Living beings are primarily spiritual beings that sustain themselves by interacting with other spiritual entities such as plants and animals, and eventually merge with ancestral and natural spirits. Amongst the indigenous communities in southeast Asia, the spirits of everything from the mountains, rivers, forests and soil, are holy and believed to be guarding these places. Certain animals, especially tigers (Robert Wessing 1986), possess or can acquire their power. The life of the people living within these spaces is governed by these spirits.
Animal worshipping is another form of spiritual practice prevailing since prehistoric times. Bear, cattle, leopards and other animals were worshipped and this tradition still continues in some parts of the world. Half-human and half-animal deities were prevalent in Greece, Mesopotamia, and Egypt. They have been spotted in cave art in Germany and Indonesia. These supernatural creatures are still part of folklore. The origin of such ideas is perhaps the result of an altered state of consciousness or trance induced during shamanic rituals. It symbolises the transformation of spirits into a different realm.