What is Animism?

Animism is the belief that all things have spirit andAnthropologists know from intensely studying
that all spirits are one. There is no separateness, noindigenous gathering-hunting peoples that the usual
hierarchy. All spirits are equal, because all spirits arebelief system for such peoples, all over the world, is
part of the oneness.animism.
Animism lacks the duality of later belief systems:Animists Are Humble
good/bad, negative/positive, and so on. In animism,The oldest peoples were and are very small in
values are thought of more as a spectrum from lessstature. Even now there are indigenous people in
powerful to more powerful, from less harmonious toCentral Asia (Nepal), in South America (Peru, Ecuador)
more harmonious.and in Africa (the Bushmen) who are under 5 feet tall
Although many people have never heard of animism,and very slightly built. Many animals are much larger,
it is the oldest belief system. Shamanism developedfaster, and stronger than they are.
from it. Many indigenous people still live in animistEarly humans lived through ice ages when many
cultures.animals were huge, such as 10-foot-long
In animism, humans do not consider themselves tosaber-toothed cats and 12-foot tall woolly
be the center of the universe. For example, manymammoths. Even after the ice ages ended, large
animals are stronger, fiercer, faster, or smarter aboutpredators such as lions, tigers, leopards, pumas, and
certain things than humans. Many animals can dobears were much larger and fiercer than humans.
things that humans cannot, as fly through the air, liveHumans could not run as fast as cheetahs or deer,
underwater, and so on.did not have claws like big cats or badgers, could not
Trees are stronger than humans, and they live muchfly like a bird or an insect. Humans were humble.
longer. Trees have their own spirits and knowledgeThey were not the top of the food chain.
and are revered by many cultures.Like traditional gathering-hunting peoples today, early
Stones are known to be much older and wiser thanhumans knew that the animals were their older
humans. Their vibrations are not disturbed by ours,brothers and sisters. They watched the animals and
but they can affect us.learned from them by observation and in dreams and
Mountains have been revered from the earliest timesvisions.
as wise and powerful spirit beings. The same appliesHumans knew that the trees were even older and
to oceans, rivers, lakes, and so on.that tree spirits held special knowledge. They knew
Animism Is the Oldest Spiritual Belief Systemthat the spirits of the stones, the mountains, the
Animism is the oldest spiritual belief system known.rivers, and the oceans were even older, and that
Anthropologists and archeologists have foundeach had its own special knowledge, too.
evidence for animism dating back at least 70,000Receiving Messages from the Spirits
years.In animist cultures all people pay attention to the
Fully modern, large-brained human beings havemessages received in dreams and visions. In order to
existed for about 250,000 years. Originally humansbe in harmony with spirit and with nature, to be
were gatherers and scavengers. Eventually humanshappy and to survive, animists pay attention to the
learned to hunt animals instead of just scavengingmessages from animals, plants, stones and other
dead ones.spirits.
Until around 10 to 12,000 years ago, all peoples wereSome people are naturally much better at
gatherers and hunters. Many still are. The gatherers,communicating with spirits. Eventually some people
who are the women, generally provide 75 to 85learned to go into a deep trance and journey to the
percent of the food. More in some cultures, less inspirit world to help others. They were the first
others.shamans.