For the past few centuries, no new mainstream religions have arisen. Religion is intricately tied to social reform centered on humanity’s perception of identity and life. However, since the fourth shinobi world war, a resurgence of polytheistic beliefs predating the current aestheticism have been gaining traction in elemental nation society at similar intervals associated with social change and movements. With the creation of the internet, the spread of information, ideology, and community, various forms of witchcraft has been able to become widespread. It is indicative that the neo-pagan movement around witchcraft in elemental society ties into the changes of humanity and life.

Humanity changes because of the desire to live a long and happy life. According to Makaru Kalbi, human society is fundamentally determined at any given time by the material conditions. He says “History is not like some individual person, which uses men to achieve its ends. History is nothing but the actions of men in pursuit of their ends”. This theory is called the theory of historical materialism where history is decided by the relationships which people have with each other in order to fulfill basic needs such as feeding, clothing, and housing themselves and their families. Some of these stages of human history according to Makaru are called, Primitive Communism, Slave Society, Feudalism, and Capitalism. Primitive Communism had three main qualities, shared property (the tribe shares everything in order to ensure its survival), hunter-gathering (foraging, horticulture, pastoralism), and proto-democracy (leadership was either a group decision or whoever was elected based on military prowess/leadership/lineage). Slave society marked the beginning of class-based society (free and enslaved) as private property was established through the ownership of land and people. Feudalism was determined by the aristocracy (hereditary class of the elite) and theocracy (religion and government align). Capitalism was the spread of wealth however unequal. However, to better identify key stages of human history I shall rename and expand these stages to the following; Primitive Society, Monarchist Society, Horizon Expansion, Collective Reform, Spiritual Reform, the First and Second Racial Reformation, Capitalist Rise, and First and Second Gender and Sexuality Reformation.

The main forms of political systems in primitive society were bands, tribes, and chiefdoms. A band is a small kin-based group amongst foragers who lack formal law in the sense of legal code with trials and enforcement. They do however have methods of social control and settling disputes. Their leader is the village head. A tribe is an economy based on horticulture (slash and burn farming technique) and pastoralism (domesticated animals such as cattle, sheep, goats, camels, etc). They are organized into kin groups based on common descent (clans and lineages) with no formal government. Chiefdoms are a form of sociopolitical organization intermediate between tribes and bands based on seniority of descent. They have a permanent and clear political system where offices are only vacated by retirement or death. In primitive society, your main concern was the survival of the group for if the group survives, you survived. These groups were usually those of blood or close fictive relations.

The concept of survival of the group before self-extended to of the monarchist society's state systems which similar iterations prevail today. Like chiefdoms, state systems are also a form of sociopolitical organization however it is based on formal government structure and socioeconomic stratification. State systems have population control, fiscal support, judiciary law, and enforcement. Monarchist Society worked in which there were three main classes: peasants, nobles, and royalty (the monarchy). Peasants were the largest group of all and did the most manual labor but had the least amount of wealth and minimal say in how their government ran. It was expected of peasants that in exchange for labor, fiscal support, and fealty, they would receive protection from the wealthy elites who reported to their king. Aki Tenno’s Imagined Communities can conclude that such things as states, nations, and societies were mental made physical. They created imaginary groups of safety and understanding who believed themselves superior to those who did not share their beliefs. At this time, major kingdoms in the nations have moved away from polytheistic religions such as animism (the religious belief that objects, places, and creatures all possess a distinct spiritual essence) into monotheistic beliefs. Monarchist societies were similar to their primitive ancestors as religion played into the role of government as well. According to Watari Moraine, governmental bodies used religion to as a means of explaining that which cannot be easily explained (the supernatural) and used it to create groups where those who had direct and indirect control over the supernatural dictate how society should move in order to avoid destruction. Witchcraft was criminalized and differentiated from religion due to the ninjutsu being used to usurp power and gain converts.

There is no difference between religion and magic. Religion is based on the supernatural which is magic. In organized religions they have a set of rules, rituals, prayers, and symbols that affect the supernatural directly. Magic is based on power in rituals, words, rules, and symbols but is perceived as direct and not indirect like religion. Religion is perceived as indirect because many organized religions have a sort of intermediary between the deity and the commoner who directs control. However, if there is a belief that a deity is an ultimate being and the way your life is to be conducted solely resides within that diety’s whims, then no amount of prayer or rituals will affect the outcome. Therefore religion is a direct method of control over the supernatural and magical power of deities because of an individual's actions alongside a group, they can affect the outcome to some degree and persuade the deity to adhere to their demands. The only reason for the distinction between magic and religion in politics. Religion serves as a way for an individual to find protection within a community and exert control and power over their world. In order to obtain power and have people join their community, they must discredit other methods.

The Horizon Expansion marked the point where the elemental nations and its ninja history became a part of the global expanse and humanities began to mix more so with different societies and exert imperial powers. Whilst the warring nations had a long pre-ninja history with the northern and southern part of the world, the general consensus was there was nothing else in the world and if you went too far from land to sea to land, there would be nothing else there and the world simply stopped as far as shipping technology would allow. With advancements in shipping technology, humanity looked towards westward expansion.

Shinobi expansion was rife with conflict and was the highlight of challenging religion, reconstructing the human being, and revolution. Surviving in the nations was a challenge for elemental society. The monarchist societies encountered primitive societies and unknown geological areas. The demand for freedom, wealth, adventure, and knowledge drove elementals from their homelands to colonize the west. Imperial powers used their colonies to gain resources that were limited in the nations with a dense population that recovered from the plague, constant warfare with neighboring countries in close proximity, and agantoisitc relations with middle eastern societies that limited highly desired Asian commodities and good.

Nobody moved across the warring states for fun. The journey was dangerous, unsanitary, and unpleasant; in some cases forced. Those who choose to move westward did so either for economic gain or the freedom to pursue religions and form their own. People either retain their ninjutsu religions, formed newer interactions of those aforementioned, created entirely new ones, or returned to occult practices. Witchcraft was still demonized and criminalized, but it was also practiced. In a place where either the land, animals, your neighbor, or a savage from a rival clan could kill you in an instant at any moment and you would be never be heard from again, people looked to whatever could better their chances; thus occult and witchcraft practices no matter how small as a remedy or protection charm was used once more. People began to question their place in the world, the morality of their mother nation, and if their faith was legitimate.

The history of the ninshu initiated the Collective Reform, First Racial Reformation, and Spiritual Reform. Collective Reform and Spiritual Reform happen simultaneously. The collective reform came about when monarchist power had a looser grip on their colonial citizens. Due to how far the colonials were and the limits of technology, the monarchy could no enforce their rules. Therefore they began to see themselves a separate group and question. Spiritual Reform was, in other words, the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment made humanity question their current classes and whether they were just or not. These two reforms sparked various revolutions in the main elemental nations, the islands, and the rest of the world. These revolutions showed that the monarchy was no longer the divine and should determine completely how life should be led. The Hateru revolution helped led to the First Racial Reformation - in other words, the abolition of slavery. This revolution questioned the morality of slavery and what determined who had the right to enslave others. Morality in these movements was a key point in these movements. Seta Ninsei’s The Genealogy of  Morals, analyzes the past of mankind and he says “The actual labour of man on himself during the longest epoch of the human race, his whole prehistoric labour, is explained and justified on a grand scale, in spite of the hardness, tyranny, stupidity and idiocy it also contained, by this fact: with the help of the morality of custom and the social straitjacket, man was made truly predictable”. This means that throughout mankind’s history, their errors are so ingrained in them that it is predictable and inescapable.

Capitalism allowed the social class to become more maneuverable as people had the funds to determine what they would do with their life. However, in doing so, alienation of man occurs. According to Makaru, when capitalism took over, society shifted in that the worker became their work. People no longer saw each other as coworkers or in the same group but rather the collective grouping of the nation broke down into individuals who cared for personal needs. This brought on the debate of how can a person be human without using others for their own means. With capitalism came the second racial reformation, Civil Rights. The Civil Rights movement worked to reconstruct what is a race from a biological and mental standpoint, advocating for equal rights and fair treatment of nonbloodlinists. Once nonbloodlinists were given more rights, women became more vocal than ever to demand equal treatment as well. The Women’s Rights movement was a long process of allowing them to choose their own marriage partners, to be given the right to vote, being allowed in the workplace alongside men for equal pay. The movement questioned what womanhood meant biological and socially. The debate on gender evolved and continues to present day with the LGBT movement. The LGBT movement questions what gender and to differentiate it from sexuality as sex was a biological concept whereas gender was a social concept.

Witchcraft has shown to be a healing resource in political movements as identity is rediscovered and redefined.  One religion that practices witchcraft is Wicca. Wicca is a religion which blends esoteric ritual forms with pagan mythology and witchcraft folklore. It is a belief system and way of life-based upon the reconstruction of pre-ninshu traditions originating in the outer reaches of the world. It began in the islands near the land of honey by Geko Gama and was imported to the East Coast of the elemental nations later in the centuries through his highly successful book Witchcraft Today. Witchcraft Today recounts Gama's thoughts on the history and the practices of the witch-cult, and his claim to have met practicing Witches in older ninja nations. It also deals with his theory that the Knights Templar had practiced the religion and that the belief in faeries in ancient, medieval and early modern elementals is due to a secretive pygmy race that lived alongside other communities. Witchcraft Today is one of the foundational texts for the religion of Gamanetsu and Gamanetsu-derived forms of Wicca called Elemental Traditional Wicca. It includes duotheism, gender polarity, eight seasonal “sabbats”, ritual drawn from ceremonial magic, including casting a magic circle in the shape of a pentagram and the practice of magick.

When Elemental Traditional Wicca was imported to the elemental nations, it was transformed by some into an eclectic “Neo-Wicca”, which was heavily influenced by the Counterculture, feminism, the environmental movements. Neo-Wicca differed from Neo-Paganism is distinguishable from Elemental Traditional Wicca in that it is eclectic, rather than traditional. Practitioners may use a blend of beliefs and practices from several different pantheons and traditions. These would offshoots of an established tradition of Wicca, such as Gamanetsu or Amaterasu, but with modifications to their practice that make them significantly different from that original tradition. This is because many neo-Wiccan would be initiated. A solitary Wiccan may be practicing what he or she has learned from publicly available sources on Wicca, but not be using oathbound, initiatory material, and so recognizes that his or her practice is eclectic. Therefore they would be creating their own tradition of beliefs and practices, and because this system can't be defined as something else. To be eclectic means to take traditional elements and modifying your path to suit yourself by adopting other practices that can be seen in other pagan religions such as druidism, shamanism, heat energy, Egyptian, Norse mythology.

Eclectic or not, Wicca still retains some traditional elements, practices, and beliefs. Two of their main beliefs is the Law of Three and Harm None. The Law of Three states that whatever energy a person puts out into the world, be it positive or negative, will be returned to that person three times. Whatever you do in your personal life, and whatever decisions you make, have a consequence be it good or bad. This is the same idea with practicing Wicca. If you put out a spell to take revenge upon an enemy, that negativity and revengeful energy will come right back at you, but three times as worse as what you put out there. The relationship a Wiccan has with nature is deeply person and cooperative. The Wiccan works with nature for their own healing and as well as natures’. Whatever energy they put out into the universe, will come back to you. Hate, love, hope, despair; these energies and emotions are where the power of magick come from and fuels spell. With these energies, you can either put good or bad into the world. However, Wiccans are warned against using their magic for evil purposes because of another rule, An Ye Harm None, Do As Ye Will. This rule means to not harm others for you do not want to put bad energy into the universe, hurting nature, the gods, yourself, and others. Instead with your magick, you should use it to heal yourself and others.

Witchcraft is used in healing the mind, the body, and the spirit using the elements of nature. The elements of nature are earth, fire, water, air, and spirit. All five elements can be found in the pentagram with each point of the star meaning a different element with the circle meaning unity with yourself and nature. To directly heal the body, Wiccans use aromatherapy and witch’s brew. Aromatherapy is seen as the perfect companion to any natural magic regime because using aromas takes cues from, and participating with the environment to bring about desirable shifts in a witch’s life. Essential oils, perfumes, and bath salts use the chemical compositions of plants and their innate magic to calm the body, easing stress, and bring serenity. Some of these plants include lavender which soothes the spirit, sage that purifies evil, peppermint which brings prosperity, and jasmine lures luck. Witch’s brew works similarly but differs in that you ingest different blends of plants in the form of teas, salves, pastes, even soups. This is where herbal remedies originate from.

Another method of healing is using divination. Divination uses different methods of calling out to the gods for divine intervention and guidance. Divination is not to be used to determine a direct and unwavering outcome. It is instead left for interpretation and meant to be a guide. There is no point of asking yes or no question in divination for futures change rapidly with every decision it makes. Divination simple looks into trends of different paths and gives some indication of how and why you are in a certain place and what might help. Some methods of divination are pendulums, astrology, and even tarot cards. Pendulums are a druidic practice derived from drowsing. Drowsing is a method of holding an arcane focus such as a staff or wand over the land to find water. Pendulums work in a similar way to follow the magical ley lines and flow of magic (like water) to find answers. Then there is Astrology which is the mapping of the stars found in outer and inner societies using planetary alignment with moon phases to determine where the world is headed. Finally, tarot cards use symbols found within nature and the order of the cards will be random, deriving from the magic of nature and symbolism to interpret a course the witch is following.

Magic has been used to help explain the unable and interpret mankind place on earth. Witchcraft healed people, brought them together, and create society. It imagined what sex, gender, race, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is. The traditions of western society, prayers, and our politics are tied to the magic of rituals, energy, symbolism, and even science. Neo-paganism in western society is one of the many indicators in humanity changing the perspective of life.

As Mitsuru closed the book and laid back on the grass, a confused frown spread across their face, so how did Jashinism fit into all of this? Mitsuru open a smaller more worn journal, one of their own writing than the journal they found on one of their sacrifices. This was a journal they had a contact recovered after their ''rescue'' and contained much of their thoughts about the way of Jashin. Of course, it was all coded in such a way with various seals they stole from the other members so that only Mitsuru could read it and write in it. In the early entries, it detailed how Jashinism formed.

The origins of the Jashin Cult are shrouded in mystery. Their result may have simply been an excuse or a true visit from a deity, but this is not known. What is known is that there was once a man and woman, both lovers. They had fallen in love, and the cycle began. But due to a crime the man committed, it leads him and his wife to a life of running and further crime. One night... his wife would walk deep into a forest they were camped in. She was lead by a monovalent voice... and the man noticing his wife's absence, made him search for her. Reaching a certain point; there was a cave... bathed in stained blood and bones. The voice echoed all around, and soon the man was there as well. The voice a trance they both listened to its call. It was the voice of Jashin. Jashin told them to never fear again... to pick up a blade off the floor before them; and wait. Wait for the searching groups of people after them to finally catch up. And then the couple was given a command to kill each and every one of them; to drink and bathe in their enemies blood. For if they did, they would forever be united, and be free of a stressful life. The voice halted and they waited. The groups did come; and the voice spoke true, the man and wife killed each and every one of them, a newly filled essence within them. After their deaths; they performed what was asked. Their lives were free and they went on to speak to others that were on the run, or afraid, or those seeking vengeance. Thus the Jashin Cult was born.

This was the version that many of the cults used. Mitsuru does not believe it to be correct though. It terminology used makes it seems like the man and woman were evil, death incarnates, and monsters. Who would worship monsters? Just because something was a cult does not mean it was bad. In fact, Jashinism was actually very natural to Mitsuru. Even the name of the faith seems like it was used by outsiders and reclaimed by the minority groups which one has often seen by formerly oppressed people trying to reclaimed hurtful derogatory terminology and make it seem not so oppressive anymore.

If anybody was asked to give a description of what the cult was they would say that the Jashin Cult follows the worship of Jashin, the kanji reading as ジャシン which literally meant wicked heart or evil gods. The god worshiped in Jashinism. When asked to give an example of what a jashinist would be, even though it has been centuries past, people would still use Hidan of the Akatsuki. Hidan was an S-rank missing-nin who defected from Yugakure and later joined the Akatsuki. According to Hidan, Jashin demands nothing less than utter death and destruction. He frames this as a public service, saving people from the fear of death by killing them. He was the prime example of what everyone thought a jashinist was. A crazed, demented, foul-mouthed, loose canon who killed for pleasure and for insane reasons. How he became a chosen one, a successful experiment of the Jashin religion's secret techniques, who was able to utilize the famed and extremely rarely seen Death Controlling Possessed Blood technique was beyond Mitsuru's comprehension. However, his ideologies still live on in many jashin cult branches although there were the rare few who were not adrenaline junkies who killed willly nilly.

Mitsuru saw a purpose in their killings. To them, Jashin has always been a force in the world. They were what kept the world from falling into chaos. They were a deity of no distinct gender, being a male and woman, or both, as gender, sex, and what not did not matter when you died. In the end, everything dies at some point no matter who you were. The world could not have too many people. Humanity was the biggest disease on the earth for it can help it grow but also destroy. Violence was natural and to be one with nature, one must be alright with both the best and worst of life. But who in their right mind would agree with any of this. Most people even in this day and age would rather see the worst of anything abnormal than the pros AND cons.

3871~
E-D 750Wwc x 5 (all stats)= 3750wc
3871 - 3750 = 121 wc left

[EXIT]

*if the ideas and words look familiar, I used a political science paper I wrote and readjusted to fit naruto world*