Moving past domination into animism
Happy Sunday, Soothers. I know many of us are interested in dismantling systems of oppression and domination in the world around us; we can see so clearly, plainly, painfully, how a colonizer and patriarchal mindset harms us, the world, and the people around us.
But today I want to invite you into a micro-practice around this work, by working with the concept of animism, and asking permission and guidance of all the natural world around you, and into a reflection of what it means to be somebody who might believe, even if unconsciously or unwittingly, in another system of oppression:
Human supremacy.
First off, let's touch on what animism even is. I’m an animist, which simply means I believe that all beings, humans, animals, plants, lands, and waters, and even inanimate structures and objects, are alive and live within an interconnected web of spirituality. I recently wrote about animism in this post: Animism as a guiding light: The beauty, ritual and reciprocity of treating everything as if it is all alive... because it is
In there, I wrote:
My favorite definition of animism comes from Graham Harvey, who describes animism as a way of seeing the world as full of persons, most of which are non-humans.
So, as we consider animism — the belief that everything around is us alive with a consciousness, a sentience, a soul, from plants to animals and possibly to inanimate objects (like, I believe my house has a soul and a consciousness) — we must then consider, what does it mean to start to believe that...
humans are not the pinnacle of intelligence on this planet or at the top of any sort of hierarchy
humans don't know more or better about the world around us or its ways than anything else; in fact, objectively, being basically one of the youngest lifeforms on this planet, we probably know the least
that we should be in conversations with the animals, trees, natural features and objects around us
that permission should be asked of these objects before we move forward with what we, as humans, do what we think is "best" or most "logical" actions
that it is not laughable, or childish, to engage in conversations with non-humans and treat them with as much respect as another person, indeed, instead it is wise and kind and true
...what does that mean?
What does it mean to grapple with the concept of what could be called "human supremacy"?
This article expands on the meaning of human supremacy: "Human supremacy is the dominant worldview of human superiority and entitlement. It asserts that humans are separate from and above all other life forms. Human supremacy includes the precepts: Planet Earth belongs to humanity; Earth consists of 'resources' that are useful, profitable, or desirable; humans exhibit a form of consciousness that is essentially distinct from that of every other species; and humans rightfully possess absolute power of life and death over all non-humans and absolute power to possess and control all geographical space."
Now, I know I have the most amazing, thoughtful and reflective readership here at the Sunday Soother, so I know that many of you may recoil from the description above and not see yourself as a participant in it.
But I would ask you then...
Did you ask your house if it was okay to move into it, or renovate a section of it?
Did you ask the flowers in the yard if it was okay if you cut a few of them?
Have you asked the land you live on what healing and resources it may need from you?
Did you verbally explain to your pet and give it context on why you needed to take it into the vet and what you hoped would be achieved by that visit?
Do you regularly greet wildlife, trees and plants with the same salutation you would give a respected person?
Have you ever talked to a tree or creek, and asked it questions, or asked it to help you with a situation?
When making a decision in life, did you decide based on what would be best for the people/humans involved, rather than the land, plants, natural features, animals or inanimate objects around you?
Did you give thanks and reverence out loud to the ocean the last time you visited it?
Have you ever left the land a gift?
Do you know the history of your home or the land you live on? What wars or battles or horrors have taken place on it, who has lived there, what joys and beauties, too?
Or would you deem all those things I just listed as condescending, silly, "woo woo" BS?
Then, in many ways, you might have unknowingly participated in the concept of human supremacy.
Don't worry. We basically all do it. I definitely still do it, and I try actively to be as animist as possible. We all HAVE to do it, in some way, in a society that's rife not just with human supremacy but patriarchy, capitalism, and, of course, white supremacy. And there's not land on this planet that hasn't suffered in some way at the hands of humans, either ours or generations before us, and we can't magically undo that harm.
But we can start anew with creating our own animist practices.
How?
Here, I want to give you a few examples of how I work to be actively animist in my day-to-day life. Take inspiration from these little ideas, and began to weave your own animist practices, really, just starting anywhere. There's no wrong way to practice, as long as you do it with genuine respect and intent to connect.
And just notice if you feel any resistance to what I write here, or any desire to mock or belittle it. (It's okay, 5-10 years ago I would have AB-SO-LUTE-LY rolled my eyes at this type of newsletter... even though these types of practices are very much how I inherently and intuitively operated as a child; children are naturally born animists. Sadly we lose it over the years.)
Also, I don't offer an animism practice as one we should engage in at the cost of our own work to dismantle systems that are actively harming other humans. For me, it is one that absolutely enhances and strengthens my commitment to anti-capitalism, my anti-racist work and working to decondition myself from the patriarchy and colonizer mindset I inevitably have and still struggle with, as a cis hetero white woman with economic privilege. I find animism to be a beautiful companion practice, because as we work to find the aliveness and sacredness in, say, the desk we're working at, or the creek next to our home, it so much easier to understand how we're not in right relationship with other humans, our impulses of domination over others, and how we can truly begin to deeply understand the beauty and sacredness of every single human on this planet. That we all deserve justice, liberation, freedom and joy.
So please enjoy these little examples of my animist life, and begin to create yours.
The deer on the path: I often walk on a trail behind my house up the mountain. Today, a large female deer stepped out about 30 feet in front of me on the path. Now, seeing deer on that path is super common, but usually they scatter the second they hear my footsteps. This one seemed different. I waved and said good morning, but she still didn't move. I asked, "Is it okay to proceed?" and she still just stood there, leveling her gaze at me. So I nodded, turned around, and headed home. Could I have shooed the deer, or shouted to get her to move so I could continue? Definitely. But making the animist choice meant realizing she might have needs or wisdom that meant I shouldn't continue. Maybe she just wanted to graze and not be disturbed. Maybe there was something up the road she was protecting me from. Maybe nothing, and it's all in my head! I'll never really know; point is, I interpreted her actions as saying, "Go no further," and respected them.
Hosting workshops at my home: I recently had an idea to host in-person workshops teaching Feng Shui and Tarot at my home in rural Virginia. But before I scheduled it all and started promoting it, I asked my house if they were okay with it. (Sometimes inanimate objects will have a clear binary gender, and sometimes they will be gender-fluid or not even resonate with the concept of gender. My house definitely alternates between being a she, a he and a they, and I just use instinct in the moment when talking about them.) How did I ask the house? I used Tarot. I asked Tarot, "Hey, would the house be okay with me hosting occasional workshops here?" and I got the 8 of wands, which is basically a "do this, move fast with all action" answer. We're a go, and house is on board!
Trimming the rosebushes: I'm like, earlier than a novice gardener. I'm whatever the stage before novice is — total ignorant? Anyways, I want to know more, and I recently learned that when you "deadhead" flowering bushes, aka cutting off the blooms that have died, they will ideally re-produce new blooms faster. I am trying this out on the four rosebushes that the previous owner planted in our garden. I've noticed that one rose bush definitely loves this practice. How do I know this? The dead buds pop off easily, and I never get pricked by a thorn, oh, and she is flourishing with many new blooms. Another rose bush? Not as big a fan. How do I know? It pricks me CONSTANTLY with its thorns when I try to deadhead it, and its dead/dying buds don't detach as easily. (I'm generally just pulling them off with my fingers.) So I respect that. I ask each plant before I deadhead it if it's okay, and say, "Hey, I'm going to try to deadhead 5 blooms today so you can grow a bit more." The first prick I get, I say, "Okay, I'll stop now." And that's me respecting the rosebushes as having sovereign desires that align with their individual needs, instead of me trying to dominate them so I force them to grow more blooms.
Asking the creek: Last year, when things were moving forward seemingly seamlessly with our purchase of this house, we hit a roadblock on getting flood insurance (some bureaucratic issues with the town not having filed with FEMA; we live about 100 feet from a small creek). Thinking on it, I wondered if this was the creek blocking us or concerned about us moving in, we hadn't really asked its permission (I had definitely gotten signs from the house it wanted us as its next stewards, including a great blue heron flying in front of us right before we left the open house). I convinced AJ to drive me down to the creek (not on the house's land, where the previous owners were still living, cuz that would have been trespassing and creepy) but by a public access point not far from the house. I asked the creek from permission and gave it a small crystal and a cut up apple and a strand of my hair (I made this little ritual up, honestly). We talked about how we would take care of the creek and the land. A few days later, the flood insurance issue was resolved.
Land, what do you need? Part of my feng shui certification involves doing healing work on the land as well as your house. I know the land here has had many scars. There's no way indigenous and native people weren't affected, exploited, murdered, driven from here, if not specifically like, in the quarter acre that makes up our yard, then of course around it. The Civil War raged in my town — barns and mills were torched, livestock murdered, literal scars left on the land. My house is in a little hollow a bit separate from town, and a lot of our direct neighbors in this hollow seem to have some difficulties, which indicates to me they are being burdened with the harm and scars of past indiginities that took place on this patch of land. So I have done several feng shui rituals with the intent of helping to help the land feel a bit more whole, maybe to help my neighbors a bit, indirectly. We keep the plants and yard healthy and thriving, and god, am I constantly re-filling the birdfeeders. If we ever do any more landscaping it will only be with native plants, and I hope to one day learn enough to be able to grow a vegetable garden if the soil blesses us with that ability. As always, I will ask permission.
So there you have it, a few ways I am animist in my day-to-day life. Did this resonate with you? Where will you start, if so? Share in the comments, and I'm so happy to encourage you on the path to decenter humans in this world, and instead re-weave ourselves into the spiritual, physical and emotional eco-system of this strange, but beautiful planet we live on.