Animism

Animism can be defined as an attribution of spirit to things beyond human beings, including animals, plants and the entire earth. Animism is a way of seeing, experiencing and engaging with the Earth. Animism is the belief that everything is connected and interconnected. Within animistic druidry, there is an understanding that God/dess does not exist as one or many beings but is all around us within every fabric of life. In the video below, researcher John Reid talks about Animism not only as a belief but as an experience.

Watch the video below where Māori woman, Bianca Ranson, explains how Māori customs and values impact her life and work.

Reflection

What are your thoughts on animism as a world view and experience?

What do you feel we can learn about ourselves from animistic traditions?

Can animism contribute to healing our planet? How?

Earth Based Spirituality 

What are Earth Based Paths?

When you hear the term ‘earth based paths’ what immediately comes to mind for you?

Throughout this module, we ask you to reflect on your place on the earth, and the impact you have on the world around you. Thinking about the climate crisis we find ourselves in, what can we learn from earth based spiritualities to re-connect ourselves with the natural world?

Earth based spiritualities is an incredibly broad term, and like any other religious tradition, there are many differences in the way this is realised for an individual. Perhaps the common thread across them is the deep connection humanity has with nature, and the understanding that humans are part of nature, not separate from, or dominant to it.

Earth Based Spirituality

Here at OneSpirit, we begin our journey through the faith paths with Earth Based Spirituality. We begin here with an understanding of earth based religion and spiritualities being at the root of our understanding of religion, and how the thread that runs through all begins here. In our Ministry training, we deepen into how the thread of earth based paths weaves throughout religious traditions. In early human life, the interactions between humans, animals, plants, the weather and the whole environment were necessary for survival. There was once a deep understanding of our place in the universe, and the importance of our connection with our natural world.

Nature Within

We are becoming increasingly re-aware of our connectedness to the natural world, and the role we play in both damaging the world around us, but also in healing the world around us; with many climate activists calling for humanity to see it self as part of nature, not separate from it. It can be argued that the rise in religion, particularly Juedo-Chrisitian religion, has led to a sustained separation of humanity from nature. Anthropocentrism prevailed, and humans further separated themselves from the natural world, as above the natural world.

Here at OneSpirit we work to recognise our grounding in these earth based spiritualities, the connectedness that exists within all of us, and with the natural world.

Watch the video below about humanity’s connectedness to nature:

Reflection

Thinking about your own living context, how do you feel connected to nature? Where do you go for that connection?

Do you find it difficult to do on a daily basis?

Does the idea that we are all connected to nature resonate with you?

The Wheel of the Year

In Celtic earth based spiritualities, the earth is understood to have a cyclical flow, divided into eight, with each recognising the cycle of life and the relationship between the earth and the sun, between life, death and rebirth.Through this, we can understand the dependence of all living things. One cannot exist without the other.

Watch the video below, where Philip Carr-Gomm talks about the wheel of the year and the wheel of life in a recorded video of a live session. Philip Carr-Gomm is a guest speaker on the OneSpirit Ministry Training and is a member of the Order of Bards Ovates and Druids. You can find out more about this at the link here: https://druidry.org/

Solstice refers to the longest or shortest day we experience through the year, with the Winter Solstice marking the shortest day and the Summer Solstice marking the longest day. Equinox refers to equal day and equal night, where the amount of daylight and night time is the same length. The video below describes how the solstices are connected to the movement of the Earth.

Reflection

Thinking about your own connection to the seasons of the earth, do you mark seasonal transitions? How?

How do you distinguish between the four seasons? What makes you think of summer, for example?

Divine Feminine

In the earth based spiritualities of Paganism, Wicca and Druidry, there is a real connectedness with the Earth and the place humanity has within it. Paganism has often been used as an umbrella term in the UK context for earth-based religions, but there are some differences amongst them. In the Wicca movement there are many different traditions being practiced around the world, the most well-known Wiccan traditions are the Dianic, Alexandrian and Gardnerian. Many live by the Rede, ‘An’ it harm none, do what ye will’, with a belief that whatever an individual does will come back to them times three.

Research

Spend some time further researching the different Wiccan traditions and their connection to the sacred earth.

Within Paganism and Wicca traditions, there is often an emphasis on the divine feminine and Goddess Worship. The Earth itself is the Goddess and often referred to as the Mother or the Mother Goddess. The Divine Masculine is often honoured in the form of the Horned God or the Green Man. The Glastonbury Goddess Temple and Community is one example of earth based Goddess worship. Based in Glastonbury, the Goddess Community are dedicated to worshiping the Goddess in her many forms. The video below is a chant from the Glastonbury Goddess Temple for Mother Earth.

In some traditions, the Divine Feminine or Goddess is worshiped in the three forms of the Triple Goddess.

• Maiden – often described as ‘virgin’, but meaning she who does not belong to anyone but herself
• Mother – mother/bride – mother of all, some relate to this aspect of the Triple Goddess through their own motherhood, or simply through their own creativity, as mother of their own creativity
• Crone – the wise woman

These are often associated with the phases of the moon, the waxing, full and waning phases of the moon’s cycle.

The term Thealogy was coined to reference discussions around Goddess Spirituality and Goddess Worship. If you are interested in reading more about Thealogy, you may wish to check out Melissa Raphael’s Thealogy and Embodiment. Another instrumental person in the field of Goddess spirituality is Carol. P. Christ, who wrote an article called ‘Why Women Need the Goddess’ in the late 1970’s. In the interview below, she talks about what drew her to write this article and what Goddess means to her.

Reflection

How does the idea of the Divine Feminine sit with you?

Have you encountered Goddess worship before?

What, if anything, does Goddess mean to you?

Earth Based Spirituality 

What are Earth Based Paths?

When you hear the term ‘earth based paths’ what immediately comes to mind for you?

Throughout this module, we ask you to reflect on your place on the earth, and the impact you have on the world around you. Thinking about the climate crisis we find ourselves in, what can we learn from earth based spiritualities to re-connect ourselves with the natural world?

Earth based spiritualities is an incredibly broad term, and like any other religious tradition, there are many differences in the way this is realised for an individual. Perhaps the common thread across them is the deep connection humanity has with nature, and the understanding that humans are part of nature, not separate from, or dominant to it.

Earth Based Spirituality

Here at OneSpirit, we begin our journey through the faith paths with Earth Based Spirituality. We begin here with an understanding of earth based religion and spiritualities being at the root of our understanding of religion, and how the thread that runs through all begins here. In our Ministry training, we deepen into how the thread of earth based paths weaves throughout religious traditions. In early human life, the interactions between humans, animals, plants, the weather and the whole environment were necessary for survival. There was once a deep understanding of our place in the universe, and the importance of our connection with our natural world.

Nature Within

We are becoming increasingly re-aware of our connectedness to the natural world, and the role we play in both damaging the world around us, but also in healing the world around us; with many climate activists calling for humanity to see it self as part of nature, not separate from it. It can be argued that the rise in religion, particularly Juedo-Chrisitian religion, has led to a sustained separation of humanity from nature. Anthropocentrism prevailed, and humans further separated themselves from the natural world, as above the natural world.

Here at OneSpirit we work to recognise our grounding in these earth based spiritualities, the connectedness that exists within all of us, and with the natural world.

Watch the video below about humanity’s connectedness to nature:

Reflection

Thinking about your own living context, how do you feel connected to nature? Where do you go for that connection?

Do you find it difficult to do on a daily basis?

Does the idea that we are all connected to nature resonate with you?

The Wheel of the Year

In Celtic earth based spiritualities, the earth is understood to have a cyclical flow, divided into eight, with each recognising the cycle of life and the relationship between the earth and the sun, between life, death and rebirth.Through this, we can understand the dependence of all living things. One cannot exist without the other.

Watch the video below, where Philip Carr-Gomm talks about the wheel of the year and the wheel of life in a recorded video of a live session. Philip Carr-Gomm is a guest speaker on the OneSpirit Ministry Training and is a member of the Order of Bards Ovates and Druids. You can find out more about this at the link here: https://druidry.org/

Solstice refers to the longest or shortest day we experience through the year, with the Winter Solstice marking the shortest day and the Summer Solstice marking the longest day. Equinox refers to equal day and equal night, where the amount of daylight and night time is the same length. The video below describes how the solstices are connected to the movement of the Earth.

Reflection

Thinking about your own connection to the seasons of the earth, do you mark seasonal transitions? How?

How do you distinguish between the four seasons? What makes you think of summer, for example?

Divine Feminine

In the earth based spiritualities of Paganism, Wicca and Druidry, there is a real connectedness with the Earth and the place humanity has within it. Paganism has often been used as an umbrella term in the UK context for earth-based religions, but there are some differences amongst them. In the Wicca movement there are many different traditions being practiced around the world, the most well-known Wiccan traditions are the Dianic, Alexandrian and Gardnerian. Many live by the Rede, ‘An’ it harm none, do what ye will’, with a belief that whatever an individual does will come back to them times three.

Research

Spend some time further researching the different Wiccan traditions and their connection to the sacred earth.

Within Paganism and Wicca traditions, there is often an emphasis on the divine feminine and Goddess Worship. The Earth itself is the Goddess and often referred to as the Mother or the Mother Goddess. The Divine Masculine is often honoured in the form of the Horned God or the Green Man. The Glastonbury Goddess Temple and Community is one example of earth based Goddess worship. Based in Glastonbury, the Goddess Community are dedicated to worshiping the Goddess in her many forms. The video below is a chant from the Glastonbury Goddess Temple for Mother Earth.

In some traditions, the Divine Feminine or Goddess is worshiped in the three forms of the Triple Goddess.

• Maiden – often described as ‘virgin’, but meaning she who does not belong to anyone but herself
• Mother – mother/bride – mother of all, some relate to this aspect of the Triple Goddess through their own motherhood, or simply through their own creativity, as mother of their own creativity
• Crone – the wise woman

These are often associated with the phases of the moon, the waxing, full and waning phases of the moon’s cycle.

The term Thealogy was coined to reference discussions around Goddess Spirituality and Goddess Worship. If you are interested in reading more about Thealogy, you may wish to check out Melissa Raphael’s Thealogy and Embodiment. Another instrumental person in the field of Goddess spirituality is Carol. P. Christ, who wrote an article called ‘Why Women Need the Goddess’ in the late 1970’s. In the interview below, she talks about what drew her to write this article and what Goddess means to her.

Reflection

How does the idea of the Divine Feminine sit with you?

Have you encountered Goddess worship before?

What, if anything, does Goddess mean to you?

Animism

Animism can be defined as an attribution of spirit to things beyond human beings, including animals, plants and the entire earth. Animism is a way of seeing, experiencing and engaging with the Earth. Animism is the belief that everything is connected and interconnected. Within animistic druidry, there is an understanding that God/dess does not exist as one or many beings but is all around us within every fabric of life. In the video below, researcher John Reid talks about Animism not only as a belief but as an experience.

Watch the video below where Māori woman, Bianca Ranson, explains how Māori customs and values impact her life and work.

Reflection

What are your thoughts on animism as a world view and experience?

What do you feel we can learn about ourselves from animistic traditions?

Can animism contribute to healing our planet? How?