animists
Nature spirit believers
Animists are people who hold animist beliefs—the view that natural objects, phenomena, and the universe itself possess souls or spirits.
Rivers, mountains, trees, and animals are understood as animate beings deserving respect or reverence.
Many indigenous religions are animist.
The term sometimes appears dismissively to characterize beliefs as primitive: mere animists who worship rocks.
Spiritual healers and intermediaries
- medicine menTraditional indigenous healers
- healersThose who treat ailments
- eldersSenior community members
- priestsOrdained religious leaders
priestesses · diviners · seers · curanderos · spirit mediums · witch doctors · holy men · traditional healers
Liquor or apparitions
- soulsImmaterial human essences
- consciousnessState of sentient awareness
- sacredWorthy of reverence
- supernaturalBeyond natural explanation
indigenous · traditional · tribal · primal · folk religion · nature spirits · ancestor spirits · spirit world
Spiritual devotion to environment
- sacred grovesReligiously significant protected woodlands
- riversFlowing bodies of water
- mountainsTall elevated landmasses
- treesWoody plants with trunks
animals · stones · earth · sky · sun · moon · plants · forests
Ceremonial repeated practices
- offeringsThings presented or given
- ceremoniesFormal observances with ritual
- prayersReverent petitions to deity
- divinationForetelling through mystical means
trance · drumming · chanting · sacred sites · shrines · altars · libations · sacrifices
Japanese animistic tradition
- YorubaNigerian people and language
- MaoriNew Zealand's indigenous people
- AboriginalAustralia's native peoples
- Native AmericanOriginal inhabitants of America
Siberian · Amazonian · Polynesian · Inuit · Sami · Hmong · Ainu · Andean
shamans
Spiritual healers and intermediaries
- medicine menTraditional indigenous healers
- healersThose who treat ailments
- eldersSenior community members
priests · priestesses · diviners · seers · curanderos · spirit mediums · witch doctors · holy men · traditional healers
spirits
Liquor or apparitions
- soulsImmaterial human essences
- consciousnessState of sentient awareness
- sacredWorthy of reverence
supernatural · indigenous · traditional · tribal · primal · folk religion · nature spirits · ancestor spirits · spirit world · spiritual beings
nature worship
Spiritual devotion to environment
- sacred grovesReligiously significant protected woodlands
- riversFlowing bodies of water
- mountainsTall elevated landmasses
trees · animals · stones · earth · sky · sun · moon · plants · forests · waterfalls
rituals
Ceremonial repeated practices
- offeringsThings presented or given
- ceremoniesFormal observances with ritual
- prayersReverent petitions to deity
divination · trance · drumming · chanting · sacred sites · shrines · altars · libations · sacrifices · pilgrimages
Shinto
Japanese animistic tradition
- YorubaNigerian people and language
- MaoriNew Zealand's indigenous people
- AboriginalAustralia's native peoples
Native American · Siberian · Amazonian · Polynesian · Inuit · Sami · Hmong · Ainu · Andean · Mongolian
- ancient paganspagans, polytheists, druids, sun worshippers, Celts
- paganspagans, neo-pagans, heathens, druids, polytheists
- idolaterspagans
- fringe believerstruthers, conspiracy theorists, flat earthers, QAnon, moon landing deniers
animistsmaterialists
Prioritizers of physical possessions
mechanists · reductionists · atheists · nihilists · empiricists
animistsmonotheists
Believers in one god
atheists · agnostics · secularists · deists · nonbelievers