These early divisions still matter for religious thought's roots.

They imply that all the objects in a clan or phratry are closely tied to each other and to the clan's or
phratry's totem. When an Australian of the Port Mackay tribe claims that the sun, snakes, etc., are of
the Yungaroo phratry, he means it objectively. He thinks "Alligators are Yungaroo and kangaroos
Wootaroo. The constellations, trees, plants, the sun and moon are Yungaroo and Wootaroo,
respectively." They belong to the group because of an internal tie. They belong to the group like the
men do, thus they have the same relationship to them. Guys call their clan members buddies and
think they are made of the same flesh. So, they share elective affinities and unique agreements.
Objects and people share a name, so they understand and get along. "The scaffold upon which the
body is exhibited must be fashioned of the wood of any tree belonging to the Mallera phratry" when
a wakelbura is buried. Likewise, the corpse's branches. Banbe trees must be utilized for Banbe-class
deaths. In this tribe, a magician can only use objects from his phratry because he doesn't know how
to control strangers. Hence, a link of mystic sympathy unites each individual to those beings, living or
dead, that are identified with him, resulting in a belief in the potential of deducing his future or past
actions from theirs. When a Wakelbura man dreams about killing an animal from a given social
division, he expects to meet a member of that division the next day. Conversely, a clan or phratry's
attributes cannot be utilized against its members. Wotjobaluk phratries have unique trees. Hunting
an animal from the Gurogity phratry requires arms made from trees from the opposite phratry, and
vice versa. Otherwise, the hunter will miss. The native thinks the arrow would turn on itself and not
hit a friendly animal.

Consequently, the clan's men and classified items form a solid system that vibrates sympathetically.
This seemingly logical organization is moral. The totem unifies it. Being a member of the Crow tribe,
the rain is "the same thing as a crow," as are the moon, sun, black-nut trees, and pelicans. All clan
members—humans, animals, plants, and inanimate objects—are totemic forms. The formula we just
gave means that the two are indeed of the same species because they share the totemic animal's
character. They also have totem-like features. The Wotjobaluk call the totem and its items Mir. As
we shall see, the Arunta, where apparent remnants of classification still exist, use separate words for
the totem and the other entities placed with it, but their names show their close relationship to the
totemic animal. Its intimates, associates, and friends are said to be inseparable from it. Hence, these
seem closely related.

The totemic animal is also sacred. Because they are animals like humans, all the things in the clan
whose insignia it is share this trait. They are sacrosanct, and the classifications that position them in
the universe give them a place in religion. Hence, clan members cannot freely eat these animals or
plants. Therefore, in the Mount Gambier tribe, men whose totem is a non-poisonous snake must
also abstain from eating seals, eels, etc. If they must consume any, they must expiate the sacrilege as
if they had eaten the totem. Any Euahlayi clan members are allowed to use the totem but not abuse
it. The Arunta's totemic animal interdictions cover the linked creatures [466], therefore pay special
attention to them. Both evoke the same feelings.
Nonetheless, the fact that they sometimes perform the same tasks as the totem proves that they are
religious. These are sub-totems, secondary totems, or supplementary totems. Under the influence of
diverse sympathies, particular affinities, smaller groups, and more limited relationships are
continually formed in clans, which tend to live reasonably autonomously and form a new subdivision
like a sub-clan within the larger one. This sub-clan needs a sub-totem to distinguish itself. These
secondary groups' totems come from the major totem's classification. They are practically totems,
and the slightest situation can make them such. Their totemic essence emerges when conditions
allow or require it. Hence, an individual has two totems: a clan-wide totem and a sub-clan-specific
totem. Like Roman nomen and cognomen.

A sub-clan may split off and form its own group and clan. The sub-totem becomes a standard totem.
Arunta segmentation is extreme. Strehlow's study has proved that the Arunta had more than sixty
totems, contrary to Spencer and Gillen's first book. Counted 442. Spencer and Gillen were accurate
when they claimed, "In reality, there is rarely an object, animate or inanimate, to be found in the
territory populated by the inhabitants which does not give its name to some totemic group." Under
special conditions, the original clans have divided and subdivided infinitely, resulting in nearly all
sub-totems becoming totems.

Strehlow confirmed this. Spencer and Gillen only mentioned a few related totems, but Strehlow has
proved that this is a widespread organization. He has created a table that classifies nearly all Arunta
totems as companions or auxiliaries to sixty major totems. The first may serve the second. This
dependence likely stems from a time when the "allies" of today were sub-totems and the tribe had
only a few clans separated into sub-clans. Survivors support this hypothesis. Two related groups
often have the same totemic emblem, which can only be explained if they were originally one. Each
clan's interest in the other's rites shows their relationship. The two cults are still mixed, likely
because they were once one. Folklore says the two clans used to live nearby, explaining their ties.
Sometimes the story explicitly states that one was developed from the other. The linked animal
differentiated from the species that is still the primary totem. So, witchety grubs became chantunga
birds. Two species currently connected to the honey-ant were honey-ants, etc. This undetectable
change of a sub-totem into a totem makes it difficult to determine whether one is working with a
major or secondary totem. According to Howitt, Wotjobaluk sub-totems are totems in formation.
Hence, a clan's various items serve as nuclei for new totemic cults. This best demonstrates their
religious beliefs. They could not be elevated to the same status as the sacred totems if they were not
sacred.

So, religion is broader than initially thought. It contains clan members and totem animals. Since
everything we know has a clan and a totem, everything has religious significance. When the gods
properly so-called arise in later religions, each will be set over a distinct category of natural
phenomena, such as the sea, the air, the harvest, fruits, etc., and each will be thought to draw its life
from the god upon whom it depends. Some faiths teach us that nature is ruled by different gods. As
long as humans are in the totem stage, the tribe's totems act like the divine personalities will. Mount
Gambier, our example tribe, has 10 clans. The world is divided into ten totem-based families, or
classes. In our scenario, rain, thunder, lightning, clouds, hail, and winter are all crows. This gives the
clan's possessions their realism. These 10 groups of things form a full and structured worldview
based on religious ideas. Totemic religion covers the entire universe. Like Greek religion, it sees gods
everywhere.

To represent totemism this manner, one key aspect of it must be changed. The clan's religion was
assumed to be the cult of one totem until recent discoveries. From this perspective, each tribe had
as many autonomous totemic religions as clans. The clan also believed this. They considered
themselves as a separate society with only superficial ties to other comparable communities. Reality
is more complicated. The clan celebrates each totem's cult, and only clan members are in control of
it. They pass it down, along with its beliefs. Yet, the numerous totemic cults practised within a tribe
grow independently, as if each were a complete religion. Instead, they mutually imply each other
and form a single religion. The men of one clan never view the beliefs of neighbouring clans with
apathy, suspicion, or hatred since they share them. The Crow people also believe that the Snake
people are descended from a mythical serpent and possess extraordinary powers. Have we not seen
that a guy can only eat a totem that is not his after performing certain rituals? He must ask
permission from any totem men present. He also confesses that the members of a clan he is not a
member and the animal whose name they bear have close ties. Cults also display this community of
belief. The men of a totem can perform its rites, although other tribes often help. They may not
officiate, but they beautify the officiants and arrange the service. In other tribes, they invite the
qualified clan to celebrate because they want to. The tribe must witness the totemic initiation
ceremonies.

Finally, as we've discussed, the totems' organization must be the consequence of an unspoken tribe
consensus. Each clan couldn't have invented its own beliefs. Because of their compatibility, the
totem cults must be related. We've observed that a totem rarely appears twice in a tribe. We've also
seen that the totems divide the cosmos so the same object doesn't appear in two tribes. A split so
meticulous would have required tribal consensus, whether vocal or not. This produces tribal views,
but not fully.

So, we must look beyond the clan to understand totemism. Instead, we must examine the tribe. It's
true that each clan's cult has a lot of liberty, yet we can now see that religious life is vibrant within
the clan. Yet, these cults fit together, and the totemic religion is a complicated system of them.
Greek polytheism had many cults for each god. Totemism has its own cosmology, as illustrated.