14/12/2025
WHAT IS ANIMISM?
Animism is our oldest spiritual practice. It is far older than the organised religions. It is the original spiritual practice that the overwhelming majority of our ancestors practised for tens of thousands of years in every part of the world where humans have settled.
๐ด๐
๐ด๐๐๐๐ท๐ธ๐ฝ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ ๐ฐ๐ป๐ธ๐
๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฝ๐ณ ๐ฒ๐พ๐ฝ๐๐ฒ๐ธ๐พ๐๐
For animists, everything has a soul โ not just humans or even just other animals, but plants, and even the mountains, rivers and the wind too. This makes animism an essentially nature-based spirituality.
Animists experience the world, and everything in it, as being alive, conscious and sacred (albeit conscious in a way that might be quite different to human consciousness). It is not a belief so much as an experience!
๐ฐ๐ฝ๐ธ๐ผ๐ธ๐๐ผ ๐ธ๐ ๐ฝ๐พ๐ ๐ฐ ๐๐ด๐ป๐ธ๐ถ๐ธ๐พ๐ฝ.
It has no priests, no hierarchies, no sacred texts, no dogma, no sects or factions, and no sacred buildings. Instead, it is based on direct and personal experience.
๐ฝ๐พ ๐ท๐๐ผ๐ฐ๐ฝ ๐๐๐ฟ๐๐ด๐ผ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐
In animism, there is no spiritual hierarchy. Humans are not seen as โbetterโ or more evolved than other beings. Instead, animism is a spiritual โround tableโ where all beings are equal and treated with respect. The central concern of animism is then how to live in a โright-relationshipโ and be of service, not just to our fellow humans, but to all our brothers and sisters, human and non-human alike.
๐ฐ ๐๐ฟ๐ธ๐๐ธ๐๐๐ฐ๐ป ๐ท๐พ๐ผ๐ด๐ฒ๐พ๐ผ๐ธ๐ฝ๐ถ
Given the number of different and diverse cultures in which animism is found, there is a remarkable consistency in what animists experience and practice. This is because animism is deeply embedded into the human psyche. This makes (re)learning it an easy and familiar experience for many people, a kind of spiritual homecoming.
๐ฆ๐ต๐ฎ๐บ๐ฎ๐ป๐ถ๐๐บ ๐ถ๐ ๐ฎ ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐น ๐ฎ๐ฝ๐ฝ๐น๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ถ๐บ๐ถ๐๐ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐น๐ถ๐ฒ๐ณ๐.
