Are there Pagans who are explicitly animist

[Heloise]

Without polytheism/belief in gods. How would animist belief work in reality. Could someone who doesn't belief in the Rede, duotheism etc. be part of Pagan culture?

 

[Quintessence]

There are a few separate questions here, neither of which has a simple answer. The first question gets at the relationship between animism and polytheism, while the second gets at who does and doesn't belong under the Pagan umbrella. I'll address that second one first, because it's the easier of the two to answer.

Because Paganism on the whole lacks any sort of authoritative structure, there is nobody who can say "you don't belong here." Essentially, this means that if someone self-identifies as Pagan, they're Pagan. Granted, other people who identify as Pagan might not agree with that other person over there calling themselves Pagan. Then you'll get arguments. But to comment specifically on the two items you listed, the rede and duotheism are specific to Wicca. It hardly seems fair to me to demand that all Pagans be Wiccans and kick everyone else out of the Pagan umbrella.

To the first question, it gets complicated. It gets complicated because what "god" means is not that easy to pin down. The word means different things to different people. In my view, animism is inherently polytheistic. I say that because animism recognizes the personhood of multiple, distinct individuals (aka, poly-) in the world around us. And, in many respects, those other-than-human persons are treated with a dignity and respect functionally analogous to what polytheists do with their gods. The animist might not use the word "god," but beyond the label, what they do is very similar to what a polytheist does; they are different in degree, rather than in kind.

 

[Heloise]

But an animist doesn't need to adhere to the sabbats and esbats, doesn't need to believe in energy or magick, doesn't even need to be pantheistic.

If someone isn't a Wiccan or a reconstructionist and doesn't do the above, are they still Pagan

 

[Quintessence]

I suppose I'm not seeing the issue here. Why would an animist not be Pagan simply because they don't celebrate Wiccan holidays or practice magic?

 

[Politesse]

Without polytheism/belief in gods. How would animist belief work in reality. Could someone who doesn't belief in the Rede, duotheism etc. be part of Pagan culture?

I know many animists who consider themselves Pagan, though they may just mean by this indigenous rather than colonizer religion.

Still, I see no reason why even a more narrowly defined Pagan could not be animist. There were certainly animistic beliefs in pre-Christian Europe, if you look back far enough. Wicca is a fine and vibrant tradition, but they do not singlehandedly define Paganism.

 

[vaguelyhumanoid]

Lots of recon traditions are animist, including Celtic reconstructionism and reconstructionist Heathenry. But no, you don't have to be a recon or a Wiccan to be pagan. There's all sorts of other traditions (Druidry, Feri and various Goddess movements being examples). I'd say there's room for a non-denominational animist at the pagan table if that's how you want to identify.

 

[Unveiled Artist]

I have a queation. What makes a person Not a pagan (excluding not belonging to abrahamic religions and like faiths)?

 

[Mindmaster]

I thought I'd mention that animism often coexists with other -theisms... It specifically doesn't even address the god issue, but rather simply represents that all living things have spirits or souls. Usually, animists believe they can work with this spirit not just any particular god -- but, that doesn't mean they can't do both.

 

[Jonathan Ainsley Bain]

 

[Unveiled Artist]

Without polytheism/belief in gods. How would animist belief work in reality. Could someone who doesn't belief in the Rede, duotheism etc. be part of Pagan culture?

Some of us animist work with spirits and not a lot of us call them gods. So in a sense they are "gods" if they are our object or person of veneration. Other animist may see the spirits as deities. So it depends on the animist.

That said we can and do work with reality regardless of how we define the spirits as gods or deities. I do have a question, what do you mean by working with reality?

The second part, Paganism is not specific to dualistic and rede oriented religions such as Wicca. Wicca isnt the foundation that defines a Pagan. Usually Pagans find definitions that work for them under the assumption that they dont believe in abrahamic religions and their focus is on the old religions no matter how they are "reconstructed" or lived.

What is Pagan culture? I am a Pagan just as much as many others here and some of us have extreme differences in how we define ourselves as Pagans. I personally dont like the word; but, I dont see that as excluding me from Pagan culture...if there is one (I dont live in an area where people are open with their Pagan beliefs). So, all the culture I know are spurts at metaphysical stores, Pagan Pride days, and online.

 

[Heloise]

I suppose I'm not seeing the issue here. Why would an animist not be Pagan simply because they don't celebrate Wiccan holidays or practice magic?

Is there a place in the Wiccan

I thought I'd mention that animism often coexists with other -theisms... It specifically doesn't even address the god issue, but rather simply represents that all living things have spirits or souls. Usually, animists believe they can work with this spirit not just any particular god -- but, that doesn't mean they can't do both.

Do animists need to be monist/pantheists? Can distinct spirits exist chaotically in the natural world without them being metaphysically connected?

 

[Mindmaster]

Do animists need to be monist/pantheists? Can distinct spirits exist chaotically in the natural world without them being metaphysically connected?

Animist doesn't necessarily indicate that a particular spirit is divine. Many Animists do not have a distinction between divine/nature, but that doesn't imply that they fill the void and assume "everything is god" either. It can also be standalone -- aka there is no divine only the spirits of living things; no gods. Pantheism is really a modern neo-pagan concept where as Animism is actually the older idea; it doesn't even really exist until the 17th century vis-a-vis Spinoza's Ethics.

Getting stranger... You can be an atheist and an animist because they aren't non-compatible. Anyway, simple enough to say.... There are several models to this. You can have a divine model, or a natural model. Neither are wrong...

 

[beenherebeforeagain]

Without polytheism/belief in gods. How would animist belief work in reality. Could someone who doesn't belief in the Rede, duotheism etc. be part of Pagan culture?

I am an animist.
I consider myself to be a pagan.
I know a few other pagans whom I socialize with. Only one says he's an animist, and his animism is very different than mine and he follows Celtic and Norse mythologies. he talks about the Gods a lot, but I don't know if he actually does anything with them. He seems to do just fine being an animist who seems to follow the Celtic and Norse traditions.
I don't do gods, although I recognize that there are a number of really big spirits around. Everything is/has spirit; that is, everything is at least potentially a person (most of them other-than-human) who deserve to be treated with respect. I suppose you COULD say I'm a polytheist, but since I don't do gods...on the other hand, I AM a pluralist, so whatever there are, there are more than one of them.
The rede is a fine saying, but I don't know if liking it does or does not make me a pagan, or has anything to do with my being a pagan. I also like the Golden Rule, and a lot of other snappy sayings.
I notice that you use a capital P on Pagan, so perhaps you're talking about a specific kind of Paganism. I can't imagine that if I went to a Wiccan or other Pagan gathering that I wouldn't be welcome...although I wouldn't expect to participate in anything but the most basic of activities there.
I'm not overly familiar with all of the different kinds of Paganisms, but I do know there are some who are very particular about using the capitalized form. I'm not.

Does that help?

Edit: PS: I think everyone else's responses rock, too!