Nature worship also called naturism[1] or physiolatry[2] is any of a variety of religious, spiritual and devotional practices that focus on the worship of the nature spirits considered to be behind the natural phenomena visible throughout nature.[3] A nature deity can be in charge of nature, a place, a biotope, the biosphere, the cosmos, or the universe. Nature worship is often considered the primitive source of modern religious beliefs[4][5] and can be found in pantheism, panentheism, deism, polytheism, animism, Taoism,[6] totemism, Hinduism, shamanism, some theism and paganism including Wicca.[7] Common to most forms of nature worship is a spiritual focus on the individual's connection and influence on some aspects of the natural world and reverence towards it.[8] Due to their admiration of nature, the works of Edmund Spenser, Anthony Ashley-Cooper and Carl Linnaeus were viewed as nature worship.[9][10][11][12]
Criticism of "Nature Worship"
English historian, Ronald Hutton, has been critical of the antiquity of Nature Worship since at least 1998 until the present. He has argued that the gods of Ancient Mediterranean were not Nature Deities of any sort; rather, they were gods of "civilization and human activity," meanwhile the "Earth-Mother goddesses" are characterized by him as mere literary figures as opposed to deities, because he believes they lack any temples dedicated to them or a priesthood to serve them. He strongly juxtaposes this view by differentiating ancient pagans from Neopagans and Wiccans who profess to be nature worshippers as an essential component of their faith, which he believes is unlike any other in recorded history.[13] Despite having been charged by New Zealand Wiccan, Ben Whitmore, with having disenfranchised those Neopagans "who feel kinship and connection" with the gods and pagans of the Ancient World,[14] Prof. Hutton has reprised these views, virtually verbatim, in the second edition of his book, Triumph of the Moon.[15]
Forms and aspects of nature worship
- Animal worship – Glorification of animal deities
- Fire worship – Worship or deification of fire
- Gaia philosophy – Broadly inclusive term
- Gavari – 40-day long festival held in the Mewar region of Rajasthan, India
- Green Man – Architectural motif
- Holy well – Well or spring revered in a religious context
- Megalith – Large stone used to build a structure or monument
- Mountain worship – Faiths which regard mountains as objects of worship
- Naturalistic pantheism – Form of pantheism
- Naturalistic spirituality – Combined philosophy of spirituality and naturalism
- Sacred groves – Grove of trees of special religious importance to a particular culture
- Sacred herbs
- Sacred mountains – Mountains central to certain religions
- Sky deity – Deity associated with the sky
- Standing stone – Large upright standing stone
- Star worship – Worship of stars and other heavenly bodies as deities
- Stone circle – Ring of standing stones
- Thunder god
- Totem – Emblem of a group of people
- Tree worship – Significance of trees in religion and folklore
- Water deity – Water deities around the world
See also
- Ecospirituality – Spirituality expressed through ecology and environmental activism
- Earth religion – Religion venerating the Earth and nature
- Hinduism – Indian religion
- Faunus – Roman deity of the countryside
- Folk religion – Expressions of religion distinct from the official doctrines of organized religion
- Goddess worship (disambiguation)
- Natural religion – Concept in religious anthropology
- Neopaganism – Religions shaped by historical paganism
- Pan (god) – Ancient Greek god of the wilds, shepherds, and flocks
- Pantheism – Belief that God and reality are identical
- Panentheism – Belief that the divine pervades all of space and time and extends beyond it
- Shamanism – Religious practice
- Taoism – Religious and philosophical tradition
- White magic – Magic used for selfless purposes
- Wildlife totemization – Emblem of a group of people