| Totem click here: Totem | | | | otherwise involved in the practice of a tribal religion, |
| From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia | | | | have chosen to adopt a personal spirit animal helper, |
| Jump to: navigation, search <!-- start content --> | | | | which has special meaning to them, and may refer to |
| For other uses, see Totem (disambiguation). This | | | | this as a totem. This non-traditional usage of the |
| article does not cite any references or sources. | | | | term is prevalent in the New Age movement, and |
| Please help improve this article by adding citations to | | | | the mythopoetic men's movement. |
| reliable sources. Unsourced material may be | | | | Totemism (derived from the root -oode- in the |
| challenged and removed. (November 2007) | | | | Ojibwe language, which referred to something |
| A totem is any supposed entity that watches over | | | | kinship-related, c.f. odoodem, "his totem") is a religious |
| or assists a group of people, such as a family, clan, or | | | | belief that is frequently associated with shamanistic |
| tribe.[1] | | | | religions. The totem is usually an animal or other |
| Totems support larger groups than the individual | | | | natural figure that spiritually represents a group of |
| person. In kinship and descent, if the apical ancestor | | | | related people such as a clan. |
| of a clan is nonhuman, it is called a totem. Normally | | | | Totemism was a key element of study in the |
| this belief is accompanied by a totemic myth. | | | | development of 19th and early 20th century theories |
| Although the term is of Ojibwe origin in North | | | | of religion, especially for thinkers such as Émile |
| America, totemistic beliefs are not limited to Native | | | | Durkheim, who concentrated their study on primitive |
| Americans. Similar totem-like beliefs have been | | | | societies (which was an acceptable description at the |
| historically present in societies throughout much of | | | | time). Drawing on the identification of social group |
| the world, including Africa, Asia, Australia, Eastern | | | | with spiritual totem in Australian aboriginal tribes, |
| Europe, Western Europe, and the Arctic polar region. | | | | Durkheim theorized that all human religious expression |
| In modern times, some single individuals, not | | | | was intrinsically founded in the relationship to a group. |