We didn't just lose Dolly Parton and Tim Curry on the 25th; I lost a friend I'd had for nine years, three months, and 28 days. Time and capitalism finally caught up to my old Jeep, and I had to make a choice to trade him in as part of a (par for the course with those dealership predators) shitty deal because I had my back to the wall financially. The subframe was hanging on by a thread. Rear shocks were completely blown. As he was, he never stood a chance.

And literally *no one* fully understands why it hurts. I had a long-term reconditioning plan to make that Jeep as close to factory-new as I could, because I've got family who live on a fixed income and will literally never be able to afford anything new, let alone the work needed to make their own vehicle properly functional. I wanted to *rehome* my Jeep once I made a career jump and would have the resources to do it. Because I was willing to absurdly overinvest (back) in something that had been more reliable than most *people* in my life. I wasn't just restoring a car. Fuck's sake, I had the mechanic go ahead on the smaller projects because I meant to come back. He was gonna live at least another 267K miles. I'm *still* hoping against hope that I can find his final destination and scrape something together to buy a stay of execution. But it feels hopeless.

Plus... well, we know how cars go out. The crusher. Any other 90's kids with *hyperspecific* trauma about that? Anyone else get introduced to the concept of animism by watching a bunch of appliances trying to find their way back to their human?

I didn't get to say a proper goodbye, and I think that's what's fucking me up. Everything was so frantic because it was becoming completely unsustainable to only have one car for our family. I didn't get to just... sit and take my time. I didn't get to detail, hand wash, write a worthy sendoff in chalk marker. Didn't get to say anything about what was happening. I feel like a piece of shit who deserted a friend in their worst and most uncertain hour. It's an extra layer of hell as a Norse polytheist, too - feels like I'm breaking an oath.

Sorry. I'm rambling. It's just hard. How do you process this?

I experience it all and feel it all beyond humans. Weird right.

I honestly am super close from switching to animism over Christianity, I just feel very at peace with this religion. Tbh it also just makes sense to me, but I wanna know, since I wouldn’t get my morality from the supernatural, where would, for example, an animist get theirs?

Curious as to people's thought on taoism as it relates to animism. I'm trying to learn more about both. I'm drawn more deeply to animism but have heard interesting things about taoism from friends.

hi yall!

so i’ve been vegetarian for around 5 years now, i avoid animal products altogether mostly but make exceptions sometimes.

The reason for this is mostly that I don’t want to hurt living beings. Environmental impact is also important to me but it’s mostly for the animals.

Recently i’ve been learning about animism. And it’s super interesting and i’ve been feeling a lot more attached to nature.

However, I am a bit confused how to feel about my diet now. If not just animals, but also plants, rivers, mountains, etc is conscious? Why would it ethical for me to eat plants but not animals?

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t wanna start eating meat again, and i definitely don’t wanna stop eating altogether. I’m just trying to fit this new perspective in my worldview and eating habits.

How do other animist vegans/vegetarians view this?

Hii. I was wondering if anyone knew where I could learn about Irish Animism? I keep trying to look things up and it shows me "Celtic" Animism which is really broad. If anyone knows about Irish Animism please don't hesitate to reply! 💚🪉

I’ll try to be succinct.

I was a Christian for almost 30 years, stopped believing because I looked into it and realized I wasn’t believing because of logic and reason but because it was normalized around me my whole life.
Started seeking truth in philosophy/studying other religious beliefs.
Found Alan Watts and GREATLY agree with his description of reality (roughly: awareness and existence itself is “god”, and the world as we see it is literally a divine play where “god” is manifesting as all people/animals/objects/etc. I’m entirely sold on this and I find it beautiful.
That being said, I’ve recently found animism and love the ideas. However, I’ve heard from many “animist educators” (I don’t know what you’d call them) that if you don’t believe in the supernatural (specifically fairies, spirits, etc) then you aren’t an animist. Even including actual deities.
This seems incorrect. Could someone help me understand please. A million thanks!

I enjoy tarot, astrology, and crystals (idk if they heal people but I like them they are pretty and I like some of the energy from them) I’ve hoped spiritual practices for years trying to find something paganism has been my go to for a long time but animism and pantheism are probably better for me. I’m not a deity work person, a monotheistic or polytheistic person, I’m not a spells person. I only ever really celebrated the solstices and equinoxes. I’m a big soul, spirit, reincarnation person. I’m interested in animistic witchcraft but I’m struggling finding sources for that specifically. If anyone knows thank you.

Buongiorno a tutti, cerco un gruppo animista nel nord ovest d'Italia, zona tra Torino e Milano, per discussione, confronto e apprendimento. So che in giro ci sono moltissimi gruppi a sfondo politico oppure settario, io invece cerco qualcosa che sia autenticamente animista. Con questo intendo una pratica animista orizzontale, umana, dedita al rispetto della Natura, alla conoscenza degli Spiriti, alla ricerca della guarigione spirituale e alla creazione di rapporti sinceri tra individui con intenzioni pure, senza scopo di lucro e che accolga diverse tradizioni animiste, pagane e sciamaniche alla pari. Se un tale gruppo non esiste, propongo di crearlo insieme.

There are so many different sources, but I don't know what to trust with how the internet is these days. I am looking for some actual good sources from people who are familiar or practice themselves!

i figured that since this sub doesnt always get a lot of posts and discussion that i'd ask this question since i feel itd be pertinent to a lot of people and offer some unique insights on how this spirituality/ontology/whatever has shaped or affected their life.

for me animism (and druidry since i got into that first) has allowed me to better appreciate life and the interconnectedness of everything on the planet, from artificial human made things to natural processes. i think i was always predisposed to animist belief and views given ive always recognized how everything is tangled in a massive web that we call life. in more recent years ive come to recognize the personhood of other things, primarily animals more than anything, appreciating what they offer to our ecosystem and world as a whole.

it's also made it easier for me to appreciate myself and hate myself just a tiny bit less, given my enormous struggles with my own mental health. after all im a part of this web of life and the universe itself and comprise it no differently from any other living/nonliving thing. i have my place, as do you and we all matter no matter how small or seemingly inconsequentially. druidry and animism have furthered my own love for nature and the planet to the utmost degree and i value everything here greatly, i want to protect it, to nurture it, and it makes me feel happy to be so connected with everything around me.

for me i think a major development towards my beliefs was actually the avatar film when i saw it as a young kid (22 y/o for reference), given that the entire setting is veryyyy animist (and panpsychist among other things), this combined with the beautiful visuals and me (unbeknownst to me at the time) being therian/otherkin and really wanting to be a funny blue cat person definitely had a subconscious influence lol.

that being said im grateful to be a pagan/druid/animist and whatever other accurate labels can be used to describe my belief system and part of this wider community since it is far more accepting and progressive than others for sure, and i thank the resources from this subreddit, wikipedia, and elsewhere for helping develop my beliefs further.

Hello,

This will be a hard one for me but I'm going to try to do my best...

I've been going through a hard patch in my life and I decided to spend the night in Sedona,Az to clear my head.

I decided to try float therapy because I've heard of the wonders it does to your muscles, mind etc... What I didn't expect was my life to get flipped upside down and turned into an episode of the twilight zone.

I keep having bizarre and strange synchronistic things that keep happening with animals ever since this trip.

I thought I was overanalyzing but these things keep happening. I found a great peace and joy in my life that I've never experienced before... I know we are all connected now...I used to never go to the woods and now I cant wait to be in nature as much as possible...

At the same time I'm going through one of the hardest patches in my life. I'm very confused what is happening to me... I feel it is for the best but it is quite bewildering... has anyone had an experience like this before?

(PS- Yes this is a new account. I made this account for this purpose. Trying to get karma and whatnot)

Hello everyone! I was born and raised Christian and I really do personally believe in no other higher power(s) besides the trinity. However I pretty much relate to everything about animism and both communities of religious and spiritual folk kinda make me feel bad for believing both. Is animism an okay term to use because I heard it may have a negative history with indigenous communities when it comes to describing their “religion”. Im a white chick and really don’t want to offend anyone or be bigoted/uneducated. I can sum up my personal beliefs here:

I’m a Christian animist with mystical and ecotheological beliefs. I believe the Trinity is the only God, but that God created a spiritually alive world that reflects Him and participates in His glory.

Im so disillusioned with modern Christianity, church, and organization religion. I want my own natural divine encounters with Jesus/God, not ones fabricated in a church building.

I truly believe almost everything in nature has a spirit/soul/consciousness/energy etc. I believe nature worships God in a different way than us and it is our responsibility to care for the earth.

ecotheology: the exploration/study of religion and the natural environment.

Mysticism: personal experience with the divine (God)

Animism: believing non-human things have a spirit

Christianity: only worshipping the trinity and believing in Jesus’s divinity and teachings.

Please be nice!!! I would love to hear yalls thoughts

I would like to know the point of view of animists (both personal and tied to historical traditions) about non-alive (in the sense of non organic/biological) objects, and in particular artificially created ones

Is there a soul? Some agency/personhood?

Hi! I’m an 18f and pretty new to animism. Prior to this year I only identified as a pagan, but recently I’ve turned to animism as well. I was curious how you eat without feeling guilty. I have seen things about only eating animals who’ve had autonomous lives (such as hunted animals) or only consuming certain plants. My biggest issue is that I am a low income college student so it’s very difficult to ethically source food at an affordable level. Any advice to source food? Or any advice to eat without feeling guilty? Thank you :)

i currently have a pretty bad bug infestation in my apartment. my landlord has put bait/traps out, which killed a lot and did nothing to resolve the actual issue. the problem has gotten much worse the past couple weeks. what would you do? i stopped killing them for a while, but i am killing them a lot lately bc it’s gotten rly bad :-(

Hope this is okay to share here. I recently had the chance to speak with Tyson Yunkaporta for my podcast.

I first came across his work through Sand Talk, and one of the things that really stayed with me was the emphasis on relationship, not just between people, but with land, place and the wider living world.

We ended up talking about Indigenous knowledge, comedy, high-context ways of seeing, ecology, story, serpent lore, hierarchy, and how modern systems can shape what we even notice about the world around us.

I’m a comedian and practising Buddhist, and definitely not coming at this as an expert. I mostly make the podcast because I’m curious and want an excuse to speak with people who make me see things differently.

Thought the conversation might be of interest to some people here.

I made a post a while back about the object in question from my old account, received a sanity-check explanation, but now I am certain the negative energy has returned.

It's a Cold War-era antiquity, I assume the malice is caused by the tensions and war-related hatred from the manufacturers and distributors during its time.

Incense is not an option, as my father has a strict ban on it. I'd rather not remove the item from its space, as it is a collector's item of sentimental value to me.

I have cleansed it with incense before the ban, and it worked, but as you can tell, temporarily.

Any recommendations?

Like here is the thing. Like some time ago. Eagles used to tap me or flyingkick me on my head and it used to be like that for a while. Iike I would be just sitting there in the park and an eagle would just hit me on my head , and he would do that multiple times . It for some reason stopped , now they wont hit me , I dont know what happened, like I sit in the same spot and now eagles would not hit me like they used to. What's going on. Like have I changed the influence from eagle to something else? Is it because I changed some habits or something.

HII! I love my plants with all my heart, and I wanna care for them in a kinda.. human like way. Like.. putting on their favorite jewelry! Or their favorite music! If this sounds weird please let me know! Also.. is it weird to call my plants my babies, or child(ren)? I wanna communicate with them though dowsing rods. If you have a better suggestion, please let me know! Thanks!! ^^

I discovered the ideas of neopaganism a few years ago. I didn't resonate with Christianity or other faiths, so I started a spiritual journey guided by intuition and my personal experiences with the divine.

Over time, I came to believe that reincarnation plays an important role in the growth of the soul. To me, it gives us multiple opportunities to learn from our mistakes, develop compassion, and become better people.

I also believe that nature is sacred and that every living being is connected through a greater spiritual cycle. My path has led me to create a personal faith called Amrrana, inspired by nature, reincarnation, divine beings, and the idea that spiritual growth is a lifelong journey.

I'm curious to hear from others: what spiritual experiences or beliefs helped shape your path?

Like hunted wild animals or food from volunteer trees or intact natural habitats? It just seems aligned with animism somehow to me, to respect the independent sentience of the being.