Animism
Belief in innumerable spiritual beings concerned with human affairs, dwelling in the things of nature.
Animism is the belief in innumerable spiritual beings concerned with human affairs and capable of helping or harming human interests [1]. At its heart is the idea that a tree, a mountain, a river or a plant has a spirit or will of its own.
The English anthropologist Edward Burnett Tylor was the first to survey animistic beliefs systematically, in his 1871 work “Primitive Culture” [1]. The term is still used for that reason, although Tylor’s view of religions as ranked from “primitive” to “advanced” was later criticised by anthropologists.
Many traditional relationships with plants rest on an animist worldview. Even the name of the Amazonian Ayahuasca vine vine says so: it comes from the Quechua words “aya” (spirit) and “waska” (vine), the “vine of the spirits”.