of silk production and weaving appears to have come over to Japan as well. There is also the fact that Amaterasu is said to have another name: Oho-hiru-me no muchi. In this case, it would seem to mean something like Great Noontime Female Possessor. And in the weaving hall it is sometimes Amaterasu that is weaving and sometimes Waka Hirume. "Hirume" certainly feels like a feminine name. There is the distinct possibility that the stories of Amaterasu as recorded were actually about two or more different kami, so Amaterasu and Ohohirume could have been separate deities having to do with the sun that were rolled into a single kami. As mentioned before, it is also possible that Amaterasu ended up with some stolen valor taken from the other Ise deity worshiped at Tsubaki, Saruta-hiko no Kami. Teeuwen and Breen also note that the name "Amaterasu" is hardly unique, noting at least ten other shrines with a kami called "Amateru" or "Amaterasu", mostly in Yamato, but some as far away as Kyushu and Tsushima. Nine of those shrines were dedicated to Ame no Hoakari, an ancestor deity of the Owari lineage who was also closely tied to metalworking. It is worth remembering that it was Owari who helped support Ohoama during the Jinshin no Ran, and who may have even fostered Ohoama for a while when he was just a young prince. All that to say there may have been several different traditions that were all contributing different elements to the story. And then there is the connection between Amaterasu and Uno no Sarara. Herman Ooms, in his book: "Imperial Politics and Sybmolics in Ancient Japan", notes the similarities between Amaterasu and Uno no Sarara, talking about the differences between the Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki, both of which had events that mirrored Uno no Sarara's own life. According to Ooms, "The Kojiki's Amaterasu is a transparent double of the female tennou Jitou". He points out that Uno no Sarara, besides her posthumous title of Jitou Tennou, also had a title making reference to Takamanohara: Takama no Hara Hirono no Hime—the Princess High-Heaven-Plain. But beyond that, we also see other linkages between the stories. For instance, it isn't Amaterasu's son, Ame no Oshihomimi who is given the realm, but rather her grandchild, Ninigi. This parallels the way that Uno no Sarara's son, Kusakabe, didn't ascend to the throne, but instead Uno no Sarara was holding the seat for his son, her grandson. So one sees how Uno no Sarara could be seen as Amaterasu, and her grandson, Prince Karu, could be seen as Ninigi, the August grandchild. Teeuwen and Breen also note that during this same time, we see the rise of a new institution: the Jingikan. Again, we touched on this last episode, so just a quick recap: The Jingikan was a government organization set up specifically to oversee the shrines, rituals, ceremonies, and other such things pertaining to the kami matters. It does not appear in the initial stand-up of the new, bureaucratic government, wherein is created the bureaus, ministries, or departments, depending on your chosen vernacular, which make up the Dajokan, the Great Council of State. Instead, the Jingikan is a separate organization, specifically organized around kami matters. The term "Jingi" is also a shorthand for "Ama-tsu-kami, Kuni-tsu-kami", or the kami of Heaven and the Kami of the earth. "Ama-tsu-kami", meaning Kami of Heaven, was written with two characters meaning "Heaven" and "Kami", pronounced "Tenjin". "Kuni-tsu-kami", or the Kami of the Earth, was written as "Earth" and "Earth Spirit", which was then pronounced "Chigi". By taking the last character of each compound Tenjin-Chigi becomes just Jingi, for short. Throughout the Chronicles, this term, "Jingi" is thrown around when they want to quickly note all the kami, together, though sometimes it is fully written out as "Tenjin Chigi", as well. Interestingly, "Tenjin" or "Ama tsu Kami", sometimes appears alone, especially in the chapters on the Age of the Gods. However, "Chigi" seems to only be used in the whole phrase. There are a few instances, however, of "Chijin" being used, but they are few. That said, the term "Jingikan", also read as "Kami Tsukasa" or even "Kan Zukasa", doesn't appear until 690, in the reign of Uno no Sarara. This probably means that it was part of the reforms encompassed by the Kiyomihara codes. The head of the Jingikan is known as the Jingihaku or "Kan-zukasa no Kami". This term actually shows up well in advance of the Jingikan itself, initially referring to an unnamed official or officials in charge of kami worship at the court. Nakatomi no Kamatari is said to have been offered the position in the first reign of Takara, aka Kougyoku Tennou, though the first confirmed individual appears to be Nakatomi no Ohoshima, during the reign of Uno no Sarara. This appears to be a distinctly Yamato invention in the bureaucratic system. It leverages the language and structure of the Tang dynasty, but in its own way. There was a Tang department of shrines, but it was described differently, as befits a different spiritual environment focused on ancestor worship and Confucian and Taoist ideas. The Jingikan system seems to have been a deliberate re-organization of the indigenous kami worship, incorporating what was probably traditional roles into the new bureaucratic system. In so doing, however, it also gave the court greater control, and given that this was happening at the same time as the establishment of various stories and myths around Ise and the foundation more generally, it appears to be part of a concerted and deliberate effort to construct a new narrative. All of this points to them architecting much of what was going on, from the stories to the landscape. Ohoama likely built the inner shrine as we know it. If it really was an obscure, out-of-the-way shrine, perhaps that also meant that there weren't any other powerful court factions that were enhanced by it. And then, over time, the Ise shrine and the deity there could be better incorporated into the overall myths and stories that surrounded the formation of Yamato. A new Yamato, one that would soon enough be referring to itself as the origin of the Sun: Nippon, a name often attributed to Ohoama and Uno no Sarara, though not found in the record of their reigns in the Chronicles. Another aspect to all of this, however, is what happened immediately after Uno no Sarara's reign, and into the 8th and early 9th centuries. In the 8th century—the Nara period—Buddhism started to merge with a lot of the local practices. This was not uncommon. Buddhism had been born in a land with myriad deities and styles of worship, and it had the means to incorporate local deities into its cosmological worldview. Kami were just other beings, stuck in the cycle of rebirth, who, as sentient beings, could equally benefit from the Buddha's teachings. They became guardians of Buddhist institutions, and the lines between shrines and temples were often blurred. At the same time, kami worship was also taking on various concepts from continental worship, such that even today we find a lot of what we might consider Taoist practices influencing Shinto worship. Had this continued, worship of the kami may have been completely subsumed into the Buddhist ritual practices, but there were areas where kami worship remained distinct. One of these was at Ise. Early on, there was an attempt to build a temple at Ise, but it didn't last long. The temple was eventually moved out of the shrine complex, and then eventually it was removed altogether. Later writings from the Shrine would include certain Buddhist terms among the things that were taboo within the shrine grounds, considering Buddhism as something of a corrupting or polluting influence. Shrine Princeses, during their tenure, had to devote themselves to the kami, and though they might retire as nuns, later in life, during their appointment they were to be free of any Buddhist influences. In many ways this would make Ise a prime example of what would eventually be termed "Shinto", which gave it, and the worship of Amaterasu, a certain pride of place. Of course, it didn't hurt that it was also intertwined with the State and the founding myths of the nation. As such, Ise Shrine and its worship would become a template for many others to follow, helping to shape what we know as "Shinto" today. There are still a lot of questions. We don't exactly know what Uno no Sarara did on her trip to Ise Shrine, and we don't know how things surrounding the worship at Ise and of Amaterasu herself changed in the intervening years between when these events happened and when, about two to three decades later, the Chronicles were finalized and published. Certainly some of this seems tied to the Fujiwara capital, which was no longer populated at that point, the move to Heijo-kyo, in Nara, occurring between 708 and 710, two years before the Kojiki and a decade before the Nihon Shoki would come out. And yet, the three sacred mountains that were incorporated into the plan of the Fujiwara Capital, Mt. Kagu, Mt. Miminashi, and Mt. Unebi, seem to continue to be important. This is especially true of Mt. Kagu, whose heavenly counterpart, Ame no Kaguyama—literally Heavenly Mt. Kagu— continues to play a major role in the stories surrounding Amaterasu and the Heavenly Rock Cave. In addition,Mt. Unebi is closely tied to the story of Iware-biko, aka Jimmu, conquering and settling the land—perhaps to draw attention away from the stories about Mimaki and Ikume iribiko, aka Sujin and Suinin, who were both associated more with Mt. Mimoro, aka Mt. Miwa. So even though the physical presence was moved, by that point we know that foundation of many of these stories were likely laid down around the time that the Fujiwara capital was in operation. What does seem clear is that, just as there were clear efforts to set up the new State government, including the new capital, the court were also taking control of other levers of power and influence. We previously talked about how they had created National Temples and included government positions to oversee Buddhist affairs more generally. With Ise and the creation of the Jingikan, it appears as though that trend continued with the traditional kami worship. Many of the elite families still had connections to their own shrines, with their own kami. Through the stories collected and written down—with a few editorial additions to help place them in an approved context—they were able to construct a narrative from separate or divergent traditions. These traditions had already accreted to themselves various stories and culture-ways, some of them with clear links to the continent and others with overlapping portfolios. The kami, and the ability to intercede with them for their blessings or to avert their wrath, were a form of power that was being structured for the purpose of supporting the new State. A state now under the control of one Uno no Sarara. And we don't exactly have to wonder about this… the preface of the Kojiki all but says it. They put the words in the mouth of Ohoama, or, as they call him, the Sovereign of the Kiyomihara Palace. But the words are pretty clear: "I hear that the Imperial Records and Ancient Writing handed down by the various houses have come to differ from the truth and that many false hoods have been added to them. If these errors are not remedied at this time, their meaning will be lost before many years have passed. This is the framework of the state, the great foundation of the imperial influence. Therefore, recording the Imperial Records and examining the Old Writings, discarding the mistaken and establishing the true, I desire to hand them on to later generations." With that, 28 year old Hieda no Are was given the command to learn all the stories and presumably to recite them for the court. And several decades later, Oho no Yasumaro was given the task to take Are's stories and write them down. I imagine that Hieda no Are, or perhaps someone else who had learned the stories well enough, would be called into court or banquets to present some of the stories, or would be asked questions if there was any need for precedence. Thus creating a single source for truth, according to the administration. At the same time, the court had a problem. They couldn't control all of the sources of written material, with all of the various contradictions, so we also would eventually get the more comprehensive—but also less narratively direct—Nihon Shoki as well. After all, the game of propaganda was being played at many levels, and while the royal household had their motivations—primarily to support the legitimacy of their claim to power and the system within which that claim was validated— other families wanted to ensure that they were properly recorded as having connections to traditional nexuses of power—be that the ancient kami of Heaven or Earth, or their relationship to the royal family. This is because precedence was important, even as new traditions were being created. Like the way that the Mononobe and the Nakatomi played important roles in Uno no Sarara's ascension ceremony despite the actual individuals using new or different names, like Isonokami or Fujiwara. See Episode 151 for the explanation, there. And new traditions were much easier to justify if you could connect them with older traditions—whether those older traditions were truly ancient or newly made inventions. And all of this suggests that this was not an accident and it wasn't simply being imposed from the top down. One could be charitable and suggest that those involved felt that this got them closest to what the truth actually was, given that they had now been inculcated in a new worldview and they were trying to view the ancient stories through the interpretive lens of that worldview. On the other hand, they were ultimately doing it to structure power and authority that favored them and the government they had created. A government that they hoped would outlast them, and be passed on to their descendants. Next episode, we will continue our discussion of Uno no Sarara's life and reign and the incredible steps she took to ensure that her line would continue to rule Yamato for decades. Until then if you like what we are doing, please tell your friends and feel free to rate us wherever you listen to podcasts. If you feel the need to do more, and want to help us keep this going, we have information about how you can donate on Patreon or through our KoFi site, ko-fi.com/sengokudaimyo, or find the links over at our main website, SengokuDaimyo.com/Podcast, where we will have some more discussion on topics from this episode. Also, feel free to reach out to our Sengoku Daimyo Facebook page. You can also email us at the.sengoku.daimyo@gmail.com. Thank you, also, to Ellen for their work editing the podcast. And that's all for now. Thank you again, and I'll see you next episode on Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan.

lord earth spirit japan state land reading turning japanese gods chronicles legends snow mt korean uno grave wa heck buddhist buddhism buddha compare ama sovereign granted plain kami earthly chronicle weaving tang outer kofi tsushima bce hara ran shrine taoist great god breen hase taki taka proponents downstream silla brightness shinto social history suzuka tsu naka mino confucian miya uda kuni ise shrines yamato kyushu soga isuzu kamakura amaterasu hime fujiwara yoshino shiki taru takara miwa aichi nakatomi kawakami gifu oho yayoi sun goddess izanami great council tsubaki izanagi hiko owari ancient japan chigi sukuna earth spirit kojiki iku musubi high heaven tenjin eastern japan imperial records saigu

Your Spiritual Gifts Turn On When You Stop Outsourcing Truth

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 1, 2026 48:03 Transcription Available

Send us Fan MailYour life can look perfectly fine on paper and still feel misaligned in your bones. That quiet discomfort is where Pamela Downes begins: a creative entrepreneur and mom who always felt a little “different,” until grief and an unexpected psychic mediumship experience cracked her world open and made one question impossible to ignore: what is actually true for me?We talk through the real mechanics of spiritual awakening and intuitive development, from exploring Reiki, shamanic journeys, and mentorship to building the kind of self-trust that holds up during divorce, recession stress, and big identity shifts. Pamela shares how her Rhythmia ayahuasca journey intensified her clairs, raised her frequency, and changed how she experiences guidance in everyday life. From there, she explains her ongoing connection with the Great Council of Light and the soul-body healing work she now offers, including clearing deep fear patterns, past life imprints, and what she calls the restoration of the soul's natural architecture.We also get grounded about discernment in a noisy era. Pamela breaks down why so many people feel awakening accelerating right now, how information overload can either hijack your nervous system or sharpen your inner knowing, and what “frequency hygiene” can look like in practical terms: less reactive arguing, more space, better nutrition, supportive relationships, nature, music, wonder, and slowing down enough to actually hear yourself.If you want a conversation that blends spiritual healing, channeling, and practical intuition tips without pretending the path is easy, press play.Subscribe, share this with a friend who feels the shift, and leave a review with the one insight you're taking into your week. Support the showSpiritual Spotlight Series is hosted by Rachel Garrett, RN, CCH — Akashic Records Practitioner, Master Energy Healer, and Certified Crystal Healer.Conversations about the things we almost don't say out loud. For the ones who feel everything — but question it.Each episode features real stories of spiritual awakening, healing, and transformation from guests across all walks of life, alongside solo teachings on Akashic Records, crystal healing, nervous system support, and intuitive development.Healing doesn't have to be heavy.New: Join the monthly live Akashic reading → YouTube membership at $4.99/month → youtube.com/@rachelgarrett/membership✨ Explore More Spiritual Wisdom & Stay Connected

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Queen Uno no Sarara, Part I

The Meditation Conversation Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 25, 2026 43:00

We've looked at several different members of the court during the reign of Uno no Sarara, aka Jitou Tennou. Today we start to look at her life, who she was, and what she did. In this first part we'll touch on some of her big accomplishments, including building the Fujiwara capital, patronage of Ise Shrine, and even the publication of the Kiyomihara law code. For more, check out the podcast blogpost: https://sengokudaimyo.com/podcast/episode-152 Rough Transcript: Welcome to Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan. My name is Joshua, and this is episode 152: Queen Uno no Sarara, Part 1 It was rare that something would pull people from the fields at the height of the season, but it wasn't every day that people of Iga had the opportunity to watch a true royal procession. They gathered on either side of the street as the parade passed through town. There were horses and carts, but also just numerous men carrying various bags and provisions. There were also military guards, decked out in their finest—just in case anyone got any ideas. There were also various nobles and government officials, riding with her. The outfits and color would have been striking, particular to those who had little business with the court. And at the height of it all was a covered palanquin. Nobody could see the royal presence inside through the screens, though later they would talk about getting a peek of her hair or her robes. It didn't matter, the procession itself was enough of a spectacle for all to see. Not everyone was pleased. A few of the more dour elders complained about how much of a disruption and a distraction it was. They would at least be somewhat mollified by the news that, for enduring the disruption, they would at least get a break on their taxes that year. The procession was headed east, to the land of Ise. Apparently they were going to pay their respects at the shrine there. Did you know that it was dedicated to the ancestor of the royal family itself? The actual sun goddess herself, Amaterasu. Some of the elders shook their heads. They remembered when everyone had been focused on Mt. Miwa, to the west. And what about this Buddha that had shown up from overseas? There were temples to him popping up all over the place. They weren't so sure about all of this, but they knew their local kami and their local priests, who helped with the local harvests, and that was enough for them. The court and their fancy learning could figure out what the country needed, but they were going to stay focused on the day to day, instead. Here we are, in the reign of Uno no Sarara, widow of Ohoama and mother to the late Prince Kusakabe, known to history as Jitou Tennou. We've actually been in Uno's reign for several episodes now, but while we've talked about how that reign began and the roles a lot of other people played in that beginning, this episode I would finally like to start focusing on her—who she was, where she came from, and what she did. Since that covers a lot of ground, we are going to cover some of her history up to this reign, and we'll be mostly focusing on two major updates—the creation of the new capital of Fujiwara, aka Fujiwara-kyou, and the increased royal patronage of Ise, which is thought to have been responsible for the ascendancy of Amaterasu as the paramount kami of the pantheon of Shinto kami. So let's start at the very beginning. It is traditionally held that Uno no Sarara was born around 645 to Naka no Oe and Soga no Ochi no Iratsume. Ochi was the daughter of Soga no Kurayamada no Ishikawa no Maro, cousin to the powerful Soga no Iruka. Naka no Oe's marriage to Ochi no Iratsume and her sister, Mehi no Iratsume, had been part of a strategic alliance with Ishikawa no Maro, who helped him overthrow his cousins and institute the Taika Reforms. We talked about all of that back in Episode 106, as well as subsequent podcasts after that covering the next several reigns. So 645 is about the earliest Uno no Sarara may have been born, the very start of the Taika era, when her father began instituting a lot of changes based on continental practices. She would have grown up in the inner buildings of the Asuka court during this time of immense change. She was probably a bit young when the Toyosaki palace was first built, though she may have remembered when the court abandoned it and moved back to Asuka. Unfortunately, when she was only five years old, tragedy struck. Ishikawa no Maro, who had been made the Udaijin, or Minister of the Right, was slandered by his own brother, Soga no Himuka, and in return, Naka no Oe sent a force to have him punished. When he saw he could not get away, Uno no Sarara's grandfather, Ishikawa no Maro, took his own life. The Nihon Shoki—written, I should note, at least partly under the direction of Maro's granddaughter—claims that evidence came to light demonstrating his innocence, and he was posthumously exonerated. Maro's daughter, Miyatsuko no Iratsume, was so saddened by all of this that we are told she died of a broken heart. Miyatsuko no Iratsume appears to be another name for Ochi no Iratsume, and if so, it would mean that Uno no Sarara lost both her mother and grandfather when she was only five years old due to the actions of her own father. This sounds to me like it should be some kind of villain origin story. From there, she was likely taken care of by her aunts and other women in the palace, at least until 657. It was about that time, at the age of 13, that she was married off to her uncle, Prince Ohoama. We don't have a precise age for Ohoama, but he was likely no more than 5 years younger than Uno's father, Naka no Oe, and some estimates suggest he was in his late 20s or early 30s, taking to wife his 13 year old niece. I can't help but think, here, of the Heian period novel, the Tale of Genji, where the titular character, Genji, finds Lady Murasaki and marries her at the age of 10. Uno no Sarara would have grown up in her uncle-husband's home, and she was still young when the entire realm was placed on a war footing.When the court moved to Kyushu in 661 for the prosecution of the war on the continent, Uno no Sarara went with her husband, and a year later gave birth to their son, Prince Kusakabe. She was probably about 18 years old at the time. I suspect that means She probably knew about her grandmother, Takara Hime, passing away, something that the inner circle of the royal family had attempted to keep relatively quiet for fear of disrupting the war effort. Soon after her own son was born, news came back that the forces on the continent had lost. Baekje had fallen, and Yamato could be next. She would have traveled with her husband and the rest of the court back to Asuka and, eventually, up to Ohotsu, where her father now ruled with his brother as his right-hand man and heir to the throne. At this time, Uno no Sarara was no stranger to politics. While her husband was in line for the throne, she knew that her brothers were also potential claimants, once they came of age. The Nihon Shoki disqualifies them through their parentage, but we see that didn't stop the Afumi court from rallying behind Prince Ohotomo. There was also the royal princes Kawashima and Shiki. Prince Takeru would have technically been a potential threat as well, had he not died, tragically, at only eight years of age. Now, technically, some may have been more in line than others, but Uno no Sarara knew how her own father had jumped the line, displacing her late uncle, Furubito no Oe, and it was clear something similar might happen this time around. There were also likely a few indications that not everything was great between her father and her husband, although you would hardly know it from the number of her siblings that were also residing in the north chambers of his residence. Things came to a head in 671. At this point, Uno no Sarara was in her late 20s with a 10 year old son, and it was looking, for a moment, like her father, despite his illness, might have Ohoama killed to pave the way for Naka no Oe's own son, Uno's brother, Ohotomo. When Ohoama surprised everyone and stepped down, taking the tonsure, she was the only one to follow him. We don't know if this is because she was that loyal to her husband, or because she had no other options. If her mother had taken her own life after her grandfather's death, she may have had nobody but her father, Naka no Oe, to turn to, and he was clearly doing poorly. If she stayed, then she would be relying on the goodwill of Prince Ohotomo and others while looking after the nine year old son and heir of Ohoama, who was clearly persona non grata at court. In contrast, one of Ohoama's other consorts, Munakata no Amago no Iratsume would have had the Munakata family to fall back on, should she need it, and her son, Prince Takechi, was a bit older. In addition, Uno's sister, Ohota no Himemiko had passed away earlier, in 667, and it is unclear who cared for her son, Prince Ohotsu, who was only a year younger than Uno's son, Kusakabe. However, he, too, appears to have remained at the Afumi court with his caretakers. So Uno no Sarara went to Yoshino with her husband. From this point on, Yoshino would become an important place for her, and during her own reign she would frequently make visits to the palace there, sometimes just for a couple of days at a time. After Naka no Oe's death, and the entire conflict of the Jinshin no Ran that kicked off in 672, Uno stayed by her husband's side. She and Kusakabe made the incredible overnight journey from Yoshino to the other side of the Kii Peninsula, eventually setting up in Mie. Ohoama would continue on towards Fuwa pass, where his son Takechi was already stationed with loyal soldiers. Before that, however, he is mentioned as turning towards Ise—towards Amaterasu. The implication seems to be that he was praying for victory. It is also notable that a large part of his support was coming from the East and from areas around Ise. Little is mentioned of Uno's role in the record of the Jinshin no Ran, but in the opening to her reign there is a mention that she addressed the troops and mingled with the throng, until at last they formed a plan. This seems to indicate that she was involved in the planning, at least, for the prosecution of the war. On the one hand she was placed well behind the front lines. On the other hand, she was well positioned to assist with logistics. Troops and supplies from the north could come down and be redirected to the south depending on what was needed, and communications would likely be more secure through that area fully controlled by Ohoama's troops. It is easy enough to imagine Uno no Sarara taking a role, even if it isn't explicitly mentioned. The fact that she is mentioned as much as she is suggests to me that she had plenty to contribute to the war effort. As the war of 672 came to a close, Ohoama had to move from a war footing to one of peacetime governance. As he ascended to the throne in 673, Uno no Sarara was made his queen. And in light of the recent issues, Ohoama appears to have leaned heavily on her and other members of the royal family for support. And so Uno no Sarara was not just a delicate flower sitting in the hinter palace, waiting on her husband. She was an active participant in the government. When Ohoama called the various princes down to Yoshino and had them swear to uphold and support each other, she was included in their number. And the Chronicles explicitly mention that when the princes swore to uphold each other, Ohoama swore he would also support them, and then Uno no Sarara made her oath like his. That is interesting in that she isn't included in the five princes, but rather with the sovereign, her husband. It appears she approached this from the point of view of a ruler already. Or perhaps she was not considered to be in the line of succession, and the focus was on upholding the various princes. Either way, we see how that eventually turned out. Later, when starting the project for what is believed to be the Kiyomihara codes, she was seated on the dais with her husband, indicating that she certainly was involved in various matters of state. She also gave and received presents from the various nobles, including suits of clothing, gold, and more. When Ohoama grew ill, and could not carry out the functions of the government alone, he deferred matters to her and to the Crown Prince, presumably meaning her son, Prince Kusakabe. Now Kusakabe is recorded as being made Crown Prince, and thus heir to the throne, however, it has also been suggested that this might not have been the case. Some have suggested that Prince Ohotsu may have been the actual Crown Prince, and that he wasn't plotting against Kusakabe and his mother, but rather it was the other way around, with Uno no Sarara clearing him off the field to make room for her son. Ohotsu, remember, was the son of Ohoama by way of Ohota-hime, who was a full sister to Uno no Sarara. That meant that, from a strict bloodline perspective, Ohotsu had just as much of a claim to the throne as did Kusakabe, but Kusakabe was a year older—or so the Nihon Shoki, compiled under the reign of Uno and her successors, would have us believe. We are also told that Uno was formally designated as Ohoama's queen—but again we have that from the Nihon Shoki, which is more than a little bit biased. Personally, I feel this theory that Uno no Sarara plotted to have Ohotsu removed without anything else stretches some of what we know, but it does illustrate that Uno no Sarara had a vested interest in ensuring that the crown went to her own progeny. I'd be more inclined to believe that there was some movement a foot, even if it was perhaps not quite as treasonous as the response to it would warrant. And this catches us up with much of what we know. Ohotsu was executed, but then Kusakabe passed away, and so Queen Uno no Sarara became Tennou in her own right. Things hadn't gone exactly to plan, but she still had her grandson, Prince Karu, the late Kusakabe's son, whose mother, Princess Abe, was a younger-half sister to Uno no Sarara. Abe was the daughter of Naka no Oe and Mehi no Iratsume, making Abe another grand-daughter of Soga no Kuramayada no Ishikawa no Maro. She was also 17 years Sarara's junior and only a year older than the late Kusakabe. By all accounts, it seems that Abe and Sarara got on well together, though she is not as prominent in the narrative that we have in the Nihon Shoki. Still, she had an important role, not in terms of governance, but in terms of ensuring that the line continued. She was in charge or protecting and raising young Prince Karu until he was ready to take the throne. In so doing, she would no doubt have had a front row seat to Queen Uno's own efforts. Since Uno no Sarara had already been so involved with the government, it should come as no surprise that she continued many of the efforts attributed to her husband. In fact, you'll often find references to Temmu and Jitou side-by-side to describe what happened because very few things can be attributed to just one of the two, especially given how long some of these projects seem to have taken. That said, there were some differences. While Ohoama, aka Temmu Tennou, had relied primarily on members of the royal family following the Jinshin no Ran, Uno was much more likely to rely on trusted nobles, whose position at court was largely held thanks to the patronage of the royal family. Having nobles running things again, rather than handing over power to those of the Princely class, may have provided opportunities for those noble houses to once again flex and grow their political muscle, but it was either that or hand that same power over to other princes with claims to royal descent—princes who might encourage the court that it would better if they, themselves, were to succeed the Queen, rather than the young prince, her own actual bloodline. Even the loyal Prince Takechi, who seems to have supported her and Prince Karu as best he could, could easily have become a threat. This could be one of the reasons she held on to power as long she did. It was, after all, a deliberate choice on her part. She could have had someone else step in as regent, but she chose not to. We've talked about Uno's dealings with Silla and the continent at this time. That was back in Episode 148, when we talked about how Ohoama was mourned and how Yamato dealt with the early missions. We discussed, thenhow she berated the Silla envoys for not adhering to protocol and turning them away. She also met with Emishi and Hayato embassies, which only helped to cement Yamato's place as the central hegemony over the archipelago and all those living on the islands. At first, this was just an extension of what she and Kusakabe had been doing since Ohoama had first grown ill and handed over the reins of government. But then Kusakabe died—and life went on. Later, Kusakabe would be remembered as Okanomiya Tennou and the Nagaoka Tennou. While not counted in the formal lineage, he was still granted the title "Tennou" posthumously, likely to help legitimize his son and that lineage. And yet, despite this, there is no report of a eulogy or anything similar upon his death. Even Royal Prince Ohotsu, when he was killed for threatening Kusakabe's own ascendance, is given a fairly wordy entry full of praise for his virtues and how he was remember. For Kusakabe we get silence. Things just move on. Indeed, just two weeks after the Crown Prince's death, we get orders talking about given people four holidays each month. It seems a rather banal announcement coming the same week that the Crown Prince passed away. And banal it may be, but I do want to pick at it a bit. I think it helps us understand even more the life at that time. In most of the world, today, we have become accustomed to the western concept of a week with seven days, including two holidays every week—though we just refer to it as the weekend. Saturday and Sunday began as holy days—the Sabbath in Jewish and then Christian tradition. Even Judaism only had a single day of rest every seven days. Many cultures did not have the concept of a weekend. After all, there wasn't anything particularly special about one day or the other. A lunar month is just under 30 days—alternating between 29 and 30 days depending on various factors. Five would fit into that much better than four seven day weeks and two more days. Or divide it into two 15 day periods, more or less. Or three weeks of ten days each. In fact, that is what was popular in the Tang dynasty at the time—though a seven day week had crept in through Buddhism, which had been picked up on the Indian subcontinent thanks to Hellenic influences. This seven day week, which is now used in modern times, was originally used more by astronomers. The days corresponded to the Sun, the Moon, and the visible planets. The point is, there's no such thing as a natural weekend. At some point, the Tang court introduced a rest period every five days for court officials. In Yamato, it seems that they introduced four holidays. Specifically, the local governors were to give laborers—those conscripted as corvee labor—four days every month. It doesn't mention if they are spaced out, or at what intervals, and it was specifically for laborers. I should probably also mention that, at this time, there wasn't a concept of a "9-to-5" job. Sure, the court operated on a schedule that may have fit fairly well in our modern life, other than its extremely early start due to the lack of cheap, safe artificial light sources. Most people, however, especially in the agricultural sectors, were likely working from sunrise to sunset, when necessary. There was no concept of overtime or a forty hour work week. You worked when you needed to work, and that was it. No time cards, just life, punctuated by holidays, festivals, market days, and whatever else needed to happen. Oddly, in our modern, more regular work schedule we work both more and less, in some ways, than our ancestors did. Our labor often goes into things beyond our job—everything from taking care of our home to various hobbies that we enjoy. Giving laborers time off from their endeavors was no doubt something they appreciated, but I don't know how much of an impact it had on things long term. A more interesting endeavor comes a few months later. That is when Uno had a royal commission come together as commissioners of "good words". We mentioned this before, especially when talking about Kose no Tayasu, who had been part of this commission, though he was the lowest ranked of the bunch. At the top it was headed by Prince Shiki, a half-brother to Uno, and one of those who had pledged his loyalty with other members of the royal family down in Yoshino, though at the time Shiki was only about 11 years old. He was the son of Koshi no Michi no Kimi no Iratsume, and a brother to Prince Osakabe. In 689, when he took charge of this commission from his half-sister, he would have been in his 22nd year, so this was probably one of his first major assignments. We don't have a finished product that we can point to from this project, so there isn't a clear idea of exactly what the commission did. Aston believed that they were attempting to determine auspicious words to be used by the court. By this one could infer that they were looking into the way to draw up formal language for edicts, or how to formally address the sovereign and members of the court. However, others have suggested that this was more about finding stories and other such things and writing them down. If that is the case, this may have been a continuation of—or perhaps an addendum to—the history project started during the reign of Ohoama. The words, or stories, that the commission wrote down were likely used by later Chroniclers, though there is no specific work that is clearly attributed to their efforts. So in the end we can't exactly know for sure. What we can see is that Uno no Sarara was continuing to make tweaks and changes to things—and in particular in how things were stated, remembered, and passed down to posterity, one way or another. This is also part of what we see later that same month, when the 22 books of what we now call the Kiyomihara Law Codes were also published. Like the history project, this was also begun during the reign of Ohoama, and Uno had continued to see it through. It appears to have been just the law itself, not necessarily the punishments which made up the other half of the Ritsuryou, but it is still significant. Unfortunately, we don't know exactly what was in it—the earliest law code that we have good evidence for is the Taihou code, which would come over a decade later—but we have seen some of the edicts and orders and we can make some assumptions based on later law codes as well as the language used to even define the court and how things ran. Much of what was written had likely been promulgated, previously, and a lot of this may have been more documenting the changes they had already put in place. There is also the Afumi law code, but there are even more questions about that one. This is possibly the first one written down to this level of detail. Though it would be superseded, later, it was still an impressive work. As in past reigns, we see things both monumental and mundane. A month after the law codes were finished, we see about orders to the Mayors of the Left and Right to set up places for Archery—literally glossed as "Ikusa", or "war", but likely because the two had a common root and archery and war were closely intertwined. As for the Mayors of the Left and Right, this is the first time we are seeing those terms, and I suspect they are also part of the reforms that Uno no Sarara and her late husband had been implementing. The Mayors of the Left and Right of the Capital are known as Kyoushiki or, alternatively, as Misato-zukasa. They were like kokushi, or governors, except they oversaw the capital city. Now remember, the quote-unquote "capital city" in use at this point is Asuka—it is the Kiyomihara palace and environs. There were other streets, buildings, and such around, but nothing terribly organized. Most family estates were off in their own lands or strongholds. At the same time, the court was building out a new, permanent capital. It was taking time—and likely had been put on hold during the three year mourning period for the late Ohoama Ohokimi. It required that they survey and transform an immense and populated area into a new and impressive capital in the area known today as Kashihara. This work took years—they likely had to divert labor to build the late sovereign's mausoleum, or misasagi, and there were droughts and other reasons why they may have had to pause work. And yet, it continued, nonetheless. The main ideal for a capital city was based off of continental models. While Luoyang may have been the more active capital, the western capital of the Tang dynasty, at Chang'an—modern Xi'an—appears to have been a more quintessential capital city layout, and may have been what the Yamato capital was attempting to mimic—though they may have also been relying on the theoretical Confucian model, as well. In fact, I tend to think that the Confucian model was closer to this first attempt at a permanent capital. Early on, excavations assumed that the palace structures were towards the northern end of the city, but further investigations have suggested that the scale of Fujiwara-kyo was much more ambitious, and some maps of the area place the palace towards the center of the city. Either way, there were several key things about the capital and how it mimicked the continental models. One of the primary things that Yamato had appropriated from across the strait was the north-south orientation of the palace, with the main audience hall facing south, so as to get the sun. This meant that, from the point of view of the sovereign in that hall, the left side would be the east and the right side would be to the west. And so the capital city was divided into a left and right, east and west, and each half had its own administrator responsible for taxation, public safety, and general law and order. They were, as I said, similar to the governors of the various provinces in the scope of their powers, except that they oversaw the capital city. The building of the Fujiwara capital is perhaps one of the most obvious changes that Uno no Sarara was overseeing. As I've mentioned before, it was a physical manifestation of court. The three sacred mountains which were included within the boundaries of the capital were woven into the myths and legends that would find their way into the Nihon Shoki and the Kojiki. The size and scale of the earthworks and the stones laid as foundation demonstrate that this was clearly meant to be a permanent capital, overturning the idea that there would be a huge change every time a sovereign passed away. Instead, there would be consistency. The order of the state would go on. Later we'll talk about reasons why the Fujiwara capital was abandoned. For now, though, let's look at what we see about its construction. In 690, the same year that Uno ascended to the throne, Royal Prince Takechi, Ohoama's oldest son, inspected the site where the new Fujiwara palace was to be placed. Two months later, Uno no Sarara came out to see it for herself. I imagine this as being the point where the land had been cleared, and they could see the mountains and the placement and get an idea of the overall size of what they were looking for. With royal approval, the project continued. A year later, in 691, officials were sent to perform the Chin-sai, the pacification ceremony, for the new capital. Today, this is a common ceremony, known as a Jichin-sai, or Earth Pacification Ceremony, done before undertaking a construction project. Theoretically it is before breaking ground on the project, though there is often some amount of preparation that has to be done in preparation. The idea for the Jichin-sai is to effectively negotiate with the spirits of the land before disturbing the area, a recognition that the process of construction is going to alter the natural landscape. As such, one wants to propitiate the spirits and the kami that are on the land to ensure that the construction is successful. This was likely a much older ritual, but this is the first mention we have of it in the record. This ceremony was also apparently directed at the new capital as a whole, while a year later another ceremony was held specifically for the new palace complex. In the intervening time we see the court laying out the roads and giving land for the various mansions of court nobles, like Tajihi no Shima's four chou of land—roughly ten acres. Those of Jikikwoni rank and above were given two chou, and those from Jikidaisan down were given one chou. Those of Gon rank on down would get land dependant on the number of inhabitants in their fiefs. First class fiefs would get one chou, while second class would warrant a half chou and at the bottom they would get one quarter chou. This was apparently the land that they were being given in the capital to build their personal residences. Other land was given out for markets, temples, and other necessary facilities, but this whole city really was being built from scratch. Shortly after the pacification ceremony for the palace, officials were sent out to the major shrines of the time. This included the great gods, the Ohokami, of Ise, Yamato, Sumiyoshi, and Kii. So not just the local kami, but also the larger kami who were seen as the kami of the archipelago more generally. It would still take another year to build the palace. Uno visited the site a few times during the construction, with her last visit just a quick outing on the 8th month of 693. At that point it was likely ready, though she wouldn't formally move into the new palace until the first month of 694. Before that, though, there was one other thing that had to happen. In the 2nd month of 693 they had to rebury the bodies. That's right. The Fujiwara capital occupied a huge swath of the plain of what is now known as Kashihara. And that plain had been settled for centuries—all through the kofun period. And those kofun, and possibly even older funkyubo, the older mixed-use burial mounds—would have been destroyed in the making of the new capital. There also may have been plain pit burials that were dug up while laying out roads and foundations. I don't know that there was anything approaching the size of the larger, keyhole shaped mounds, but we have no way to know for certain how many were there that had to be destroyed or moved. I also have not seen any indications of any mass reburial site—whether they opened an existing tomb or simply dug a pit in the ground somewhere. I imagine that such a find would be incredible, but unless archaeologists stumble upon it, I guess we'll never know. Still, it is interesting, and almost poetic as we move further and further from the kofun period, this feels like the final nail in the proverbial coffin, if you'll forgive the pun. Indeed, when Uno no Sarara finally passes away, she will become one of the first sovereigns to be cremated, with her ashes and burnt remains then deposited in the existing tomb with her husband, Ohoama, rather than having a new mounded tomb built. Buddhist style cremation would eventually become commonplace throughout the archipelago, though sovereigns would still have special mausoleums built for their memory, it really was a change from the ancient practices. From 694 onward, the court would meet at the new Fujiwara Palace. Compared to previous palaces, I can only imagine how impressive this one must have seemed. Based on what we can tell, it was likely built much more in the continental style. Previous palaces had largely been in the style of the archipelago, with what we believe was plain wood and a thatched roof. The Fujiwara palace was likely a mix, but with more of the continental style than the previous Kiyomihara place. It also dwarfed its predecessor, at over twice the size. It was actually much closer in size and shape to the Toyosaki palace, in Naniwa. At the southern end of the palace was the Suzaku mon, the Suzaku gate, followed by the choshu-den'in, a courtyard with two buildings, one in the east and one in the west, where officials could wait and prepare for the day. From there they would be let into the Chodoin, a large court yard with four buildings on the east and west, and four more at the southernmost point. These would be where the various departments, or bureaus, would operate. There were also gates in the east and west of the Chodoin for easier access. To the north was another gate, leading to the Daigokuden, the main audience hall. This would have been quite the impressive and imposing structure—the main focus of the palace. It was in its own walled enclosure, and would have been the seat of the sumera Mikoto, or Tennou. It was both inside and apart from the Dairi, the inner palace. This was the actual residence of the sovereign and the royal family. The dairi itself occupied more land than the entire Kiyomihara palace. None of the buildings exist, but we can see their footprint from the large foundation stones and there are numerous rooftiles and other architectural features that fell off or were removed and then buried, purposefully or not, allowing us to get some idea of the size and scale of the project. And yet, it appears that this palace may not have been completed when they moved in. The entire city was likely still under construction, in fact. The main pieces were in place, but to build an entire city from scratch took a lot of work. Most of the buildings would have been built with more traditional—and less labor intensive—practices. You didn't need a false second story gallery some thirty feet off the ground, even if you were the Minister of the Right. It was enough to have a relatively simple mansion with gardens, servants quarters, and everything else needed to keep you comfortable. That in and of itself was going to put a strain on labor and other resources. And so it looks like some parts of the galleries and other features may not have been finished even while Uno no Sarara was there. In fact, it may not have been fully finished by the time they moved again. The Fujiwara capital, the first permanent capital city, was only occupied from 694 until about 710—less than two decades. This massive project, taking multiple years and how many people to create, would be abandoned several years later. The buildings would be torn down and moved to the new site—Heijou-kyou, in modern Nara city. And yet, the impact of Fujiwara kyou would remain. Besides making changes to the physical landscape, Uno no Sarara was also focused on the spiritual landscape as well. Both Ohoama and Uno not only supported the Buddhist temples, building new temples and leveraging the ceremonies, but they also supported the traditional kami. During the Jinshin no Ran, Ohoama turned and addressed the kami of Ise before heading to the Fuwa barrier. Later we see a greater focus on Ise Shrine, with Saigu, the royal princesses sent to Ise Shrine as the Shrine priestess, being heavily reported. In fact, the position seems to have not been commented on much until this reign, and there is some thought that Ohoama and Uno actually instituted the practice—or at least made it a formal part of the court and the royal household. This is combined with their support of the Jingikan, the state governmental body responsible for dealing with kami matters. At this time it appears to have been even more powerful, in many ways, than the other bureaus or departments of the Great Council of State, the Dajokan. There are plenty who argue that the preeminence of Ise was born in this period. Early Yamato worship focused more on the deity of Mt. Miwa: Ohomononushi. Sun worship seems to have also been baked into the rituals of the ethnic Wa people, but that wasn't necessarily focused on Amaterasu—and Amaterasu was not necessarily seen as a feminine goddess. Early worship appears to focus on the deities such as Takabi Musubi, and similarly named deities. These are deities that show up in court ritual, and presumably date back to well before this period. Thanks to the fact that we get alternate stories in the Nihon Shoki, we occasionally see them take a more central role in events, such as the descent of the Heavenly Grandson, but at the same time we also see that the main throughline of the Nihon Shoki and the Kojiki has placed Amaterasu more front and center in the narrative. Ama Terasu effectively translates to something like "The Shining of Heaven". In neither the Japanese nor Sinitic language is she particularly gendered most of the time, and this may have been a more generic name for the concept of a sun deity. I believe it is also somewhat telling that the Ichi-no-miya, the First Shrine, or primary shrine, of Ise is not Ise Shrine, but rather Tsubaki Grand Shrine, which is the home of Sarutahiko Ohokami. Even in the Nihon Shoki, there is a narrative regarding the yata no kagami, the great mirror, that it was moved from its original location in the Nara Basin over to Ise and the shrine was then established there, marking the shrine as a relative late-comer to the region rather than marking a particularly ancient spot. The Great Kami of Ise then appears to have taken on some of the shine, pun intended, of Sarutahiko, who is no longer seen as a sun-deity, and is even placed in the way of the Heavenly Grandchild's descent—perhaps a subtle nod to some of the tensions between the worship of one over the other. Besides sending the Shrine Princess, the Saigu, to Ise, the sovereigns themselves made plans to go, in person. Ohoama made preparations, including purifying himself, but his trip was cancelled due to a sudden death in the palace. He is never recorded as making the trip, after that. Uno no Sarara, however, did make the trip, in 692. This was clearly quite the production, and requires several entries in the Nihon Shoki. The first entry is in the 2nd month of the year, when she makes her intentions clear. The Court officials were set to task to prepare all the necessary clothing for the trip, which was about 3 weeks out. This likely also meant preparing the road, ensuring that there would be food, and a place for Uno no Sarara and her entourage to stay when they reached Ise. The preparations clearly had an impact, as Miwa no Ason no Takechimaro, a Chunagon, or Middle Counselor, presented a memorial to remonstrate with her majesty on the trip. He noted that they were in the middle of the agricultural season—roughly April or May by modern standards—and a royal trip would have an outsized impact on the areas where she would be traveling through. His remonstration was heard, and overruled. Uno no Sarara was determined to go. As she delegated the Prince Hirose, Tahema no Mabito no Chitoko, and Ki no Ason no Yumibari to all look after the palace while she was away, Miwa no Takechimaro reiterated his remonstration and then took a drastic step: He offered to her his cap—basically he offered to resign his rank. This was quite the step, and not from nobody. Miwa no Takechimaro was from a prominent family. As their name suggests, they were connected to Mt. Miwa, and the worship, there. Based on what evidence we have, he was probably born around 657 CE, and when he was about 16 years old he was fighting on the side of Ohoama in the Jinshin no Ran. In particular, he was involved in the fighting near Hashihaka kofun, and then moved over to attack the Afumi forces on the Middle Road. There is evidence after that of him making his way up through the ranks, and was even one of those who offered a eulogy for Ohoama. As Chunagon, he was in a fairly powerful position in court, and giving up his court rank would mean not just a loss in status, but also giving up the income associated with that rank. And this remonstration may be why we are told that the court commuted taxes, including forced labor, for the lands that she passed through, and she recognized the local Kuni no Miyatsuko with cap-rank. She also remitted taxes for those who had been conscripted to help from elsewhere, such as her baggage handlers, the people who built the temporary palace for her to stay in, in Ise, etc. So even if the procession to Ise had an impact, she seems to have done her best to lessen the blow. As for Takechimaro, we don't see him again in the Nihon Shoki, but he does show up later. He would become the governor of Nagato, and then later he is given positions such as the Mayor of the Sakyou, or Left Capital. So it would seem that either his resignation wasn't accepted, or that he was re-hired at some later point. He would pass away in 706 CE. By the way, there is one other notable feature about him, and you may have caught it as I went over all of this. That was the name of his uji, or clan: Miwa, or Ohomiwa. This means he had a connection to—and possibly a vested interest in—promoting the worship at Mt. Miwa, the traditional Yamato cultic center. Nothing is outright stated, but it makes sense that someone from Miwa might be a little bit concerned with the extra attention being given to the shrine at Ise around this time—so there is that, as well. Regardless of his intentions, it certainly seems that from that point on Ise Shrine and the deity worshipped there, Amaterasu Ohokami, would be tied to the imperial line from the late 7th century onward. Clearly the royal patronage of the shrine stepped up, and for the most part we do see a fairly regular stream of Saigu, with one slight exception: There doesn't appear to have been one during Uno no Sarara's reign. Ohoku no Himemiko had been sent down during the reign of Ohoama, but she was the sister to Prince Ohotsu, and appears to have returned after his death. The position appears to have remained vacant until after Uno no Sarara's reign. It makes me wonder if she wasn't "filling in" for the Saigu, in a way. That could, in part, explain her travels there. There also may not have been a good candidate at the time, but I find that less believable—perhaps there was no candidate that Uno trusted given the precarious position her own bloodline was in at the moment. Still, after her reign, the position of Saigu would be regularly filled by a member of the royal family through the end of the Heian period. It was interrupted by the Genpei wars, and then the practice fell into decline during the period of the Kamakura bakufu. Late Edo period pro-imperialists tried to restore the practice, but it didn't catch back on. Despite the apparent importance of the shrine to the royal family, it would also remain somewhat aloof. The priests of the shrine would provide the sacred mirror for ascension ceremonies, but it would be very rare for any sitting sovereign to actually pay a visit to the shrine, and, as I mentioned before, Amaterasu was not one of the deities reflected in the inner court rituals. Still, she would come to be seen as the dominant kami of the Shinto pantheon, and even today, many shrines will hold space for her as well as the primary deity; home shrines, or kamidana, will often include ofuda for Amaterasu as a central point of worship, with kami associated with one's local shrines as well. So there you have just a little taste of what Uno no Sarara was up to. Whether she had intended to be in this position or had it thrust onto her, she was no shrinking violet. She took control of the ship of state and set a course that would continue to influence the archipelago down to the modern day. The reforms that started with her father and husband she continued and made manifest in the physical and spiritual world. And this is only the beginning. There is more to talk about regarding Uno no Sarara's reign, and her eventual abdication, but for that, we will have to wait until Part 2. Until then if you like what we are doing, please tell your friends and feel free to rate us wherever you listen to podcasts. If you feel the need to do more, and want to help us keep this going, we have information about how you can donate on Patreon or through our KoFi site, ko-fi.com/sengokudaimyo, or find the links over at our main website, SengokuDaimyo.com/Podcast, where we will have some more discussion on topics from this episode. Also, feel free to reach out to our Sengoku Daimyo Facebook page. You can also email us at the.sengoku.daimyo@gmail.com. Thank you, also, to Ellen for their work editing the podcast. And that's all for now. Thank you again, and I'll see you next episode on Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan.

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301. An Urgent Message from the Great Council of Light w/ Pamela Downes

High Vibin’ It

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 16, 2026 53:19

Are we living through one of the biggest energetic shifts humanity has ever experienced?In this powerful, mind-expanding, and deeply spiritual episode of the High Vibin' It Podcast, Kelsey Aida and Lynnsey Robinson sit down with channel, DNA and light code activator, spiritual mentor, and founder of Spirit Calling, Pamela Downes, to explore the messages she has received from the Great Council of Light.Pamela shares her incredible journey from entrepreneurship and personal transformation to awakening her spiritual gifts, channeling higher guidance, and helping others reconnect with who they truly are.Together, they dive into the massive shifts happening on Earth, the rise in collective consciousness, and why so many people are feeling called to question old systems, reconnect with their intuition, and step into a new way of being.From spiritual awakening and DNA activation to intuition, manifestation, and trusting your higher self, this conversation is a reminder that even during uncertain times, you have more power, guidance, and support than you realize.If you've been feeling like something big is shifting, this episode will help you see the bigger picture and remember your own inner wisdom.✨ What You'll Discover:Who the Great Council of Light is and the messages they share Why so many people are experiencing spiritual awakenings right now How to stay grounded during collective change and uncertainty Why raising your frequency starts with healing and self-awareness What it means to remember who you truly are How intuition guides you through major life transitions Why discernment is essential on your spiritual path How fear can disconnect you from your inner power The importance of reconnecting with nature and your body Why old systems and beliefs may be shifting How DNA activation and light codes support spiritual growth The connection between healing, purpose, and higher consciousness How to trust your soul when life feels unclear Why you are more powerful than you've been taught to believe✨ Want more?In the extended Patreon episode, Pamela shares more about her personal awakening journey, the experiences that opened her spiritual gifts, healing through Reiki and energy work, connecting with intuition, and how following signs and synchronicities changed the direction of her life.Join us on Patreon for early access, extended episodes, exclusive oracle card readings, bonus content, and behind-the-scenes fun—all for just a few bucks a month. The first 50 members will receive a FREE Manifestation Toolkit when we hit our community goal!

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589. The Great Council of Light WARNING: Massive Changes Are Coming: Prepare Now - Pamela Downes

Play Episode Listen Later May 21, 2026 63:55

What if humanity is on the brink of massive, irreversible change… and most people aren't prepared? In this powerful episode of Soul Elevation, Kara Goodwin sits down with Pamela Downes, a multidimensional healer and channeler of the Great Council of Light, to explore the rapid acceleration of spiritual awakening happening right now. Pamela shares her extraordinary journey from a self-taught intuitive to channeling high-frequency guidance from advanced creator beings. Together, they dive into what the Council says is coming for humanity, why everything feels like it's shifting so quickly, and how you can stay grounded, empowered, and aligned through it all. This conversation explores the energetic realities behind global changes, the importance of frequency, and how to navigate intense revelations without falling into fear. If you've been feeling the shift, this episode will help you understand what's happening and how to move through it with clarity and strength. You'll also hear about soul healing, activating your divine blueprint, and how to release old energetic imprints so you can step fully into your highest expression. This is a conversation you'll want to come back to. Explore everything Kara offers, including her book Your Authentic Awakening and free guided meditations at: https://www.karagoodwin.com Connect with Pamela's work: https://spirit-calling.com Your likes, comments, shares, and subscriptions genuinely help this work reach more people. When you engage, you help uplift the frequency of this content and make it easier for others to find these conversations. In This Episode Pamela Downes' spiritual awakening journey and how her gifts developed What the Great Council of Light says is coming next for humanity Why the world feels like it's changing so quickly right now The role of frequency in navigating global and personal shifts How to stay grounded and empowered during uncertainty Soul healing, past life imprints, and activating your divine blueprint The importance of discernment and energetic alignment How to prepare for accelerated spiritual awakening

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Calm in Chaos: Spiritual Awakening with Pamela Downes

Spiritual Journey - Path to Awakening

Play Episode Listen Later May 7, 2026 49:57

Chaos is not the problem.Losing yourself inside it is.In this episode of the Spiritual Journey Podcast, Nimesh Radia is joined by Pamela Downes for a deep and timely conversation about spiritual awakening, current energy shifts, embodiment, and learning how to hold your frequency when the world feels unstable.Pamela shares her powerful journey from traditional structures into spiritual awakening, healing, channeling, and connecting with the Great Council of Light.This conversation explores what it really means to move from thinking into feeling, from control into embodiment, and from fear into inner power.If you can feel the world shifting and know you are being asked to show up differently, this episode will help you understand what is happening and how to stay grounded through it.Key Themes✨ Staying calm inside chaos without disconnecting from the world✨ Moving from thinking into embodiment and inner knowing✨ Building a deeper connection with guides and higher beings✨ Trusting your frequency, intuition, and authentic self-expressionTakeaways✨ You are not powerless in the middle of change✨ Your frequency shapes how you experience this phase✨ Guidance becomes clearer when you remove the noise✨ Authenticity is no longer optional on the spiritual pathSound Bites✨ Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional✨ We are omnipotent, beautiful beings of light✨ Our soul chose to be here for transformation✨ You can sit inside chaos and still create✨ Be the beacon of lightGuest BioPamela Downes is a spiritual guide, channel, healer, and founder of a spiritual community supporting people through awakening, embodiment, and deeper connection with higher guidance. She channels the Great Council of Light and creates tools, teachings, and spaces to help people raise their frequency, trust their inner wisdom, and step into conscious creation.Also available to watch on YouTube.If this episode resonates, please like, comment, and follow the podcast.Connect with Pamela Downes✨ Spirit Calling Website: https://www.spirit-calling.com✨ Work With Pamela: https://www.spirit-calling.com/work-with-pamela✨ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spiritcallingpamela✨ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/spiritcallingpamela✨ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@spiritcallingpamela✨ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@spiritcallingpamelaConnect & Work with Nimesh✨ Discovery Call: https://calendly.com/spiritualjourney/30min – Start here if you are ready to understand your next step ✨ Spiritual Journey Membership: https://nimesh-radia.com/spiritual-membership/ – Ongoing support, energy updates, meditations, and conscious community ✨ 14-week Mentorship: A deep 12-week spiritual mentorship journey with Akashic Record Training included to help you step into your purpose and power ✨ Akashic Record Reading: https://calendly.com/spiritualjourney/akashic-record-reading – Receive soul-level clarity on your path, patterns, and next steps ✨ Soul Spa Retreat: https://nimesh-radia.com/soul-spa-retreat/ – Step away from the noise and reconnect with your soul in Glastonbury ✨ Website: https://nimesh-radia.com ✨ Email: nims@nimesh-radia.com ✨ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nimesh.radia ✨ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nimesh-radiaUpcoming Event✨ Full Moon Webinar – May 31, 9pm UK | 4pm EST ✨ Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/BemyIHczQ1uxG0jzFBE0pgThis podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp

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#97 Trance Channeling with Pamela Downes

The Conscious Diva

Play Episode Listen Later May 4, 2026 65:49

Joining me in this episode is Pamela Downes, a gifted trance channeler and messenger for The Great Council of Light. Pamela is known for delivering profound insights and divine guidance. In this episode, we explore:- Pamela's experiences with Ayahuasca and how this sacred plant medicine became a catalyst for deep healing.- How her journey into spiritual awakening began with one powerful shift… learning to let go of fear and step into loving awareness.- How Pamela moved through past life imprints to release those patterns in this lifetime, and learned to raise her vibration to open her channel to receive guidance from the Great Council of Light.- The story behind the creation of Spirit Calling - her online global community that inspires spiritual growth, transformation, unity, and awakening. And toward the end of this conversation, Pamela and the Council share a channeled message… one that you'll feel, not just hear. This episode is an invitation into expansion, and to remember that what we fear is often the threshold to a deeper truth. If this conversation resonates with you, be sure to follow my podcast, leave a review, and share it. You can also follow me on Instagram or watch this episode on YouTube. Thank you so much for listening. Connect with Pamela https://www.instagram.com/spiritcallingpamela/https://spirit-calling.comThank you to new sponsors. This Episode is brought to you by: • The Sattva Collection - 10% off with code TheConsciousDiva • Birds & Beans Organic Coffee - 10% off with DIVA2025The Conscious Diva Podcast wouldn't be possible without your support! A massive THANK YOU for listening. If you'd like to further support my podcast, you can: • SUBSCRIBE in your favorite podcast player or YouTube. • FOLLOW me @The_Conscious_Diva on Instagram. • BOOK a session with Tatyanna. • SIGN-UP to receive emails at www.tatyannawright.com

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Is Spirit Calling You? Channeled Messages from the Great Council of Light - Classic

Dare To Dream with Debbi Dachinger

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 7, 2026 46:56

Have you ever felt like the universe is trying to reach you but you can't quite make out the signal? What if there are angelic beings with urgent messages for humanity right now, and two women were specifically called to deliver them? In this episode, Will and Karen sit down with Pamela Downs and Lisa Roach, psychic intuitive healers, angelic channelers, and founding partners of Spirit Calling, an online spiritual community built for everyone who is waking up and wondering what's happening to them. Pamela and Lisa are channels for the Great Council of Light, a collective of angelic, divine, intelligent beings guiding humanity through one of the most significant shifts in consciousness the planet has ever experienced. And in this episode, the Council doesn't just get discussed. They show up. What You'll Hear in This Episode: How Pamela's week-long ayahuasca journey in Costa Rica unlocked her psychic abilities and set her on a path to build a portal for awakening humanity. How Lisa independently received the same download to "create a portal to serve mankind," and how the two found each other through a single unexplained Facebook post. What the Great Council of Light actually is, why two people can channel the same collective, and what they want humanity to know right now. A live channeled message for the collective, delivered on air. A live personal channeled message for Will, and the emotional moment that followed. The five signs you may already be in a spiritual awakening (and why most people dismiss them as something else). Why so many spiritually awakening people feel isolated, anxious, and out of place, and what to do about it. What Spirit Calling is, who it's for, and why it's been called the Angie's List for the spiritual world. The Message the Council Keeps Repeating: You are not crazy. You are not alone. And peace is not something you've lost. It's something you've been trained to distrust. Whether you're a seasoned practitioner or someone who just started noticing things that don't fit your old worldview, this episode meets you exactly where you are. Connect with Pamela Downs and Lisa Roach: Visit Spirit Calling and download their free guide to the top five symptoms of spiritual awakening at spiritcalling.com. A 7-day free trial is available. Connect with The Skeptic Metaphysicians: Website: skepticmetaphysician.com. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Podchaser and you might hear it read on air. Find us on Facebook and Instagram @skepticmetaphysicianpodcast. Keywords: spiritual awakening signs, channeling angelic beings, Great Council of Light, psychic intuitive healer, angelic channeler, spiritual awakening community, how to channel spirit guides, signs you are spiritually awakening, metaphysical podcast, consciousness shift 2024, raise your vibration, karmic healing, shadow work, spiritual awakening symptoms, online spiritual community, spirit guides messages, psychic channeling, collective consciousness awakening, plant medicine spiritual awakening, ayahuasca awakening, galactic council, divine beings messages, spiritual portal, ascension symptoms, energy healing, soul purpose, awakening journey, skeptic spirituality podcastThe Skeptic Metaphysicians is a spiritual awakening podcast for open-minded thinkers who refuse to check their critical thinking at the door. Each episode explores consciousness expansion, enlightenment, soul purpose, and soul growth through honest, grounded conversation with leading voices in metaphysics, psychic phenomenon, quantum healing, and beyond. We dive deep into spiritual awakening, ascension, alignment, and the awakening process without the dogma. From mediumship and spirit guides to Arcturian contact, astrology, and the subconscious mind, we explore it all with curiosity, humor, and zero guru worship. Whether you're in the middle of your own awakening, questioning reality, or just spiritually curious, this is the podcast for seekers and skeptics alike.Subscribe, Rate & Review!If you found this episode enlightening, mind-expanding, or even just thought-provoking (see what we did there?), please take a moment to rate and review us. Your feedback helps us bring more transformative guests and topics your way!Connect with Us:

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Dare To Dream, March 8, 2026

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 9, 2026 66:00

Dare To Dream with Debbi Dachinger Pamela Downes: Awakening & the Great Council of Light Pamela Downes joins Debbi Dachinger for a powerful conversation on spiritual awakening, soul assignment, and channeling the Great Council of Light during one of humanity's most pivotal transitions. In this episode, Pamela shares what the next 10 to 20 years may hold for Earth and the timelines now opening before us. She speaks about the Great Council of Light and their message regarding humanity's forgotten power — not as something to seek outside yourself, but something to embody. The discussion moves into the realities of answering a spiritual call without guarantees, navigating higher contact while staying grounded, and what it truly means to cross the awakening line — the moment when you cannot return to who you once were. Pamela also recounts a channeling experience that surprised even her, revealing how Spirit sometimes moves beyond expectation. If you've felt the pull to activate your gifts, deepen your connection, or understand what responsible channeling looks like in a rapidly shifting world, this episode offers insight rooted in embodiment rather than escapism. Topics: – Introduction: Pamela Downes & the Great Council of Light – What awakening really demands – Earth's next 10–20 years and emerging timelines – The message from the Great Council of Light – The most unexpected channeling moment – Crossing the awakening line: no going back – Staying grounded while embodying higher guidance – Living your soul's assignment – Closing transmission Guest: Pamela Downes Pamela Downes is a spiritual leader, channel for the Great Council of Light, Soul Healer, and founder of Spirit Calling. Her work supports individuals in awakening their gifts while remaining grounded, embodied, and aligned with their humanity.

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Gilbert House Fellowship #473: Isaiah 9

Gilbert House Fellowship

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 8, 2026 93:42

ISAIAH'S PROPHECY of a coming Messiah included foreseeing where Jesus would declare war on the fallen realm. Chapter 9 of the book of Isaiah picks up where the prophet left off, condemning the people of Israel, for consulting the dead on behalf of the living. His prophecy that a light would shine on those dwelling in a land of deep darkness was cited by Matthew as fulfilled when Jesus moved from Nazareth to Capernaum. We connect this to Psalm 23 in the valley of the shadow of death, which in our view is the Jordan River Valley between Mount Hermon and the Sea of Galilee. Isaiah 9 also includes the prophecy of a coming Savior who is called “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isa. 9:6). We discussed the interesting rendering of this verse in the Lexham English Septuagint, in which “Wonderful Counselor” is translated “Messenger of the Great Council.” The second half of this chapter is devoted to God's judgment on the northern Kingdom of Israel, which was fulfilled when the Assyrians overran and conquered Samaria in 722 BC. Here is a link to a PDF copy of the R. H. Charles translation of The Ascension of Isaiah (link opens PDF document). Sharon's niece, Sarah Sachleben, has been diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah. Our new book The Gates of Hell is now available in paperback, Kindle, and as an audiobook at Audible! Derek's new book Destination: Earth, co-authored with Donna Howell and Allie Anderson, is now available in paperback, Kindle, and as an audiobook at Audible! If you are looking for a text of the Book of 1 Enoch to follow our monthly study, you can try these sources: Parallel translations by R. H. Charles (1917) and Richard Laurence (1821)Modern English translation by George W. E. Nickelsburg and James VanderKam (link to book at Amazon)Book of 1 Enoch - Standard English Version by Dr. Jay Winter (link opens free PDF)Book of 1 Enoch - R. H. Charles translation (link opens free PDF) The SkyWatchTV store has a special offer on Dr. Michael Heiser's two-volume set A Companion to the Book of Enoch. Get both books, the R. H. Charles translation of 1 Enoch, and a DVD interview with Mike and Steven Bancarz for a donation of $35 plus shipping and handling. Link: https://bit.ly/heiser-enoch Follow us!• X: @gilberthouse_tv | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbert• Telegram: t.me/gilberthouse | t.me/sharonsroom | t.me/viewfromthebunker• YouTube: @GilbertHouse | @UnravelingRevelation | @thebiblesgreatestmysteries• Facebook.com/GilbertHouseFellowship Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! We truly appreciate your support. If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate. Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech! The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/. Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site! Gilbert House T-shirts and mugs! New to our store is a line of GHTV and Redwing Saga merch! Check it out at GilbertHouse.org/store! Think better, feel better! Our partners at Simply Clean Foods offer freeze-dried, 100% GMO-free food and delicious, vacuum-packed fair trade coffee from Honduras. Find out more at GilbertHouse.org/store. Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the left-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org.

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Those Who Dwelt in a Land of Deep Darkness, On Them Has Light Shone

Gilbert House Fellowship

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 8, 2026 93:42

ISAIAH'S PROPHECY of a coming, Messiah included for seeing where Jesus would declare war on the fallen realm. Chapter 9 of the book of Isaiah picks up where the prophet left off, condemning the people of Israel, for consulting the dead on behalf of the living. His prophecy that a light would shine on those dwelling in a land of deep darkness was cited by Matthew as fulfilled when Jesus moved from Nazareth to Capernaum. We connect this to Psalm 23 in the valley of the shadow of death, which in our view is the Jordan River Valley between Mount Hermon and the Sea of Galilee. Isaiah 9 also includes the prophecy of a coming Savior who is called “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isa. 9:6). We discussed the interesting rendering of this verse in the Lexham English Septuagint, in which “Wonderful Counselor” is translated “Messenger of the Great Council.” The second half of this chapter is devoted to God's judgment on the northern Kingdom of Israel, which was fulfilled when the Assyrians overran and conquered Samaria in 722 BC.Here is a link to a PDF copy of the R. H. Charles translation of The Ascension of Isaiah (link opens PDF document).

PAMELA DOWNES on Awakening, Channeling the Great Council of Light, and Saying Yes to Your Soul's Assignment

Dare to Dream with Debbi Dachinger

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 6, 2026 65:41 Transcription Available

Podcast Highlights~ 1) Earth's Next 10–20 Years Revealed: The timelines humanity is about to step into2) The Great Council of Light Speaks: What they say about your forgotten power3) The Most Shocking Channeling Moment Ever: What came through that no one expected4) The Awakening Line You Can't Uncross: When there's no going back to who you were What happens when Spirit calls and you answer without a safety net? Pamela Downes is here to reveal what it truly means to awaken your gifts, embody your light, and navigate contact with higher councils of intelligence without losing yourself, your grounding, or your humanity. Pamela is a spiritual leader, a channel for the Great Council of Light, Soul Healer and the visionary founder of Spirit Calling. To learn more:⁠ https://spirit-calling.com/ ⁠ See Debbi speak live at L.A. Conscious Life Expo (Feb 20-23, 2026): ⁠https://debbidachinger.com/cle ⁠Join Debbi and other presenters on a cruise to Greece and Turkey: March 19, 2026: ⁠myseryschoolatsea.com⁠ (use Debbi Dachinger under referral)**More with Debbi** ✨ January 6, 2026, Shamanism Level One program, work directly with Debbi in profound shamanic journey. It's time to remember YOUR medicine: ⁠https://debbidachinger.com/L1⁠Free Starseed Report: ⁠debbidachinger.com/starseed⁠IG: @daretodreampodcast @debbidachingerHosted by Debbi Dachinger, award-winning broadcaster, shamanic healer, & book launch mentor for authors ready to rise.Hashtags: #PamelaDownes #GreatCouncilOfLight #channeler #spiritualawakening #soulactivation #higherconsciousness #SpiritCalling #GalacticGuidance #ClairSenses #LightEmbodiment #divinecalling #starseedawakening #consciousness #healingjourney #daretodreampodcast #debbidachinger #channelingBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/dare-to-dream-with-debbi-dachinger--1980925/support.

Living Spirit First: Pamela Downes' Insights

A Guided Life

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 24, 2026 59:31

Today, Pamela Downes shares her journey of spiritual awakening, emphasizing the importance of living with spirit first. She discusses her experiences with channeling, the impact of personal trauma, and the role of community in spiritual growth. Pamela highlights the significance of love in spirituality and the teachings of the Great Council of Light, encouraging listeners to raise their frequency and embrace their role as creators of their reality. The conversation culminates in a call to action for listeners to engage with their spiritual journeys and the resources available through Spirit Calling. Meet Pamela Downes—spiritual leader, channel for the Great Council of Light, and visionary founder of Spirit Calling. After 25 years as a successful entrepreneur, Pamela stepped fully into her soul calling: activating higher consciousness and guiding people to embody their light. Her podcast, meditations, and live transmissions inspire thousands to trust their awakening and remember why they're here. Find Pamela:

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Living Spirit First: Pamela Downes' Insights

A Guided Life

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 24, 2026 59:31

downes great council spirit first

Signs Your Soul Is Awakening

The You-est You™ Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 14, 2025 67:23

Do you ever meet someone and just know—without logic or reason—that your soul has known them before? This week on the You-est You® Podcast, I sat down with my dear friend Pamela Downes (who may feel like a long-lost soul sister to you) for a heart-opening conversation about spiritual awakening and the courage it takes to follow your inner guidance and be fully seen. Pamela vulnerably shares her journey of shedding old identities, trusting the messages from the Great Council of Light, and letting intuition—not fear—lead her life. ✨ There's a powerful channeled transmission at the end, so be sure to stay until the last moment. Yes to full-body chills. If your heart has been craving deeper connection, community, and a reminder that you're not walking this path alone—you're going to feel so deeply held in this conversation. Takeaways Meeting soul family can happen at any stage of life. Spiritual awakening often begins with questioning long-held beliefs. Life experiences shape our self-worth and confidence. Courage is essential for personal transformation. Intuition can guide us through life's challenges. Channeling can provide profound spiritual insights. Community support is vital in the journey of awakening. Heightening one's frequency is crucial in today's changing world. Embracing vulnerability can lead to deeper connections. Trusting the process can lead to unexpected blessings. About Pamela Downes Pamela Downes is an intuitive creative, channel, and conscious brand strategist who works closely with the Great Council of Light to guide heart-centered leaders through spiritual awakening and soul-led expression. After a successful career in traditional marketing, she experienced a profound inner calling to step into her true spiritual work—helping others align their voice, vision, and vibration with their highest purpose. About Your Host, Julie Reisler Join Julie Reisler weekly, podcast host, intuitive coach, author, and multi-time TEDx speaker, each week to learn how to access your spiritual gifts and inner guidance to be your You-est You® and achieve greater inner peace, spiritual connection, happiness, and abundance. Tune in to hear powerful, inspirational stories and wisdom from spiritual luminaries, experts, conscious leaders, psychic mediums, and extraordinary human beings that will help to transform your life. Be sure to subscribe to Julie's YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/juliereisler and ring the notification bell so that you never miss a powerful episode! Here's to your truest, You-est You! Love, Julie You-est You® Resources for YOU! See below for free tools, resources, programs, and goodies to help you become your YOU-EST YOU! FREE Manifest Your Goals & Dreams 7-Day Toolset This stunning free toolset is a 7-day workbook (25 pages full) of powerful mindset practices, grounding meditations (and audio), a new beautiful time management system and template to set your personalized schedule for your best productivity, a personalized energy assessment, and so much more. It was designed to specifically help you uplevel your routine and self-care habits for success so you can radiate and become your ‘You-est You'. These tools are some of Julie's best practices used with hundreds of her clients to help you feel more confident, clear, and connected to your best self so that you feel inspired to take on the world. Get it at: juliereisler.com/toolset FREE Intuition Test Unlock your unique intuitive super-powers and discover your dominant Intuition Language™. Take the free test now at https://juliereisler.com/intuitiontest-podcast Intuition Activation Mini-Course - 90% OFF! For a limited time only, get access to Julie's powerful transformative Intuition Activation mini-course for 90% off! You'll have lifetime access to this course that is full of video modules, worksheets, meditations, tools and practices to unlock your intuition and activate your inner guidance! Sign up now at https://juliereisler.com/activation Craving deeper connection beyond words? Explore my Meditation Portal — a sacred space for weekly guided meditations, energy healing, and intuitive alignment. These channeled journeys are activations designed to help you reconnect with your soul, expand your inner awareness, and live from a place of calm, clarity, and higher love.

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Reimagining Yamato

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 1, 2025 39:10

With the end of the Jinshin War, Oama, posthumously known as Temmu Tenno, came to the throne. And though they would need a new Great Council of State, they continued to build up and bolster the Ritsuryo state. They were imagining a new Yamato based on continental models of what a state should look like, but also influenced by tradition. This episode we take a look at that reimagining in broad strokes, asking a few questions--what was Oama's relationship with his brother, and touching on the relationship of Nakatomi no Kamatari and his brother, Nakatomi no Kane. We also take a look at some of the literary propaganda that also helped to codify this new imaginary--the Nihon Shoki and the Kojiki. We also touch on other sourcesof information, like the Fudoki and Man'yoshu. For more information, check out our blog: https://sengokudaimyo.com/podcast/episode-133 Rough Transcript Welcome to Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan. My name is Joshua, and this is episode 133: Reimagining Yamato As the bells of Houkouji tolled, Ohoama and his wife, Uno, surveyed the construction on going in the Asuka valley. Hordes of workers had been called up, and now they were working furiously towards the deadline of the new year. Where once stood the later Wokamoto palace of Takara Hime, aka Ohoama's mother, Saimei Tennou, now the land was being prepared for a palace on a much grander scale. And just as the palace was being remade, Ohoama's thoughts went beyond the valley, to the entire archipelago. His brother, Naka no Oe, had started something profound. Now here he was, helming the Ship of State, and Ohoama had plans of his own, built upon his brother's ideas. He would build a new state, ensuring that the reforms that started back in 645 would continue for generations. Greetings everyone and welcome back. As we dive back in, let's recap where we are. The year is now 673, and the fighting from the previous year—the Jinshin war—is over. Prince Ohoama and his Yoshino forces were victorious and he is now poised to ascend the throne in the recently built Palace of Kiyomihara, in Asuka. He will be known to future generations by his posthumous name: Temmu Tennou. Ohoama would go ahead and continue to centralize the government under the continental model. That said, he also would pay a not insignificant amount of attention to local tradition as well. His reign would lead to the establishment of the first permanent capital city: Fujiwara-kyo. He is also credited with initiating the projects collecting various historical records, which culminated in the Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki, the very chronicles on which this podcast is based – and both of which seem to have been designed specifically to promote the authority of the throne, specifically Ohoama and his descendants. Those descendants—the Temmu dynasty—would rule for almost a century, including four of the eight official female sovereigns (those eight become ten if you count the unofficial Himiko and Okinaga Tarashi-hime, aka Jingu Tennou). This dynasty would reign from the end of the Asuka period up through to the Nara period, and it would see the evolution of the Yamato state into the kingdom of Nihon—which is to say the kingdom of Japan. The politics of this period were also quite something. It is during this coming period that we see the rise of the famous Fujiwara family, who would come to dominate the political landscape. We also see the continued contact with the mainland, with numerous trade goods coming over, many of which would be included in the famous Shousouin storehouse of Toudaiji temple, in Nara. Buddhism would also thrive, with Kokubunji, or provincial temples, being set up in a network around the archipelago. There was also the building of the famous Daibutsu, or Giant Buddha statue, of Toudaiji. Art would also flourish. The Man'yoshu would be published at this time—a collection of around 4,500 Japanese poems, or waka. Meanwhile, the court would also focus on continental styles as well. From this point on, not only do we have more evidence of what was happening through the written record, but the writing itself changed. Different Sinitic characters were borrowed solely for their sound to help spell out Japanese words. These would eventually be simplified, and known as “kana”. The earliest use of these characters is known as “Man'yo-gana” because so many are traced back to the Man'yoshu itself. They would eventually be standardized and simplified, becoming the hiragana and katakana we know and use today. But in 673, all of this is still on the horizon. So this is a great time to pause for a bit in our journey through the chronicles and set the stage for this next, incredibly transformative period in the archipelago by going over these larger patterns in some depth, so that, as we start to go through this period we get a better idea of just what was happening, and perhaps why. That's what we'll do this episode. To start with, let's go back to the relationship between Naka no Oe and Ohoama. As far as we can tell, these brothers were fairly close to one another. Not only was Ohoama married to one of Naka no Oe's daughters, Princess Uno, he had actually taken as consort at least four of Naka no Oe's other daughters—all of which were Ohoama's nieces. In turn, one of Ohoama's own daughters, Princess Touchi, had been married off to Ohotomo, aka the ill-fated Koubun Tennou. On top of that, Naka no Oe and Ohoama both had taken as consorts daughters of Soga no Akaye, and both Ohotomo and Ohoama had consorts from Nakatomi—or Fujiwara—no Kamatari. This demonstrates just how interrelated everyone was at court, presumably as a means of strengthening the ties between them. Of course, as we've seen time and again, those ties were more symbolic than anything else, and certainly did not prevent the occasional use of violence, nor did it protect the fathers of those women from political repercussions when they found themselves on the wrong side. On the other hand, beyond the initial mention of their births, we don't see the two brothers together until Naka no Oe came to the throne. Why? Well, to be fair, we don't see much of anyone but the sovereign in the Chronicles unless there is a specific thing they are called out for—like an embassy, presenting something to the throne, etc. Even Naka no Oe often isn't mentioned directly, even when he was the Crown Prince and supposedly helping run the government. So that could be it. There are two apparent counter arguments to the idea that Naka no Oe and his brother, Ohoama, were tight. First is a mention in the Toushi Kaden, the Family History of the Fujiwara Family, about Ohoama thrusting a spear into a board, which rattled Naka no Oe enough that he was apparently wondering if he needed to have his own brother taken out. Then there is Ohoama's resignation at the time of Naka no Oe's death, presumably because he was warned that a plot was afoot, and that if he accepted Naka no Oe's offer to take the reins of the state in his own two hands then something—we aren't told what—would unfold. I can't rule out the idea that neither of those accounts is quite accurate either, however. It is possible that the Toushi Kaden account is embellished to heighten Fujiwara no Kamatari's own role as peacemaker between the brothers. I also have to wonder if the warning to Ohoama around Naka no Oe's death wasn't so much about Naka no Oe, but about his ministers. After all, they seem to have had no problem supporting the much younger—and likely more malleable—Prince Ohotomo. So it seems to me entirely possible that there were other threats that Ohoama was concerned with. That brings me to one of those ministers: Nakatomi no Kane. We talked about him before and during the war. He first showed up participating in ritual and speaking on kami matters. He would later rise to be one of the Great Ministers of State, and was one of the six ministers who had pledged themselves to Prince Ohotomo. At the end of the Jinshin War, he was put to death and his family was banished. That said, in period leading up to all of that, we spent a good amount of time with another Nakatomi: Nakatomi no Kamatari. He was the head of the Nakatomi clan and the Naidaijin, the Interior Minister, a special position placing him on par, or even above, the Ministers of the Left and Right, but which did not have a well defined portfolio noted in the literature. Interestingly, this position also doesn't seem to have survived Kamatari, at least in the short run. From the time of Naka no Oe, aka Tenji Tennou, to the time of Ohoama, aka Temmu Tennou, it seems that the office of Naidaijin fell out of favor, possibly due, in part, to Prince Ohotomo being raised to a different post, that of Dajou Daijin, placing him in charge of the Great Council of State. The Naidaijin role wouldn't be revived until 717 for Kamatari's grandson, Fujiwara no Fusasaki (interestingly, only three years before the completion of the Nihon Shoki). Nakatomi no Kane was, as far as we can tell, the brother to Kamatari. When Kamatari passed away, Kane seems to have taken on the role as head of the Nakatomi family and he was also made Minister of the Right. This mirrors, in its way, the relationship between Naka no Oe and Ohoama, and the common system of inheritance that would often go brother to brother. And yet, while Kamatari was a hero of the Taika era, Nakatomi no Kane was executed for his role in the Jinshin War. So in the context of the rise of the Fujiwaras to greater prominence later on in Ohoama's reign, it is significant that Kamatari's line would be set apart from the rest of the Nakatomi to the extent of giving it the new Fujiwara name. Although the Chronicles claim that the “Fujiwara” name was actually granted by Naka no Oe, there is a thought that this was granted posthumously, and may have even been retconned by later members of the family, possibly to distance themselves from Nakatomi no Kane and his role on the losing side of the Jinshin War, and tie themselves clearly to Kamatari and his founding role in Naka no Oe's and Ohoama's new vision, instead. This all brings me to my next point: the creation of the national histories. The projects that culminated in what we know today as the Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki are said to have been started under Ohoama's reign, though they wouldn't be finished until much later, well into the 8th century. A lot of what went into them was work under Ohoama's wife Uno, who succeeded him as Jitou Tennou, as well as her successors. Prince Toneri, one of Ohoama's sons, is said to have overseen the Nihon Shoki's compilation. Prince Toneri was son of Ohoama and princess Niitabe, one of Naka no Oe's daughters, and while he never sat the throne, himself, one of his sons would eventually do so. As such, we can see a strong royal hand on the project, even though the actual composition was probably by several teams of Chroniclers—we touched on this briefly back in Episode 131. The Kojiki, on the other hand, is said to have been written by Oho no Yasumaro based on the oral history that had been maintained by Hieda no Are. We don't know much about Hieda no Are—there are some that believe they may have been a woman, since a passage in a later work, the Seikyuuki, suggests that they were a member of the Sarume no Kimi family, descended from Ame no Uzume no Mikoto, who is said to have danced and helped lure Amaterasu out of the rock cave. And so they were particularly known for their role as shrine maidens—a particularly female role. That said, Are received the title of “toneri”, which is often assumed to be male, and there is nothing else that explicitly says they were not. Either way, Hieda no Are is said to have been commanded by the sovereign, Ohoama, to memorize the history of the nation, presumably to then perform it as needed, for the court. Only later was Oho no Yasumaro asked to write it down in what became known as the Kojiki. Both of these chronicles were attempts to organize the history of the nation and to put together all the stories in a way that would establish a foundation for the new state that was evolving out of ancient Yamato. A large part of that effort was going to be to justify those who were in power at the time—including both the royal family and the various noble houses at the time, including the powerful Fujiwara. Now, when we talk about how these histories were created to bolster the state, I want to be careful. It may not have necessarily been the case that the chroniclers were actively and consciously promoting a fictional account. From what we can tell, the chroniclers drew from a collection of stories, some written down in diaries and court records, works like the Baekje annals and continental histories, and some that were likely just memorized tales that were part of the general culture. There were a couple of existing histories—we are told, for example, that there was a Teiki and a Kyuji floating around, both attributed to the legendary Shotoku Taishi, and both supposedly including the royal lineage at least to Toyomike-kashikiya-hime, aka Suikou Tennou. However, the copies that were being passed around were apparently suspect, and we are told that there were inconsistencies. Which probably means that the way they told the story did not conform to the way that Ohoama and the royal family wanted it told, though it could also refer to the fact that different accounts had slight variations on the stories, many of which had probably started as oral traditions that were only later written down. It is also likely that there was only so much detail in those ancient texts, but we can't know for sure. The Sendai Kuji Hongi purports to be the text of the original Kyuuji, or Kyuujiki, but that claim is dubious, at best, though it may have used an older, no longer extant history to crib its own notes from. So there were probably some writings, already, but there was also so much more. There were stories from various familial records, stories told by various shrines about their kami and their histories, and stories passed down as local history that had never been captured, previously. All of this was good material for the project of creating an official national history that aimed to tell the whole story. To get an idea of what the Chroniclers of that time might have been going through, imagine that you have some 2,000 random facts about the United States, or any country of your choice, in no particular order—stories of heroes, presidents, wars, etc. On top of that, only a few of them ever give you any kind reference dates, and when they do, those dates are only in relationship to the presidents in office – the third year of the presidency of Roosevelt, for example - or maybe they reference another event. In addition, some of the facts have been lost, or they come from history books with a slightly different format. Or they come from diaries with different perspectives and takes on the same event. And then, without the aid of the Internet or any other reference material, you are asked to put all of that together into a coherent narrative. In all likelihood you would be able to generally construct many of the broad strokes. You would leverage what you know to be true and do your best to put things in place, but there is no guarantee that everything would be in the right order. And in places where there wasn't any clear through line, you may have needed to come up with your best, most plausible explanation and write that down. Also, imagine you had, in the interests of completeness, thrown in some of the more, shall we say, apocryphal stories. George Washington cutting down a cherry tree, for instance, or the story of Johnny Appleseed, or even the more fantastical stories of Davy Crockett. Without other reference points, would you know where they went, or how true they actually were? Add to all of that the lack of a referential calendar. The sexagesimal system helps for units of 60 years, but there was nothing comparable to a western calendar in use at the time. Instead, everything was based on the number of years in a given reign. So instead of thinking about it as “did this happen in 584 or 524?” it was more like “Did this happen in the years of the sovereign reigning from X palace or Y palace?” Now that said, there do appear to have been individuals whose job was to memorize the stories and the histories and recite them. We have, for example, the Kataribe, the guild of storytellers. It may have been out of this tradition that we get the eventual commission of the previously mentioned Hieda no Are, who was to memorize all of the historical events and recite them back, which I can only imagine would have been a kind of performance for the court, helping to reinforce the narrative. But still, as Are was putting everything together, what were the assumptions and guidelines they were working under? After all, there were no doubt certain truths, whether factual or not, that were pushed by the court. Things like the idea of an unbroken line of sovereigns going all the way back to the mythical founding, just like in continental stories. Or, the idea that worship centered from the beginning around the sun goddess, Amaterasu. There is plenty of evidence that while the early Wa people practiced various forms of sun worship, with traces found in their language as well as stories, cultural traditions, etc., it was not necessarily Amaterasu who was the primary deity of worship. Back in the Age of the Gods we talked about the creator deities, Izanagi and Izanami, and about the High god of Heaven, Takami Musubi, who seems to at one point been the most prominent central deity, but who had since been eclipsed, if you will, by the likes of Amaterasu. We also see evidence that there were other sun deities. The language around Sarutahiko no Ohokami suggests that he may have once been worshipped as a sun deity as well. And there is the early primacy of Mt. Miwa as a place of worship, and the spirit of Ohomononushi. This is to say nothing of Ohokuninushi, and all of his stories, up in Izumo. Furthermore, it seems telling that Amaterasu is not even central to the rituals conducted in the palace itself, which likely went back to an even earlier period. If Amaterasu were central, and the ancestral kami of the royal family since its inception, one would expect that Amaterasu would also be central to the rites carried out by her descendants in the royal palace. And yet most of her worship appears to have continued to be set apart from the palace ritual, and conducted out of Ise shrine (albeit after a certain point ceremonially led by a designated female member of the royal line). Even Ise shrine itself isn't the primary shrine in the Ise area—the Ichi-no-miya, or most important shrine, of Ise is actually said to be Tsubaki shrine, worshipping Saruta Hiko no Ohokami and Ame no Uzume. So how did Amaterasu come to be so central in Ohoama's vision? There are stories that say that worship at Ise Shrine—and worship of Amaterasu—was specifically conducted by Ohoama's wife during the Jinshin campaign. This is to say Ohoama's wife, primary consort, eventual queen and then queen regnant, Uno, later known as Jitou Tennou. Remember, Uno had fled with Ohoama and had been on the trail with him at first, but had stayed behind in Ise. Worship towards Ise seems to have later been counted as foundational to Ohoama and Uno's victory, and many suspect that they themselves may subsequently have encouraged greater worship of Amaterasu and placed her in the central position of sacral authority amongst the various kami. If so, that could explain why their histories focus so much on Amaterasu and her Heavenly descendant, from which the royal line claimed direct lineage. It might also be around this time that the story of Iwarebiko, aka Jimmu Tennou, and the conquest of Yamato from Himuka may have been introduced: telling how Iwarebiko justifiably took away the land from the descendants of Nigi Hayahi, and then connecting Iwarebiko, in an extremely loose fashion, to Mimaki Iiribiko no Mikoto, aka Sujin Tennou. Another influence on all of this was likely the continental concept that time is a circle, and history repeats itself. Chroniclers seeking to place events in a narrative context would have likely seen reflections of more recent events and used that to help order their compilation. And of course, if there were events that seemed to run counter to the truth as known by the court, well, those could be smoothed over. In this way, co-rulers were probably serialized, inconvenient interim rulers may have been excised altogether, and different dynasties, which may have only had tenuous connections, at best, were written down as direct lineal descendants. It also seems telling that the Chroniclers may have reduced the role of what appears to be matrilineal succession to a more patriarchal and patrilineal determination of legitimacy. Similarly, connections could be made for families to ancient ancestors through whom they were able to claim a certain proximity to the royal family. Likewise, rules for legitimacy could be imposed—or perhaps just assumed—for previous reigns, doing their best to bring them into harmony with the social norms and the cultural imaginaries of the late 7th and early 8th centuries. So that's the general context the Chroniclers were working under. But at this point it's illuminating to take a look at the two histories and how they differ, to see what we can understand about where those differences came from. The work of Hieda no Are, eventually recorded and written down as the Kojiki, seems to have dealt with history that was far enough back that it was likely hard to argue with—it isn't like there was anyone alive who could counter with their own facts. And the Kojiki reads as a fairly straightforward narrative, relatively speaking. The Nihon Shoki, on the other hand, is a different beast. While the Kojiki may have captured the official narrative, the Nihon Shoki seems to have been designed to include more—including some of the competing accounts. Thus you'll get a lot of things like “another source says…” with a different take on the same event. This is much more prevalent in the Age of the Gods, but still pops up occasionally throughout the rest of the text. Nonetheless, it is still very much focused on the royal line from Amaterasu down to Naka no Oe and Ohoama. Even their posthumous names, Tenji and Temmu, specifically reference Ten, also pronounced Ama, at the start of their names, in what appears to be a bid to further connect them to the sun goddess of Heavenly Brightness--Amaterasu. Both of these works have their own character, and while the dates they were presented to the throne—713 for the Kojiki and 720 for the Nihon Shoki—suggest that they were published in succession, there are those that argue that the Kojiki is largely a reaction against the Nihon Shoki. In all likelihood the contents of the Nihon Shoki were known to many people before it was presented. There were groups of Chroniclers involved, after all -- which meant teams of scribes pouring through sources, seeking out myths and legends, and generally trying to bring everything they could to the table. And there is no indication that this was done in secret. So it is quite possible that the writers of the Kojiki had seen some of the early drafts and cribbed from those notes. Some of the ways that the the history differ are in their portrayal of certain accounts. For example, the Kojiki presents Iwarebiko and the pacification of Yamato and archipelago more generally in terms of that mythical sovereign conversing with the spirits. And so he converses with, for instance, Ohomononushi, the deity of Mt. Miwa, a spirit whose name might be translated as the Great Lord of the Spirits, or “Mono”. This idea places the sovereign as an intercessor between the mortal and the spirit world. It hearkens back to earlier systems of sacral kingship, where power and authority came, at least in part, from supposed power of one's sacred sites and protective spirits. The Kojiki is also written in a much more vernacular style, using kanji and what we know of as man'yogana, the kanji used for their sound, rather than meaning, to provide a syllabary with which to write out Japanese words. This may have been done for similar reasons to why it was also used in the Man'yoshu itself—because the Kojiki was meant to be recited aloud, not just read for meaning. The Nihon Shoki, in contrast, is clearly attempting to emulate the continental style. It relies much more heavily on not just the characters but the grammar of Chinese, though not without its own idiosyncrasies. The Nihon Shoki incorporated classical references that mirrored the references found in the histories of the Tang and earlier dynasties. I suspect, for instance, that this is one of the main reasons that Naka no Oe and Ohoama are given the posthumous names of “Tenji” and “Temmu”. Tenji means something like the Wisdom of Heaven while Temmu is more like the Martial Virtue of Heaven. This immediately brings to mind, for me, the continental concepts of Wen and Wu—Culture and Warefare, or Bunbu in Japanese. This even mirrors the founding Zhou kings, King Wen and King Wu. Later, in the Han dynasty, you have Emperor Wu of Han, the grandson of Emperor Wen of Han, and Wu was considered to be one of the greatest emperors of the Han dynasty. And so I can't help but think that there was a similar attempt at mythmaking going on here, connecting these two reigns with the reigns of famous emperors of the continent. Of course, “Wu” was a popular name amongst the imperial dynasties from that period onward, with emperors of Jin, Chen, Liang, and others all being given the same name. This all accords with the way that the sovereign in the Nihon Shoki is less of a sacral king, interceding and speaking with the kami, and more along the continental model of an absolute ruler who ruled by divine right and heavenly mandate. The lands outside of Yamato are subdued and, except for the occasional uprising, stay subdued—or at least that is what the narrative would seemingly have us believe. Now, I would argue that these distinctions are not absolute. The Kojiki contains plenty of concepts of imperial trappings, and the Nihon Shoki contains plenty of examples of the sovereign playing a more traditional role. But it is something to consider in the broad strokes of what they are saying, and I would argue that it also speaks to the duality of what was going on in this period. Clearly the Ritsuryo State was built on the continental model, with an absolute ruler who ruled through a Heavenly mandate. And yet at the same time, we see Ohoama patronizing the traditional spiritual sites and kami worship, like the emphasis on Amaterasu and Ise shrine. Besides the Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki, we have one more set of official records that were compiled just as the major histories were beginning to be finished. These were the Fudoki. Fudoki were texts about the various provinces, and they include information on the various places, population, soil quality, as well as various local myths and legends attached to such things. Rather than supporting the royal lineage, the Fudoki were more geared towards supporting the process begun under Karu and Naka no Oe with the Ritsuryo system whereby knowledge of the archipelago was being centralized such that the State could know about its territories. Still, there are many times that the various Fudoki refer to different sovereigns, often to help situate a given event roughly within the historical narrative. The Fudoki were commissioned in 713. At least 48 chronicles were said to have been compiled, but only a handful of them remain extant today. Most are only partial texts, though even those can still contain significant information. We also have purported text from certain fudoki that were reprinted in later histories. The Shaku Nihongi seems to have been one such work, expressly commissioned to try and compile various older records that were likely aging and in danger of being lost altogether. However, there is a concern regarding just how faithful those later transcriptions might have been, meaning that we cannot rely on them, entirely. Still, they are an invaluable addition to our study of the history of this period. I mention all of this because much of this period seems dedicated to remaking the nation of Yamato into what we know as Japan. This evolution didn't happen overnight, and it seems clear that it started gradually, but had now come to a head. There is some consideration, though, that many of the things attributed to earlier reigns—the work done by Shotoku Taishi, for example, or even that of Naka no Oe—may have been embellished in this period. After all, consider the difference between Ohoama trying to institute something entirely new versus pointing back to a previous sovereign and claiming that he wasn't innovating, he was just following tradition. But there are still unmistakable signs of innovation in the following reigns. The creation of the first permanent capital city, for one. There was also the blending of Buddhist and local kami-based traditions. While Buddhism had been ascendant for a while, now, we see Ohoama seemingly paying equal homage to Amaterasu and the local kami. Even while instituting new fangled continental ideas, he is also hearkening back to traditions that I can only imagine helped assuage some of the fears of any traditionalists who saw the rapid speed at which the archipelago was adopting at least the trappings of continental imperial culture. Speaking of culture, there was one other work that we should probably mention, and that is the famous Man'yoshu—the collection of 10,000 Leaves. I mentioned this briefly earlier in the episode, but I do want to discuss it a bit, because as much as we may glean from the official histories, as well as the various fudoki texts, the Man'yoshu provides an invaluable view into the minds of the people of the time, and contains some incredibly useful tidbits of information that, when put together, help give us a better idea of what was happening during this period. The Man'yoshu is a collection of more than 4500 poems attributed to various historical figures, from sovereigns, such as Ohoama and Naka no Oe, to common soldiers. It is remarkable in that the poems are largely in native Japanese and are not using the Sinitic poetry styles that were popular with scholars of the time. These poems are waka, Japanese verse, which typically follows a pattern of repeating verses of 5-7-5 syllables or morae, ending with two lines of 7-7. The most simple of these are tanka—one top verse of 5-7-5, and one bottom verse of 7-7. However, the poems in the collection can vary quite a bit. They are also remarkable in that they are written in what we know as Man'yogana. That is to say they use Sinitic characters—kanji—but for their sound rather than their meaning in many cases. This practice allowed for much more nuanced writing, such that the author could be more certain that the correct meaning could be taken away, since Japanese grammar differs greatly from various Chinese languages, and leverages particles and suffixes that are non-existent in Sinitic script. Often times, when reading something like the Nihon Shoki, one has to infer the Japanese word order, particles, and suffixes from the text as a whole. This is common with any kanbun—a very Japanese style of Chinese writing that often requires its own study to fully understand. Meanwhile, the Man'yogana allowed someone to more easily sound out the letters in the Man'yoshu. This must have been important when morae or syllable count was important to the art form. Furthermore, it gives us tremendous insight into how spoken Japanese may have sounded back in the 8th century. And of course it is great that we have all of these poems, but almost more important is the other information contained in the collection. Most poems not only are attributed to a particular author, but they often give a brief introduction to lay out the circumstance in which the poem was composed. These poems are, in many ways, more straightforward than many later poetic styles, which relied much more heavily on so-called “pillow words”, poetic allusions, or callbacks to previous poems—not that they were completely devoid of such references, especially to other, often continental, works. Some poems are actually paired—a type of call and response. A man would often be expected to send a poem to a lady with whom he had recently had assignations, and she would often respond. Through such correspondence, preserved in the poetic record, we can see connections that might not be as clear in the various historical texts. Now, 4500 is a lot of poems and I'll be honest, I'm probably not going to be researching all of them for historical tidbits, but it is nonetheless important to understand. One should also be careful—while the poems are often attributed to various artists and famous persons, this may sometimes be misleading. The attribution may have been garbled or forgotten, and recreated. Most of the poems in the Man'yoshu are presented with at least some amount of framing around them. They are grouped loosely by various themes. We are then told, for each poem, the composer and the occasion for which it was created. Sometimes this may be as simple as “when they were out hunting”, but that still gives us some context on which to go by as for why the author was writing the poem in the first place. The poems themselves vary in size. There are short poems, or tanka, but also longer form chōka poems, with multiple verses. Some may allude to previous poems, but many of the poems are just about the author's feelings. Unlike haiku, they were not quite so proscribed in terms of “pillow words” or requisite seasonal descriptions. And yet these poems, just as much as the histories, were important in capturing some part of the cultural zeitgeist from that time. We can see what was considered popular or important, and it was there for future generations down until today. Ultimately the Kojiki would largely be overshadowed by the more comprehensive and prestigious seeming history in the Nihon Shoki. The Nihon Shoki would become the official history, inspiring future historical records, such as the Shoku Nihongi, the continuation of the records. The Man'yoshu, likewise, would be emulated, with future compilations like the Kokinshu. These, in turn, would impact the cultural imaginary of the time. They would shape people's ideas about the past, about art, and even about the nature of the kami themselves. During this period it is hard to understate just how much they were setting in place a new system. It is even difficult to tell how much of that system had actually been instituted by previous sovereigns, even though it's hard to tell how much that actually happened as opposed to simple claims by Ohoama and, later, Uno, to justify what they were doing. Up to this point, the Ritsuryou State and the various reforms had been an experiment, but under Ohoama we truly see that the new government upgrades would be fully installed. At the same time, we also see a shake up in the court. Those who had been loyal to Ohoama during the Jinshin conflict of 672 received various rewards—increased rank and stipend, for one thing. As famous individuals passed away, they were also granted posthumous rank, which might not seem like much, but it increased the family's prestige and that of the individual's descendants without actually handing out a higher level stipend that would be a drain on the coffers. All of this also continued to build up the elites' reliance on not just the court, but on the throne itself for their status, wealth, and position. Thus they had a vested interest in seeing that the project succeeded. And that is the world that we are about to dive into. Thank you, I know we didn't get into too much of the immediate history, and some of this is spoilers—after all, this took time and in the moment it could have turned out quite differently. What if Ohoama had gotten sick and died? What if there had been a rebellion? What if Silla or Tang had attacked? While we know what happened from the safety of our vantage point, far in the future, it is important to remember that at the time the people in the court didn't know what would happen next, so please keep that in mind. Next episode, we'll start to get into the actual events of the reign, starting with Ohoama's ascension to the throne at the newly built Kiyomihara palace in Asuka. Until then, if you like what we are doing, please tell your friends and feel free to rate us wherever you listen to podcasts. If you feel the need to do more, and want to help us keep this going, we have information about how you can donate on Patreon or through our KoFi site, ko-fi.com/sengokudaimyo, or find the links over at our main website, SengokuDaimyo.com/Podcast, where we will have some more discussion on topics from this episode. Also, feel free to reach out to our Sengoku Daimyo Facebook page. You can also email us at the.sengoku.daimyo@gmail.com. Thank you, also, to Ellen for their work editing the podcast. And that's all for now. Thank you again, and I'll see you next episode on Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan.

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Answering the Calling of the Council of Light. When the Future Speaks Through You, with Pamela Downes

Uncover Your Magic

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 22, 2025 71:40

Have you ever had the sensation that something was nudging you toward a deeper truth? What if that tug at your soul is a message from the future?In this profound episode of Uncover Your Magic, Ashley welcomes Pamela Downes, a trance channeler, intuitive visionary, and founder of Spirit Calling. Pamela's awakening began with loss and heartbreak, but what unfolded was a remarkable transformation through plant medicine, energy healing, psychic downloads, and her connection with the Council of Light.We dive deep into Pamela's awakening story, from her heart-opening Reiki experience to her life-changing ayahuasca journey in Costa Rica. Through each intuitive nudge and visionary dream, Pamela was led to build Spirit Calling, a sanctuary for awakening souls and a safe haven for the energetically sensitive. Pamela now shares messages of future events, energetic shifts, and galactic contact, spreading her message of clarity as humanity undergoes a profound transformation.This conversation is both a map and a mirror. It reminds you that your soul chose to be here, now, for a reason. And the future isn't far away... It's already speaking through you.Episode Takeaways:14:30 How Pamela's awakening began after her father's death and her departure from organized religion23:10 Why losing everything became the catalyst for her soul's evolution27:30 The life-changing Reiki experience that opened her heart and revealed her empathic nature31:10 What happened during her Ayahuasca journey at Rhythmia and how it enhanced her psychic gifts36:50 How she began channeling the Great Council of Light and what they've taught her about our collective mission40:10 What her prophetic dreams and visions say about the future of 2025 and beyond49:30 Why Pamela believes the U.S. will experience simultaneous mass events, and how to spiritually prepare58:50 Why she's being called to share messages from the future even when it's uncomfortable1:02:30 A powerful real-time channeled message from the Council of Light for all listenersConnect with Pamela Downes:WebsiteInstagramUse code SPIRIT CALLING for a discount at the San Diego Transcendence RetreatLet's Connect!WebsiteFacebookInstagram Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Andrea Navagero

featured Wiki of the Day

Play Episode Listen Later May 29, 2025 2:30

fWotD Episode 2946: Andrea Navagero Welcome to Featured Wiki of the Day, your daily dose of knowledge from Wikipedia's finest articles.The featured article for Thursday, 29 May 2025, is Andrea Navagero.Andrea Navagero (1483 – 8 May 1529), known as Andreas Naugerius in Latin, was a Venetian diplomat and writer. Born to a wealthy family, he gained entry to the Great Council of Venice at the age of twenty, five years younger than was normal at the time. He dedicated himself to editing classical Latin manuscripts at the Aldine Press printing office, garnering a reputation as a scholar and a skilled writer. In 1515, at the request of the general Bartolomeo d'Alviano, he was appointed the caretaker of a library containing the collection of the scholar Bessarion; this library would later become the Biblioteca Marciana. At the same time, he was designated official historian of the Republic of Venice.As a result of his high standing in Venetian scholarly circles, Navagero was named the Venetian ambassador to Spain in 1523 and navigated the volatile diplomatic climate caused by the conflict between Charles V – the Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain – and Francis I of France. During this time, he provided many highly detailed descriptions of Spanish cities and landmarks. He was imprisoned by Charles in December 1526, but released in a prisoner exchange the following April; before returning home to Venice, he traveled to Paris to acquaint himself with the royal court of Francis. By the time Navagero arrived back in Venice in September 1528, he had grown disillusioned with politics and wished to return to editing manuscripts and cultivating his prized gardens. Much to his dismay, he was appointed ambassador to France in January 1529. After traveling through the Alps to meet Francis I in Blois, he fell gravely ill and died on 8 May 1529.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:36 UTC on Thursday, 29 May 2025.For the full current version of the article, see Andrea Navagero on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm standard Nicole.

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New Perk Released!

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 1, 2025 2:16

We just released a brand new perk you're sure to be excited about!15% off any channeled message work from Pamela Downes!If you listened to our lastet episode, you know how amazing Pamela is...well here's your chance to get guidance from the Great Council of Light yourself!Curious about your life or direction? Pamela can help you tap into your guides and the Great Council of Light to receive insights tailored to your journey. She'll also guide you in integrating their wisdom directly into your life for clarity and alignment....all at a great discount exclusively for Skeptic Metaphysicians listeners!Listen to this super short episode to learn how to access this very cool new perk!Follow The Skeptic Metaphysicians on https://www.instagram.com/skepticmetaphysician_podcast for more motivation and inspiration. Then tag them on Instagram with your favorite part from today's show and they will repost their fav's every week!Other Ways To Connect With Us:Website: https://www.skepticmetaphysician.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SkepticMetaphysicianSupport the Show:Rate/review Us Here: https://lovethepodcast.com/SkepticMetaphysiciansPurchase Merchandise: https://www.skepticmetaphysician.com/storeBuy Me A Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/SkepticMetaphys

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What's Blocking Your Spiritual Awakening?

ImperfectlyPerfect Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 26, 2025 52:51

In this riveting episode, hosts Will and Karen welcome back Pamela Downes, a spiritual guide and channeler for the Great Council of Light. Pamela shares her incredible journey of embracing her soul's purpose, which includes founding the Spirit Calling Community and hosting the 'Live the Call' podcast.Watch the video version on our new platform: https://newrealitytv.com!She delves into her transformative experiences with Reiki, ayahuasca, and channeling, revealing how these practices have helped her and countless others awaken to their inner wisdom and align with their true paths. The discussion also covers the importance of raising individual vibrations, understanding the current shifts on our planet, and how to live a life of divine clarity and purpose.Pamela offers insights into making conscious choices, avoiding negative influences, and staying aligned with your highest self amidst global changes.This episode is packed with inspiration, personal anecdotes, and practical guidance for both skeptics and spiritual seekers.(Times are approximate)00:00 Introduction to the Guest: Pamela Downes00:34 Pamela's Spiritual Journey and Purpose03:46 Pamela's Early Experiences and Awakening06:04 The Spirit Calling Community11:02 Transformative Experiences and Ayahuasca16:22 Channeling and Higher Frequencies27:32 Captivating Stories and Podcast Subscriptions27:57 Messages Humanity Needs to Hear28:48 Understanding Individual Frequency29:16 Raising Vibrations and Avoiding Negativity32:24 Predictions and Global Events33:30 Choosing Your Reality and Timelines36:00 Breaking Down Systems for a Better Future43:28 Living Your Soul's Purpose45:53 Spirit Calling Community and Podcast52:12 Final Thoughts and FarewellGuest Info:Website:https://spirit-calling.com/Podcast:https://www.youtube.com/@spiritcallingpamelaFollow Pamela on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spiritcallingpamelaFollow The Skeptic Metaphysicians on https://www.instagram.com/skepticmetaphysician_podcast for more motivation and inspiration. Then tag them on Instagram with your favorite part from today's show and they will repost their fav's every week!Other Ways To Connect With Us:Website: https://www.skepticmetaphysician.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SkepticMetaphysicianSupport the Show:Rate/review Us Here: https://lovethepodcast.com/SkepticMetaphysiciansPurchase Merchandise: https://www.skepticmetaphysician.com/storeBuy Me A Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/SkepticMetaphys

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S1 - 060 - Pope Julius II - Part Four

Tudoriferous

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 8, 2025 116:19

Louis XII of France decides to oust Julius by using a Great Council to vote him out of office, but Julius decides to fight fire with fire. A special thanks to Rob this week who battled manfully with the song I gave him. He went a bit white when he saw that the lyrics were three pages long! Relevant Episode S1 - 025 - Louis XII of France | Tudoriferous To join our Patreon family for yet more episodes -Tudoriferous | creating a Podcast discussing the great, good and mad Tudor Era | Patreon

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"Speak, Align, Receive: The Formula for a Divinely Guided Life"

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 26, 2025 58:30

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Lessons from the Ancient Church on the Birth of Christ, Part 3

Search the Scriptures Live

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 31, 2024

Some titles for the expected Messiah seem strange to us, such as "Everlasting Father" or "Angel of Great Council." But the Fathers of the Church understood their great significance and will explain them to us as we conclude this short series on the Messianic prophecies.

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Lessons from the Ancient Church on the Birth of Christ, Part 3

Search the Scriptures Live

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 31, 2024

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Nov 4, 2024. Gospel: Matt 25:14-23. St Charles Borromeo, Bishop, Confessor

Traditional Latin Mass Gospel Readings

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 4, 2024 2:39

⁠14 ⁠For even as a man going into a far country, called his servants, and delivered to them his goods;Sicut enim homo peregre proficiscens, vocavit servos suos, et tradidit illis bona sua. ⁠ 15 ⁠And to one he gave five talents, and to another two, and to another one, to every one according to his proper ability: and immediately he took his journey.Et uni dedit quinque talenta, alii autem duo, alii vero unum, unicuique secundum propriam virtutem : et profectus est statim. ⁠ 16 ⁠And he that had received the five talents, went his way, and traded with the same, and gained other five.Abiit autem qui quinque talenta acceperat, et operatus est in eis, et lucratus est alia quinque. ⁠ 17 ⁠And in like manner he that had received the two, gained other two.Similiter et qui duo acceperat, lucratus est alia duo. ⁠ 18 ⁠But he that had received the one, going his way digged into the earth, and hid his lord's money.Qui autem unum acceperat, abiens fodit in terram, et abscondit pecuniam domini sui. ⁠ 19 ⁠But after a long time the lord of those servants came, and reckoned with them.Post multum vero temporis venit dominus servorum illorum, et posuit rationem cum eis. ⁠ 20 ⁠And he that had received the five talents coming, brought other five talents, saying: Lord, thou didst deliver to me five talents, behold I have gained other five over and above.Et accedens qui quinque talenta acceperat, obtulit alia quinque talenta, dicens : Domine, quinque talenta tradidisti mihi, ecce alia quinque superlucratus sum. ⁠ 21 ⁠His lord said to him: Well done, good and faithful servant, because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.Ait illi dominus ejus : Euge serve bone, et fidelis : quia super pauca fuisti fidelis, super multa te constituam; intra in gaudium domini tui. ⁠ 22 ⁠And he also that had received the two talents came and said: Lord, thou deliveredst two talents to me: behold I have gained other two.Accessit autem et qui duo talenta acceperat, et ait : Domine, duo talenta tradidisti mihi, ecce alia duo lucratus sum. ⁠ 23 ⁠His lord said to him: Well done, good and faithful servant: because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.Ait illi dominus ejus : Euge serve bone, et fidelis : quia super pauca fuisti fidelis, super multa te constituam; intra in gaudium domini tui. St Charles, Archbishop of Milan, was one of the greatest and holiest prelates of the years when the Great Council of Trent was being completed and its enactments being put into execution. He reformed the clergy and renewed the spirit of the monasteries in his diocese. He died A.D. 1584.

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The Great Council at Jerusalem (Part 3)

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 11, 2024 25:00

-Encounter God's Truth- brings you timeless truths for changing times.-Dr. John Whitcomb spent much of his life teaching the Old Testament. It was really quite remarkable, then, that in his later years he devoted much of his energy to preparing messages on the New Testament book of Acts. We're so glad that he did, however, because now we have those recordings to benefit from-and to share with you here on -Encounter God's Truth.--So join with us now as we complete our study in Acts 15, in Volume Six in our ongoing series called -Acts- Witness of the Early Church.--Whitcomb Ministries declares with certainty that God's Word is true from the beginning to the end.-As host Wayne Shepherd shares, we bring you this teaching with gratitude to our friends at Middletown Bible Church in Middletown, Conn., where Dr. Whitcomb first delivered it before the Independent Fundamental Bible Conference.

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The Great Council at Jerusalem (Part 1)—Promo

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 11, 2024

-Encounter God's Truth- brings you timeless truths for changing times.-Dr. John Whitcomb spent much of his life teaching the Old Testament. It was really quite remarkable, then, that in his later years he devoted much of his energy to preparing messages on the New Testament book of Acts. We're so glad that he did, however, because now we have those recordings to benefit from-and to share with you here on -Encounter God's Truth.--So join with us now as we open our study of Acts 15, in Volume Six in our ongoing series called -Acts- Witness of the Early Church.--Whitcomb Ministries declares with certainty that God's Word is true from the beginning to the end.-As host Wayne Shepherd shares, we bring you this teaching with gratitude to our friends at Middletown Bible Church in Middletown, Conn., where Dr. Whitcomb first delivered it before the Independent Fundamental Bible Conference.

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The Great Council at Jerusalem (Part 1)

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 11, 2024 25:00

-Encounter God's Truth- brings you timeless truths for changing times.-Dr. John Whitcomb spent much of his life teaching the Old Testament. It was really quite remarkable, then, that in his later years he devoted much of his energy to preparing messages on the New Testament book of Acts. We're so glad that he did, however, because now we have those recordings to benefit from-and to share with you here on -Encounter God's Truth.--So join with us now as we open our study of Acts 15, in Volume Six in our ongoing series called -Acts- Witness of the Early Church.--Whitcomb Ministries declares with certainty that God's Word is true from the beginning to the end.-As host Wayne Shepherd shares, we bring you this teaching with gratitude to our friends at Middletown Bible Church in Middletown, Conn., where Dr. Whitcomb first delivered it before the Independent Fundamental Bible Conference.

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The Great Council at Jerusalem (Part 2)—Promo

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 11, 2024

-Encounter God's Truth- brings you timeless truths for changing times.-Dr. John Whitcomb spent much of his life teaching the Old Testament. It was really quite remarkable, then, that in his later years he devoted much of his energy to preparing messages on the New Testament book of Acts. We're so glad that he did, however, because now we have those recordings to benefit from-and to share with you here on -Encounter God's Truth.--So join with us now as we resume our study in Acts 15, in Volume Six in our ongoing series called -Acts- Witness of the Early Church.--Whitcomb Ministries declares with certainty that God's Word is true from the beginning to the end.-As host Wayne Shepherd shares, we bring you this teaching with gratitude to our friends at Middletown Bible Church in Middletown, Conn., where Dr. Whitcomb first delivered it before the Independent Fundamental Bible Conference.

god truth acts jerusalem old testament promo early church conn middletown whitcomb great council volume six new testament book of acts wayne shepherd

The Great Council at Jerusalem (Part 2)

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 11, 2024 25:00

-Encounter God's Truth- brings you timeless truths for changing times.-Dr. John Whitcomb spent much of his life teaching the Old Testament. It was really quite remarkable, then, that in his later years he devoted much of his energy to preparing messages on the New Testament book of Acts. We're so glad that he did, however, because now we have those recordings to benefit from-and to share with you here on -Encounter God's Truth.--So join with us now as we resume our study in Acts 15, in Volume Six in our ongoing series called -Acts- Witness of the Early Church.--Whitcomb Ministries declares with certainty that God's Word is true from the beginning to the end.-As host Wayne Shepherd shares, we bring you this teaching with gratitude to our friends at Middletown Bible Church in Middletown, Conn., where Dr. Whitcomb first delivered it before the Independent Fundamental Bible Conference.

god truth acts jerusalem old testament early church conn middletown whitcomb great council volume six new testament book of acts wayne shepherd

The Great Council at Jerusalem (Part 3)—Promo

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 11, 2024

god truth acts jerusalem old testament promo early church conn middletown whitcomb great council volume six new testament book of acts wayne shepherd

The Great Council at Jerusalem (Part 2)

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 11, 2024 25:00

A new MP3 sermon from Whitcomb Ministries is now available on SermonAudio with the following details: Title: The Great Council at Jerusalem (Part 2) Subtitle: (EGT) Acts (Vol. 6) Speaker: Dr. John Whitcomb Broadcaster: Whitcomb Ministries Event: Radio Broadcast Date: 9/28/2024 Bible: Acts 15:1-35 Length: 25 min.

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The Great Council at Jerusalem (Part 2)—Promo

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 11, 2024

A new MP3 sermon from Whitcomb Ministries is now available on SermonAudio with the following details: Title: The Great Council at Jerusalem (Part 2)—Promo Subtitle: (EGT) Acts (Vol. 6) Speaker: Dr. John Whitcomb Broadcaster: Whitcomb Ministries Event: Radio Broadcast Date: 9/28/2024 Bible: Acts 15:1-35 Length: 0 min.

bible speaker acts event jerusalem promo broadcaster sermonaudio radio broadcast great council

The Great Council at Jerusalem (Part 3)—Promo

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 11, 2024

A new MP3 sermon from Whitcomb Ministries is now available on SermonAudio with the following details: Title: The Great Council at Jerusalem (Part 3)—Promo Subtitle: (EGT) Acts (Vol. 6) Speaker: Dr. John Whitcomb Broadcaster: Whitcomb Ministries Event: Radio Broadcast Date: 10/5/2024 Bible: Acts 15:1-35 Length: 0 min.

bible speaker acts event jerusalem promo broadcaster sermonaudio radio broadcast great council

The Great Council at Jerusalem (Part 3)

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 11, 2024 25:00

A new MP3 sermon from Whitcomb Ministries is now available on SermonAudio with the following details: Title: The Great Council at Jerusalem (Part 3) Subtitle: (EGT) Acts (Vol. 6) Speaker: Dr. John Whitcomb Broadcaster: Whitcomb Ministries Event: Radio Broadcast Date: 10/5/2024 Bible: Acts 15:1-35 Length: 25 min.

bible speaker acts event jerusalem broadcaster sermonaudio radio broadcast great council

The Great Council at Jerusalem (Part 3)—Promo

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 5, 2024 0:30

"Encounter God's Truth" brings you timeless truths for changing times.Dr. John Whitcomb spent much of his life teaching the Old Testament. It was really quite remarkable, then, that in his later years he devoted much of his energy to preparing messages on the New Testament book of Acts. We're so glad that he did, however, because now we have those recordings to benefit from—and to share with you here on "Encounter God's Truth."So join with us now as we complete our study in Acts 15, in Volume Six in our ongoing series called "Acts: Witness of the Early Church."Whitcomb Ministries declares with certainty that God's Word is true from the beginning to the end.As host Wayne Shepherd shares, we bring you this teaching with gratitude to our friends at Middletown Bible Church in Middletown, Conn., where Dr. Whitcomb first delivered it before the Independent Fundamental Bible Conference.

god truth acts jerusalem old testament promo early church conn middletown whitcomb great council volume six new testament book of acts wayne shepherd

The Great Council at Jerusalem (Part 3)

World Awakenings: The Fast Track to Enlightenment

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 5, 2024 25:55

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Spirit Calling with Channel & Intuitive Pamela Downes

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 29, 2024 55:03

Pamela Downes is our featured guest on episode #177 of World Awakenings. She is an amazing intuitive & a trance channeler for the Great Council of Light. Pamela's story is one of a spiritual awakening, sparked by the mysteries of life after death and a yearning to explore the spiritual world. Fueled by psychic encounters, synchronicities, and the revelation of her reality-shaping abilities, Pamela heeded an inner call to embrace a path of self-discovery. In 2020, she experienced a compelling vision to create a portal called ‘Spirit Calling' for humankind, a sanctuary for those navigating their spiritual awakening journey. Spirit Calling has become a thriving community, offering classes, tools, and a nurturing space for members to heal their mind, body, and spirit. In many ways with the Council of Light speaking through her, Pamela Downes is a modern-day Nostradamus predicting major changes soon coming to all of humankind!You can get your copy of Karl Gruber's awesome book, "True Spirituality & the Law of Attraction: A Beautiful Symbiotic Relationship" now! Just click the link.To find out more about Pamela Downes & to connect with her and her Spirit Calling community just go to her website https://spirit-calling.com/

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The Great Council at Jerusalem (Part 2)

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 28, 2024 25:55

"Encounter God's Truth" brings you timeless truths for changing times.Dr. John Whitcomb spent much of his life teaching the Old Testament. It was really quite remarkable, then, that in his later years he devoted much of his energy to preparing messages on the New Testament book of Acts. We're so glad that he did, however, because now we have those recordings to benefit from—and to share with you here on "Encounter God's Truth."So join with us now as we resume our study in Acts 15, in Volume Six in our ongoing series called "Acts: Witness of the Early Church."Whitcomb Ministries declares with certainty that God's Word is true from the beginning to the end.As host Wayne Shepherd shares, we bring you this teaching with gratitude to our friends at Middletown Bible Church in Middletown, Conn., where Dr. Whitcomb first delivered it before the Independent Fundamental Bible Conference.

god truth acts jerusalem old testament early church conn middletown whitcomb great council volume six new testament book of acts wayne shepherd

The Great Council at Jerusalem (Part 2)—Promo

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 28, 2024 0:30

"Encounter God's Truth" brings you timeless truths for changing times.Dr. John Whitcomb spent much of his life teaching the Old Testament. It was really quite remarkable, then, that in his later years he devoted much of his energy to preparing messages on the New Testament book of Acts. We're so glad that he did, however, because now we have those recordings to benefit from—and to share with you here on "Encounter God's Truth."So join with us now as we resume our study in Acts 15, in Volume Six in our ongoing series called "Acts: Witness of the Early Church."Whitcomb Ministries declares with certainty that God's Word is true from the beginning to the end.As host Wayne Shepherd shares, we bring you this teaching with gratitude to our friends at Middletown Bible Church in Middletown, Conn., where Dr. Whitcomb first delivered it before the Independent Fundamental Bible Conference.

god truth acts jerusalem old testament promo early church conn middletown whitcomb great council volume six new testament book of acts wayne shepherd

The Great Council at Jerusalem (Part 1)

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 21, 2024 25:55

"Encounter God's Truth" brings you timeless truths for changing times.Dr. John Whitcomb spent much of his life teaching the Old Testament. It was really quite remarkable, then, that in his later years he devoted much of his energy to preparing messages on the New Testament book of Acts. We're so glad that he did, however, because now we have those recordings to benefit from—and to share with you here on "Encounter God's Truth."So join with us now as we open our study of Acts 15, in Volume Six in our ongoing series called "Acts: Witness of the Early Church."Whitcomb Ministries declares with certainty that God's Word is true from the beginning to the end.As host Wayne Shepherd shares, we bring you this teaching with gratitude to our friends at Middletown Bible Church in Middletown, Conn., where Dr. Whitcomb first delivered it before the Independent Fundamental Bible Conference.

god truth acts jerusalem old testament early church conn middletown whitcomb great council volume six new testament book of acts wayne shepherd

The Great Council at Jerusalem (Part 1)—Promo

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 21, 2024 0:30

"Encounter God's Truth" brings you timeless truths for changing times.Dr. John Whitcomb spent much of his life teaching the Old Testament. It was really quite remarkable, then, that in his later years he devoted much of his energy to preparing messages on the New Testament book of Acts. We're so glad that he did, however, because now we have those recordings to benefit from—and to share with you here on "Encounter God's Truth."So join with us now as we open our study of Acts 15, in Volume Six in our ongoing series called "Acts: Witness of the Early Church."Whitcomb Ministries declares with certainty that God's Word is true from the beginning to the end.As host Wayne Shepherd shares, we bring you this teaching with gratitude to our friends at Middletown Bible Church in Middletown, Conn., where Dr. Whitcomb first delivered it before the Independent Fundamental Bible Conference.

god truth acts jerusalem old testament promo early church conn middletown whitcomb great council volume six new testament book of acts wayne shepherd

Names, Ranks, and Court Caps

WATCH DEM THRONES by Black With No Chaser

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 16, 2024 29:30

Hitting the last of the Taika reforms, including talk about names, ranks, official duties, and new sumptuary laws for officials. For more, check out: https://sengokudaimyo.com/podcast/episode-111 Rough Transcript Welcome to Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan. My name is Joshua, and this is episode 111: Names, ranks, and court caps. In the early hours of the morning, the locked gates of the palace were dark against the sky. A few torches provided flickering illumination, as a crowd of officials gathered to the left and right of the doors. As they waited outside, a low murmur could be heard as they made small talk with their co-workers. Stragglers continued to join the crowd as the sky itself began to lighten, and though the sun still rested below the horizon, the stars had already given way. As the light grew, and the torches were extinguished, a few late arrivals rushed up just as sun began to peek over the horizon. At that, the doors were opened from inside, and the officials streamed in, heading to their offices where they would get to work running the country—their main tool in this task being little more than brush and paper, as they worked to bring order to the chaos. Here we are, still in the second year of Taika, aka 646, and still going through the changes being made to the Yamato government. Last episode we went through many of the edicts made in and around the third month of the year. These include proscriptions on the size and content of various tombs, down to how many people they could have work on them and for how long. Other edicts impacted who could actually control the labor of the people. While it is likely that local officials remained in charge, there was at least a nominal understanding that the people's labor—whether in the form of corvee labor or rice and similar products of the agricultural labor of the people working the fields—all that labor belonged to the State and, by extension, the sovereign. There were many other, specific edicts, many having to do with marriage and various instances of harai—not to mention the invention of “escrow”. One of the themes through much of this was at least the nominal extension of the sovereign's direct authority down to the lowest levels of society. This was accomplished by setting up offices down to the village level that would report up the chain all the way to the court. These “officers” were likely pulled from individuals who were already part of the elites, but instead of being paid by income from their own lands, they now had stipends coming directly from the court. That was a theme that continued in the edicts that came out in the 8th month, which is where we're going to start with today's episode. Before we get into that, though, a quick caveat: I am still not convinced that I fully understand what is going on with some of these edicts, especially around names. I'm not even sure the Chroniclers fully comprehended what they had put together and pulled from various sources at times, which occasionally seems like it is contradictory or repetitive. So I'll do my best to explain it as I see it, but if you really want to get into this topic you probably will want to dig into it for yourself. Now I want to start with Aston's translation of part of the edict as recorded in the Nihon Shoki. Following a rather flowery introduction talking about sage kings—a topic we should touch on at some point—they get to the heart of the matter: “Now as to the names of the early Princes: the Omi, Muraji, Tomo no Miyatsuko and Kuni no Miyatsuko have divided their various Be and allotted them severally to their various titles (or surnames). They afterwards took the various Be of the people, and made them reside in the provinces and districts, one mixed up with another. The consequence has been to make father and child to bear different surnames, and brothers to be reckoned of distinct families, while husbands and wives have names different from one another. One family is divided into five or split up into six, and both Court and country are therefore filled with contentious suits. No settlement has been come to, and the mutual confusion grows worse and worse. Let the various Be, therefore, beginning with those of the reigning Sovereign and including those in the possession of the Omi, Muraji, etc., be, without exception, abolished, and let them become subjects of the State. Those who have become Tomo no Miyatsuko by borrowing the names of princes, and those who have become Omi or Muraji on the strength of the names of ancestors, may not fully apprehend our purport, and might think, if they heard this announcement without warning, that the names borrowed by their ancestors would become extinct. We therefore make this announcement beforehand, so that they may understand what are our intentions. The children of rulers succeed one another in the government of the Realm, and it is well known that the names of the actual Sovereign and of his Royal ancestors will not be forgotten by the world. But the names of sovereigns are lightly given to rivers and plains, or common people are called by them. This is a truly fearful state of things. The appellations of sovereigns, like the sun and moon, will float afar: the names of those of the Royal line will last for ever, like unto Heaven and Earth. Such being our opinion, we announce as follows:--'Do ye all, from those of the Royal line down to the Ministers, the Daibu, Omi, Muraji, and Tomo no Miyatsuko, who do Us service, (in short) all persons of whatever Uji [One book has 'royal subjects of whatever name'], give ear to what We say. With regard to the form of your service, We now abolish the former offices and constitute afresh the hundred bureaus. We shall, moreover, grant grades of rank and confer official dignities.” Whew. That is a lot, and I want to try to break it down as best I can. First off, I believe this ties in to the earlier edict, in the third month, that we mentioned last episode. In that edict, the sovereign abolished the “Iribe”—those families made for the princes and ostensibly around to keep certain names alive, though quite probably they were family groups meant to keep previous princes and others rolling in their rice payments. This new edict is continuing that trend – of abolishing the Be – but is coming at it from a different perspective. As a reminder, the “Be” and the various “Uji”, while they were longstanding Yamato tradition by this point, were originally imported traditions from the continent. By all accounts the “Be” were the first to be created, with the “family” system creating a hereditary structure through which people would be born into particular jobs, with a familial “head” that would then organize the various members across the realm. The more aristocratic “uji” formed out of that. Based on this edict, it seems that not only the sovereign of Yamato was using this system. In fact, I suspect that the various local “sovereigns” of other lands had adopted it for their own purposes as well, and it sounds like even the Yamato courtiers had taken to using a version of this system within the lands that they controlled. The Be and Uji system were, by this point, ubiquitous across the archipelago, at all levels, from what we can tell. Family *names*, however, were not a native system in Yamato. Prior to the introduction of the Be and Uji, as best we can tell people were known by where they were from, what they did and the titles they held, and by their given names. A father and son would not necessarily have shared a name, other than those other factors that they held in common by way of ancestry. I further suspect that ancestor worship was not so much a thing, either. Not that people in Yamato didn't revere their parents or remember those that passed on, but there weren't the same ideas about family as among, say, the ethnic Han, for whom ancestor worship was important, and carrying a family name was tied to larger cultural and ritual implications. In early Yamato, names were tied to jobs and position in society. If that changed, then someone could easily create a new family—a new “Be”—and people placed in that group would have both a new name and new responsibilities. If a particular elite uji, like the Abe, the Ohotomo, the Nakatomi, or the Mononobe, needed people to set up a new income stream for a particular person—perhaps a son or daughter—or they wanted to start a new industry in their territory, they might just have easily called up various people and reassigned them from one Be to a newly created one. That would surely explain the breaking up of fathers and sons, such that each had a different name. At the same time, this would have likely been anathema to the Confucian dogma that underlay much of the reasoning behind the reforms. Confucian theory gives much weight to the concept of filial piety, that a son should be loyal to the father. Thus to cause a father and son to be split into different families without good reason was likely at odds with what the elite were telling themselves was the proper way of Heaven. So now we come back to the edict, which treats the entire traditional naming system as though it was in line with Confucian ideals. Moreover it places the authority to regulate these families and family names in the sovereign. This wasn't actually a new thing: the Chronicles previously had mentioned regulating names under the reign of Woasatsuma no Ohokimi, aka Ingyou Tennou, in the 5th century. This was covered back in episode 56, where we talked about the importance of names, how they determined who you were and your position in society. This was changing, as was the concept of family, which was, once again, much more closely tied to Confucian notions of family. So controlling the names of the families was another form of power that further emphasized the position of the sovereign. Through the regulation of these corporate families, their labor, was now being brought under the nominal control of the sovereign and the state. This edict also removed the tradition of naming corporate groups after a person. Previously that traditions seems to have started as a way to create groups that actually supported a given individual with their labor. Those groups would often persist beyond the individual, however, and I suspect that's where they became thought of as a kind of memorial, maintaining the memory of that individual. And I can see the power in that kind of thing, especially prior to having any kind of decent written records. It is interesting to see how the practice had come to be viewed by the 7th century. There is a mention in the edict of something that runs contrary to how we understand things actually happened, and that was in the comment that lakes and rivers and more had been named after sovereigns. The Chroniclers here are referring to the way that placenames, such as Hatsuse, or Hase, as well as Okinaga or Katsuraki, show up in the names of various sovereigns. Aston notes something that seems obvious to me, when you think about it: These places weren't named after the sovereigns, but the other way around. Assuming that many of the names we see in the Chronicles were actually titles, they told you things about the person they were attached to, possibly where they were from. Of course, that interpretation doesn't fit as well into the narrative of the 7th and 8th centuries and the idea that the royal lineage was a largely unbroken line back to the earliest ancestors, instead of a broken lineage of different people from different places.So with all of that, the court abolished the practice of creating all of these different family names. The edict almost makes it sound like they were abolishing those families, as well, though they make a clarifying point about that: there is a note about how some of the tomo no miyatsuko—a general name for those families that served in court—took their position by ‘borrowing the name of a prince', and how the court didn't want those people to be worried about how this change would affect them. The meaning would appear to be that courtly families would be unaffected, and this only affected families going forward or those that were created that were apparently below the level of the Tomo no Miyatsuko. That said, this is where it is good to remember that we are reading a Sinified version of the ancient Japanese as told by biased Chroniclers and trying to interpret it through a modern lens, often going through yet another translation in the process. The second part of the edict mentions abolishing the former offices and constituting afresh the hundred bureaus. This is a bit difficult to parse, but Aston suggests that it refers to abolishing any actual authority attached to the old titles, many of which had become nothing more than names. So when we see things like Wake and Mimi and other such things that appear to be old titles, the court was likely making sure that everyone now understood that those no longer had any actual authority. The kabane or family ranks stayed, at least for now, greater emphasis was placed on the newly established positions that were set up as part of the new state bureaucracy, as well as the rank and stipend that was likewise given out. Aston also suggests that this change means that the rank and the title were not necessarily one and the same, though high rank often did come with a high position. The edict doesn't stop there, however. After talking about names and families, it goes on to talk about governors and the kuni-no-miyatsuko handing out rice land per previous edicts. It is noted that the rice land should be handed out equally to the people, and that those who live on or next to the land should be the ones to get it. I wonder about the actual execution, but at first blush, at least, this seems to make sense—don't make families hike all the way across the village or region to till the field, but try to locate their land near their home. It also notes that alternate taxes—when it is labor or something else in lieu of rice—should only be collected from men, presumably the head of the household. This was likely part of the shaping of patriarchal attitudes that assumed the men were the head of household and the chief laborers. The edict went on to call up corvee labor—one from every fifty houses, as had been previously mentioned—to help survey the various provinces and create maps of the provinces and districts. This is a rather monumental task, and it is unfortunate that no actual map survives from this time as far as I'm aware, but it is one more effort to try to bring the entire realm under the control of the state. In this case you are, in a way, capturing the realm on paper and setting up a basis on which to discuss later things like land ownership and use even though the actual land might be far away from the political and administrative center. Finally, the edict makes note that uniform provision would be made for any canals, embankments, or rice land that needed to be brought into cultivation. This likely varied in each district and province, so there is just a general note that would have required local officers of the court to determine exactly what was needed. And that was it for the 8th month, and for edicts that year. There was more that we will cover in later episodes—rats marching to the east, the last gasps (perhaps) of Nimna as a consideration, and other such things. But no more edicts. At least not that year. The following year, Taika 3, or 647, we see the issue of names comes up again. This time the edict came out in the fourth month, and the claims now seem similar but slightly different from before. The issue in the 4th month appears to be that some family names were derived from the names of kami or even sovereigns. Moreover, people were apparently using that connection to claim that they had certain authorities to continue to make people their slaves or to avail themselves of their labor. In the case of the names related to sovereigns, I suspect that ties in directly with the previous discussions of creating corporate groups to support a given prince or other royal family member. As for the kami, there seems to be some idea that groups that claimed descent from a particular kami would take that kami's name. So those claiming descent from Oho-kuni-nushi, the Lord of the Great Land, used the name “Oho-kuni-nushi” as their family name. We aren't given specific examples, however. There are numerous possible explanations I could see for these, especially given the way that early power structures tied themselves to the ability to appease powerful spirits. The Ohomiwa family name, for example, likely refers to their connection to the religious activities on Mt. Miwa. I also would not be surprised to learn that some of these families were ancient royalty in their own lands—the lands that Yamato now claimed as provinces. There is the possibility, though, that all of this is just people taking names for themselves and putting on airs—trying to be important. After all, in a time before documentation, whos to say when you actually arrived at a particular name and how. This is a phenomenon seen in parts of America, especially in the early days, when many people struck off to make a life, often without the baggage attached to a previous identity. Prior to more rigorous systems of documentation, how would you know if the person you met really was “Mr. Underhill” and not someone entirely different? Most important, to me, is the act of the sovereign, as head of the state, in actively claiming authority over these issues as well as putting a stop to the way that people were using such names to apparently make claims to certain entitlements. The message seems clear: Moving forward, everything has to go through the sovereign and the court. The previous systems of rule and governance will no longer be tolerated. Of course, it isn't exactly clear how this was enforced. Was it purely through the court? Or was there also some threat of force and violence if people didn't conform? Or was it enough to make the edict and then have local governors handle it? Other than the example that was made of several of the governors, which we talked about over the last couple of episodes, I'm not sure that we fully know how it all went down. There were a few other edicts mentioned that year, but apparently the chroniclers didn't know exactly when they had been instituted, and so just claimed that it occurred during that year. It seems that there was a new palace built, replacing the old government offices at Wogohori, in Naniwa, and there were new rules for how the court would operate. That entry is placed between the entries of the 4th and 10th month, suggesting it was instituted around the summer period. Then, after a few more entries, including one for the last day of the year, there was the the institution of a new rank system. As for the new court rules: all courtiers were to show up to work at the Hour of the Tiger—the period of roughly 3 to 5 AM by modern standards—and they were to stand at the gates of the palace until dawn, at which point the doors would be open and people would be allowed in. Once everyone was in, the doors would be shut, and anyone who was late, well, I guess you were calling out for the day. We talked a little bit about this practice back in Episode 95, when we were going over Umayado's 17 article constitution, which exhorted the court officials to arrive early and stay late. This was clearly based on continental models, and as I mentioned back in that episode, it was likely done to make sure that officials had the most daylight possible to complete their tasks. Not that there were so many tasks. The workday ended around noon—the Hour of the Horse, which technically spanned 11 AM to 1 PM. A bell would be rung, letting everyone know that it was time to go home. Realistically this means that you are lining up at 4 AM and going home at noon—roughly an 8 hour day, not including the commute. And if 4 AM seems early, this was not an uncommon time for people to get up and prepare for the day when they didn't have artificial light to keep them going so much later. In Medieval Europe it wasn't uncommon for servants to be up and about by 3 or 4 am to go get food to start cooking. If you consider that it was dark by 6 or 7 pm, and you go to bed around 8 pm, you just might wake up at 4 in the morning—going to bed a little earlier, or just going with a bit less sleep, and you can be up and about by that time. This also gave the court officials time for everything else they would need to do. From noon until sunset would have been time for the social functions; what we might consider “networking” in a modern corporate environment. Today we can shift these considerations to much later due to electricity, but when light meant fire and fire meant the possibility of burning down your entire house, then using the light you had makes sense. In fact, one has to wonder if this is what led to the fire that destroyed Naka no Oe's own mansion—but we'll probably want to save the rest of that story for another episode. The other thing happening this year, and in many ways closely tied with the new court ceremonies, was the implementation of a new rank and cap system. The previous rank system from the time of Umayado was replaced with a system of seven kinds of court caps and 17 grades. It is often assumed that court caps and clothing were instituted for the earlier system, though there isn't a clear mention of uniforms and colors associated with the earlier ranks are largely conjecture. It isn't clear that the court had yet picked up the continental clothing styles. By 647, however, it seems that the court was considering official court clothing. The Tang Dynasty had instituted color regulations for clothing in the the 4th year of Zhen Guan. The style of robe, the panling lanshan, was borrowed from the Xianbei—a robe with a round-necked collar that originally appeared in the Northern dynasties. It had been previously adopted by scholars and officials in the Tang dynasty, and in the edict of 630 the Tang emperor dictated specific colors that could be worn based on the rank of the individual. Coincidentally, 630-632 is when Inugami no Mitasuki was there as an envoy of the Yamato court. He would have seen the style of the imperial Tang court. Uniforms at the Tang court would have been quite the sight, especially if you weren't used to it. People in the same style and cut of robe, not just for fashion purposes, but coordinated, like a modern sports team. You could immediately tell someone's rank, and when they lined up, it would have been particularly striking. It is unclear to me just how similar the Yamato implementation of this system was to the continental version. This may have been more like the “we have a rank system at home” version of courtly outfits. It also must have been quite the task to have all of the proper caps made from different materials for all of the various ranks and individuals. And these weren't caps you wore all the time—only at major court ceremonies, including when official dignitaries were visiting or during various Buddhist ceremonies. What's more, only two years later they would change it again. This time we have the edict pegged to the second month of the year 649, with 19 court cap-ranks initiated. I'll put the ranks themselves up on the podcast blog at sengokudaimyo.com if anyone is interested in the specifics, but a few notes. First, the names of the ranks were based on various things, such as the color of the cloth of the cap itself and whether it was plain or embroidered. Some of the classes are based on things like “Flower”, “Mountain”, or “Tiger”, though they possibly meant “Kingfisher” for that last one. The first three classes are broken up into Greater and Lesser, or Dai and Shou, while the lower classes—ranks 7 to 18—were further broken into Upper and Lower. So you would have Upper Daikwa, Lower Daikwa, Upper Shoukwa, and Lower Shoukwa, as an example. That method of breaking the lower classes of ranks into more was something that would persist into later rank systems. The last rank, “Risshin”, just meant “Advancement” and seems to refer to the lowest grade on the scale. In addition to the ranks, in the 2nd month of 649 Takamuku no Kuromaro and the Buddhist Priest Bin presented their work on the 8 Ministries—or Departments—and the 100 bureaus. This is work they had been tasked with at the beginning, and the eventual structure is definitely based closely on the Tang dynasty's court, but is not necessarily a one for one adoption. At the top of it all are the 8 Ministries, or Shou, which oversaw the various bureaus—the text says one hundred, but they aren't actually enumerated and so I think we can assume that they just meant that there were a lot of them. The actual 8 Ministries are as follows: Nakatsukasa Shou – the Ministry of Central Affairs Shikibu Shou – the Ministry of Civil Office Jibu Shou – the Ministry of Ceremonies Mimbu Shou – the Ministry of Popular Affairs Hyoubu Shou – the Ministry of War Gyoubu Shou – the Ministry of Justice Ohokura Shou – the Ministry of the Treasury Kunai Shou – the Ministry Imperial Household Many of these ministries would last for centuries, even as their power was eclipsed by other government institutions. Still, they would continue to be important, and today the Kunai Shou still exists, though now it is the “Kunai CHO”, often translated as the Imperial Household Agency. These ministries each had officials at their head who reported up to the Ministers of the Left and Right. These 8 ministries would make up the core of what would come to be known as the Daijo-kan, sometimes referred to as the Great Council of State, which operated the secular government, as opposed to the Jingi-kan, which would come to oversee national Shinto, or kami-related, affairs and ritual. And with that, we largely come to the end of what appears to be the Taika reforms. The rest of the reign could be thought of as a “burn in” period, I guess, as we assume that they continued to implement these reforms and build up this new government. It is likely relevant that the following year, in 650, they changed the era name, something that we'll eventually want to talk about. For now, I think we should call it here. Next episode we'll backtrack a bit and go back to some of the other, non-edict related events in this period. It wasn't exactly clean. There was intrigue, murder, and more. Politics at the time were anything but dull. Still, the reforms had brought about a real change in the administration of Yamato, a change that would influence the entire nation for centuries to come. The centralization of power and the adoption of continental models would not stop simply at administrative tasks, but would find their way into many different facets of life. Naka no Oe himself would continue to refine the system, as would those who came after him. The reforms touched just about every facet of life across the archipelago, and in many ways it finally brought the archipelago under the control of the State, with the sovereign at its head. And so, until next time, thank you for listening and for all of your support. If you like what we are doing, please tell your friends and feel free to rate us wherever you listen to podcasts. If you feel the need to do more, and want to help us keep this going, we have information about how you can donate on Patreon or through our KoFi site, ko-fi.com/sengokudaimyo, or find the links over at our main website, SengokuDaimyo.com/Podcast, where we will have some more discussion on topics from this episode. Also, feel free to reach out to our Sengoku Daimyo Facebook page. You can also email us at the.sengoku.daimyo@gmail.com. Thank you, also, to Ellen for their work editing the podcast. And that's all for now. Thank you again, and I'll see you next episode on Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan.

Life is Light - Pamela's Interview

We’re All Psychic

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 28, 2024 34:29

I interview Pamela about her experiences as a psychic, and she tells us about the Council of Light. This is a video podcast on Spotify. Want to know more about Pamela? Meet Pamela Downes, the visionary founder of Spirit Calling, an online sanctuary for spiritual awakening. Her journey into energy healing and plant medicine, sparked by her father's passing, opened her psychic abilities. Understanding the importance of support in the awakening process, Pamela received a divine calling to create Spirit Calling—a safe haven for seekers of all beliefs. Since its inception, Spirit Calling has flourished, offering classes and tools for members to heal and reconnect with their true selves. As a seasoned Creative Intuitive and Trance Channeler, Pamela channels the wisdom of the Great Council of Light, providing guidance and answers to support individuals on their journey. Join our community today and unlock your fullest potential with Pamela and the Great Council of Light. Exciting news! Pamela now has a TV show on the Ethereal network called Divine Wisdom, where she shares messages and updates from our guides, The Great Council of Light. Tune in at www.etherealtv.net. Connect on social media: - Instagram: @spirit_calling - Facebook: @SpiritCallingLiveTheCall - YouTube: @SpiritCallingLiveTheCall - TikTok: @SpiritCallingLiveTheCall For inquiries, reach out to Pamela at pamela@spirit-calling.com or visit www.Spirit-Calling.com. Thank you for watching and listening. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lisa-rusczyk/message

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"THE HEIRS OF THE DRAGON" House of the Dragon Season 1 EP1 Recap

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 8, 2024 103:06

With both his sons dead, old King Jaehaerys I Targaryen convenes a Great Council to choose an heir. The Westerosi lords select Jaehaerys' eldest grandson, Prince Viserys, over Princess Rhaenys, the eldest grandchild....And this s where the story beginsIf you want to keep the fun going with us throughout the week, come join our Facebook group. THE WATCH DEM THRONES FACEBOOK GROUPhttps://www.facebook.com/groups/126567443834910/?ref=share&mibextid=NSMWBTTO WATCH AND SUBSCRIBE:Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/blackwithnochaser/Twitter:https://twitter.com/BeBlackNoChaser?t=pVFV06lBFdZRu72ot4uCjA&s=09Twitter:https://twitter.com/WatchDemThrones?t=q0ngrYPlugf0ttzM2jo39A&s=09Apple Music: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/watch-dem-thrones-by-black-with-no-chaser/id1641754247Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/1qI1bJ1vIlobu502w6zrtN?si=mtsa3gZYRZW_3FmlCrv7UgBWNC RADIO: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/bwnc-radio/id6443800363Amazon Musichttps://music.amazon.com/podcasts/45279c3a-c09f-47d1-a3a3-88e6e2507230/watch-dem-thrones-by-black-with-no-chaserIHeartRadiohttps://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-watch-dem-thrones-by-black-101286659/?cmp=android_share&sc=android_social_share&pr=false#gameofthrones #demdragons #blackwithnochaser #houseofthedragonhbo #dragonseeds #theblacks #thegreens #houseofthedragon #youtube #targaryens #podcast #podsincolor #applemusic #spotifymusic #podsincolor #starks #lannisters #Velaryon

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Episode 33 - God's Gift to the Nicenes: Theodosius and the Last Great Council

The Road to Nicea

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 16, 2024 29:08

Good news! Valens is no more and the Nicene-respecting Theodosius has ascended to the imperial purple. But before he can change history, he has to get from Spain to Constantinople - and there's a very angry Gothic army in his way.

spain gothic constantinople nicene valens theodosius great council

A Channelled Message of Hope for All Grievers

Tendrils of Grief

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 19, 2024 43:46

Meet Pamela Downes, the visionary founder of Spirit Calling, an online community dedicated to guiding individuals through their spiritual awakening. Inspired by her own journey of understanding energy and life beyond the physical realm after her father's passing, Pamela embarked on a path of exploration into energy healing, plant medicine, and profound experiences that expanded her psychic and clairvoyant abilities. Recognizing the challenges and importance of support during such a transformative process, Pamela received a divine calling to create Spirit Calling, a safe haven for seekers of all beliefs to come together on their spiritual path. With a mission to ensure that no one has to navigate their spiritual awakening alone, Pamela and the Spirit Calling community offer classes, tools, and a nurturing environment for members to heal their body, mind, and spirit and reconnect with their true selves. As a seasoned Creative Intuitive and Trance Channeler, Pamela authentically channels the wisdom of the Great Council of Light, providing real-time guidance and answers to support individuals on their spiritual journey. Over the past two years, Pamela's trance channeling has connected her with spirit guides, the Great Council of Light, offering profound guidance and glimpses into the future. She finds joy in using the Council's wisdom to help individuals understand their spirit and fulfill their soul's purpose. Honored to offer a welcoming platform for those on their awakening journey, Pamela invites you to join the Spirit Calling community and unlock your fullest potential. Episode Highlights · Spiritual awakening · Energy healing · Clairvoyant abilities · Spirit Calling community · Trance channeling · Great Council of Light · Psychic guidance · Holistic healing · Mind-body-spirit connection · Soul's purpose · Spiritual growth and development · Healing through grief and loss · Mindfulness and meditation practices · Connecting with spirit guides · Holistic wellness communities · Awakening to higher consciousness · Psychic and intuitive abilities · Self-discovery and self-realization · Integrating plant medicine in spiritual practices · Nurturing spiritual communities and support networks More About Pamela Downes You can follow Pamela on YouTube @SpiritCallingLiveTheCall Instagram spirit_calling Facebook SpiritCallingLiveTheCall Meetup https://www.meetup.com/spirit-calling-spiritual-awakening-group/ TikTok. @spiritcallinglivethecall Spirit Calling provides a supportive community, enriching education, transformative courses, and unwavering assistance for people on their spiritual awakening journey, so they don't have to be alone. Did you enjoy today's episode? Please subscribe and leave a review. If you have questions, comments, or possible show topics, email susan@tendrilsofgrief.com Don't forget to visit Tendrils Of Grief website and join for upcoming Webinars, Podcasts Updates and Group Coaching. Get involve and share your thoughts and experiences in our online community Tendrils of Grief-Survivor of Loss To subscribe and review use one links of the links below Amazon Apple Spotify Audacy Deezer Podcast Addict Pandora Rephonic Tune In Connect with me Instagram: @Sue_ways Facebook:@ susan.ways Email @susan@tendrilsofgrief.com Let me hear your thoughts!

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The Venetian Doge Condemned in Memory

Noble Blood

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 6, 2024 39:30 Transcription Available

Along the walls of the Chamber of the Great Council in the Doge's Palace in Venice, there are portraits—one after another—of the Republic's doges. Each man has his likeness, and a description of some of his accomplishments. But there's a gap in the parade -- one man was painted over, and covered with a painted black veil. A man who committed a crime against the Republic so great, that he was "condemned in memory." Support Noble Blood: — Bonus episodes, stickers, and scripts on Patreon — Noble Blood Merch — Order Dana's book, 'Anatomy: A Love Story' and its sequel 'Immortality: A Love Story'See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Spirit Calling: Messages from the Great Council of Light