Animism refers to a religious belief that souls or spirits exist in animals, plants and other entities, in addition to humans. Animism may also attribute souls to natural phenomena, geographic features, and even manufactured objects. Religions which emphasize animism in this sense include Shinto, Hinduism and pagan faiths such as folk religions and Neopaganism.

Some theories have been put forward that the belief in animism among early humans were the basis for the later evolution of religions. In this theory, early humans initially worshipped local deities of nature, in a form of animism. These grew into larger, polytheistic deities, such as gods of the sun and moon. Eventually these evolved into a belief in one, monotheistic God.

In many animistic world views found in early cultures, the human being is often regarded on an equal footing with animals, plants, and natural forces. In this world view, humans are considered a part of nature, rather than superior to, or separate from it. In such societies, ritual is considered essential for survival, as it wins the favor of the spirits of one’s source of food, shelter, and fertility and wards off malevolent spirits. In more elaborate animistic religions, such as Shinto, there is a greater sense of a special character to humans that sets them apart from the general run of animals and objects, while retaining the necessity of ritual to ensure good luck, favorable harvests, and so on.

A large part of mythology is based upon a belief in souls and spirits. Myths that portray plants, inanimate objects, and non human animals as personal beings are examples of animism in its more restrictive sense. As mythology began to include more numerous and complex ideas about a future life and purely spiritual beings, the overlap between mythology and animism widened. However, a rich mythology does not necessarily depend on a belief in spiritual beings.

Shinto, the traditional religion of Japan, is highly animistic. In Shinto, spirits of nature, or kami, exist everywhere, from the major ones, such as the goddess of the sun, who can be considered polytheistic, to the minor, who are more likely to be seen as a form of animism.

Many Pagans and Neopagans believe that there are spirits of nature and place, and that these spirits can sometimes be as powerful as minor deities. Polytheist Pagans may extend the idea of many gods and goddesses to encompass the many spirits of nature, such as those embodied in holy wells, mountains and sacred springs. While some of these many spirits may be seen as fitting into rough categories and sharing similarities with one another, they are also respected as separate individuals. On the other hand, some Wiccans may use the term animist to refer to the idea that a Mother Goddess and Horned God consist of everything that exists.

Most animistic belief systems hold that the spirit survives physical death. In some systems, the spirit is believed to pass to an easier world of abundant game or crops, while in other systems, the spirit remains on earth as a ghost, often malignant. Still other systems combine these two beliefs, holding that the soul must journey to the spirit world without becoming lost and thus wandering as a ghost. Mourning rituals and ancestor worship performed by those surviving the deceased are often considered necessary for the successful completion of the journey.

Cultural appropriation is the adoption of some specific elements of one culture by a different cultural group. It can include the introduction of forms of dress or personal adornment, music and art, religion, language, or social behavior. These elements, once removed from their indigenous cultural contexts, may take on meanings that are significantly divergent from those they originally held.

A common type of cultural appropriation is the adoption of the iconography of another culture. Obvious examples include tattoos of Hindu gods, Polynesian tribal iconography, Chinese characters, or Celtic bands worn by people who have no interest in or understanding of the original cultural significance. When these artifacts are regarded as objects that merely look cool, or when they are mass produced cheaply as consumer kitsch, people who venerate and wish to preserve their indigenous cultural traditions may be offended.

African American culture has been the subject of aggressive cultural appropriation, especially elements of its music, dance, slang, dress, and demeanor. Artists such as Eminem, a white American who adopted a traditionally African American music and style, may be perceived this way.

Another prominent example of cultural appropriation is the use of real or imaginary elements of Native American culture by North American summer camps, by organizations such as the Boy Scouts of America, or by New Age spiritual leaders. Many summer camps, and many age segregated groups of campers within summer camps are named after real Native American tribes. Tipis are common at summer camps even at an enormous distance from the Great Plains, and rituals often evoke Native American culture. The Boy Scout honor society is called the Order of the Arrow.

Cultural appropriation may be defined differently in different cultures. While academics in a country such as the United States, where racial dynamics had been a cause of cultural segmentation, may see many instances of intercultural communication as cultural appropriation, other countries may identify such communication as a melting pot effect.

It has also been seen as a site of resistance to dominant society when members of a marginalized group take and alter aspects of dominant culture to assert their resistance. An example were the Mods in the UK in the 1960s, working class youth who appropriated and exaggerated the highly tailored clothing of the upper middle class. Objections have been raised to such political cultural appropriation, citing class warfare and identity politics.

The history of almost every society that comes into contact with other societies is filled with examples of what may be described as cultural appropriation, often learning from other cultures, taking parts that are useful, aesthetic, or agreeable, and incorporating them into their own. For instance, it is arguable that the Islamic civilization appropriated the cultural and intellectual heritage of the Greco-Roman civilization during the Islamic Golden Age. They then used this knowledge, combined with their own talents, to rise to a level of greatness comparable to the days of the Romans themselves.

Justin Britt-Gibson’s article for the Washington Post looked at the appropriation of his African-American culture as a sign of progress:

Throngs of dreadlocked Italians were smoking joints, drinking beer, grooving to the rhythms of Bob Marley, Steel Pulse and other reggae icons. Most striking was how comfortable these Italians seemed in their appropriated shoes, adopting a foreign culture and somehow making it theirs. The scene reinforced my sense of how far we’ve come since the days when people dressed, talked and celebrated only that which sprang from their own background. For the first time in my life, I was fully aware of the spiritual concept that we’re all simply one.

Last month in a Los Angeles barbershop, I was waiting to get my trademark Afro cut when I noticed a brother in his late teens sitting, eyes closed, as the barber clipped his hair into a frohawk, the punk inspired African American adaptation of the mohawk. Asked why he chose the look, the guy, without looking up, shrugged, “Something different.” Immediately, I understood. Minutes later, his different cut became my new look.

A fox is a carnivorous mammal characterized by a long, narrow snout, and a bushy tail. The most common and widespread species of fox is the red fox, although various species are found on nearly every continent. The presence of fox like carnivores all over the globe has led to their appearance in the popular culture and folklore of many nations, tribes, and other cultural groups.

Typically, foxes are solitary, opportunistic feeders that hunt live prey, especially rodents. Using a pouncing technique practised from an early age, they are usually able to kill their prey quickly. Foxes also gather a wide variety of other foods ranging from grasshoppers to fruit and berries.

In many cultures, the fox appears in folklore as a symbol of cunning and trickery, or as an animal possessed of magic powers. In early Mesopotamian mythology, the fox is one of the sacred animals of the goddess Ninhursag. The fox acts as her messenger.

The Moche people of Peru believed the fox to be a warrior that would use his mind to fight. The fox would never use physical attack, only mental. It would often be depicted in their art.

In Chinese mythology, huli jing are powerful spirits that are known for their deception and cunning. They often take on the form of female humans to seduce men. In contemporary Chinese, the word is often used to describe a mistress negatively in an extramarital affair.

In Japanese folklore, the fox like kitsune is a powerful animal spirit known for its highly mischievous and cunning nature. In Shinto of Japan, kitsune sometimes helps people as an errand of the deity Inari.

There is a Tswana riddle that says that “Phokoje go tsela o dithetsenya” translated literally into “Only the muddy fox lives,” meaning that only an active person who does not mind getting muddy gets to progress in life in philosophic sense.

The fox theme is often associated with transformation in European literature. There are stories about anthropomorphic animals imbued with human characteristics and tales of fox transformations into humans and vice versa.

The word shenanigans, a deceitful confidence trick or mischief, is considered to be derived from the Irish expression sionnachuighim, meaning “I play the fox.”

Carnivorous plants derive some or most of their nutrients from trapping and consuming animals or protozoans, typically insects and other arthropods. They are adapted to grow in places where the soil is thin or poor in nutrients such as bogs and rock outcroppings.

In carnivorous plants, the leaf is not just used to photosynthesise, but also as a trap. Changing the leaf shape to make it a better trap generally makes it less efficient at photosynthesis. For example, pitcher plants have to be held upright so that only their opercula directly intercept light. The plant also has to expend extra energy on non photosynthetic structures like glands, hairs, glue and digestive enzymes. To produce such structures, the plant respires more of its biomass. Hence, a carnivorous plant will have both decreased photosynthesis and increased respiration, making the potential for growth small and the cost of carnivory high.

The archetypal carnivore, the Venus flytrap, grows in soils with almost immeasurable nitrate and calcium levels. Plants need nitrogen for protein synthesis, calcium for cell wall stiffening, phosphate for nucleic acid synthesis, and iron for chlorophyll synthesis. The soil is often waterlogged, which favours the production of toxic ions such as ammonia which can be used as a source of nitrogen by plants, but its high toxicity means that concentrations high enough to fertilise are also high enough to cause damage.

It has been suggested that all trap type carnivorous plants are modifications of a similar basic structure, the hairy leaf. Hairy leaves can catch and retain drops of rainwater, especially if shield shaped or peltate, thus promoting bacteria growth. Insects land on the leaf, become mired by the surface tension of the water, and suffocate. Bacteria jumpstart decay, releasing from the corpse nutrients that the plant can absorb through its leaves. This foliar feeding can be observed in most non carnivorous plants. Plants that were better at retaining insects or water therefore had a selective advantage. 

Pitcher plants are carnivorous plants whose prey trapping mechanism features a deep cavity filled with liquid known as a pitfall trap. It has been widely assumed that the various sorts of pitfall trap evolved from rolled leaves, with selection pressure favouring more deeply cupped leaves over evolutionary time. 

The traps of the bladderworts may have derived from pitcher plants that specialised in aquatic prey when flooded. In terrestrial pitchers, Escaping prey have to climb or fly out of a trap, and both of these can be prevented by wax, gravity and narrow tubes. However, a flooded trap can be swum out of, so in some plants a one way lid may have developed to form a door. Later, this may have become active by the evolution of a partial vacuum inside, tripped by prey brushing against trigger hairs.

Geomancy is a method of divination that interprets markings on the ground, or how handfuls of soil, dirt or sand land when someone tosses them. In Africa one traditional form of geomancy consists of throwing handfuls of dirt in the air and observing how the dirt falls. It can also involve a mouse as the agent of the earth spirit. In China, the diviner may enter a trance and make markings on the ground that are interpreted by an associate, often a young boy.

In Korea, this tradition was popularized in the ninth century by the Buddhist monk Toson. In Korea, Geomancy takes the form of interpreting the topography of the land to determine future events and or the strength of a dynasty or particular family. Therefore, not only were location and land forms important, but the topography could shift causing disfavor and the need to relocate. The idea is still accepted in many South East Asian societies today, although with reduced force.

Geomancy in western tradition requires no instruments and no calculations; it is based solely on the human propensity for pattern recognition. Modern methods of geomancy include, in addition to the traditional pen and paper or sand methods, using geomancy cards, random number generators, or thrown objects.

Diviners in medieval Europe used parchment or paper for drawing the dots of geomancy but they followed the traditional direction of notation, right to left, for recording the dots. Western occultism still defines geomantic technique as marking sixteen lines of points in sand or soil with a wand or on a sheet of paper. The geomancer counts the number of points made in each line and produces either a single dot for an odd number of points, or two dots for an even number, for each line. The pattern of dots produced by the first to fourth lines are known as a figure.

Those four derived figures are entered into two charts, known as the Shield and House charts, and through binary processes form the seed of the figures that fill the whole charts. The charts are subsequently analyzed and interpreted by the geomancer to find solutions, options, and responses to the problem quesited, along with general information about the querent, providing an all-round reading into the querent’s life.

This form of geomancy is easy to learn and easy to perform. Once practiced by commoners and rulers alike, it was one of the most popular forms of divination throughout Classical antiquity and the Middle Ages. Books and treatises on geomancy were published up until the 17th century, when the geomancy generally stopped being practiced.

Mathematician Ron Eglash, while studying fractal structures in African culture, identified a binary recursive process that used self similarity to create a random number generator from an initial set of lines that a geomancer draws on the ground. This technique was brought to Europe by way of North African Islamic mystics. It is very likely that these mystics had previously obtained the approach from traditional African societies by way of interactions between the West African and North African trade.

Unlike the practices in many other regions such as the Middle East and China, which utilized base 10 numeric systems, the base 2 system utilized in geomancy had long been widely applied in sub-Saharan Africa. Partly inspired by the geomantic technique, Gottfried Leibniz, a German mathematician, developed the binary code theory, which later was the base for boolean algebra in modern computers, although it should be noted that certain boolean systems such as that used by SQL are in fact based upon three-valued logic.

Entoptic phenomena are visual effects whose source is within the eye itself. They have a physical basis in the image cast upon the retina. Hence, they are different from optical illusions, which are perceptual effects that arise from interpretations of the image by the brain. Because entoptic images are caused by phenomena within the observer’s own eye, they share one feature with optical illusions and hallucinations: the observer cannot share a direct and specific view of the phenomenon with others.

In 1851 Hermann Helmholtz commented on phenomena which could be seen easily by some observers, but could not be seen at all by others. This variance is not surprising because the specific aspects of the eye that produce these images are unique to each individual. Because of the variation between individuals, and the inability for two observers to share a nearly identical stimulus, these phenomena are unlike most visual sensations. They are also unlike most optical illusions which are produced by viewing a common stimulus. Yet, there is enough commonality between the main entoptic phenomena that their physical origin is now well understood.

Floaters or muscae volitantes are slowly drifting transparent blobs of varying size and shape, which are particularly noticeable when lying on the ground looking up at the sky. They are caused by imperfections in the fluid of the eye.

The blue field entoptic phenomenon has the appearance of tiny bright dots moving rapidly along squiggly lines in the visual field. It is much more noticeable when viewed against a field of pure blue light and is caused by white blood cells moving in the capillaries in front of the retina.

Haidinger’s brush is a very subtle yellow and blue pattern that is seen when viewing a field of light that is polarized.

The Purkinje tree is an image of the retinal blood vessels in one’s own eye. It can be seen by shining a bright, moving light like a penlight onto the sclera (the white of the eye) in a darkened room. Normally the image of the retinal blood vessels is invisible because of adaptation. The unusual angle casts the image onto unadapted portions of the retina. Unless the light moves, the image disappears within a second or so. If the light is moved at about 1 Hz, adaptation is defeated, and a clear image can be seen indefinitely. The vascular figure is often seen by patients during an ophthalmic examination when the doctor is using an ophthalmoscope. In the process of aligning the instrument so that the doctor can view the blood vessels through the pupil, the light from the instrument often falls briefly on the sclera, so that the patient gets a quick glimpse of the vascular figure.

A phosphene is the perception of light without light actually entering the eye, for instance caused by pressure applied to the closed eyes.

During the 1920s, some theosophists, unaware of the physical explanation, maintained that the moving spots seen in the blue field entoptic phenomenon were vitality globules related to the concept of prana in yoga.

A dreamcatcher is a handmade object based on a willow hoop on which is woven a loose net or web. The dreamcatcher is then decorated with personal and sacred items such as feathers and beads. It originates from the Ojibwa or Chippewa group of Native Americans. It is known as asabikeshiinh, the inanimate form of the word for spider, or bawaajige nagwaagan meaning dream snare.

During the pan Indian movement of the 1960s and 1970s dreamcatchers were adopted by Native Americans of a number of different Nations. They came to be seen by some as a symbol of unity among the various Indian Nations, and as a general symbol of identification with Native American or First Nations cultures. However, some Native Americans have come to see them as tacky and over commercialized due to their acceptance in popular culture.

Traditionally, the Ojibwa construct dreamcatchers by tying sinew strands in a web around a small round or tear shaped frame of willow in a way roughly similar to the method for making snowshoe webbing. The resulting dreamcatcher, hung above the bed, is then used as a charm to protect sleeping children from nightmares. Dreamcatchers made of willow and sinew are not meant to last forever but instead are intended to dry out and collapse over time as the child enters the age of adulthood.

The Ojibwa believe that a dreamcatcher changes a person’s dreams. According to Terri J. Andrews in the article Legend of the Dream Catcher, about the Ojibwa nation, only good dreams would be allowed to filter through. Bad dreams would stay in the net, disappearing with the light of day.

It’s recommended to hang the dream catcher above someone sleeping to guard against bad dreams. Good dreams pass through and slide down the feathers to the sleeper. Another legend states that good dreams pass through the center hole to the sleeping person. The bad dreams are trapped in the web, where they perish in the light of dawn.

In the course of becoming popular outside of the Ojibwa Nation, and then outside of the pan Indian communities, dreamcatchers are now made, exhibited, and sold by some New Age groups and individuals. According to Philip Jenkins, this is considered by most traditional Native peoples and their supporters to be an undesirable form of cultural appropriation.

The official portrait of Ralph Klein, former Premier of the Canadian province of Alberta and whose wife Colleen Klein is Metis, incorporates a dreamcatcher.

Guy Warren Ballard was an American mining engineer who became, with his wife Edna Anne, the founder of the I AM Activity. Ballard visited Mt. Shasta, California in 1930, where he met another hiker who identified himself as Saint Germain. Mr. Ballard’s experiences take place within the larger North American mountain ranges. Guy Ballard, his wife Edna, and later his son Donald became the sole Accredited Messengers of Saint Germain. Their teachings form the original nucleus for what are today called the Ascended Master Teachings.

The doctrine of the I AM Activity has its roots in theosophy. Its teachings were not new, but the publicity the Ballards achieved spread their teachings into the developing New Age movements in the United States. Many New Age movements now involve the Ascended Master Teachings.

The movement believes in the existence of a group called the Ascended Masters, a hierarchy of supernatural beings that includes Saint Germain, Jesus, Gautama Buddha, Maitreya, and thousands more. These are believed to be humans who have lived in physical bodies, become immortal, and attained their ascension. The Ascended Masters are believed to communicate to humanity through certain humans, including Guy and Edna Ballard. Because Jesus is believed to be one of the Ascended Masters, making the Christ Light available to seekers who wish to move out of darkness, many of the members of the I AM Activity consider it to be a Christian religion.

The movement teaches that the omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent creator God is in all of us as a spark from the Divine Flame, and that we can experience this presence, love, power and light through quiet contemplation and by repeating affirmations and decrees. By affirming something one desires, one can cause it to happen.

According to Los Angeles Magazine article, in August 1935, the Ballards hosted a gathering at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles that drew a crowd of 6,000. Guy Ballard spoke under the pseudonym he used in authoring his books, Godfre Ray King, and his wife used the pseudonym Lotus. Their meetings included teachings they described as being received directly from the Ascended Masters. They led the audiences in prayers and affirmations including adorations to God and invocations for abundance of every good thing, including love, money, peace, and happiness.

The Ballards founded a publishing house, Saint Germain Press, to publish their books and began training people to spread their messages across the United States. Meetings became limited to members after hecklers began disrupting their open meetings. Over their lifetimes, the Ballards recorded nearly 4,000 messages which they said were from the Ascended Masters. Guy Ballard, his wife Edna, and later his son Donald became the sole Accredited Messengers of the Ascended Masters.

Ballard died in 1939. In 1942 his wife and son were convicted of fraud after a government audit found that they had stored up $3 million from donations and what it called a retail racket by false statements of their religious experiences which had not in fact occurred, based on their claims of miraculous communication with the spirit world and supernatural power to heal the sick. A landmark Supreme Court decision overturned the conviction, ruling that the question of whether the Ballards believed their religious claims should not have been submitted to a jury.