“The term animism is derived from the Latin word anima meaning breath or soul. The belief of animism is probably one of man’s oldest beliefs, with its origin most likely dating to the Paleolithic age. From its earliest beginnings it was a belief that a soul or spirit existed in every object, even if it was inanimate. In a future state this soul or spirit would exist as part of an immaterial soul. The spirit, therefore, was thought to be universal.”
“Animism (from Latin anima (soul, life)[1][2]) is a philosophical, religious or spiritual idea that souls or spirits exist in humans, animals, plants or other entities.[3] Animism may also attribute souls to natural phenomena, geographic features, and metaphors in mythology. Religions which emphasize animism in this sense include Shinto, Hinduism and pagan faiths such as folk religions, Neopaganism, among countless others. Throughout European history, philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle, Thomas Acquinas, among others, contemplated the possibility that souls exist in animals, plants and people. The animist idea that souls exist in all mentioned forms of life is also a central concept in the various forms of Shamanism.”
“The “Primitive Religions” were born in the five Continents, more than 3,000 years ago, mostly in the form of “Animism”, because they believed that everything has a “soul”, an “anima” in Latin, a “spirit”… including animals, plants, rocks, mountains, rivers, stars… each “anima” is powerful, spiritual, that can help or hurt them, including the souls of the dead, the “ancestors”.
For thousands of years they deified animals, stars, idols of any kind… and practiced Spiritism, witchcraft, divination, astrology… and they used magic, spells, enchantments, superstitions, prayers, amulets, talismans, charms… often with the worship of an Absolute, or the Great One…”
“Scholastic philosophy, with Aristotle and the Christian Fathers, vindicates the true dignity of man by proclaiming the soul to be a substantial and spiritual principle endowed with immortality. The soul is a substance because it has the elements of being, potency, stability, and is the subject of modifications–which elements make up the notion ofsubstance. That the soul is a spiritual substance, i.e. immaterial and a spirit, is inferred from its acts of intelligence and of freewill, which are performed without the intrinsic cooperations of the bodily organs. By immortality is understood in general terms the future life of the soul after separation from the body.”
BEST ANIMISM QUOTE. From Practical Animism…
“Animism is a body of knowledge founded upon the belief that the things around us are infused with more than mere existence. Animists believe that the hills, valleys, waterways, and rocks are spiritual beings, as are the plants and animals. Further, they believe that there are other, less obvious spiritual beings not commonly associated with the phenomena of everyday experience.
Beyond these basic beliefs, animism comprises a practical system of knowledge designed to be of benefit to the possessor. This system of knowledge usually involves techniques for entering into beneficial arrangements between the practitioner and the spiritual beings that are accessible to them.
There are almost as many different bodies of practical knowledge as there are practitioners of animism; particularly so given the current resurgence of popularity animism now enjoys.”
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[...] Animism, as you may know, is a lifestyle predicated upon the fact that all things, all objects, all forms, all essences, possess a spirit (or a frequency), whether or not they possess a humanoid body as we’re accustomed to operating through as existential entities. [...]