Spirituality, Religion, and
the Supernatural
Part II
Animism:
A belief that natural objects are inhabited by
spirits OR
 All things in nature may be thought of as having
the same spirit.
 In both forms of animism, the spirits are thought
of as having

– Identifiable personalities and other characteristics
such as gender.
– A belief in a powerful, mature, or protective,
personality.
– The spirits may be benevolent, malevolent, or neutral
Animatism:

It is a belief in a non physical essence or force
or power or whatever you want to call i
– the power is usually impersonal, unseen, and
potentially everywhere.
It is neither good nor evil, but it is powerful and
dangerous if misused.
 Among the Polynesian cultures of the Southern
Pacific Ocean, this power is called "mana

– Some things or people have more of it than others
and can be potentially dangerous.
Animism vs. Animatism:

Both:
– Beliefs are often found in the same culture.
– Can have the two beliefs combined in one object
 A tree may have an individual spirit and also hold an
impersonal force

Difference:
– Animatism does not have a personality--it is an
impersonal "it" rather than a "he" or "she".
– Animism can have gender and/or personality
characteristics similar to people
Religious Specialists:

All human societies include individuals
who guide and supplement the religious
practices of others.
– Such individuals are seen to be highly skilled
at contacting and influencing supernatural
beings and manipulating supernatural forces.

They may have undergone special training
and may display certain distinctive
personality traits that make them
particularly well suited to perform these
tasks.
Priests and Priestesses:

Priest or priestess: a full-time religious
specialist formally recognized for his or her
role in guiding the religious practices of
others and for contacting and influencing
supernatural powers
– He or she is the socially initiated, ceremonially
inducted member of a religious organization.
Priests and Priestesses:
With their god defined historically in masculine,
authoritarian terms, it is not surprising that, in
the Judaic, Christian, and Islamic religions, the
most important positions traditionally have been
filed by men.
 Female religious specialists are likely to be found
only in societies where women are
acknowledged to contribute in a major way to
the economy and where gods and goddesses
are both recognized.

Shamans:

Societies that lack full-time occupational
specialization always included individuals
with special powers and skills that enable
them to connect with and manipulate
supernatural beings and forces.
– These powers have come to them through
some personal experience, usually in solitude.
–
Shamans:

Shaman: a person who enters an altered state
of consciousness, at will, to contact and utilize
an ordinary hidden reality in order to acquire
knowledge, power, and to help others.
– The shaman has at least one, and usually more,
‘spirits’ in his or her personal service

The word shaman originally referred to medicalreligious specialists, or spiritual guides, among
the Tungus and other Siberian pastoral nomads
with animist beliefs.
Shamans:
Typically, one becomes a shaman by passing
through stages of learning and practical
experience, often involving psychological and
emotional ordeals brought about by isolation,
fasting, physical torture, sensory deprivation,
and/or hallucinations.
 By means of various techniques such as fasting,
drumming, chanting, or dancing, as well as
hallucinogenic mushrooms, shaman enter into a
trance, or altered state of consciousness.

Shamans:
The widespread occurrence of shamanism and
the remarkable similarities among shamanic
traditions everywhere are consequences of a
universal neurological inheritance.
 At the same time, the meanings ascribed to
sensations experienced in altered states and
made of their content are culturally determined;
hence, despite their overall similarities, local
traditions always vary in their details.

Shamans:

The shaman is essentially a religious gobetween who acts on behalf of some
human client, often to bring about healing
or to foretell some future event.
– In return for services rendered, the shaman
may collect a fee; fresh meat, yams, or a
favorite possession.
– In some cases, the added prestige, authority,
and social power attached to the shaman’s
status are reward enough.
Shamans:

In many human societies, sleight-of-hand
tricks and ventriloquism occur at the same
time as trancing.
– Some Western observers regard this kind of
trickery as evidence of the fraudulent nature
of shamanism.
– The shaman regards his or her ability to
perform extraordinary tricks as further proof
of superior powers.
The Shamanic Complex:

From an
anthropological
perspective, shamanic
healings can be
understood by means
of a three-cornered
model we call the
shamanic complex or
‘magic field’.
This triangle is created by the relationships among the
shaman and the patient and the community to which
both belong.

Rituals and Ceremonies:
Religious ritual is the means through
which people relate to the supernatural; it
is religion in action.
 Ritual serves to relieve social tensions and
reinforce a group’s collective bonds.

– More than this, it provides a means of
marking many important events and lessening
the social disruption and individual suffering
of crises, such as death.
Rites of Passage:

Rites of passage: a ritual that marks an
important stage in an individual’s life
cycle, such as birth, marriage, and death.
– Rites of passage help individuals through the
crucial crises or major social transitions in
their lives, such as birth, puberty, marriage,
parenthood, advancement to a higher class,
occupational specialization, and death.
Rites of Passage:

Arnold van Gennep divides ceremonies for
all life crises into three stages:
– Separation: in a rite of passage, the ritual
removal of the individual from society
– Transition: in a rite of passage, isolation of
the individual following the separation and
prior to incorporation into society.
– Incorporation: in a rite of passage,
reincorporation of the individual into society in
his or her new status.
Rites of Passage:

Aborigines of Australia:
– When the elders decide the time for initiation,
the boys are taken from the village
(separation), while the women cry and
make a ritual show of resistance.
– In the transitional stage, the novice may be
shown secret ceremonies and receive some
instruction, but the most significant element is
his complete removal from society
– On his return to society (incorporation), the
novice is welcomed with ceremonies, as
though he had returned from the dead.
Rites of Passage:

Mende girls in West Africa:
– After they have begun to menstruate, the girls are
removed from society to spend weeks, or even
months, in seclusion (separation).
– Shortly after entering this transitional stage, the
girls undergo clitoridectomy, a form of female
circumcision that they and Mende in general believe
enhances their reproductive potential.
– Mende women emerge from their initiation
(incorporation), then, as women in knowledgeable
control of their sexuality, eligible for marriage and
childbearing
Cultural Relativism:
Anthropological commitment to cultural relativism
permits an understanding of the practice of
clitoridectomy in the Mende female initiation rites.
 Cultural relativism does not preclude the
anthropologist from criticizing a given practice.
 Not surprisingly, female circumcision; commonly
referred to as female genital mutilation (FGM) and
practiced in various forms in Asia and Africa
especially; has been much condemned as a human
rights violation in recent years.

Rites of Intensification:

Rites of intensification: a ritual that takes
place during a crisis in the life of the
group and serves to bind individuals
together.
– This unites people in a common effort so that
fear and confusion yield to collective action
and a degree of optimism.
– The balance of the relations of all concerned
is restored to normal and the community’s
values are celebrated and affirmed
Rites of Intensification:
Funerary ceremonies can be regarded as rites of
intensification that permit the living to express in
non-disruptive ways their upset over the death
while providing for social readjustment.
 According to Malinowski, funeral ceremonies
provide an approved collective means for
individuals to express these feelings while
maintaining social cohesiveness and preventing
disruption of society.

Rites of Intensification:
The performance of rites of intensification
does not have to be limited to times of
overt crisis.
 In regions where the seasons differ
enough that human activities must change
accordingly, they will take the form of
annual ceremonies.

– These are particularly common among
horticultural and agricultural people, with their
planting and harvest ceremonies.
Question

The anthropologist Arnold Van Gennep analyzed
ceremonies that help individuals through crucial
stages of their life cycles. He said that each
ceremony may be analytically divided into three
stages, _____________, transition, and
incorporation.
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
inculcation
separation
revitalization
intensification
initiation
Answer: B

The anthropologist Arnold Van Gennep analyzed
ceremonies that help individuals through crucial
stages of their life cycles. He said that each
ceremony may be analytically divided into three
stages, separation, transition, and
incorporation.
Question

The major difference between animism
and animatism has to do with whether
the supernatural force which occupies an
entity is _______________.
A. personal or impersonal (a being or an impersonal
force without identity)
B. natural or supernatural
C. a god or an ancestral spirit
D. a priest or a shaman
E. an example of witchcraft or of divination
Answer: A

The major difference between animism
and animatism has to do with whether
the supernatural force which occupies an
entity is personal or impersonal (a
being or an impersonal force
without identity).
Question

Ceremonies such as bar mitzvahs, elaborate
wedding ceremonies, baby showers, and
graduation parties that help individuals make
major changes in their lives are referred to as
rites of _______________.
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
Transition
Intensification
Separation
Passage
Incorporation
Answer: D

Ceremonies such as bar mitzvahs,
elaborate wedding ceremonies, baby
showers, and graduation parties that
help individuals make major changes in
their lives are referred to as rites of
passage.
Question

The anthropologist Arnold Van Gennep
analyzed ceremonies that help individuals
through crucial stages of their life cycles. He
said that each ceremony may be analytically
divided into three stages, _______________,
transition, and incorporation.
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
Inculcation
Separation
Revitalization
Intensification
Initiation
Answer: B

The anthropologist Arnold Van Gennep
analyzed ceremonies that help individuals
through crucial stages of their life cycles.
He said that each ceremony may be
analytically divided into three stages,
separation, transition, and incorporation.
Question

Cultural relativism does not preclude the
anthropologist from criticizing a given
practice.
A. True
B. False
Answer: A

Cultural relativism does not preclude the
anthropologist from criticizing a given
practice. TRUE