Animism

Origins

Animism is the view that the world is full of living beings with whom humans share relationships, not only animals and plants but, in many traditions, rivers, mountains, winds and stones. The word was popularised by the anthropologist Edward Tylor in 1871, who used it in a dismissive way. Modern scholars such as Graham Harvey use it for ways of life that treat the world as a community of persons.

Many pagans describe themselves as animists, whatever their other beliefs. Animism is a stance that can sit within Druidry, Heathenry, Wicca or a personal practice, and it is not an organisation or a creed.

Beliefs and values

Animists try to live well among other beings: they give thanks, share, listen and take only what they need. Practice is usually local, rooted in a particular wood, river or hill, and often small, such as leaving an offering, learning the names of local plants and birds, or caring for a place.

Ideas of respect and reciprocity are common, and some animists speak of 'other-than-human persons' following the work of the anthropologist Irving Hallowell on the Ojibwe people.

Timeline

1871

Edward Tylor introduces the term animism in Primitive Culture.

1960

Irving Hallowell writes about 'other-than-human persons' among the Ojibwe.

2005

Graham Harvey publishes Animism: Respecting the Living World.

2010s

Interest grows alongside nature-writing and ecological spirituality.

Key terms

other-than-human persons

A phrase for beings, such as animals, plants or rivers, treated as persons to be respected.

reciprocity

Giving back in return for what you receive from a place or being.

genius loci

The spirit of a place, a Roman term still widely used.

relationality

The idea that beings exist through their relationships with each other.

How it keeps the festivals

Animists usually follow the local seasons more than a fixed calendar. Many mark the solstices, the first frost, the return of swallows or the opening of a particular flower. Some keep the Wheel of the Year, adapted to their own place, and others prefer to watch what happens around them and mark it.

See the Wheel of the Year and the glossary.

Where to read

• Graham Harvey, Animism: Respecting the Living World, Hurst
• Graham Harvey (ed.), The Handbook of Contemporary Animism, Routledge
• Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass, Penguin
• Ronald Hutton, The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles

Cautions

Many Indigenous peoples practise forms of animism that are inseparable from their own languages, lands and communities, and the ceremonies are not open for borrowing. Learn from their writers with respect, and avoid copying their rituals. Build your own relationship with the place where you live.