Alan G. Hefner Animism Summary

Animism
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by Alan G. Hefner and Virgilio Guimaraes

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.
There has been sharp divisions of thought as to the original concept of animism held by primitive peoples. An British anthropologist Sir Edward Burnett Tylor in his "Primitive Culture" (1871) defined animism
Both the soma plant of India and the coca shrub of Peru are worshiped for the intoxicating properties of the products made from them. Field crops, thought to harbor spirits of infertility, has been honored by ancient tribesmen and peasants throughout Europe. Traces of these cults can still be found.
The above describes nature worshipers among which many occultists are numbered. They view life as being in everything, and everything, even man, supporting life. Life is sacred -- all life. "One of the foremost characteristics of Neo-Paganism (or occultism) is the return to the ancient idea that there is no distinction between the spiritual and material, sacred and secular." Everything is still one as it was to primitive man.
Animism may also be the unconscious fabrication of a spirit manifestation by the medium. It is not a fraud as the medium actually believes that he is channeling a spirit. It usually happens when the medium is put under pressure to attend a request or works in a spiritualistic circle where spirit phenomena are expected to occur. The spirit of the medium then fabricates a manifestation and it is interesting to notice that the medium´s body undergoes all the usual changes that happen in an actual spirit communication, such as altered breathing, contortions, and such
Puntan asked his sister, Fu’una, to help him create the universe with parts of his body. When she completed the tasks, she fell to the newly created earth at Fouha Bay near the southern Guam village of Umatac and turned into a monolithic rock formation where the first people of the earth came from.
There is historical documentation of this story including from Catholic priest Diego Luis de San Vitores whose evangelical efforts in the latter half of the 17th century yielded a contemporary predominantly Catholic congregation on Guam and her neighboring Mariana Islands. San Vitores recorded the pilgrimage of ancient Chamorros to the site – Fouha Bay – where Chamorros believe human life originated. Renown anthropologist Laura Thompson noted that:
Elsewhere Sanvitores… stated, ‘Fuuna [a point on the coast of the southwest Guam] is celebrated among these natives for there is in it a rock, or stone, from which they believe all men had their origin…’ This is apparently an explanatory element in the same creation myth.
The Chamorro legend of Chaife, an evil underworld lord, brought in elements of animism to explain natural phenomena such as tidal waves and typhoons as Chaife tried to destroy a soul which he mistakenly believed escaped during his creation of