An ancient belief system that has endured since man created culture and society is Animism. It is a belief that all things house a spirit or soul, it is derived from the Latin word Anima, meaning breath, spirit and life. In the Hindu tradition it is called Prana, in Taoism it is Chi, but all over the world it is described as a life force that imbues all things. Plants, rocks, animals, and everything in between have this spiritual force, including environments.
The term Anima
The term animism was initially applied to any “primitive cultures” who had mystical or supernatural beliefs. George Ernst Stahl was the first to establish the term animism, he believed the soul animated the material body. The term Animus was then taken up by Edward B. Tylor in the study of anthropology. Tylor held the belief that this was a lesser form of religion, a pre-cursor to polytheism, and eventually it would lead to monotheism as the “primitive culture” became more technologically sophisticated. Scholarship in the late 1800s consisted mostly of missionaries who measured the world through their own understanding of religion. Modern times mostly dismiss this mindset as numerous cultures hold Animist beliefs, and still practice them thousands of years later. Animism is less of a religion and more of a concept, or theory of how reality works.
People that still practice Animism
The Bantu people of Africa, as well as the Hopi and Navajo of North America have held animist beliefs for thousands of years. Due to colonization these beliefs were suppressed or practiced in secret. There are several subcategories of Animism. Totemism, which is an association between people and certain animals, plants or natural elements. Fetishism which is practiced in Voodoo to empower certain objects, with particular properties. Shamanism is the ability to talk to or enter the spirit world and help affect the material world. Despite its suppression, Animism persists even to modern times, an example of this are numerous African traditional belief systems, which are often practiced in tandem with Islam, Christianity, or Judaism.
https://www.anthroencyclopedia.com/entry/animism
https://testbook.com/ias-preparation/totemism
https://en.greenlife-kyoto.com/2678-georg-ernst-stahl-vitalism-and-naturopathy
https://mythology.net/others/concepts/animism/
