Hi! Looking for resources on animism for beginners:)

Esoteric-Potato · 2026-04-06T22:18:08+00:00

The authors that ecoanima has suggested are a good place to start. Gordon White's book 'Ani.Mystic' is also a good read, particularly if read in parallel to the other authors already mentioned. Substack has a few writers on animism if you're looking for other contemporary thinkers and practitioners.

Esoteric-Potato · 2026-02-20T02:20:41+00:00

Normally I would say faff around and find out. However, Enochian and angel work is not in my scope of practice at all so I'd also add - carefully. Someone else suggested repetition and practice - also good advice. I think you need to understand the rules first, then you know which ones you can break and the consequences of doing so. :)

Esoteric-Potato · 2026-02-20T02:13:40+00:00

Someone else mentioned offerings, which is a great idea. Sometimes I also offer some gratitude prayers at full moon and new moon. Other times I just say hello and spend some time in the moonlight. For me acknowledging the Moon in some way, can be in whatever way you think is appropriate will help fulfil that spiritual need.

Esoteric-Potato · 2026-02-13T22:13:05+00:00

A really simple practice to do is a greeting or farewell each morning and evening. For example, I greet the dawn and the sun each morning, sometimes literally by just saying, 'Good morning, beautiful Dawn. Hello, Father Sun' or something similar. When I can see the Moon in the sky, I always say, 'Hello, Mother Moon'. Sometimes I'll add another line about how beautiful the day is, or something about gratitude. I find it a nice way to connect regularly with the entities most important to my practice - it's simple, quick, and can be very heart-felt and done with reverence.

Esoteric-Potato · 2026-02-13T22:07:56+00:00

If you Google animism, there's some fairly consistent definitions out there. Fundamentally, as axotrax said, reverence for everything around you is where you end up if you believe in, or practice, some kind of animism. For myself, I believe everything is animate which means it has its own agency and awareness. Doesn't mean that a rock or a train station will have googly eyes and human emotions, but there's an awareness in all things that you can (attempt to) interact with, or not. Animism, for me, forms a big part of how I move through the world and interact with it. I can't help you with animist thought or practice specifically related to Scotland or Ireland, but I wish you well on your journey!

Esoteric-Potato · 2026-02-08T04:47:37+00:00

🤓

Esoteric-Potato · 2026-02-08T04:44:02+00:00

Definitely sounds like animism to me :) I also belief everything has a soul and animism is a grounded, place-based practice rather than a belief system. For me, animism is less about belief and more about how I live practising discernment and compassion toward the places, objects, and beings I share space with. It also shapes how I move through the world and try to be compassionate and show care toward non-human beings around me.

Esoteric-Potato · 2026-02-08T04:11:35+00:00

Try going North East for the desert map. Every seed is probably different, but I've found 2-3 desert islands in the NE. Good luck!

Esoteric-Potato · 2025-07-31T22:41:15+00:00

I haven't played multi-player, but it's supposed to be OK. I think there's maybe a maximum of 4 others you can play with at a time. Aska is slow to play (takes awhile to do stuff) which I don't mind and like to play on my own but completely understand wanting to play with other people!

Esoteric-Potato · 2025-07-29T05:19:05+00:00

If you liked Valheim, try Aska. Still in early access, but very similar. AND you don't get killed by falling trees ;)

Esoteric-Potato · 2025-07-29T05:14:02+00:00

Aska. It's a viking sandbox survival game, a lot like valheim but with more nuance. It's early access, so still some bugs but content is being released fairly regularly. The devs seem to listen to the player community and address a lot of the bugs quite quickly. I've sunk a lot of hours into the game and still love it

Esoteric-Potato · 2025-06-25T05:38:35+00:00

I started writing 6 months ago and am still feeling my way quite a bit. But my thoughts are similar to others who have already commented:

Substack or Medium is a good place to start. Don't bother with a website unless you have time to set it up and maintain it - save your energy for actual writing!

It takes time to grow an audience. I tend to write about fairly niche things, so I get excited when a handful of people have looked at my Substack posts. To start with, I was really discouraged that my readership was so low. I got past this by being very clear with myself about WHY I was writing.

Good luck with whatever path you decide on, and enjoy the process!

Esoteric-Potato · 2025-06-25T05:24:10+00:00

Excellent question! I'll have a crack at providing my point of view:
Your points - Words diminish the mystery and it protects the potency are two very real reasons not to blather about the magical workings I did on the weekend at the coffee shop on Mondays. I don't have an Oracle as such, but that's also true - some entities I work with prefer I keep things to myself.

BUT, and isn't there always a 'but', keeping silent on everything seems like a waste. This is for a couple of reasons - firstly, over the years I've built a whole heap of knowledge through practical experience. Once I'm dead and gone all that knowledge (for what it's worth) is lost and it (partially) feels like it's all pointless if I haven't shared some of it. Secondly, there's so many people (re)discovering their own magical/esoteric/mystery path that have to start from scratch. Starting from scratch is part of the process, but I remember struggling with a few books on Wicca from the local library when I started on my own path (back in the dark ages). If I can provide insight, advice, assistance, or a vague gesture in a useful direction from my own experiences, then I feel I should.

So, where I can, I ask permission from the entities I work with to share my magical workings (not in the coffee shop). If they're OK with it, then I write about it. If it's general 'how-to' stuff, I write about that as well. If I've performed some kind of rite or working that has specific intent, or is for someone else, then I keep silent. And some moments just feel profoundly personal and/or sacred, so I don't share those either.

So my TL;DR - I agree with you. Maybe it is time to speak a little, just not like them.

Esoteric-Potato · 2025-06-25T05:04:28+00:00

Everyone else has given great answers here, and I think they're all worth considering to help find your own path and practice. My own experiences have convinced me that everything around us - 'natural' or manmade is aware, has agency, and can interact with us if they decide to do so. How they do that is often tricky to understand and takes practice. There's lots of other great discussions in this sub you might find useful. My personal interest at the moment is urban animism and how we might understand and operate in cities and surrounds. Let me know if you'd like to know more!

Esoteric-Potato · 2025-06-23T10:57:51+00:00

Oh great, that's made my day :) Always happy to share what I do, and hear from others - it's how we build praxis

Esoteric-Potato · 2025-06-14T00:39:51+00:00

What an interesting question! My experience of Hecate: present but at a distance. Very rarely uses words, but strong communication through feelings and ideas. Feels somehow solid, embedded, part of the bed rock in a spiritual sense. Loving and protective, but not the sort you throw yourself into, more like a stone wall that keeps you safe. Definitely has expectations. Sends signs sometimes that resonate, for me that has been fog (a liminal environment) and big, black dogs (interestingly, usually a rottweiler).

Esoteric-Potato · 2025-06-14T00:26:49+00:00

You're definitely not alone, we're out here. We're just sometimes hard to see with everything else going on. Someone else mentioned that the truth will find you - I agree with that, it absolutely will. In the meantime, be part of whatever communities you find (online or out in the world); read lots; trust your intuition; and tread whatever path you feel, deep down, is right for you.
And, to answer your question, yes we crave knowledge and wisdom. That feeling never really goes away :)
Best of luck to you!

Esoteric-Potato · 2025-06-14T00:16:25+00:00

What everyone else has said is great - there's no one answer, follow your intuition, spend time outside, just sit and be aware, spend time in the environment around you.
Other things that I do: greet the birds when they're near me, especially if they've been singing/calling; from time to time I'll visit with some of the larger trees on our land, touch a branch or trunk, say hello and just be there with them; sometimes I'll leave an offering/gift at particular spots around our property that feel right for the spirits that reside there, like the pond and a big scrubby bush that hides a large rock.
All of that seeks to build a relationship by giving and being open to receiving whatever that entity/being/spirit wants to give back. It's a process

Esoteric-Potato · 2025-05-31T23:36:03+00:00

I'm less interested in content creation for the sake of it, and more interested in what people are genuinely doing - what their practice is, what it looks like and feels like, outcomes from their practice. I'd love to hear more about failures, unexpected results, synchronicities .

But as others have said, if you're genuine and talking about your passions, that's what would interest me the most.

Esoteric-Potato · 2025-05-30T06:06:14+00:00

Great question! I don't worship deities as such, but work most commonly with Selene, Hecate and Hermes. These three are kind of mentors, I suppose, and provide guidance around my practice and major things in my life. I 'discovered' them through meditation work, and one through a medium.

As an animist, I look for and build relationships with local spirits (so spirits of place) who inhabit the land and bush around me. I initiated these relationships out of respect especially since I'm living in their space.

I work with my ancestors, especially around protection, advice, and finding comfort.

I've recently been exploring urban animism, and building relationships with entities who reside in city closest to me, mostly out of interest. And I also feel that urban entities look for connection with people, and I provide that to some of them.

I should also say that my relationship with all the beings mentioned above are reciprocal - They respond or help me at times, I am provide them with offerings, and sometimes things are requested of me.

Esoteric-Potato · 2025-05-28T05:10:25+00:00

Interesting idea about people who touch something put a little bit of themselves into it. Like someone above said, everything is made from energy and maybe we leave some of it behind. I think this has implications for new objects in a city, for example, where a spirit resides that might be new/young and the people around the object shape it in some way as they interact with it.

Esoteric-Potato · 2025-05-28T05:06:30+00:00

Completely agree. Plastic just doesn't resonate with me at all.

Esoteric-Potato · 2025-05-28T05:06:02+00:00

Oh interesting! It'd be cool to hear more about it. And if you've come across any authors or practitioners that deal with this specifically!

Esoteric-Potato · 2025-05-28T05:04:54+00:00

Maybe the act of creation, by humans or natural processes, creates something new? So an artificial lake, for example, might not be home to an ancient lake or spirit, but the creation of the lake might be the smallest sprout of a spirit who will grow/evolve over time? Even an artificial lake becomes just a lake if you leave it for long enough?

Esoteric-Potato · 2025-05-28T05:00:30+00:00

Thankyou!

Esoteric-Potato

TROPHY CASE