Name ▲▼ | Origin ▲▼ | Description ▲▼ |
---|---|---|
Spirit name "Abonsam" | West African | Malevolent spirit. Recognized by tribes in the Gold Coast, etc. Traditionally driven away in an annual expulsion ritual by firing guns and shouting loudly, emptying houses of furniture and beating the interiors with sticks. The abonsam was finally driven into the sea. The ritual was preceded by four weeks of total silence in the area.... |
Spirit name "Agathos Daimon (good demon)" | Greco - Roman | God of fortune. Known locally from Alexandria and depicted in the form of a snake. May have originated as an androgynous fertility spirit, but later becomes identified as the consort of Agathe Tyche (see TYCHE). Libations were made regularly to this deity after meals and he was regarded as a friendly household guardian.... |
Goddess name "Anaulikutsaix" | Pacific | Goddess of rivers of ancestral knowledge, spiritual warriors, wisdom, instinct, determination and persistence. Very fond of salmon. |
God name "Angru Mainyu (evil spirit)" | Persian / Iran | Chthonic underworld god of darkness. The original Zoroastrian name of the chief antagonist of AHURA MAZDA.See also AHRIMAN.... |
Spirit name "Angwusnasomtaka" | Hopi | A kachina, a spirit represented by a masked doll (also called a kachina). She is a wuya, one of the chief kachinas and is considered the mother of all the hú and all the kachinas. She led the initiation rites for new children, whipping them with yucca whips. Hopi |
Deities name "Arapacana" | Buddhist | God. A BODHISATTVA or spiritual meditation buddha. Originally a DHARANI of MANJUSRI who became deified. Accompanied by four minor deities. Also a collective name for the five buddhas. Color: yellow or red. Attributes: standing wearing a monkish garment and carrying Book and sword.... |
Deities name "Balam (jaguar)" | Mayan / Yucatec, Mesoamerican / Mexico | Guardian deities. Poorly defined spirits who protect individuals in daily life. Four balam stand at the cardinal points around a village to guard against dangerous animals. They also protect the four sides of a milpa (smallholding) against thieves.... |
Spirit name "Bhagavan (the lord)" | Northern / central Indian | Tutelary god. Worshiped by the Bhils and other tribes as the original creator spirit and a judge of the dead soul. Also an epithet of VISNU and KRSNA. Also Bhagwan.... |
Goddess name "Birrahgnooloo" | Australian aboriginal | Creator goddess. She is recognized by several aboriginal clans as the chief consort of BAIAME, the creator god. Revered as the all-mother of humankind and creator of living things on earth, her role largely parallels that of Baiame. Traditions suggest that during the Dreamtime she planted vegetation as she moved through the primordial world, fashioning creatures from clay and breathing spirit into human beings. Her eldest son is DARAMULUM or Gayandi, regarded as an intermediary between Baiame and humankind.... |
Spirit name "Chang Tao Ling" | Taoist / Chinese | God of the afterlife. The head of the heavenly Ministry of Exorcism, and allegedly the first head of the Taoist church. By tradition he vanquished the five poisonous ani malsthe centipede, scorpion, snake, spider and toadplacing their venom in a flask in which he concocted the elixir of life. Having drunk the contents at the age of 123, he ascended to heaven. He is depicted riding upon a tiger and brandishing a sword. Before the communist takeover of China, the gods of exorcism lived in a sanctuary on the dragon Tiger mountain in Kiangsi province. Exorcised spirits were trapped in jars which were stored in the cellars.... |
Demon name "Chung K'uei" | Taoist / Chinese | God of the afterlife. He belongs to the heavenly ministry of exorcism and, though not the most senior (he is subservient to CHANG TAO LING), is probably the most popular within the category. He was originally a mortal working as a physician in the eighth century AD. He is depicted with a fearsome face, said to be so terrible that it can drive away any demonic spirit who dares to oppose him. He is engaged in combat using a sword and a fan on which is written a magical formula to ward off evil. Symbolic peaches are suspended from his hat and a bat circles his head representing happiness.... |
Demon name "Darawigal" | Australian aboriginal | Personification of evil. This demonic deity stands opposed to BAIAME, the creator spirit who represents good in the world. He is generally recognized as an offspring of Baiame who once lived in the sky but fell from grace during the Dreamtime and was sent to the underworld as its ruler. From there he now dispenses death and sickness.... |
Goddess name "Faun" | Roman | Place-spirits (genii) of untamed woodland. Romans connected their fauns with the Greek satyrs, wild and orgiastic drunken followers of Dionysus. However, fauns and satyrs were originally quite different creatures. Both have horns and both resemble goats below the waist, humans above; but originally satyrs had human feet, fauns goatlike hooves. The Romans also had a god named Faunus and a goddess Fauna, who, like the fauns, were goat-people. Roman |
Spirit name "Fu Hsing" | China | He was considered a spirit of happiness |
Spirit name "Goblin or Hobgoblin" | Scandinavia | A phantom spirit. |
Spirit name "Gumeniki" | Slavic | A clåśś of animistic spirits who look after storehouses and grainaries. Slavic |
Demon name "Hsuan-T'ien-Shang-Ti" | China | God who removes demons and evil spirits. Invoke for exorcism, matters involving water. China |
Spirit name "Ina'hitelan" | Koryak / Siberia | A guardian spirit that supervises the skies |