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周穆王谒见西王母 (King Mu of Zhou meets Queen-Mother of the West)
🕑 Added 2024-11-30 15:46:10 +0000 UTCIn the ancient Chinese history, specifically the Shang and Zhou dynasties (and even in early Han dynasty), the depiction of gods and folklore is very different from what it is now.
Xiwangmu, or Queen-Mother of the West, the matron goddess of the xianren or Immortals, was a bestial goddess of disasters, while the xianren themselves were visibly more inhuman and birdlike (because immortality and divinity was associated with flying aka. "ascending to the heavens").
Even immortality was seemingly something that people had to ask from these ancient mystical beings rather achieved through self-mastery like it was in later Chinese folklore and religions, hence the story of "Tale of King Mu, Son of Heaven", where King Mu of Zhou travelled west to meet with Xiwangmu.
Always thought that contrast was an interesting idea. Even when King Mu met Xiwangmu, she was living in the wilderness outside the borders of the Zhou Kingdom, surrounded by wild animals. As human society moves forward, what if those things outside of it still reflect those more primordial times that humans lost their familiarity to.
Plus I just like the idea of a weird old god-crone hahaha
I've included some of the references I've used in the attachments.
