A Guide to Nature Spirituality Terms

A Guide to Nature Spirituality Terms
by Selena Fox

Animism: ancient philosophy that views everything in Nature as having
an
indwelling
spirit/soul, including the plants, rocks, waters, winds, fires,
animals,
humans, and
other life forms. Animism is the foundation of shamanism and has been
considered
the earliest form of human religion on planet Earth.

Earth-centered Spirituality: honoring the spiritual
interconnectedness of life
on
planet Earth, often as Mother Earth or Gaia, but sometimes as a
gender neutral
Earth Spirit. Sometimes called Earth religion and Gaian (Gaean)
religion.
Related
EcoChristian form is Creation-Centered Spirituality.

Ecofeminism: feminist environmental philosophy that draws parallels
between the
oppression of women and the oppression of Nature by patriarchy and
which
advocates the spiritual and political liberation of both.

Goddess Spirituality: revering Nature and honoring the Great Goddess
in one or
more of Her many forms. Usually polytheistic and sometimes
multicultural in
practice. Usually incorporates feminist perspectives.

Heathen: Another name for Pagan. Many contemporary practitioners of
Teutonic
Nature religions prefer this term for themselves and their
spirituality.

Nature Religions: religions that include an honoring of the Divine as
immanent
in
Nature. May be pre-modern, modern, or post-modern in philosophical
orientation.
Usually polytheistic, animistic, and pantheistic. Include traditional
ways of
various
native peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia, Australia, Polynesia,
Europe, and
elsewhere; religions of ancient Pagan cultures, such as Egyptian,
Greek, Roman,
Minoan, Assyrian, Celtic, Teutonic, and others; and contemporary
Paganism.

Nature Spirituality: honoring the spiritual interconnectedness of
life not only
on
Planet Earth, but throughout the Universe/Cosmos; more encompassing
term than
Earth-centered Spirituality because it also includes Celestial
religions; used
by
some as synonymous with contemporary Paganism and by others as also
including
interfaith blends, such as those that combine Paganism with
EcoChristianity or
EcoBuddhism.

NeoPagan: Contemporary Pagan.

Pagan: pertains to a Nature religion or a practitioner of an ancient
and/or
contemporary Nature religion; also used to refer to a Nature
Spirituality,
Earth-centered Spirituality, and/or Goddess Spirituality group or
practitioner.

Pantheism: the Divine as immanent; the Divine is in everything and
everything
has a
Divine aspect.

Panentheism: Pantheism that also includes a transcendent component
conceptualized as the Sacred Whole or Divine Unity.

Polytheism: honoring Divinity in two or more forms. Can be belief
in/worship of
multiple aspects of a particular deity; of the Divine as Goddess and
God; or of
many Goddesses, Gods, Nature Spirits, and/or other Divine forms.
Some, but not
all, polytheistic Nature religions acknowledge an all encompassing
Divine
Unity.

Shaman: an adept who serves as healer and spirit world communicator
for her/his
tribe or community. Sometimes known as a Medicine person. This role
is tribal
culture/community defined.

Shamanic Practitioner: someone learning and working with shamanistic
healing
practices for self-development, and in some cases, also for helping
others.
Sometimes known as a Medicine worker. This role is self-defined.

Shamanism: animistic spiritual healing practices usually involving
ecstatic
trance
and spirit world journeys by adepts. Forms of shamanism include
Traditional,
which
are rooted in specific indigenous tribal peoples cultures, and
Multicultural,
which
are contemporary forms that integrate old and new spirit wisdom ways
from more
than one culture.

Wiccan Spirituality: contemporary paths rooted in one or more Nature
folk
religions of old Europe. Also known as the Old Religion, the Craft,
Wicca,
Wicce,
Ways of the Wise, NeoPagan Witchcraft, and Benevolent Witchcraft.

Witch: Some Wiccan practitioners use the word "Witch" for themselves
in
connection with their spirituality to bring back its pre-Inquisition
use in
Europe as
a term of honor and respect meaning "medicine person/medicine worker,"
"shaman/shamanic practitioner," "wise woman/man," "priestess/priest
of the Old
Religion." Other Wiccans refuse to use the word "Witch" because of
later
negative
definitions of the word which led to its use as a tool of Pagan
genocide and
religious oppression in Europe and North America for hundreds of
years. During
the "Burning Times" of the Middle Ages, bigots in power changed its
definition,
making it a term linked with evil, and used it as a brand to mark and
exterminate
folk healers, those who refused to convert to state-sanctioned forms
of
Christianity, political rivals, and others. Contemporary usage of the
word
"Witch"
by non-Wiccans is diverse but in recent years has been changing in
academia and
elsewhere to reflect the growing public awareness and understanding
of Wiccan
Spirituality's reclaiming of the word.



© 1994, Selena Fox, Circle, PO Box 219, Mt. Horeb, WI 53572 USA; (608)
924-2216.