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Hello, and welcome to the first post for "Living With Kami!"

You might be wondering – what is Kami? Konkokyo? Shinto?

These terms are all a part of the spiritual traditions I practice, which originate in Japan. Please allow me to introduce you to and talk about the Way of Kami in this blog.

This post was inspired by the MyPolytheism project.

This is the third in a series of posts in which I discuss four terms that polytheists use to distinguish gods from archetypes: "real", "literal", "separate", and "agents". In this post, I want to address the position the the polytheistic gods are separate from us in a way that archetypes are not.

For many people, myself included, Druidry and Animism go hand in hand. Since the Age of Enlightenment and perhaps even further back in history (perhaps with coming of Christianity) Animism has gotten the reputation of being somehow backward, a superstitious and childish view of the world wherein everything is “alive”.  This belief is completely biased in that it is totally from a human-centric point of view;  those who believe it to be silly would say that believing a stone has a soul is absolutely ridiculous.  This point of view is a projection of our human perspective,  of what is alive and what isn’t, what is ensouled and what isn’t.  It doesn’t take into consideration differences in the metaphysical.  This perspective is often derogatory of Animism, yet it fails to actually understand just what Animism actually means, and what living with an Animistic perspective can bring to human consciousness.

A long, long, long time before the word "Solstice" was ever uttered, eons before the ancients looked upward at that shining orb in the sky and said "goddess" or "god", billions of years before humankind realized that some times were warmer and lighter and other times were colder and darker, this planet danced.

For roughly four and a half billion years, give or take a million, the earth has rocked forward and backward. Axial Tilt is the official term for it. Axial Tilt would also make a great name for a band and should I ever decide to get the band back together again, I think Axial Tilt will be the front-runner for the name.

The Pagan savings challenge isn't just a way to get into the habit of saving, it's also a way to get in the habit of thinking about money magically.  Charged with energy, representing earth, moving from person to person, what can you do with this stuff?  Here's a hint:  there's more to money magic than "send me more money."

Do you make offerings to the money spirits?  Do you keep a money shrine?  If the answer is yes to either of those questions, how is that work similar to, or different than, tending other shrines and working with other spirits?

Given the strong emotional ties made with money, I think a lot more people in our society approach it as animists than they themselves realize.  To love money, or to hate it, or fear it, is to imbue it with spirit, or recognize that it has spirit regardless.  Why not take the next step, and allow that relationship to be a two-way one?

What have you done for money lately?  Do you say prayers, make offerings, keep a shrine?  Do you give and take money without thought for the medium itself, but only the necessities and luxuries it can provide for you and your loved ones?  Do you use it for magical purposes?  Do you thank money for its role in your life, ignore it, avoid it, or curse it?