Totemism, a system of belief practised by the Native American Indian people, and the Australian Aboriginal people for example, incorporates the notion that each human being has a spiritual connection to another physical being (e.g. a plant or animal).
The Kpelle people of Liberia for instance, possess animal, plant and natural phenomena (wind, rain etc.) totems that are thought to guide and protect their people. Their totems are also thought to be a form of alter ego, or second self.
Animism, on the other hand, is more in line with the world view held by many Buddhist, Shinto, Pagan and Neopagan groups of people, that all plants, animals and objects have spirits....read more>>>...
