Panecorism

Panecorism refers to CHANGE THIS SECTION

Pan's Star
As a polytheistic nature religion, Panecorism incorporates both the veneration of gods known as the diast ( tr. noble spirits) and auvanaz ( tr. river spirits) and the belief in supernatural beings known as the aulwitaz ( tr. land spirits, lit. old wights.) These entities make up three of the four conjunction points of Pan's Star, a symbol representing the natural world as understood by Panecorists. The fourth conjunction is occupied by the manaz, or human beings. The conjunction points make up the four equal corners of the octagram, with the four cardinal points representing the spirit or soul, sky, land, and folk. Though the fourth cardinal point is commonly translated as folk (Meric: volc) it is more accurately understood as being simultaneously body, physical form, the being of living things, and living organisms as a collective. When listing the cardinal points of Pan's Star, Panecorists will list them backwards in the order of folk, land, sky, and spirit. This places spirit both first and last, representing the cyclical nature of life under Panecor and of godhood.

The first cardinal direction of Pan's Star is spirit (Meric: sinne), understood as representing the divine soul and both true free will and inevitable fate. Panecorism reconciles the belief in both free will and fate within the soul as freedom to journey however one wishes, but with only one destination and at fixed pace with the passage of time and the inevitability of death. Spirit exists opposite folk as the unknowable and unseen half of natural life.

Second is sky (Meric: hilmne), the cardinal direction representing both the literal air and the supernatural realm of the diast. Sky is one of the two sources of water, an essential element of folk, the other being land. Sky's counterpart is the third direction, land (Meric: erd) which represents the natural world of the Earth. Land is the second source of water, combining with sky to bring life to folk.

Folk (Meric: volc) is the fourth and final cardinal direction. Though directly related to the Anglic folk, the Meric volc is understood to represent humanity as a whole and the abstract human nature rather than literal groups of people. Panecorists extend that definition to encompass the animal kingdom, members of which are considered to have intelligent souls. Folk also exists as the counterpart of spirit, and with this understanding represents the known, seen, and physical half of natural life. Folk is also commonly translated as body or being by Panecorists outside of Mero-Curgovina for reasons of clarification.

Between the cardinal directions are a series of four additional points, known as the conjunctions. The conjunctions represent the birth of life from the unliving cardinal elements. The first conjunction, between spirit and sky, is the diast or what are commonly understood as the Panecorist gods. Panecorists believe that the foundational souls of the gods are born primarily of pure divine spirit and of rain, the lifeblood of the sky. They are understood as having no attachment to landed bodies, able to flow between animal and human forms at will to enact their will. The diast are the governing body of the natural world. At the head of their court is Panecor, who slit open the clouds and gave birth to all the gods at once in the first thunderstorm under the lifeblood of the sky. Though the diast are all known to be born of Panecor, their earthly bodies come from land and folk. Some of the gods were said to have the power to forge their own bodies, making up the higher circle of the diast court. The lower circles in turn had their bodies made by the higher circle. This is interpreted by some Panecorists as natural birth of living forms, and by others as less literal clay molding or forging.

The second conjunction lies between spirit and land, representing the auvanaz or the great rivers of the world. While understood as having the same power as the diast, the auvanaz have never known the freedom of the sky, instead serving the land without bodies as bleeding wounds that give forth the lifeblood of the earth for all living things. The auvanaz were also born of Panecor, who cut open the land as they did the sky. Unlike the diast, the auvanaz retreated to the recesses of the earth, living formlessly deep beneath the soil at the springs of all Anterra's rivers.