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totemic geography

Ms. HaikuMs. Haiku Posts: 7,262
edited July 2010 in All Encompassing Trip
I'm reading a book about Australian Aboriginal songlines, and the author referenced totemic geography. Certain areas of the landscape hold specific meanings, and reference fluid energy as totems, to many people so they are in a sense totems to the geography. I could have this wrong, I'm just getting my brain around it on the first try.

Then I was thinking of personal totemic geography, which I don't know if that makes sense, but it could be for me one coffee shop to another and the memories associated with them even if I don't share the stories. You know how certain places just have a *feel* Some places a person may feel more comfortable in than others.

Anyone else know of totemic geography?
There is no such thing as leftover pizza. There is now pizza and later pizza. - anonymous
The risk I took was calculated, but man, am I bad at math - The Mincing Mockingbird
Post edited by Unknown User on

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  • eyedclaareyedclaar Posts: 6,980
    Look closely and you will see me waving from my stomping grounds...

    3536867476_d9f01b70a1.jpg
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  • unlost dogsunlost dogs Posts: 12,553
    eyedclaar wrote:
    Look closely and you will see me waving from my stomping grounds...

    3536867476_d9f01b70a1.jpg

    You could have at least pulled your pants up before they took the photo.
    15 years of sharks 06/30/08 (MA), 05/17/10 (Boston), 09/03/11 (Alpine Valley), 09/04/11 (Alpine Valley), 09/30/12 (Missoula), 07/19/13 (Wrigley), 10/15/13 (Worcester), 10/16/13 (Worcester), 10/25/13 (Hartford), 12/4/13 (Vancouver), 12/6/13 (Seattle), 6/26/14 (Berlin), 6/28/14 (Stockholm), 10/16/14 (Detroit)
  • BinauralJamBinauralJam Posts: 14,158
    kind of sounds like

    Volksgeist :(also Volksseele, Nationalgeist or Geist der Nation, Volkscharakter, and in English “national character”) is a term connoting the productive principle of a spiritual or psychic character operating in different national entities and manifesting itself in various creations like language, folklore, mores, and legal order.
    Connotatively, the German word Geist is related in meaning to the Hebrew ruah, to the Greek pneuma, and to the Latin spiritus. Volksgeist is the spirit (Geist) of a people expressing itself in certain articulated creations. The shift to spirit as against expression, follows the shift from the letter of the law to the spirit of the law as in Saint Paul (II Corinthians 3:6). To the extent that the term is related to genius or to génie (as a derivation from genius), it is associated with the Roman idea of genius loci, the attendant spirit of a place, household or city, e.g., genius urbis Romae. Along with other parallel terms, the term Geist and Volksgeist, however, connote a spirit not outside but inside a certain entity.
  • unlost dogsunlost dogs Posts: 12,553
    Ms. Haiku wrote:
    I'm reading a book about Australian Aboriginal songlines, and the author referenced totemic geography. Certain areas of the landscape hold specific meanings, and reference fluid energy as totems, to many people so they are in a sense totems to the geography. I could have this wrong, I'm just getting my brain around it on the first try.

    Then I was thinking of personal totemic geography, which I don't know if that makes sense, but it could be for me one coffee shop to another and the memories associated with them even if I don't share the stories. You know how certain places just have a *feel* Some places a person may feel more comfortable in than others.

    Anyone else know of totemic geography?

    What is the title of the book? It sounds really interesting...
    15 years of sharks 06/30/08 (MA), 05/17/10 (Boston), 09/03/11 (Alpine Valley), 09/04/11 (Alpine Valley), 09/30/12 (Missoula), 07/19/13 (Wrigley), 10/15/13 (Worcester), 10/16/13 (Worcester), 10/25/13 (Hartford), 12/4/13 (Vancouver), 12/6/13 (Seattle), 6/26/14 (Berlin), 6/28/14 (Stockholm), 10/16/14 (Detroit)
  • Black DiamondBlack Diamond Posts: 25,107
    unlost dogs wrote:
    eyedclaar wrote:
    Look closely and you will see me waving from my stomping grounds...

    3536867476_d9f01b70a1.jpg

    You could have at least pulled your pants up before they took the photo.
    Man, that's shrinkage...
    GoiMTvP.gif
  • eyedclaareyedclaar Posts: 6,980
    Black Diamond wrote:
    unlost dogs wrote:
    eyedclaar wrote:
    Look closely and you will see me waving from my stomping grounds...

    3536867476_d9f01b70a1.jpg

    You could have at least pulled your pants up before they took the photo.
    Man, that's shrinkage...

    I WAS IN THE POOL! I mean, lake!
    Idaho's Premier Outdoor Writer

    Please Support My Writing Habit By Purchasing A Book:

    https://www.createspace.com/3437020

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    http://earthtremors.blogspot.com/
  • unlost dogsunlost dogs Posts: 12,553
    eyedclaar wrote:
    Black Diamond wrote:
    unlost dogs wrote:

    You could have at least pulled your pants up before they took the photo.
    Man, that's shrinkage...

    I WAS IN THE POOL! I mean, lake![/quote]

    I don't know how you boys walk around with those things.
    15 years of sharks 06/30/08 (MA), 05/17/10 (Boston), 09/03/11 (Alpine Valley), 09/04/11 (Alpine Valley), 09/30/12 (Missoula), 07/19/13 (Wrigley), 10/15/13 (Worcester), 10/16/13 (Worcester), 10/25/13 (Hartford), 12/4/13 (Vancouver), 12/6/13 (Seattle), 6/26/14 (Berlin), 6/28/14 (Stockholm), 10/16/14 (Detroit)
  • Ms. HaikuMs. Haiku Posts: 7,262
    unlost dogs wrote:

    What is the title of the book? It sounds really interesting...

    Songlines by Bruce Chatwin. I think I could only recommend it if I can verbally express the main themes without sounding contrite and shallow. Many parallels between what the Aboriginies experienced in Australia and what native people experienced in other parts of the world. Not a happy book.
    There is no such thing as leftover pizza. There is now pizza and later pizza. - anonymous
    The risk I took was calculated, but man, am I bad at math - The Mincing Mockingbird
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