Across families
Santería (Regla de Ocha / Lucumí) and Shaktism
Different families with 10 axes in close agreement — the sort of pairing a quiz weighting only the divine axes would never surface. Mean distance across all seventeen axes: 0.14 (0 would be identical).
Cuban orisha worship structured around divination, initiation and a strict ritual grammar, with Catholic saints as a historical overlay rather than as theology. Authority is earned through initiation and is not negotiable.
The Goddess as the power that is the world, not a deity who made it — the highest immanence value in the matrix. Ritual is central and the body is treated as a site of the sacred rather than as a problem to solve.
Where they agree
A1 Divine reality
Both sit at a divine reality certainly exists — a gap of 0.00.
B1 Source of truth
Both sit at between revealed and fixed and reason and direct experience — a gap of 0.00.
E4 Standing of nature
Both sit at animate and itself sacred — a gap of 0.00.
C1 Survival of the self
Both sit at continues in some form — a gap of 0.02.
C3 The human condition
Both sit at leaning ignorant but fundamentally sound — a gap of 0.02.
D1 Mechanism of the ultimate good
Both sit at between given as grace and achieved by effort or insight — a gap of 0.03.
D2 Centrality of ritual
Both sit at essential and prescribed — a gap of 0.03.
E1 Exclusivity
Both sit at between one true path and many valid paths — a gap of 0.04.
A4 Locus
Both sit at fully present within it — a gap of 0.05.
D3 The body
Both sit at leaning to be celebrated — a gap of 0.05.
Where they part company
E2 Origin of the cosmos
Santería (Regla de Ocha / Lucumí): leaning an intentional act. Shaktism: leaning beginningless or natural. A gap of 0.54 on an axis running from “an intentional act” to “beginningless or natural”.
B2 Reading of sacred text
Santería (Regla de Ocha / Lucumí): metaphorical, or no text at all. Shaktism: between literal and binding and metaphorical, or no text at all. A gap of 0.43 on an axis running from “literal and binding” to “metaphorical, or no text at all”.
All seventeen axes
| Axis | Santería (Regla de Ocha / Lucumí) | Shaktism | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| A1 Divine reality | a divine reality certainly exists | a divine reality certainly exists | 0.00 |
| A2 Personhood | leaning a personal being one can address | a personal being one can address | 0.17 |
| A3 Plurality | many powers and spirits | between strictly one and many powers and spirits | 0.40 |
| A4 Locus | fully present within it | fully present within it | 0.05 |
| B1 Source of truth | between revealed and fixed and reason and direct experience | between revealed and fixed and reason and direct experience | 0.00 |
| B2 Reading of sacred text | metaphorical, or no text at all | between literal and binding and metaphorical, or no text at all | 0.43 |
| B3 Institutional authority | clergy and tradition decide | leaning clergy and tradition decide | 0.17 |
| C1 Survival of the self | continues in some form | continues in some form | 0.02 |
| C2 Shape of time | between one life, then judgment and cyclical return | cyclical return | 0.32 |
| C3 The human condition | leaning ignorant but fundamentally sound | leaning ignorant but fundamentally sound | 0.02 |
| D1 Mechanism of the ultimate good | between given as grace and achieved by effort or insight | between given as grace and achieved by effort or insight | 0.03 |
| D2 Centrality of ritual | essential and prescribed | essential and prescribed | 0.03 |
| D3 The body | leaning to be celebrated | leaning to be celebrated | 0.05 |
| E1 Exclusivity | between one true path and many valid paths | between one true path and many valid paths | 0.04 |
| E2 Origin of the cosmos | leaning an intentional act | leaning beginningless or natural | 0.54 |
| E3 Locus of belonging | leaning a people, inherited | between a people, inherited and an individual choice | 0.13 |
| E4 Standing of nature | animate and itself sacred | animate and itself sacred | 0.00 |
Positions for Santería (Regla de Ocha / Lucumí) rest principally on Lucumí/Santería ritual practice and Brandon, Santeria from Africa to the New World; for Shaktism, on Devi Mahatmya and the Shakta Tantras. Per-cell sources are listed on each tradition’s own page.
The questionnaire places your answers on these same axes and ranks all 65 traditions by how closely they match. Take it.