*** The Classic of Poetry is made up of 305 poems divided into 160 folk songs, 74 minor festal songs, traditionally sung at court festivities, 31 major festal songs, sung at more solemn court ceremonies, and 40 hymns and eulogies, sung at sacrifices to gods and ancestral spirits of the royal house.

One was the gods ; another was the spirits of deceased humans, who existed in the divine realm and possessed many of the gods ' abilities.

To ward off these spirits, the Gaels built huge, symbolically regenerative bonfires and invoked the help of the gods through animal and perhaps even human sacrifice.

Early cultures identified celestial objects with gods and spirits.

The wide variety of usage of the word can be compared to the Sanskrit Deva and the Hebrew Elohim, which also refer to God, gods, angels or spirits.

The Rada Loa are generally the older, more beneficent spirits, and are associated with the gods of Africa.

Well-known spiritual systems include animism ( the notion of inanimate objects having spirits ), spiritualism ( an appeal to gods or communion with ancestor spirits ); shamanism ( the vesting of an individual with mystic powers ); and divination ( magically obtaining the truth ).

Sacred things are not, however, limited to gods or spirits.

In East Timor, one of the two predominately Christian nations in southeast Asia ( the Philippines being the other ), for some, the roof of the house is reserved for gods and spirits of ancestors, the lower portion remains for the nature spirit and usually occupied by animals, and the cock is admired because of courage and perseverance, with the courage of a man compared with that of the cock, with the cockfight occurring regularly and “ many tais designs include the cock ”.

The islands of Japan are to be considered a paradise as they were directly created by the gods for the people of Japan, and were ordained by the higher spirits to be created into the Japanese empire.

They are variously said to be the ancestors, the spirits of nature, or goddesses and gods.

The Shangqing movement, however, had developed much earlier, in the 4th century, on the basis of a series of revelations by gods and spirits to a certain Yang Xi in the years between 364 to 370.

At certain dates, food may be set out as a sacrifice to the spirits of the deceased or the gods, such as during the Qingming Festival.

The various participants are not considered performers, but rather possessed by the gods and spirits in question.

The more academic definitions of myth usually refer to a supernatural tale involving gods, spirits, the origin of the world, and other symbols that are usually capable of multiple meanings ( cf.

Though the " host of heaven " has traditionally been interpreted as either the stars / heavenly bodies or the host of angels / heavenly spirits depending on the context, some again have interpreted this term to refer to a pantheon of Israelite gods.

However certain elements in some Greek cults indicate the survival of some older cults from a less rationalized world, old cults of the dead, agrarian magic, exorcism of evil spirits, peculiar sacrifices, and animal headed gods, In the Homeric poems the avenging Fate was probably originally a daemon, acting in parallel with the gods.

The Icelandic Ásatrúarfélagið describes Ásatrú as " Nordic pantheism " involving " belief in the Icelandic / Nordic folklore " including all the " spirits and entities " besides " gods and other beings " this entails.

Progress in identifying laws per se, though, was limited by the belief in animism, and by the attribution of many effects that do not have readily obvious causes — such as meteorological, astronomical and biological phenomena — to the actions of various gods, spirits, supernatural beings, etc.

Spirit possession is a paranormal or supernatural event in which it is said that spirits, gods, demons, animas, extraterrestrials, or other disincarnate or other entities take control of a human body, resulting in noticeable changes in health and behaviour.

For example a person's survival of a near-death illness may be taken as evidence of their power as a healer: in Bali a medium's survival is proof of her association with a patron deity and therefore her ability to communicate with other gods and spirits.

While all the other outcasts lay idly lamenting, one of them, named Moses, advised them not to look for help to gods or men, since both had deserted them, but to trust rather in themselves, and accept as divine the guidance of the first being, by whose aid they should get out of their present plight.

Xenophon's query to the oracle, however, was not whether or not to accept Cyrus ' invitation, but " to which of the gods he must pray and do sacrifice, so that he might best accomplish his intended journey and return in safety, with good fortune ".

In composing the character of Aeneas, Virgil alludes to Augustus, suggesting that the gods work their ways through humans, using Aeneas to found Rome and Augustus to lead it, and that one must accept one's fate.

He was free but had to accept monetary compensation for corporal injuries, paid smaller fees and fines, and even paid less offerings to the gods.

Someone can believe Socrates ' philosophical claims about justice without also believing Socrates ' theological speculations about the Greek gods, or accept Aristotle's views on poetry without also accepting his claim that heavier objects fall faster than lighter ones.

He argues that man's unwillingness to accept his own ego has caused him to externalize these gods so as to avoid the feeling of narcissism that would accompany self-worship.

Socrates and Euthyphro both accept the first option: surely the gods love the pious because it is the pious.

) Because of this, she is never able to accept that her compulsions are not really caused by the gods, and when all the godspoken are finally cured of their OCD, she devotes her life to performing her rituals in hopes of calling the gods back to her world.

The spirits were free to accept or reject this plan, and a third of them, led by Satan rejected it.

In accordance with their belief in each individuals " free agency ", living or dead, Mormons believe that the deceased may accept or reject the offered ordinance in the spirit world, just as all spirits decided to accept or reject God's plan originally.

Gradually he came to accept salvation in Christ, which lifted his spirits.

Spirit prison is the condition of the spirits of " the wicked ... the ungodly and the unrepentant who had defiled themselves while in the flesh ... the rebellious who rejected the testimonies and the warnings of the ancient prophets ...." The latter will continue to receive gospel teaching and be given the opportunity to repent, though their disposition toward repentance will only change as they recognize and accept gospel truths and believe in Jesus Christ.

This is a temporary state in which spirits will be taught the Gospel and have the opportunity to repent and accept ordinances of salvation that are performed for them in temples.

If Paimon is cited alone, some offering or sacrifice must be done, and he will accept it ; then two kings called Beball ( Bebal or Labal ) and Abalam ( Abalim ) will go to him together with other spirits, often twenty-five legions ; but these other spirits do not always come unless the conjurer call upon them.

It is believed that the spirits in the spirit world are offered the teachings of the full gospel of Jesus Christ and have the opportunity to accept or decline vicarious ordinances done on their behalf.

Over time the forest's other inhabitants, spirits such as dryads, treemen and spites, have come to accept the elves, although some such as the branchwraith Drycha still resent their presence, and parts of the wood, such as the Wildwood, still remain closed to them.

Against their advice, Akasha forces the witch sisters to seek answers from the spirits to countless shallow questions she asks, but the ensuing answers, some in the form of obscene gestures, ultimately enrage the Queen by confirming her inner emptiness -- " She had asked questions of the supernatural, a very foolish thing to do, and she had received answers which she could neither accept nor refute.