Gaian Animism: Ritual Innovation and Nature Spirituality in Radical Environmentalism and the Global Environmental Milieu
Ritual, Personhood and the New Animism - Essays in Honour of Graham Harvey - David G. Robertson
Bron Taylor [+]
University of Florida
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Description
The radical environmental movement that erupted in America after the founding of Earth First! in 1980 advanced an innovative spiritual worldview that includes animistic and organicist dimensions, that I contend can be aptly labeled Gaian Animism. By examining the Council of All Beings, a ritual process that has been influential within that subculture, and a mythic speech attributed to the Native American leader who has become known as Chief Seattle, which radical environmentalists and many others have found compelling, we can view one influential way Gaian Animism has a spread through the global environmental milieu. By exploring the host of other ways such spirituality has been spreading since Earth Day in 1970, it is possible to discern how Gaian Animism is far from a mere countercultural phenomenon, but rather, it is becoming a major contender for the hearts and minds of people in many regions around the world. All this well complements the research Graham Harvey has conducted and orchestrated that also documents the rise of Animism and other religious and religion-resembling social forms that reflect perceptions that the world’s interconnected and diverse agencies and forces are sacred and worthy of reverent care.