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Heavens
25 of 79 entries in Realms. Click any to see everything it connects to.
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Heavens gathers the ascending, upper realms across traditions, places tied to light, to the high gods or to the blessed dead. How many heavens a tradition counts, and what separates one tier from the next, varies enormously, from a single sky to elaborate stacked cosmologies with distinct heavens for distinct purposes.
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What Defines This GroupingRealms of blessedness, reward or divine dwelling, gathered from unrelated cosmologies so they can be read side by side. What each tradition means by such a place - who reaches it, on what terms, and whether it lasts - differs sharply, and nothing here should be read as one shared idea of heaven. 2 Peoples and Traditions CoveredAncient Egyptian, Ancient Greek, Norse, Jewish, Islamic, Hindu, Buddhist and Aztec cosmologies, together with modern Pagan and Spiritualist belief. These are unrelated traditions and the heading is a comparative convenience, not a claim that they describe the same place. 2 Status
Standing as a Comparative CategoryA standard comparative category in the study of religion 2 Learn More
The heavens
This group gathers the heavens, the upper and celestial realms of the world's cosmologies, the dwelling-places of gods, the blessed dead or the highest states of being. Conceptions of heaven vary widely, from a single divine abode to elaborately layered celestial spheres.
The browser will find the heavenly realms the atlas gathers from across the traditions. The entries describe each realm's inhabitants, character and place in its cosmology, reporting each tradition's own account rather than merging them.
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