The Principles of Animism

Animism is as diverse as it is potent.

There are no laws, rules or dogma that apply across animism, and
there are no universal texts, beliefs, teachers or teachings in animism.
All animist practitioners are different, and see their practice
differently.

Saying this, it can be difficult for beginners and newcomers to get a
grip on how to begin an animist practice. To be able to understand
animism,we have to do it rather than read about it, but this is hard
when we don’t really understand how it works or why.

The following principles are the foundations of animist practice,
found in animism throughout the world, no matter the languages and or
form. When we approach animism for the first time, these principles give
us a solid base from which to have our own experiences and come to our
own understanding.

Workability
Workability means that the universe is workable; we aren’t merely
passive objects in our lives, but active participants. We can change
things, direct ourselves, make decisions, break and destroy, create and
maintain.

It doesn’t mean that we can force our lives into the exact shape that
we wish, or change the people around us, or change the way nature
works. But it does mean that we can work in partnership with our
relationships to people, objects and that fabric of reality.

Relationship
Relationship means recognising that we are always in relationship with
everything in our lives, and that these relationships are crucially
important. We are not islands; we exist in an infinite web of
connection, movement, pattern, energy, emotion, causality.

In animism, these relationships are the means through which we work
with the world. Almost all animist practices work through these
relationships; enhancing, deepening, pruning, rooting, nourishing,
taking space from or cutting them off.

Warriorship
Warriorship is the word I use for the blend of courage, discipline and
integrity that animism requires from us in order to be useful. Without
these qualities, animism can’t work in our lives; we will always be
sabotaging ourselves.

But animism recognises that these are not static qualities. We can
grow them and learn how to access them better through specific
practices. And we can express them in varied ways; not just through
physical courage, but through a huge spectrum of internal and external
behaviour.

Nature
Nature is vastly important in animism throughout the world. This isn’t
because nature is ‘better’ or ‘safer’, as is often misunderstood in
Western distortions of animism, but rather because it is the heart of
who and what we are as a species.

Animists remember that we are animals, and that this animal nature
must be honoured for us to be healthy. Nature reminds us of the
importance of our own individual natures; it provides deep teachings
about freedom, mortality, power, health and relationships.

Imagination
Imagination is the language of animism. It lets us understand the areas
of life that are non-linear, non-rational, inaudible, invisible,
unpredictable, uncertain and yet vital.

Imagination is used every time we use animist tools, from divination
to spirit communication; it is the sense we use to interpret the world.
It is, like warriorship, a skill that we can develop through practice,
and it will grow as your animist practice does.

Having your own relationship with these principles will mean that the foundation of your animism is strong and reliable.

Animism can be very hard to define. The term is used by
anthropologists and historians, theologists and philosophers – not to
mention animists themselves.

It’s linked with witchcraft, energy healing, mysticism, the new age, shamanism and spirituality. But animism isn’t any of these things, and it isn’t defined by anthropologists or philosophers or academics either.

It’s a spiritual tradition that has no set rules, no authorities, and
no essential practices. It’s guidelines are instinct, intuition and
practicality. It’s foundation is the direct relationship we all have
with the world.

What is animism?

Animism is the fundamental spiritual position of humanity. It’s found
in every culture throughout history, and expressed in a hundred
thousand ways depending on the era, culture, gender, environment and
religion of the people expressing it.

Animism is a way of directly & personally relating to everything that exists. *

Beyond a limited interpretation of animism

Animism is often defined as the belief that animals and
objects have a ‘soul’, or that the universe is ‘animated’ by a
‘supernatural being’.

However, both of these definitions are
derived from Western religious interpretations of traditional animistic
practices. They assume a shared understanding of the words ‘soul’,
‘animation’ and ‘supernatural being’.

While many animists do identify with these ideas, many others do not. Our
modern concepts of ‘souls’ and the ‘supernatural’ are very different
from the understanding of our animism-practicing ancestors, or
practitioners from non-Western cultures.

We simply can’t import generic terms from one spiritual approach,
such as Christianity or Hinduism, and expect them to apply to a
completely different spiritual approach, such as the vast diversity of
animistic tradition.

How do people ‘do’ animism?

Animism encompasses the use of trance states to access different realms of reality. It encompasses the use of symbolism, ritual and ceremony to affect relationships between people and their world.

It encompasses the expression of wonder and uncertainty and meaning that’s found in art, music, dance, story. It encompasses the untaught way that small children explore their power and their place in the world through play.

It means that we can work with the circumstances of our lives. It includes ceremony,
art in all forms, thinking expansively, being in nature, honouring our
ancestors, working with spirits, divination and working directly with
energy.

Practicing animism is different for everyone and is often shaped by our cultural heritage. Sometimes, it simply looks like folk magic, other times it might look like mysticism.

It’s all about relationships…

To practice animism, we engage with the world in a practical, experimental way.

We learn that our experience is bounded by the relationships we have
with our homes, our friends, the bird in the tree over our studio, our
food, our bodies, our pasts. We are bound by these relationships because
we can never step outside of them.

…and it’s always practical.

Animism helps us improve our:

creativity

family lives

love lives

work

health

emotions

environment

sense of purpose

freedom and power

When we practice animism, we learn that the words ‘soul’ &
‘spirit’ ares only signposts to a meaning that we can’t ever grasp
intellectually, but that we can work with and experience in a myriad of
ways.

And we see that through working with these relationships, we can make our world better in concrete, truly useful ways.

*the caveat being, that this is my take on animism and other
equally valid perspectives exist out there! My position is always
evolving as my experiences unfold, another great thing about animism.

Source: celestialeoten

Naming is creating

thevillaoformen:

Imagine reality as an enormous sphere of energy (absurd, but indulge me). Nothing exists beyond this sphere. Now, divide this sphere into parts by giving them names. Divide those parts into new parts and give them names to. Now continue to divide these parts into smaller parts and if need be put them into groups or categories. Give these categories names. Make up rules for why some parts are connected to others. Continue this process of dividing, categorizing and naming.

When we first had an enormous sphere of reality we now have smaller parts divided through naming and categorizing. We have a universe, a galaxy, a solar system, a planet, a surface, soil, plants, a tree, wood, a plank, a chair, a floor. We have molecules, atoms, quarks etc. All divided and individually named and categorized. Why?

Why do we name and make up categories and systems? We do not discover a new part of reality, we just made one up because it fits the system we are using, which is also made up. We do so because we need names and systems to be able to differentiate in our communication.

Fact is (there are no facts), that there is no difference between a chair and the floor it stands on other than language. There is no difference between a bumblebee and a Thursday, between cancer and strawberry ice cream, between death and a smart suit. Reality exists only through language. What we perceive as reality is a set of constructed attributes that we use in order to communicate more efficiently.

There is no reality set apart from human experience.

What has been made can be unmade.

Naming is creating.