Animist?

[TeaDidikai]

Animism for the sake of this thread is the belief there is a "spirit" and that said spirit is "conscious" and present in both animate and inanimate beings.

So- are you an animist? If not, is there a particular doctrine that is the cause for this? Or is it a personal experience (or lack there of wink )?

If you are an animist- is this part of a specific doctrine you draw from?
What is the relationship between humanity and other spirits in the general cosmology? How about specific relationships? What about relationships between yourself and spirits recently introduced to you?  

[patch99329]

*cheers*I was hoping a thread about animism would pop up. I didn't have enough to make a topic myself.

I am not an animist, because it dosen't quite add up in my head.
If even inanimate objects have a spirit, what about things that were living but are now dead? Does a corpse still have awareness?

And what if an inanimate object is made from a multitude of things, some of which were alive once? Do all these compnents merge into one?  

[PurpleDragonsGems]

While I belive all living things have a spirit (including plants), I don't belive non-living things have a spirit. So, no, I'm not an animist.  

[TeaDidikai]

patch99329

*cheers*I was hoping a thread about animism would pop up. I didn't have enough to make a topic myself.

Patch- you should PM me with this kind of stuff. I'm always up for working on this kind of thing.

Quote:

I am not an animist, because it dosen't quite add up in my head.
If even inanimate objects have a spirit, what about things that were living but are now dead? Does a corpse still have awareness?

My personal experience says "Yes" actually.

I usually break spirits of corporeal things into two groups. Awakened and not.

Just because something has an aware spirit does not mean that the spirit is always orientated to external stimuli.

A hair plucked from my head is essentially dead. But the proteins that make up my hair can be awakened.

Within my beliefs sympathetic magic doesn't rely on the idea that the hair is part of me, but on the idea that the spirits awakened (or forced while they are in an unconscious state) connect to me by means of the knowledge of who I am and their memory of me. (This knowledge could be likened to true names, or true voices etc)

Quote:

And what if an inanimate object is made from a multitude of things, some of which were alive once? Do all these compnents merge into one?

Again- a whole and the spirit there of is more than the sum of it's parts. If we look as this as a puzzle, each piece of the puzzle can be identified as an individual. However- the puzzle itself can be identified as an individual as well. It depends on which is awake or not.

Dragon_Witch_Woman

While I belive all living things have a spirit (including plants), I don't belive non-living things have a spirit. So, no, I'm not an animist.

Is there a reason you draw the line between "alive" and not alive?  

[TatteredAngel]

I'm... sort of animist. Like I'm sort of a lot of things. Man, am I wishy-washy. Setting that aside, two of my four parents are animists, and although there hasn't been a lot of specific talk about it, a lot of it was passed on to me.

I've talked to the spirits around me ever since I can remember. As a kid, it was all sort of passed off into the imaginary friends and stuffed animals realm, and not something I examined at all until fairly recently in life, but animism was never a new idea to me.

My relationship to said spirits around me hasn't gone much farther than a general sense of acknowledgement. It's something I intend to explore more.  

[godhi]

As a practitioner of Seithcraft in the Scandinavian tradition, I am definitely a believer in Animism. One of the major tenets of the Norse shamanic path is the belief in Landvaettir, the Spirits of the Land. Landvaettir range from the spirits of prominent terrain features such as hills or forests to entire plains or river valleys, although certain objects such as curiously shaped boulders and particularly large or old trees can also have spirits. Waterfalls, lakes, rivers, and other bodies of water were inhabited by spirits, and Norse and Teutonic mythology is rich with tales of Elves, Trolls, Dwarves, and other supernatural creatures who lived in the earth, wood, or water. There are also stories of swords and other inanimate objects inhabited by spirits, although in most cases such objects were either very old and of legendary quality or were awakened by ritual magic. Inanimate objects could also be awakened through the use of Galdhr, or rune magic in which the wizard forges a name of power and inscribes it upon the object, thereby making the object into a spirit entity with its own name and identity. It should be noted that in rune magic, such an item was given a purpose and upon reaching the end of its usefulness was broken so that the spirit could be free to continue on its path; many magicians believed that if the spirit remained bound for too long, it would turn against those who created it.
Those who remember the tale of The Sorcerer's Apprentice should keep this lesson in mind!  

[patch99329]

I have the same belief as dragon witch woman to an extent. I believe living things have spirits.

I distinguish something as physically alive by using the little mnemonic I learnt when I was 10.

However, I do believe something like a lake or mountain could have spirits. These spirits may happen to inhabit the place or be associated with it, but the spirit is INDEPENDANT to the rock itself. Does that make sense?
The rock dosen't have awareness for example, but the spirits that inhabit it do.

*edit*
Ohh, something just clicked in my mind.
Do you believe that everything is aware by default? Or 'hibernating' as it were, and in need of 'awakening'?  

[TeaDidikai]

patch99329

However, I do believe something like a lake or mountain could have spirits. These spirits may happen to inhabit the place or be associated with it, but the spirit is INDEPENDANT to the rock itself. Does that make sense?
The rock dosen't have awareness for example, but the spirits that inhabit it do.

Perfect sense. However- I would assert that said spirit is as much of the rock as our spirit is of ourselves.

Quote:

Ohh, something just clicked in my mind.
Do you believe that everything is aware by default? Or 'hibernating' as it were, and in need of 'awakening'?

Some spirits are awake and some are not. Most (as in 99.99999999%) inanimate objects and more than a fair few plants are not awake when I first encounter them.  

[TeaDidikai]

TatteredAngel

My relationship to said spirits around me hasn't gone much farther than a general sense of acknowledgement. It's something I intend to explore more.

Interesting Tattered. How do you intend to explore it?

godhi

There are also stories of swords and other inanimate objects inhabited by spirits, although in most cases such objects were either very old and of legendary quality or were awakened by ritual magic.

Interesting- so would you assert that inanimate objects do posses spirits that are not awakened unto themselves unless they are "very old"?

Do you have any examples of such rituals outside of Galdhr?

Quote:

Inanimate objects could also be awakened through the use of Galdhr, or rune magic in which the wizard forges a name of power and inscribes it upon the object, thereby making the object into a spirit entity with its own name and identity. It should be noted that in rune magic, such an item was given a purpose and upon reaching the end of its usefulness was broken so that the spirit could be free to continue on its path; many magicians believed that if the spirit remained bound for too long, it would turn against those who created it.

Would it be fair to say that such a spirit formed was not of the object itself?  

[TatteredAngel]

TeaDidikai

TatteredAngel

My relationship to said spirits around me hasn't gone much farther than a general sense of acknowledgement. It's something I intend to explore more.

Interesting Tattered. How do you intend to explore it?

As of yet, I don't have a coherent plan. It's all part of the same problem where the past year or so for me has been very... nonspiritual, because I'm having a hard enough time trying to sort out all the other elements of my life.

My first instinct though, is to go to art. Art is for me the biggest practical connection to my spirituality that I have. It's as close to meditation as I come, and at times, it's the most magically-oriented thing I do. So the first explorations may be taking a special notebook and just sitting down to listen and observe, and writing or drawing whatever comes to me.  

[TeaDidikai]

TatteredAngel

My first instinct though, is to go to art. Art is for me the biggest practical connection to my spirituality that I have. It's as close to meditation as I come, and at times, it's the most magically-oriented thing I do. So the first explorations may be taking a special notebook and just sitting down to listen and observe, and writing or drawing whatever comes to me.

Have you thought about talking to your art supplies?  

[Firenation Innara]

I am an animist myself, though i can't say i draw my beliefs from one source. its just something i've always believed to be true. Animate or not, dead or alive, I believe that everthing has some sort of a spirit. The source of thies beliefs im closest to would have to be Shinto Animism, of Japan, because thats what my mother is. Though religion is something thats never been forced on me.  

[patch99329]

Firenation Innara

The source of thies beliefs im closest to would have to be Shinto Animism, of Japan, because thats what my mother is. Though religion is something thats never been forced on me.

Do you live in japan?  

[TatteredAngel]

TeaDidikai

TatteredAngel

My first instinct though, is to go to art. Art is for me the biggest practical connection to my spirituality that I have. It's as close to meditation as I come, and at times, it's the most magically-oriented thing I do. So the first explorations may be taking a special notebook and just sitting down to listen and observe, and writing or drawing whatever comes to me.

Have you thought about talking to your art supplies?

I hadn't thought about it as such, but would be plenty open to pointers. On my own, I wouldn't really know how to go about that in a way that wouldn't make me feel silly.  

[TeaDidikai]

TatteredAngel

I hadn't thought about it as such, but would be plenty open to pointers. On my own, I wouldn't really know how to go about that in a way that wouldn't make me feel silly.

Why are you worried about feeling silly?

Sometimes we look silly when we are acting on what is asked of us. I sing. I sound like someone is beating a cat with a broken violin. I sing anyway. Rather go to sleep content that I did what I should have, than go to sleep concerned both with how I appear to others and to my gods. Or in a case such as this- I would rather be embarrassed than aloof.