What would be the western equivalent of Chi or whatever the eqivolent

Purity of the soul.

>>48574262
Ego

>>48574262
Mana.

Favour of God.

Faith.

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Life Energy, Soul/Spirit, Aura, or similar to those.

Orgone.

>>48574262
Magic. It's just magic.

Whether you execute that magic with a swing of your sword that cuts down an entire forest at once, bossing around a spirit of flame, or convincing an entire hostile army to follow you instead, you're doing magic.

Moxie

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The Force, obviously.

>>48574262
While the term I'm using is very very japanese, I think the phrase "Burning Heart Shounen Nonsense" covers it. What that actually means is "Force of Will". Stubbornness and Tenacity eventually let you perform superhuman feats.

>>48574262
Grace, I would assume, but there's no inherent power or divinity from the human form as in Eastern culture.

Vril, Odic Force, Od, maybe Prana.

Aura

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>>48574359

Well yeah, for what it's worth that what it is but I want to move away from the D&D conception of magic where it's caused autist to believe that "non-magical" persons doing superhuman things are weeabo and how a fighter mastering the art of fighting is somehow conceptually different from a monk.

That and the name just needs to roll off the tounge. Trying to imagine a spanish like dude showing his students how to channel their inner energy to stab people with a rapier multiple times in a second after he puts down his goblet of wine and scoffing at how these welps have never truly risked their lives for their honor.

Or a vetern warrior showing his son how to think on the samon jumping up stream and leap up the giant rock.

>>48574262
Humours, duh. An imbalance of humours was often blamed for disease, but it wasn't always a negative diagnosis. It's not a far stretch to imagine a fantasy world where humors work in tandem to create fantastic effects.

It would require careful manipulation of bodily fluids and the ingestion of toxic metals, but the end result would be something very much like a wizard or a superhuman warrior. They would be toxic to be around of course. Their very presence would be destabilizing to the humours of those around them.

Pretty sure the closest you're going to get is magic.

As far as I know the West pretty early on has a dramatic split on metaphysics with the dominant cultural narrative being influenced by Platonism, which is proto-scientific. Every "energy" or mystical substance, no matter how esoteric, has a physical, measurable, and rational quality. Basically Alchemy and Aether. Otherwise you get a grab bag of pre-christian, pre-greek superstitions that already falls under "magic".

I once had a history teacher that claimed the witchcraft became a thing of worry because the church was so influenced by Aristotelian logic. Inquistors go into town looking for heretical behavior but can only find the old equivalent of local psychics. When the church men trying to understand "magic" scientifically (for the current era) they come to the conclusion since no detectable physical force or known substance could cause an object to fly across the room, for example, the only known force the that could explain it is Satan - which we all know does totally exists, has power over the earth, and is often invisible. Therefore witches are making pacts with the devil. Logic.

>>48574706

That could work. Magic users would mostly be the types to make potions and other sorts of alchemical concotions and you have parallels to Taoist alchemy as well

"Here, drink this special medicine and focus on your prayers and meditation otherwise the medicine will cause your humors to go too out of balance and you'll die."

>>48574781
And you can have the training aspect so beloved by these aura building animes. Humours require upkeep - a phlegmetic can't stay sanguine without work.

Take it even further with Aristotlian elements and you can make an even more interesting combination, since humours were balanced against each other based on moisture and heat.

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>>48574262
Biofeedback

>>48574639
>I want to move away from the D&D conception of magic where it's caused autist to believe that "non-magical" persons doing superhuman things are weeabo
Supernatural abilities in 3.5 depend on the weave, and are subject to the effects of anti-magic fields, or dead zones, making monks just as magical as anybody else.

Think about the source of magic in your setting. Shadowrun has the physical adept, which is basically what you're talking about. They derive their power from the same place as mages and shamans.

Astral/etheric energy, the vital spark, you could call it just about anything.

>>48574822

I'm looking into the classical elements now but it looks perfect as a western style foil for asian mysticism and things like Chakra.

>>48574883

The big part of it is to allow for several abilities that, while universal, can be interpreted in different cultural context. This idea came from seeing a pic that showed western sword techniques side by side with japanese swordsmenship to show how essentially similar they are and got me to thinking how say a fast movement skill wouldn't be different whether you were a ninja or some acrobatic knife flinging slav.

But then you have the problem of perception which some people think knights who train their bodies to shrug off blows even unarmored would trigger their westabo sensibilities.

Spirit.

Which also happens to be the stuff that might coherently hang about after death.

>>48575010
Maybe instead of catering to anti-weebs, bending over backward to come up with a convoluted explanation for characters doing monk things, you, I don't know, tell them to get fucked.

There was never a wall between east and west.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco-Buddhism

>>48574262
One day I dream of creating a ruleset that replicates the Nen power system. Too bad I'm a lazy fuck though.

Blood of magical creatures.

No, seriously. The berserk were thought to have trollish blood, which was why no weapons told on them and no fired burned them.

It was really just the drugs, though.

>>48574751
According to this internet comment though apparently Tolkien felt there was a common pre-Christian aboriginal European mysticism encoded in works like Beowulf that he called Fairy stories. The "perilous realm".
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/4umc7c/i_remember_once_being_told_tolkien_believed_that/d5r78f8

Indeed Beowulf or Cu Chulainn seem to be really damn strong, though I don't know how. Or you could have powers of Fey or the Fey realm, I guess.

>I propose, therefore ... to use Fantasy for this purpose: in a sense, that is, which combines with its
older and higher use as an equivalent of Imagination the derived notions of “unreality” (that is,
of unlikeness to the Primary World), of freedom from the domination of observed “fact,” in short
of the fantastic.

>If you are present at a Faërian drama you yourself are, or think that you are, bodily inside
its Secondary World. The experience may be very similar to Dreaming and has (it would seem)
sometimes (by men) been confounded with it. But in Faërian drama you are in a dream that some
other mind is weaving, and the knowledge of that alarming fact may slip from your grasp. To
experience directly a Secondary World: the potion is too strong, and you give to it Primary
Belief, however marvellous the events. You are deluded— whether that is the intention of the
elves (always or at any time) is another question. They at any rate are not themselves deluded.
This is for them a form of Art, and distinct from Wizardry or Magic, properly so called.
The Primary World, Reality, of elves and men is the same, if differently valued and perceived.

Anyone play Dragon Pass where they cast spells by acting out legends to enter the realm of the gods and gain powers from there? Maybe you could have people that phase into a secondary fey realm of purer creation to temporarily surpass reality and become fantastic.

>>48574262
Aura, OP. call it Aura instead

>>48575578
To elaborate on this: Levels. The western equivalent is already present in the form of levels.

In western mythos, the more badass, cunning, daring, etc. you were (provided you pulled it off) the more badass you in turn became. You leveled up. This might sound like just the standard "you become more experienced at xyz" but it's not. You see, these ancient heroes also became stronger, tougher, and so forth. Like Beowulf, because he is the baddest dude around, is also the STRONGEST dude, who can choke out monsters with his bare hands.

For other examples, you can also look at norse and icelandic sagas and see how the dudes start with a great bloodline to begin their badass, but then they go off and have adventures... when they eventually come back, they can now lay ten swordblows in the space of a breath and lift oxen. Because they got badass going a-viking.

I call it Salt, Vinegar, or Animus.

>>48574284
Nah, eastern mysticisms makes a distinction between using "conciousness" and using "Qi".
Qi is generally nature-y. Monks us it, but you can vaguely think of it as "druidish".
Qi also generally has the connotation of air or heat, thoughit subdivides in to all sorts of crap (Sword Qi, Blood Qi, et al.)

>>48574262
Fighting spirit!

Inner power.

>>48574262
Mana is something western that means the same thing. That or life force, energy auras, or some sort of mental power that the user exerts onto the surroundings around them.
>>48574405
>very very japanese
>Burning Heart Shounen Nonsense
nigga that's not japanese at all. Willpower is something that exists in folktales and legends throughout the world. Also, you sound like an autist.

I forget the name of the movie but it was a kung fu movie of a guy who was trained from birth to use iron body kungu and explained he had a special, controlled diet along with special medicines and intense physical training.

You could have something like that to distinguish joe farmer who ,over the course of his life is fuck strong from lifting hay bails and cows over his head from warrior nobility trained from birth to be great fighters.

>>48574262
Areeeeeeeete?

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>>48576648
>Western Shounen series about Greek philosophers

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>>48574262

Funk.

I legitimately keep meaning to sit down and figure out the angle to approach building a P-funk game around, are the PCs just working for Dr Funkenstein to heal mother earth and defeat Sir Nose D'Void of Funk? Or is there something less saturday morning cartoon to come at it from? And at what point does that become an all Cult of Ectasy game of Mage the Ascension?

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>>48574262

Kia?

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>>48574298
INDIVIDUATION, AS DESCRIBED BY JUNG

Vitae? Spirit? Will?

>>48575292
This just tell them if they don't like it they can fuck off their negativity would just bring down the game anyway

More on topic I would just call it magic and be done with it
If I were you OP I would check out this manwa called Dark Mage it has a fantasy world with monsters and dragons and wizards but also warriors that use magic like Qi/Chi/Ki to enhance and augment their abilities
The main character is a martial artist from ancient Korea that this fantasy kingdom brings over to save their world because he does physical magic better than anyone

>>48577689

I think will pretty much does it. That's the route Fable went and I don't think you can find much better.

>>48574452
>>48574454

These guys get it.

You probably want to ask /x/, anon.

>>48575578
That was a really common belief between the romantic period and the 1960s or so, actually.

>>48576005
>Mana is something western
Are you retarded?

>>48574262
Probably humors or some shit.

>>48574262
Breath.

>>48574262

Swag.

>>48579698
where does it come from then, pray tell.

>>48580046 New Zealand. It's a loan word from Maori.
The original meaning is somewhere between charisma and aplomb.

>>48580115 Well, it technically goes back as far as Proto-Polynesian, but that general area.

>>48580115
>charisma
>aplomb
>mastery of mana is just standing up straight and speaking clearly
Explains much.

>>48574262
Memes.

>>48580179
That and eating the hearts of your enemy and honoring your ancestors

>>48580209
This

>>48574262
Balls

>>48574262
Elan Vital.

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>>48574262
>setting has a unified energy source
Well there ya go OP
If the power source is the same then the only thing you need to do is say that when people discovered they could shoot fireballs they found out they could give themselves super strength
No reason at all to segregate the disciplines

Faith in God.

>>48574262
There are claims I've heard that western alchemy is all metaphors for internal changes, rather than external chemical reaction. I have no idea if there's validity to that, or if there's a good source to read about it.
Maybe look up Rosicrucianism - that's kinda the direction we're talking about here, secret masters with great powers gained through wisdom.

Gnosis

Logos

Mythos

Volens

>>48574262
Murphy's law

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humors

>>48574639
Energico

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Style, Heart, Face, Mojo.

Groove. The Zone.

Cool.

It isn't technique. It isn't years of meditation and asceticism. It isn't one one explosive moment of enlightenment. You're just that good.

You're just that good. You've always been that good, or you never will be. Or at least you're a good enough bullshit artist that you can convince the universe itself you've always been that good.

>>48574371
>>48577429
>>48580032
>>48580521

These guys get it.

Odic force. It's almost exactly a Western version of Qi. Check it out:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odic_force

>>48579698
The term is Polynesian, but the concept as used in contemporary Fantasy comes from Niven.

>>48581630
PERFECT

>>48577429
Not REALLY relevant to your post, but if you havent already you should look into Joints & Jivers.

>>48574262
Maybe don't make a unified name, make every discipline, hell even people within the same discipline just different schools of thought call it a different name. Priest types have mana, some warriors call it resolve, others focus, still others call it rage. If you want a unified name for the energy as a reference point for rules, call it energy or magic, no need to overcomplicate the terminology in the rules.

>>48581016
>There are claims I've heard that western alchemy is all metaphors for internal changes, rather than external chemical reaction.
I've heard of that too, the "Ultimate work" of the alchemist was to refine himself into a perfect being

Uuuuuh, the four humors maybe?

>>48574299
Mana is a Polynesian/Pacific Island concept, it's not western at all.

>>48574262
Orgon or vril-energy

>>48576648
Arete, seconded.

>>48580179
Well, have you considered where "charisma" comes from?

Heil.

Why do you think people hailed each other in ancient times? you give some of your heil to the other person.

(Hitler absorbed SO much of it)

>>48581016
Check out Neidan it's Chinese internal alchemy

>>48574262
Force of will and Faith for post-christian.
As above+godspawn for pre-christian.

See El Cid legend for the first or any roman legend for the later.

Force of will or faith for post-christianity stories.
Godspawn or as above for pre-christianity stories.

See El cid legend for the first one (via unwavering faith he pulls extreme bullshit) and most if not all roman and nordic stories for the second one where most big-ass heroes are somekind of godspawn.

Why was my first post deleted? Mod angry I didn't mention nordics?

>>48574262
As an individualist society, we aren't compelled to deify a strong individual because that's just the expectation of everyone.

Folk
In Finnish mythlogy everything has its own "Folk"
Fire folk, water folk, forest folk. This includes the element itself, the gods related to it and monsters, a torch has firefolk in it and when you put the torch in water the waterfolk kill the firefolk.
even people have their own folk. The spirit is made from 3 parts: Self, Breath and spirit/folk/nature/luck
breath is your body, its warmth that leaves after dying
Self is your "shadow". its you
and the third thing is your guardian angel, your spirit animal that protects you and gives you luck. More powerful this third part is, you're more lucky and strong. The strength of your spells is dependant on its strength and it can be made stronger by rituals and spells

Life force, essence, vitality.

Quintessence would be the Greek term.

>>48574262
Newtonian physics.

>>48580275

Wait.

I thought it was eating your ancestors and honoring the hearts of you enemies?

>>48574262
>HxH
Mein neger

>>48574262
In absolute seriousness OP, Od/Odic Force/Orgone are the major Western equivalents.
One of the major differences between the Western "vital energy" stuff is that for China they developed the "science" of Qi much, much earlier since it was part of popular Daoist philosophy of health and life, so they had this whole system of meridians and blood flow and energy and energy imbalances and shit way earlier then people in Europe did.

Meanwhile in Europe while "fifth element" type things were nothing new, the idea that somehow it was linked to the body's vital energies wasn't really common or popular until the 19th century, WELL after Daoist theory became popular in China, and unlike Daoist stuff it got disproven as quackery pretty quickly because it was dreampt up pretty much right when the scientific method was becoming more and more reliable.

Mind you OP, in almost all of these philosophies there's literally nothing "external" about your bodily energy; it's usually supposed to be able to affect outside stuff but it comes from YOU, not the environment or "ambient energy" or whatever.

>>48574299
>Mana
Polynesian.
>>48574359
>Magic.
Result, not method.
Accurate anyways though.
>>48574405
>Burning Heart Shounen Nonsense
It's actually a extension of "Yamato-nadashii" as a point of fact; the philosophical concept that Japanese people will just randomly get better then other people through sheer spirit and willpower even when they aren't because they are Japanese and they're special. It's such an old concept (like, 18th century old) that you see it reflected in a lot of their fiction the same way you see old outdated stuff reflected in ours as well.
>>48574423
Grace is divine, Qi is not.
Qi was/is supposed to be sort of a process of biological life, more or less, and they actually draw strong differences between "divine" stuff and Qi.

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THE RIPPLE!

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Will.

>>48574262
I don't know what to tell you except that it just doesn't exist. Chi is a uniquely Eastern form of quackery. The west has different kinds of quackery like the four humours.

>>48574452
>Vril
Not a "real-life" equivalent that was seriously believed because a popular novelist made it up. Vril was weird too. It was a fluid or something, but it also was some kinda electromagnetic force too. And you needed a special staff to control or something.
>Prana
Indian, not Western.
>>48584124
Hamon wasn't a type of power, it was a method of "channeling" a type of power, mainly the sun itself.
Like, it was basically special breathing like Qi is supposed to be and doing crunches only you're doing it with the power of the fuckin' sun.

>>48582937
Man, Finnish shit is always the fucking coolest.

>>48584105
>Japanese people will just randomly get better then other people through sheer spirit and willpower even when they aren't because they are Japanese and they're special

That's kinda....super racist.

>>48584204
What do you expect from snow mongol elves?

>>48584226
And also a thing that happens in a lot of cultures!

Y'know, the white man's burden, American exceptionalism, all that shit? Every culture on earth thinks that they're the superior culture.

>>48584226
The 18th and 19th centuries were kind of an entire time period for hopeful messages about human potential that were frequently quite racist at the core that nonetheless stuck around in fiction pretty much forever simply due to cultural resonance.
Nobody in Japan actually believes in Yamato-nadashii anymore (as evidenced by their shattered economy and spiraling suicide rate), but elements of the concept still show up the same way elements of Manifest Destiny often show up in American works in different ways, like how it's always mankind's "destiny" to travel to and claim the stars even though there's nothing true about that at all and weather we do or not is dependent upon a number of practical factors that have nothing to do with "Destiny".

>>48584253
It's indeed true.
EVERY culture has some kinda special philosophy about how they're the most special and unique people around.
Exceptionalism is so common in the world as a philosophy that groups that specifically believe they are UNexceptional are actually almost absurdly rare.

>>48584253
Obvious and well-known example: the Jews are God's Chosen People. Or, well, the ancient Isrealites. Dunno if they still have that lore, but it wouldn't surprise me given that it's a religious thing and those stick around.

>>48574262
I see Orgone, arete, and elan vital have been mentioned. I guess that leaves bioplasma and psi?

>>48584440
It's a key feature of the religion, yes.
Though another feature of it is that you can BECOME one of God's chosen people to by becoming Jewish, which really just turns it into every other religion's teachings I guess.

>>48574262
>>48574706
>What would be the western equivalent of Chi or whatever the eqivolent would be?

Yes, the actual answer is the Humors. Plenty of folks wrote about how their humor's miasma can control other people's minds and shit.

>>48580823
holy fuck this is gorgeous.

>>48584226, >>48584253, >>48584272
Because it's relevant to my interests, I think I'll comment on the difference between Daoist mysticism and the Japanese "Ki" stuff that blends heavily together with Yamato-damashii.
Frequently in stuff using Yamato-damashii (basically EVERY FIGHTING SHOUNEN EVER), a recurring theme is that some people are inherently more "talented", that their natural resolve can overcome basic logic, or that their moral uprightness can help overcome their limits; basically they'll be better at shit then other people, that by being stubborn and dedicated they can just ignore common sense, and that they'll get powerups when they need it.
What's fascinating is that in Chinese stuff that uses Qi this is almost completely nonexistent due to the concept not having as strong a grounding in Chinese culture; the concept of "Han Chinese are better then other people" exists in the form of the Heavenly Mandate, but that's something for Emperor's and culture as a whole, not individual people.

While many characters are often more talented then others, this is almost always directly attributed to their intelligence, not some "special thing" they have, and if someone ELSE puts in the equivalent amount of effort then then get to be equally as powerful.
In addition no matter how "stubborn" you are and how great your force of will is, the universe does NOT just hand you power ups spontaneously for the plot to later retroactively explain how you got it; if you want to get stronger you WILL have to work your ass off for it, period.
Finally, just because you're in the moral right or your character is stronger you won't automatically show greater power through preserverence; good guys loose fights to bad guys early on all the time, and they don't magically have greater success because their morals are stronger, and thus they have to wait until training they discover makes them appropriately stronger.

>>48574262
>What would be the western equivalent of Chi or whatever the eqivolent would be?
there really isn't a 1:1 equivilant, maybe the soul? but that's something completely different. I suppose it could be faith, those with more faith are more likely to have God cause supernatural phenomenon (i.e. miracles) to happen in their favor.

>>48584594
It's a short from the Animatrix, done by the guys that made Ninja Scroll.

>>48584642
Summed up, a strong concept in Japanese stuff is that the hero's inherit heroism makes him better then everyone else and thus the universe bends over for him to some degree. They'll often frequently quote Yamato-damashii by name or have a scene where a character looks on in awe at the hero and he'll say some shit like "he's got [vague and ill-formed philosophical concept as an explanation of why the hero is just better at everything for no reason even though other people do just as much or MORE work] that nobody else has!"
In Wuxia works while the hero's heroism does make him a better PERSON, it is not enough by itself to help him win at everything and hard work and perseverance through actual effort put into self improvement my is much more important in the long run.

Relatively few Japanese works following fighting themes seem to avoid this storytelling schtick, with perhaps the exception being Kenichi the Mightiest Disciple, who is repeatedly mentioned to be almost completely without any talent whatsoever and literally ONLY succeeds because he puts in a million times more effort to improve then everyone else and he STILL doesn't get to be stronger then older and more experienced characters because they have done just as much as he has but for longer and thus are correspondingly more powerful.

>>>48584204 muh Kalevala

>>48584226
The whole reason Lovecraft's horror was so widely received was because it appeared in an era where the general mindset of every culture was HFY and the idea that they are inherently special and the best was propagated by everyone and Lovecraft's horror presented humans as insignificant and helpless on a grand scale.

>>48584731
We see this addressed in-universe in the old VOTOMS series, particularly the Pailsen Files.

There, military scientists - one influential one in particular - attempt to study and quantify the main character's ... basically plot armor. And others like him. Kinda gets discarded after costing one of the galaxy's militaries a small fortune (untold mooks and vehicles, one planet utterly wrecked, oh and another one outright blown up) as his experiments were getting more and more ridiculously elaborate and deadly.

>>48584924
The abnormal survivor, like the dude that got hit with both atom bombs or the guy that was on all those boats that sank during WWII.

>>48584940
Well there were more than one, but it turns out the effect can't do enough to save you if you rush into a crossfire or the otherwise put yourself in danger.

>>48584924, >>48584940, >>48584988
The Real Robot genre in general tends to stray heavily from the concept, but it also was most popular in the 1980's before the storytelling methods popularized by the Dragonball franchise and other shows or the period had yet to be crystallized fully.
And though it effective WAS impossible to kill Chirico (and by the final act of VOTOMS he realizes it and begins weaponizing it), none of his apparent unkillability had to do with his willpower or moral uprightness or stubbornness and in fact had nothing to do with HIM at all to a large degree, and more emphasis is placed on his careful use of rational tactics then his heroic nature, especially since said heroic nature is barely present throughout much of the series and any idealism he had is long since dead and gone and replaced by cold professionalism. At best Chirico Cuvie extends his willingness to struggle for survival to close friends, but he actually seems to actively distain the concept that someone's ideals or attitude make them a better person and thus justifies their actions.

This is common in a lot of Real Robot shows as well; the protagonist pointing out that high-minded ideas of justice and heroism are frequently just words important people use to convince people to die for them, which in some ways is an active repudiation of Yamato-damashii and how Japan had most recently used it in the Second World War.

The West doesn't have any culture or mythology of its own, unless you're referring to Native Americans.

Historical European (more so Scandinavian) interpretations of magic were rooted in polytheistic systems like Paganism. I'm not really sure where they believe magic comes from, aside from it being largely ascribed to deities. Wicca (which I have no idea how it relates to Paganism, if at all) seems to be based on the principle of magic being an essence of all living things, and drawing spells from natural sources. (?) Those types of beliefs were strongly repressed during the Crusades, and subsequently through centuries of cultural oppression following that.

Modern European beliefs are entirely Abrahamic. Magic is either considered evil or it doesn't exist at all. The closest thing to "magic" might be calling upon the Abrahamic God to perform miracles, such as healing the sick.

When Europeans emigrated to the West, they took their Abrahamic beliefs with them, so there you go. In roleplaying terms, I guess a theurgy-based spellcasting system would be the equivalent you're looking for - i.e. characters can't manifest magic, they can only call upon God (or gods) to do it for them.

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>>48585241
>The West is North and South America
>Europe is not part of the West

>Western kia
You mean the blue magic stuff?

>>48574262
force of will, gifts of gods, magick, the-power-of-beaing-pissed-off-at-everything-and-going-to-war-with-it, hate for muslims. eastern philosophy is rather hard to translate for the west because our super mega woriors would just go and fuck up a dragon with their sword instead of that whole meditation, focus and such. Look into fae, fae tended to do wierd shit, maybe they gave westeners chi just to fuck with them

>>48574262

this >>48580782

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>>48585241
>Abrahamic
Did someone call?

>>48585321
>the-power-of-beaing-pissed-off-at-everything-and-going-to-war-with-it

ah, outrage or some might say being triggered

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>>48585449
TRIGGER, AW YEAH TRIGGER

>>48574262
>What would be the western equivalent of Chi or whatever the eqivolent would be?

Psychic powers / the power of the mind.

Manly fighting spirit

>>48585241
People everywhere have ALWAYS had superstitious beliefs and believed in stupid shit like magic, hell many people still do today. Medieval Europeans absolutely 100% believed in magic and superstition.

Sometimes this was rooted in their religion, but oftentimes it was unrelated. Here's an example: "person X has a blessed weapon therefore he can kill person Y who has magic that makes him invulnerable". This is a real thing that real European Christians believed up until Napolean, and no the Church did not fucking "repress" shit like this, this is a bullshit myth.

Beliefs in things like magic only died out relatively recently, like within the last century or so, and even then only within the developed world. Medieval Europeans, like all humans, had beliefs and superstitions that can be vaguely labelled under magic.

However, it had nothing to do with religion. Or should I say, the form of superstition changed to reflect religion, and religion changed to reflect superstition (at this point culture is a better word). After all, where do you think saints came from?

>>48588147
Richard Dawkins, is that you?

>>48588147
>Beliefs in things like magic only died out relatively recently
Faith healing, brah.

>>48588227
Fair point, let that be amended to

>Beliefs in things like magic only died out [in a significant population of the developed world] relatively recently

Also things like homeopathy, crystal charms, drinks with akai berries are part of the same superstition. That kind of superstition has changed forms over the years and places, but it's always existed and always will to some extent, which was my point.

Ergo the claim that it didn't exist in a place as big as Europe in as long a timespan as when it's been Christian is ridiculous.

This idea that because the population is Christian that they all have this fervent belief that you can only worship god and any kind of magic practice is heresy is a persistant myth. It's applying the practices of certain sects of Christianity to vast swathes of the past before those sects existed.

>>48588175
If anything the guy I'm replying to is Richard Dawkins, he knows nothing about religion.

>>48574262
Chiburgers

Will to power
Aether
Humors

>>48574262

The 5 elements

Fire: Fire is the passion and the will do and be. The internal fire within us is what gives us strength and is associated with digestion.

Water: Water is the blood and represents a intelligence being able to assume many forms and be itself regardless of it's container. Like the sea it's ebb and flow can influence health.

Earth is the frimament and associated with bones and stillness of mind and reason. Insanity is said to ensue when the earth humor is unbalanced

Air: Represents the respitory system and soul. Moods and depression are said to influenced by this humor

Together these humors comprised one's being and can be strengthened with training and special medicines. Some techniques should be used with restrain and some medinces avoided as they can cause the humors to become unalinged and while they may bring power it can come at a terrible terrible cost.

>>48588722
The 5 elements is very Eastern thing though.

>>48574262
>Western
As in Catholic mysticism, nordic shamanism, Finno-ugric mythologies, celtic tales, or just western esoterism with the whole left-hand and right-hand paths?

>>48584239
wasn't Tolkien's elvish based on finnish?

Spiral power could just as well be western

>>48588722
The 5 phases (not! elements) don't include air.
Also you're talking out of your ass.

>>48589893

It's meant to be made up, I wasn't trying to emulate the classic elements exactly. It sounds mystical enough to fall in line with what the TC was going for.

>>48574262

Adur.

>>48582698
First time I hear about this.

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>>48588832
it's also a very greek thing, having existed before socrates up through the renaissance. the humors were tied to the four elements

also the greeks had a fifth aether similar to japan's void. different from china's five that included wood and metal though.

>>48590033
This essay is a decent read.
>http://press.anu.edu.au/publications/series/monographs-anthropology/new-mana

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>>48574262
Mesmer.
Animal Magnetism.
Odic force.

>>48589348
Partly. He studied a few other languages as well.

>>48582698
But the Pacific Islands are Australian puppets, that makes them white by default.

>>48574262
There is no direct one to one correlation OP. The western tradition comes from a very different place in regards to spirituality and ontology. The eastern understanding of the spiritual is that it is indivisible from the physical, whereas in the west, pre-christian and post, regards the spiritual as a lockstep with, but separate from the physical. This distinction cannot be overstated.

I think for practicality you might be able to get away the idea of the Will to Power. Although, that in turn is a fairly recent concept itself influenced by eastern philosophy. It wont be a direct one to one, but it could work.

Alternatively you could get away with calling it Charisma. You'd lose the spiritual dimension and have to fudge it for physical actions.

Alternatively Alternatively, if you could borrow from a comic called Sfeer Theory. They have a kind of academic magic that uses Jungian ideas of the ego and self. In place of Ying and Yang, someone might cultivate their "Extroverted" and "Introverted" qualities.

>>48588722
Mama that's only 4. where's the 5th one?

>>48591153
I'm on board! My vote goes for Animal Magnetism or Mesmer.

>>48575894
And soul is not conciousness at all. Theology makes distinction between reason (mind) and soul (spirit). Qi/Chi would be holy spirit, essence of god.

>>48592150
>And soul is not conciousness at all. Theology makes distinction between
Plato makes that distinction. Western theology riffed it from him. Eastern theology did not.

>>48582698
I always thought it was related to Manna from the heavens

PISSED OFF-ITUDE

>>48574751
Your history teacher was retarded

>>48574262
Faith/Fervor.