Meaning of Tutelary | Babel Free

Definitions

A deity or spirit serving as a guardian or protector of a place, person, culture, etc.; a tutelar, a tutelary deity.

Equivalents

Examples

“The qualifications demanded in a tutelary are activity combined with power over the minor malignant devils. Thus most of the superior celestial Buddhas and Bodhisats may be, and are, tutelaries. But the favourite ones are the great demon-kings, […]”

“Thus, various Amerind tribes are devoted to foot-racing; yet the races are not tests of swiftness so much as divinatory or invocatory acts designed to appeal to tutelaries, and are usually set by seasons for planting or harvesting or hunting.”

“A tutelary is not a special sort of spirit or shrine; the word refers either to a clan shrine, which is theoretically the same for all members, or to the specific shrine or ancestor indicated by a diviner as being a man's own guardian spirit. Each individual has such a tutelary, but will not be aware of its name unless a diviner has been consulted.”

“To abate cold weather, the aid of tutelaries such as West Wind, Rain, and Thunder was invoked. Appropriate tutelaries might, upon appeal, bring snow upon enemies. During the Modoc War, a shaman acted to bring down the shielding fog against the army's advance.”

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