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Animism (from Latin: anima meaning 'breath, spirit, life') is the belief that objects, places, and creatures all possess a distinct spiritual essence. Animism perceives all things—animals, plants, rocks, rivers, weather systems, human handiwork, and in some cases words—as being animated, having agency and free will.
Earth religion. Earth-centered religion or nature worship is a system of religion based on the veneration of natural phenomena. [1] It covers any religion that worships the earth, nature, or fertility deity, such as the various forms of goddess worship or matriarchal religion. Some find a connection between earth-worship and the Gaia hypothesis.
Animal worship (also zoolatry or theriolatry) is an umbrella term designating religious or ritual practices involving animals. This includes the worship of animal deities or animal sacrifice. An animal 'cult' is formed when a species is taken to represent a religious figure. [1] Animal cults can be classified according to their formal features ...
Social and cultural anthropology. v. t. e. A totem (from Ojibwe: ᑑᑌᒼ or ᑑᑌᒻ doodem) is a spirit being, sacred object, or symbol that serves as an emblem of a group of people, such as a family, clan, lineage, or tribe, such as in the Anishinaabe clan system. [1]
In Buddhist doctrine. Animals have always been regarded in Buddhist thought as sentient beings. [2] The doctrine of rebirth held that any human could be reborn as animal, and any animal could be reborn as a human. An animal might be a reborn dead relative, and anybody who looked far enough back through their series of lives might come to ...
Signs, visions, and dreams. The Cherokee traditionally hold that signs, visions, dreams, and powers are all gifts of the spirits, and that the world of humans and the world of the spirits are intertwined, with the spirit world and presiding over both. Spiritual beings can come in the form of animal or human and are considered a part of daily life.
Aumakua. In Hawaiian mythology, an ʻaumakua ( / ʔaʊmɑːˈkuə /; often spelled aumakua, plural, 'aumākua) is a personal or family god that originated as a deified ancestor, and which takes on physical forms such as spirit vehicles. An 'aumakua may manifest as a shark, owl, bird, octopus, or inanimate objects such as plants or rocks. [1]
San healing practices. In the culture of the San (also known as Ju/'oansi, !Kung, or Bushmen), an indigenous people of Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, and Angola, healers administer a wide range of practices, from oral remedies containing plant and animal material, making cuts on the body and rubbing in 'potent' substances, inhaling smoke of ...