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Social and cultural anthropology. v. t. e. A totem (from Ojibwe: ᑑᑌᒼ or ᑑᑌᒻ doodem) is a spirit being, sacred object, or symbol that serves as an emblem of a group of people, such as a family, clan, lineage, or tribe, such as in the Anishinaabe clan system. [1]
Power animal, a New Age, neoshamanic belief of a spirit that helps an individual. Spirit guide, a spiritual entity that acts as a guide or protector to a human being. Totem, in North American Indigenous cultures, a spirit or animal revered as sacred, that guides, helps, or protects individuals, lineages, and nations.
Nagual. The Nahuals described in the Borgia Codex, metamorphic creatures capable of changing their physical form into any other animal form or even into human forms at will. In Mesoamerican folk religion, a nagual (pronounced [na'wal]) or nahual (both from the Nahuatl word nāhualli [naˈwaːlːi]) is a human being who has the power to ...
A familiar spirit – ( alter ego, doppelgänger, personal demon, personal totem, spirit companion) is the double, the alter ego, of an individual. It does not look like the individual concerned. Even though it may have an independent life of its own, it remains closely linked to the individual. The familiar spirit can be an animal (animal ...
Soul. Artist’s depiction of a human soul leaving the body. In many religious and philosophical traditions, the soul is the non-material essence of a person, which includes one's identity, personality, and memories, an immaterial aspect or essence of a living being that is believed to be able to survive physical death.
Shamanism or samanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner ( shaman or saman) interacting with the spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. [1] [2] The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiritual energies into the physical world for the purpose of healing, divination, or to aid human ...
Tonal (mythology) Tonal is a concept within the study of Mesoamerican religion, myth, folklore and anthropology. It is a belief found in many indigenous Mesoamerican cultures that a person upon being born acquires a close spiritual link to an animal, a link that lasts throughout the lives of both creatures. The person shows signs of whatever ...
Ancestor spirit guides are superior to the living and may include deceased parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, uncles or aunts. It is believed that because they have crossed over to the other side of life, the spirit guides act as mediators between the living and the Almighty God. This way of life is regarded as ancestor reverence ...