Spirited (23 page)

The Native Americans of the current day are one of the most powerful examples of ancestral traditions living on. Though each tribe is distinct, there is a universal animism that lives on in the wider community. It is in the beliefs that all of life is sacred and each being possesses a spirit that the essence of ancient animism lives on.

The word
animism
derives from the Latin word for “breath” and “soul,”
anima
.
27
Animism is a spiritual understanding that centres on the nature of our being, and all things possess “being,” animate or not.

According to British anthropologist Sir Edward Burnett Tylor's research, the soul stimulates our material existence and animates the very nature of our daily activity. Animism is claimed to be the oldest form of spirituality on this earth and is believed to have its origins in the early Palaeolithic Age.

As each soul belongs to one singular body at a time, be it a plant, creature, or “inanimate” object (e.g., a stone), the primal tribes were also aware of the greater spirit, the originator of each soul and thus where the soul would return to after its physical body had died. Souls were also seen as being able to migrate from body to body, which indicates a belief in reincarnation. However, this early belief was not coloured by structured impositions of caste, it was simply a natural process. Therefore, a soul could inhabit any life form it chose to, in any succession it pleased. In the animistic view, all life is sacred and therefore equally important.

Tylor's theories represented the view that animism was the product of a tribal consciousness that developed from a need to differentiate between alternate states of being, e.g., from sleep to being awake. He reasoned that the early tribes learnt to explain the different states of awareness through the interaction of souls. However, Tylor came under high scrutiny from fellow British anthropologist Robert Ranulph Marett.
28
Marett reduced the apparent complexity of Tylor's arguments by suggesting that early people simply observed the commonalities between themselves and other life forms, and thus imbued varying life forms with souls.

Over time, animism evolved into the totemic and spirit cults we now find among persisting tribes in South America, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Australasia. Trees and plants were and are honoured as great spiritual beings who were always given a plea for forgiveness when felled.
29

Animism is also highly communal, encouraging each individual to pay tribute to the great Web of Life. Animistic understanding relies on the observation and reverence of the relationships between each life form and how each of us support and enrich the continuity of the community.

In animistic cultures, there is no preconceived notion of spiritual hierarchy; there is merely life and its various expressions. In fact, humanity often finds solace and synchronicity in the appearance of
specific
creatures and plants at times of great inner transformation. This correspondence between power spirits and a life lived in honour of the natural forces is key to animism.

Each thing in life has a particular understanding, and the desire to share this wisdom with others is universal. Often, it would be the shaman or other village priest/ess who would enter trance and return with the knowledge to help bring the rain, heal the sick, or pinpoint the whereabouts of a herd of bison. When a skilled walker between the worlds approaches the spirits in need of assistance, the spirits will respond how they wish, and not every journey to the Otherworld results in success. A rapport of trust, honour, and respect must underlie any shamanic journey.

The greatest and most profound lesson of animism is this: that each being on this earth lives in mutual equality with one another. There is no essential difference between us except those that we impose. No being is above another simply for a quality it possesses, for who is to say that having an advanced mental capacity is greater than the ability to adapt one's skin to one's surroundings? The grace and humility that it takes to admit that we as humans are no greater than the smallest ant is phenomenal! This obviously raises questions concerning vegetarianism and whether or not to walk on grass; however, if one thinks this way, they are still caught in humanity's paradigm.

Living in eternal gratitude for the air you breathe, the blood that runs through your veins, and the water that sates your thirst is animism at its simplest. Even if you don't affiliate yourself with its lore, perhaps animism has something to teach each and every one of us. It's time that life was paid attention to, for as I look around I see so many who live detached from the great force at work and who simply exist in the void beyond reality.

Animism has never been an institute for gaining any sort of divine power, though it can and will inspire you to live gracefully and gratefully on this earth. Each tree we pass, each blade of grass our feet touch, and each bird that sings deserve the same treatment we extend to our human kin. It doesn't take that much of an effort to reconsider the brutality of the actions we commit daily and to live in peace and love with all things.

Animistic Exercise

Resolve to live a week
30
completely aware of every being you interact with. Silently express your gratitude to the grass that you walk upon, make sure you avoid stepping on the many insects that use the footpath as a highway, pick up rubbish wherever you see it, and leave offerings of food beneath the trees that give you shade. At the end of the week, wake up at dawn; standing in a circle marked by a bowl of soil, water, a candle, and a stick of incense, recite the following:

No longer do I take life for granted, for I see it in all things: the towering glory of my brother, the eucalyptus (or oak, or whatever) … the sweet chorus of the feathered symphony … the mighty gale of the four winds. It is in the realm of earth, in all that surrounds me and in all that flows, that I see this life in all its brilliance. These are my family, my brothers and my sisters. These are the record keepers, the wise, the watchers of the fleeting passage of time. For now, I am a child of the human race, and I pledge that though my kind has pillaged and scarred, I reject brutality and seek to live among you, my neighbours, in peace and love. Blessed be.

Ditheism:
God and Goddess

For two are the mystical pillars
That stand at the gate of the shrine
And two are the powers of nature
The forms and the forces divine.

—Doreen Valiente,
The Witches' Creed

Perhaps the most interesting trait of the Wiccan religion
31
is that it reveres two deities as personifications of the polarity of Nature. These two deities are known generically as God and Goddess, and while they are often given particular names which resonate personally with the individual, the underlying principle remains the same. The God and Goddess (Lord and Lady) are the divine expressions of a universal energy that divides itself in order to know itself.

In order to fully comprehend the theology of ditheism, it is essential to first consider the universal Spirit. This boundless Spirit is androgynous and unites both male and female, enacting the ancient powers of desire and cosmic fecundity in a rush of passion and pleasure. The ancient Greeks personified these complementary forces as the primordial Gaia (the receptive earth) and Eros (desire), as documented in Hesiod's
Theogony.
For manifestation to occur in our universe, two opposing and yet complementary forces must contrast and create friction to produce something else entirely.

The polarity of Nature and divinity is made clear in what we observe in the world around us. In most cases, sexual reproduction requires two entities of opposite gender to come together and cause the fusion of cellular organisms (sperm and egg) to stimulate the creation of new life. No-thing comes from no-where.

Wiccans embrace this law of polarity in their conception of deity and thus the God and the Goddess. They are not dependent on one another in any political or social way; they are independently vital, and yet without the other, creation becomes regressive. For that reason, creation is not largely discussed in Wiccan circles; rather, it is mutual co-creation that is focused on.

There has been a tendency among Wiccan and Pagan groups today to place a greater emphasis on the Goddess in an attempt to bring back the balance and to reassert feminine power. I, for one, do not believe that tipping the scales in favour of either power will result in universal concord. The assertion of balance between the sexes needs to be prominent to ensure the Pagan traditions do not fall to the same tyrannies that run rampant within monotheism.

Historically, ditheism was present in several ancient societies in which polytheism was the basic principle. In the past, ditheism was not purely the reverence of a god and a goddess exclusively, it was the reverence of two related deities (generally male and female) within an already established pantheon (Gaia and Ouranos, Isis and Osiris, Inanna and Dumuzi), and in many cases, this ditheism was reinforced through the forming of cults honouring the partnered gods.
32
For instance, we need only look to the Tantric traditions of India and it is clear that in the midst of an extensive pantheon, there is a polarity of male and female within the infinity of being.

In Shivaic Tantrism, there is Shakti and Shiva. Their symbols are the yoni and the lingam, and their divine powers of co-creation are honoured in many villages, often at the site of a stone phallus embedded in a feminine pedestal shaped to resemble the vulva.
33
Interestingly, in this particular Tantric tradition, the Shakti (the feminine power) is often central—
“[She] embodies the power; the male, the capacity for wonder.”
34
This description is remarkably similar to the Wiccan conception of their God and Goddess.

The Wiccan Wheel of the Year is represented by the Goddess; she is the very nature of its transitions and changes. She is the wheel itself, and as it turns, she reflects the underlying spiritual and physical changes that occur during its journey. At Samhain she is the death Crone, and she rests, as does the harsh winter landscape. At Yule she is the Star Woman and gives birth to the Sun Child, as he himself is a star, and we honour the Sun's rebirth. At Imbolc she is the Maiden, and the signs of winter's passing can be seen; and on it goes with every sabbat. The Goddess represents the eternal power, the cosmic force of unity. This is the Shakti of Shivaic Tantrism, the essential power and the embodiment of the feminine.

The Horned God is the active, impregnating principle that accompanies the turning of the wheel and animates its life force. The God of Wicca is the creative force integrating the seasonal patterns into his very being as he commits himself to the cycles of life, death, and rebirth. He is the living sacrifice, wild and unruly. He is the willing student, the complementary figure who impregnates the Goddess with his very soul and lust for life and ensures the continuation of a universal love. Shiva—who shares many, if not all, of the Horned God's qualities—is the destroyer of illusion and the erect phallus that signifies the blossoming of consciousness and the penetration of the universe.
35

The Shakti and Shiva (the Goddess and the God) are equal. They are indistinguishable from each other when our ego-driven comprehensions fade and we recognise the love that pervades their partnership. In full consciousness they are one—the force of the Spirit resonates between them. Once again, the female and male are simply useful expressions for different sides of the mystery. It is this reality that is beyond our mundane understanding. During times of spiritual ecstasy and celebration, however, we become aware.

Historically, it is interesting to note that the Megalithic people of ancient Avebury may have been “selective”
36
ditheists. Terence Meaden discusses the possibility of Tara as the generic earth goddess of the Megalithic Britons in her article “
Elements of Pagan Belief in the Megalithic Age.”
She argues that the archaeological evidence contained in the stone circles of Avebury indicates an ancient belief in the divine powers of polarity. She also argues that the deities who embodied this energy were acknowledged by several cultures. The deities are commonly known as Tara (earth goddess) and Taran (sky god), and etymological parallels existed throughout Europe and the Near East, including pre-Vedic India. In fact, the similarities are immediately convincing: Tara (Indo-European generic earth goddess; Tibetan; pre-Vedic Indian)—Tari (Dravidian), Turan (Etruscan), Terah (Hebrew), and Terra Mater (Roman). These similarities exist also for her male counterpart Taran (Welsh): Taru (Hattic), Tarai (Andaman), Thor (Scandinavian), Thunaer (Anglo-Saxon), Torann (Irish), and Thur (Phoenician).
37

The archetypal earth/sky dynamic fosters a natural observation—that Nature is a reflection of the microcosm (and vice versa). The calculated positioning of the standing stones at Avebury is testimony to this. It is not only the direction the light falls at sunrise that empowers the stone circle, but also the hills that emphasis the divine union of earth and sky.

In Celtic Britain, hills were of special importance, as they signified the physical location where the receptive powers of earth combined with the magnificence of the heavens. This was made apparent during storms as the low clouds would pass over the summit, which seemed like a divine conference to the Celts.