Animisim

I am fairly new to the practice of animism but I hold a strong belief that people were'nt the only ones with a living soul since I was a child. I expressed my beliefs through how I cared for the birds soaring high into the sky and ants living down below, but I was always afraid to pick a flower because I didnt want to kill it and I still have this feeling today.

I know that since I am a witch I will have to pick a flower sooner or later to use for magical purposes but I guess im to afraid to do so. I dont know what Im suppose to do because the earth does gives us what we need to survive and I can handle eating fruits, vegetables, and even meat but when it comes to the point when I am one killing an a inocent life I refuse to do so.

Please help me by telling me some of your beliefs on plant picking and how should I go about doing this.

Login or Signup to reply to this post.

I'm an animist and polyspiritist, and a traditional hedgewitch.

As an animist, we recognize the world is full of non-human persons. And there are natural laws in it. I'm also a hunter, bone diviner, and wortcunner. I work with these spirits, in life and death, with respect.

If I have my bow drawn on a moose, I listen to my intuition, and ask for permisson. If I feel right, I let my arrow fly. When I make the kill, I thank the animal for giving me the meat, skin, bone, and horns. What I can't use, I bury.

Same goes with plants. I'm not going to destroy plant life without a reason. I harvest in accordance to the spirits of the plants and the planetary currents.

Life is both life and death, and there is a way to use both in respectful manners to the non-human persons we know as spirits and souls. Innocence is subjective in my opinion. Rather, I kill out of need, and need only.

As a witch who works from the animist perspective, it isn't hard. We see the plant parts we use not as simple ingredients, but fully fledged spirits we can work with, whom we can have a two way relationship with, as with bones, flesh, blood, and life-energy.

Witchcraft was originally the domain of the animist, rather than strictly that of the polytheist.