Ever since time began, humans have pondered if there is more to life than mere flesh and blood.

Humans have reached out on a voyage of discovery to determine if there are spirits, gods, and heavenly powers, that might influence the world we live in.

Over the millennia, there have been countless ways of reaching toward the gods. A few examples are described below.



Humans have pondered the possibility that gods my have created all things and are in control of the universe. Humans are on a quest to please the gods in order that humans can live well and prosper.

This places humans in a dilemma, since no gods have directly spoken to humans. Humans are forever trying to establish whether a god is happy and benevolent or sad and malevolent.

This has lead to the belief that a "happy" god provides humans favours such as good weather, a good harvest, fertile women and many sons.

Gods are approached through sacrifices and prayer.

The god of grain may have seeds or grain offered to it as a thanksgiving in the hope that there would be a good harvest.

However, if the harvests were poor then humans would have to determine the cause of the gods anger. This would be impossible since the gods did not communicate with humans. Sacrifices of all kinds would be offered until there was a good response.

It would then be assumed that the last sacrifice offered was the one that pleased the gods. Therefore, that sacrifice would become the standard for that god.



Humans also tried to reach the gods through the spirit realm.

It was thought that spirits had special access to the gods. If humans could please the spirits then they would mediate between man and the gods to gain favours.

Humans would have to anticipate what the spirits wanted in order to gain access to the gods. This involved magic, incantations, and divination as well as sacrifices of all kinds.

Humans with "special" powers of mediation (mediums) claimed to be able to contact the spirits on behalf of their fellow humans. Over time this lead to fortune telling, raising of the dead, seances, the use of ouija boards and astrology.



The three great religions of Christianity, Judaism and Islam consider the spirit realm to be a forbidden zone. God forbids humans to contact spirits in any form under penalty of death. The God of these religions has a personal relationship with His people and will interact with humans on a personal level. Spirits are forbidden to contact humans, unless commanded by God to pass on messages. The world wide flood was a means by which God punished spirits and humans for having sexual relations amongst themselves.