The Four Sisters – Betazoid Religion

The four sister goddesses are commonly recognized in Betazoid mythologies and religions as Altha (Order and Authority), Tholta (Intellect and Education), Imza (Love and Community), and Fana (Nature and Arts). The original, ancient worship of these goddesses is more a matter of history, although a minority still form various churches, cults, sects, guilds and other orders to maintain some of the traditions into the present. Since the worship of the goddesses predates known history it’s debatable that any of the modern practices are close to the ancient ones, even if some of the most committed devotees may insist that they are.

Adherents to Altha have a definitive preserved Order and have removed themselves from society, to preserve the faith. The secular world is generally acerbic to the “radically” faithful who believe the old texts and accounts to be actually true and not just philosophical, symbolic, or poetic. There are a few active temples, often on mountain tops or carved into cliffsides. While both men and women can serve the temples, only women can become priestesses and enter the order of Altha. There are no men permitted in the inner courts or given the highest titles. 

Altha’s image and symbols are still found in many modern uses. Her seal is still used on Government documents and buildings and on things related to politics, law, finance or trade, on anything related to war or to peace such as treaties and on embassies and military academies. Often mountains and forges are associated with Altha.

There are hundreds of temples that are no longer actively maintained as temples, but have become museums and historical sites or tourist attractions. These sites are central to the history of the most influential societies on the planet which formed around them. Many of the most powerful houses on Betazed were started originally from the families of Temple Priestesses and maintain a lineage going back many thousands of years before Betazed became space faring. 

Most who follow Tholta today do so in a symbolic sense, and are often committed to philosophy and science, making the Guilds of Tholta the most commonly acceptable following in modern society among all of the four sisters. The followers of Tholta often organize themselves into guilds and are involved in philosophy, science, education, history, literature and other intellectual pursuits. There’s no difference in the membership of the sexes in Tholta’s Guilds.

In Tholta’s name and honor there are many dedicated schools, libraries, museums, public forums, research centers, and many organizations in the pursuit of knowledge or technology. 

The development of early Betazoid Warp Technology was an effort between several guilds of Tholta. 

Her symbols often involve a torch of enlightenment and/or a fountain that waters the world.

It’s no surprise to learn that The Church of Imza is the church of love. In modern day, those who still actively worship Imza do so in community church organizations and outreaches. They also have small monastic orders who pray and serve the poor, and missionary orders who leave the planet and go abroad to alleviate suffering. They tend to start hospitals or nonprofits and care for the elderly, ill, lonely, and orphaned.

They are tolerated in secular life, as long as they keep their more religious views “private” and don’t try to be evangelistic about Imza. Those who are more outspoken are usually derided as dogmatic. As a result the most well known servants of Imza are generally whitewashing their faith, at least in public. People who genuinely believe in Imza share their faith most quietly while their outreach is more generally acceptable in society. 

There are as many influential men as women in Imza’s churches and there is no barrier to men, but there is a great reverence for mothers and for women which is usually given a place of honor. There are more ancient symbols for fathers which are kept alongside. A divergent order believes that each sister has a corresponding brother and that the sisters are interrelated by ‘marriage’ as well as ‘birth’. This order is fast growing and has produced men as prophets, which the official Order of Altha has declared heretical and this remains a topic of contention and a fierce debate over ancient texts.

Probably the most enduring original practice from the Church of Imza is that of telepathically imprinting youths on one another as Imzadis— a kind of matchmaking, with the intention that they would be committed to one another in marriage as adults. The practice itself is less used, but often lovers still call one another Imzadi similar to earth concepts of “first love” or “soulmate” whether or not they were ceremonially telepathically imprinted on one another as children. Sometimes even an imprinted pair will rebel against the choice and declare someone else their Imzadi.

The seal of Imza, involving knots, bows, or entwined shapes similar to celtic designs, is generally used on anything relating to romance and marriage. A version of the seal is common on hospitals and clinics. There are several holidays Betazed still celebrates involving gift giving, honoring elders, honoring siblings, and giving thanks which stem from historical celebrations on the old calendars of the Church of Imza.

Compared to Imza’s Churches and Tholta’s Guilds, almost no one still follows Fana. There is a narrow isle to the east of one of the greater island continents that still has a glade devoted to Fana, with old stone carvings and very dense wildlife. It is considered a nature preserve, and only an original tribe still lives there with few connections to the outside world (although sometimes members leave the tribe, or someone marries into it.)

There are diaspora of descendants of Fana’s tribes who are generally called wildings. They live sort of in troupes and have a special interest in being entertainers. They’re often con artists or thieves and are considered dirty, since they won’t comply with modern living. Although contradictory to this, the edgy, playful, or fringe looks and styles of the wildings are often fetishized in culture and and become appropriated styles during different periods of fashion.

Desperate people will ask a wilding to intercede for them with Fana, the nature goddess, often for healing.

Occasionally someone will become an accomplished musician or actor with roots from one of Fana’s troupes. People gifted in the arts will sometimes be said to have been touched by Fana or imprinted by her. Several high houses are said to have roots in Fana’s ancient adherents and maintain a number of the ancient artifacts through lineage, but it’s difficult to tell which are authentic and which are just very old fakeries.

There are no modern structures to Fana, although there are some ancient nature works that have been detected and preserved historically.

Fana is considered the midwife of life and of death. Her seals, involving trees, skulls, and/or a flute or lyre, are still on birth and death certificates. Her seals are also often found in entertainment broadcasts and associated with music.

Credit where it is due! This non-canon arrangement of goddesses was garnered in part from a fan site (although although not necessarily in concert with the rest of the page and may or may not be contradicting with some of it)  http://megiddo.wikidot.com/betazoid
Really using just this part:

“The Four Deities are named after the Betazoid words for the spiritual concepts: Altha (Peace/Stability), Imza (Love/Compassion), Fana (Nature), Tholta (Truth/Honesty). While all four have equal 'weight' as deities, there exists a structure to them in a diamond shape. At the top is Altha. Imza and Tholta are the middle points of the diamond, for without Truth and Love, there can be no peace and stability. The bottom point is Fana, or Nature, symbolizing the roots of the faith. Two central points represent the 'base' of the Betazoid civilized society. The bottom point of the diamond's association to the natural is a reminder that it is something that is often a delicate balance.”

Beginning there, the above four sisters were further developed with the concept that the ancient worship of the four goddesses predates modern Betazoid houses and that worship has shifted to more modernized versions of the practices and secularized activities, the goddesses becoming more a memory of meaning or representation. As seems to be the case in highly secularized societies, there are still some devotees but they are less common or limit themselves in their beliefs to personal expression.

The intent of this entry is that by focusing on more ancient churches and myths and how they present themselves in the 24th and going into the 25th centuries, that it can graft with other Trek media beta, gamma, fleet, and player canon and with the way others have head-canoned the Betazoid houses which would have developed after these older religions faded and new more secular political structures and societies emerged, forming an ancient lore which any can dip into as they like for their personal tale writing.