Occult

Supernatural, mystical, or magical beliefs, practices, or phenomena; matters regarded as involving the action or influence of supernatural or supernormal powers or some secret knowledge of them; a term that was originally used in Latin to designate the hidden or unseen properties of things and that, since the 16th century, has also been used to characterize religious traditions that include belief in unseen forces or that otherwise behave in a secretive or mysterious manner.

 

Divination

the practice of attempting to foretell future events or discover hidden knowledge by occult or supernatural means.

 

Augury

Prophecy, predicting the future by interpreting signs and omens.  “Reading omens from weather patterns, the flight of birds, the entrails of sacrificed animals “ and thousands of other “omens”

 

Omen

anything perceived or happening that is believed to portend a good or evil event or circumstance in the future; a portent.  An omen is a phenomenon that is believed to foretell the future, often signifying the advent of change. It was commonly believed in ancient times, and still believed by some today, that omens bring divine messages from the gods.

 

Animism

Animism is the belief that objects, places, and creatures all possess a distinct spiritual essence. Potentially, animism perceives all things—animals, plants, rocks, rivers, weather systems, human handiwork and perhaps even words—as animated and alive.

 

the attribution of a soul to plants, inanimate objects, and natural phenomena;

the belief in a supernatural power that organizes and animates the material universe.

 

belief in innumerable spiritual beings concerned with human affairs and capable of helping or harming human interests.

 

The term animism denotes not a single creed or doctrine but a view of the world consistent with a certain range of religious beliefs and practices, many of which may survive in more complex and hierarchical religions. Modern scholarship’s concern with animism is coeval with the problem of rational or scientific understanding of religion itself. After the age of exploration, Europe’s best information on the newly discovered peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Oceania often came from Christian missionaries. While generally unsympathetic to what was regarded as “primitive superstition,” some missionaries in the 19th century developed a scholarly interest in beliefs that seemed to represent an early type of religious creed, inferior but ancestral to their own.

 

Totem

A totem is a spirit being, sacred object, or symbol that serves as an emblem of a group of people, such as a family, clan, lineage, or tribe, such as in the Anishinaabe clan system.

 

a natural object or animal that is believed by a particular society to have spiritual significance and that is adopted by it as an emblem.

 

A totem could be a grizzly bear, oak tree, catfish, or just about any other living thing. Like a flag, a totem means a lot to the people it represents

 

Shaman and Shamanism

a person regarded as having access to, and influence in, the world of good and evil spirits, especially among some peoples of northern Asia and North America. Typically, such people enter a trance state during a ritual, and practice divination and healing.

 

A shaman is therefore a specific type of healer who uses an alternate state of consciousness to enter the invisible world, which is made up of all unseen ...

 

Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner interacting with what they believe to be a spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance.

 

Amulets

amulet, also called Talisman, an object, either natural or man-made, believed to be endowed with special powers to protect or bring good ...

 

An amulet, also known as a good luck charm or phylactery, is an object believed to confer protection upon its possessor. The word "amulet" comes from the Latin word amuletum, which Pliny's Natural History describes as "an object that protects a person from trouble"

 

Idolatry

The religious worship of idols

 

Stoicheosis

The worship of statues.