T. Scarlet Jory is a university graduate with experience teaching all elementary levels (most subjects, though mostly Art and English Language & Literacy) through substitute teaching and specialized support programs. She has Bachelor degrees in Classics/Anthropology and in Honors Religious Studies/Adult Education. She recently graduated (fall 2020) from her Masters Degree in Religion with a dual focus on Paganism and East Asian philosophies. Her passions include writing and inspiring people to read, to research, and also to write. She is a published author with two book in print (and more to come), and several articles. Writing is a medium of expression like any art. She is called a wordsmith by her readers: a wordsmith with a calling to teach and to encourage others to love learning. Supervisors: Leslie Orr
Tea is but one of the many commodities that traveled along the Silk Road out of China as a luxury... more Tea is but one of the many commodities that traveled along the Silk Road out of China as a luxury item, a means of Chinese cultural exchange, or for Buddhist temples and Buddhist practitioners. It traveled westward past Samarkand, northward as far as Mongolia, southwest into India, and westward and southward into Tibet and to the coast (a trade route called the Chamadao/Chamagudao or Tea Horse Road). Eventually, through the sea routes (via the East India Trading Company), it made its way to London. Tea has been known for its medicinal qualities and its aid with alertness and meditation, developing into what has been sometimes called the tea culture. Much of the trade for tea was tightly managed and taxed by China’s Tea Tax Bureau, yet Buddhism helped smooth the way for this trade as tea was important in Buddhist practices and within temples. There are claims of tea along the Silk Road as early as the Han Dynasty (some texts state even earlier, and there is a Buddhist legend to rival the Chinese legend of the origin of tea), though tea and Chinese Buddhism saw their Golden Age during the Song Dynasty into the Ming Dynasty with tea houses. I hope to trace the travel and connections of tea tied to the exchange of Buddhism and Chinese culture along the Silk Road.
Wicca and other forms of Contemporary Paganism claim to be reclaiming their connection to the spi... more Wicca and other forms of Contemporary Paganism claim to be reclaiming their connection to the spirit of the earth, reclaiming the sense of enchantment that has been lost in the secularization of the world. According to Charles Taylor, the world has experienced a Great Disembedding, where it moved from being enchanted to being disenchanted. Are Wicca and Paganism a reaction to this state of the world? Or is it just another option in the pluralistic forms of self-fulfillment in an Age of Authenticity? I intend to explore this through Wiccan Ethics from the Rede and the Charge of the Goddess.
How is masculinity viewed in the growing New Religious Movement (NRM) of Contemporary Paganism an... more How is masculinity viewed in the growing New Religious Movement (NRM) of Contemporary Paganism and Wicca? Have Christian definitions of masculinity lingered and thus defined masculinity for this NRM? Or, is Contemporary Paganism remaking the notions of masculinity and manhood for its practitioners? Masculinity is an often overlooked field of religious study. In my own field of Pagan studies, there is even less as if addressing the topics of masculinity, male gender roles, or men’s mysteries are taboo. Because so little has been written on the subject of men in Contemporary Paganism and Wicca, I felt the need to add some scholarly material in the field.
Sex and gender play an intertwined and interrelated role in Taoism and Chinese culture though the... more Sex and gender play an intertwined and interrelated role in Taoism and Chinese culture though the understanding of yin and yang and how the body is a map for the world. What one does in Toaism within the body carries a reflection to the outside world. Among Taoist practices is the cultivation of immortality through various techniques of inner alchemy. Among these techniques, we see an erotic side, sexual practices not unlike those of Tantra. Although these practices have been extrapolated into ancient popular sexual practices of the bedchamber, they served also to aid in Chinese medicine and the ever present goal of longevity (even the achievement of immortality). Because of the issues of balance with the dichotomy of yin and yang, the practices vary between men and women and what each can offer and gain with this esoteric erotica.
Thesis:
Despite the restrictions on women in China due to Confucian filial piety rules, women did... more Thesis: Despite the restrictions on women in China due to Confucian filial piety rules, women did actually have opportunities through Taoism to step beyond these limitations.
“Neither from itself nor from another, nor from both, nor without cause, does anything whatever, ... more “Neither from itself nor from another, nor from both, nor without cause, does anything whatever, anywhere arise.” This is the springboard to Nagarjuna’s examination of the notion of essencelessness which is one of the main precepts of Madhyamaka Buddhism. It is the core of the Middle Way between nihilism and eternalism and is deeply rooted in the traditional Buddhist philosophies of causation and dependant arising. I seek to explore this difficult set of concepts through the works of other great Buddhist writers and philosophers. My hope is to bring some measure of understanding and light into the clinging shadows of a complex notion whereby nothing has inherent nature (essenselessness) yet exists through the interdependence arising from causes and effects. I will draw upon several supporting verses throughout Nagarjuna’s examinations, as well as various explanations from scholarly works and commentators.
Tea is but one of the many commodities that traveled along the Silk Road out of China as a luxury... more Tea is but one of the many commodities that traveled along the Silk Road out of China as a luxury item, a means of Chinese cultural exchange, or for Buddhist temples and Buddhist practitioners. It traveled westward past Samarkand, northward as far as Mongolia, southwest into India, and westward and southward into Tibet and to the coast (a trade route called the Chamadao/Chamagudao or Tea Horse Road). Eventually, through the sea routes (via the East India Trading Company), it made its way to London. Tea has been known for its medicinal qualities and its aid with alertness and meditation, developing into what has been sometimes called the tea culture. Much of the trade for tea was tightly managed and taxed by China’s Tea Tax Bureau, yet Buddhism helped smooth the way for this trade as tea was important in Buddhist practices and within temples. There are claims of tea along the Silk Road as early as the Han Dynasty (some texts state even earlier, and there is a Buddhist legend to rival the Chinese legend of the origin of tea), though tea and Chinese Buddhism saw their Golden Age during the Song Dynasty into the Ming Dynasty with tea houses. I hope to trace the travel and connections of tea tied to the exchange of Buddhism and Chinese culture along the Silk Road.
Wicca and other forms of Contemporary Paganism claim to be reclaiming their connection to the spi... more Wicca and other forms of Contemporary Paganism claim to be reclaiming their connection to the spirit of the earth, reclaiming the sense of enchantment that has been lost in the secularization of the world. According to Charles Taylor, the world has experienced a Great Disembedding, where it moved from being enchanted to being disenchanted. Are Wicca and Paganism a reaction to this state of the world? Or is it just another option in the pluralistic forms of self-fulfillment in an Age of Authenticity? I intend to explore this through Wiccan Ethics from the Rede and the Charge of the Goddess.
How is masculinity viewed in the growing New Religious Movement (NRM) of Contemporary Paganism an... more How is masculinity viewed in the growing New Religious Movement (NRM) of Contemporary Paganism and Wicca? Have Christian definitions of masculinity lingered and thus defined masculinity for this NRM? Or, is Contemporary Paganism remaking the notions of masculinity and manhood for its practitioners? Masculinity is an often overlooked field of religious study. In my own field of Pagan studies, there is even less as if addressing the topics of masculinity, male gender roles, or men’s mysteries are taboo. Because so little has been written on the subject of men in Contemporary Paganism and Wicca, I felt the need to add some scholarly material in the field.
Sex and gender play an intertwined and interrelated role in Taoism and Chinese culture though the... more Sex and gender play an intertwined and interrelated role in Taoism and Chinese culture though the understanding of yin and yang and how the body is a map for the world. What one does in Toaism within the body carries a reflection to the outside world. Among Taoist practices is the cultivation of immortality through various techniques of inner alchemy. Among these techniques, we see an erotic side, sexual practices not unlike those of Tantra. Although these practices have been extrapolated into ancient popular sexual practices of the bedchamber, they served also to aid in Chinese medicine and the ever present goal of longevity (even the achievement of immortality). Because of the issues of balance with the dichotomy of yin and yang, the practices vary between men and women and what each can offer and gain with this esoteric erotica.
Thesis:
Despite the restrictions on women in China due to Confucian filial piety rules, women did... more Thesis: Despite the restrictions on women in China due to Confucian filial piety rules, women did actually have opportunities through Taoism to step beyond these limitations.
“Neither from itself nor from another, nor from both, nor without cause, does anything whatever, ... more “Neither from itself nor from another, nor from both, nor without cause, does anything whatever, anywhere arise.” This is the springboard to Nagarjuna’s examination of the notion of essencelessness which is one of the main precepts of Madhyamaka Buddhism. It is the core of the Middle Way between nihilism and eternalism and is deeply rooted in the traditional Buddhist philosophies of causation and dependant arising. I seek to explore this difficult set of concepts through the works of other great Buddhist writers and philosophers. My hope is to bring some measure of understanding and light into the clinging shadows of a complex notion whereby nothing has inherent nature (essenselessness) yet exists through the interdependence arising from causes and effects. I will draw upon several supporting verses throughout Nagarjuna’s examinations, as well as various explanations from scholarly works and commentators.
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Despite the restrictions on women in China due to Confucian filial piety rules, women did actually have opportunities through Taoism to step beyond these limitations.
Despite the restrictions on women in China due to Confucian filial piety rules, women did actually have opportunities through Taoism to step beyond these limitations.