Spirits, creatures and beings

Djinn, fairies, orisha, golems and the other powers that magic deals with.

A feather: used in cleansing and blessing in some traditions, worn as a sign of office, and carried as a charm.

Beings are the powers that magic deals with: spirits, ancestors, gods, djinn, fairies, orisha, nats, kami, demons, golems, ghosts and the many kinds of household and landscape spirit. People in most cultures have described a world shared with unseen others, who may help, trouble or ask for respect. This page covers what these beings are said to be and the very different ways communities relate to them. They are always described here as what communities believe, not as established fact.

Different kinds of beings

A being can be a god with a priesthood, such as an orisha served in Yoruba religion, Cuba and Brazil. It can be an ancestor, honoured in China, Africa and Mexico. It can belong to a place, such as the kami of Shinto, the Thai phi or the Burmese nats. It can be a trouble-maker, like the djinn of Arabic and Islamic tradition, formed from smokeless fire, or the fairies of Ireland, whom people avoided naming.

Relationship, not command

In many traditions, a person does not command a being but enters a relationship with it, through offerings, promises and respect. Possession and mediumship are forms of that relationship, as in Vodou, Candomblé, Korean mudang rites and Sufi gatherings. In ceremonial magic of the European grimoires, by contrast, the magician summons spirits by name and authority, which the Church condemned as demon-raising. The same being may be loved in one household and feared in the next, and a spirit helpful to its servant can be harmful to a stranger.

Religions and renaming

Dominant religions often absorbed beings by relabelling them. Christian missionaries called many African and Indigenous spirits demons. Islam reads the djinn as real creatures, some of whom are Muslim, and Hindu and Buddhist traditions fold local deities into their own pantheons. Pagan and fairy beliefs were sometimes recast as the devil's work, which fed witch trials in Europe. Churches and mosques have sometimes divided beings into good and evil in ways the older traditions did not, so that a neutral local spirit became a demon on the day a missionary arrived.

Harm and interpretation

Belief in harmful spirits has been used to accuse people. Children in parts of West and Central Africa have been branded as witches possessed by evil spirits, and some have been abused by pastors or families in the name of deliverance. Scholars read spirit beliefs as ways to make sense of illness, loss and conflict, and many communities see them simply as neighbours. That is why accusations tied to spirit beliefs fall hardest on children and the vulnerable, and why many agencies train local leaders to challenge them.

Being on EveryJaadu

The entries written up so far, best known first.

RegionSouth Asia Southeast Asia East Asia Central Asia and the Caucasus Middle East North Africa Sub-Saharan Africa Europe North America Latin America and the Caribbean Oceania

PurposeProtection Healing Seeing and foretelling Luck and prosperity Love and attraction Cursing and harm Cleansing and purification Speaking with spirits and the dead Change and initiation Binding and oaths Power and authority Wonder and entertainment

WhoShamans Folk healers Priests and ritual specialists Witches, sorcerers and cunning folk Diviners and readers Mediums and the possessed Ceremonial magicians and alchemists Households and ordinary people Stage magicians Scholars and sceptics

BeliefHindu and Tantric Buddhist Jain Muslim and Sufi Jewish Christian Sikh Zoroastrian Shinto and Taoist Indigenous and shamanic African and Afro-diasporic Pagan and Neopagan Esoteric and occult Folk and village custom Secular and stage Other traditions

OccasionWeddings and betrothal Festivals Birth and childhood Death and remembrance Harvest, farming and weather New year Initiation and coming of age Illness and misfortune Journeys and voyages Everyday use

StandingLiving Revived Fading Historical Legendary Performed

OrderBest known A to Z Newest Living first

🇨🇦 CanadaNanabozhoᓇᓇᐳᔓ A shapeshifting spirit and trickster in Anishinaabe storytelling from North AmericaBeing · Cursing and harm · Power and authority Living 🇺🇸 United StatesPukwudgie A short forest spirit from Algonquian lore, known for mischief and danger.Being · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Legendary

🇭🇹 HaitiBaron Samedi A Haitian Vodou spirit of the dead who also controls healing and resurrection.Being · Healing · Cursing and harm Living

🇺🇸 United States and 5 moreNight hag A supernatural being believed to sit on sleepers and cause paralysisBeing · Cursing and harm Legendary

🇺🇸 United StatesJersey Devil A legendary creature from South Jersey folklore said to inhabit the Pine Barrens.Being · Wonder and entertainment Legendary

🇺🇸 United States and 2 moreRougarou A lycanthrope legend from French-speaking communities in North AmericaBeing · Cursing and harm Legendary

🇺🇸 United StatesThe Gray Man A coastal ghost from South Carolina said to warn of hurricanesBeing · Protection Living 🇨🇦 CanadaWechuge A man-eating spirit from Athabaskan legend born of taboo and excessive powerBeing · Cursing and harm Legendary

🇺🇸 United StatesMothman A humanoid cryptid from West Virginia folklore, linked to large birds and a bridge collapse.Being · Seeing and foretelling Living 🇫🇮 Finland and 1 moreHiisi A Finnic spirit of sacred places that evolved into a demonic giant in folkloreBeing · Cursing and harm · Power and authority Historical

🇺🇸 United StatesGoatman A goat-human hybrid blamed for dog deaths in Maryland woodsBeing · Cursing and harm Legendary

🇺🇸 United StatesAshtar A channeled extraterrestrial figure central to mid-century American ufology and New Age spiritualityBeing · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Seeing and foretelling Living

🇺🇸 United StatesSquonk A fictional creature from American folklore known for weeping and dissolving in its own tears.Being · Wonder and entertainment Legendary 🇬🇱 GreenlandAdlet A half-human, half-canine race from Inuit mythology of the ArcticBeing Legendary 🇺🇸 United StatesChessie A sea monster of American folklore said to inhabit the Chesapeake Bay.Being · Wonder and entertainment Legendary

🇺🇸 United StatesSnallygaster A bird-reptile chimera from Maryland folklore, once used to frighten children and later the subject of newspaper hoaxes.Being · Cursing and harm Legendary 🇲🇽 MexicoTlahuelpuchi A shape-shifting vampire witch from Tlaxcalan Nahua folklore that drains infants.Being · Cursing and harm Legendary 🇨🇦 CanadaQallupilluitᖃᓪᓗᐱᓪᓗᐃᑦ (Qalupalik) An Inuit water spirit said to snatch children near Arctic iceBeing · Cursing and harm Legendary 🇫🇮 Finland and 2 moreHaltija A supernatural guardian of a specific place or animal species in Finnish and Baltic Finnic mythologyBeing · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical 🇺🇸 United States and 5 moreLady in Red A female ghost in a scarlet dress, often linked to tragic or violent deaths.Being · Wonder and entertainment Living 🇺🇸 United StatesKushtakaKóoshdaa káa A shape-shifting creature from Tlingit mythology that can appear as an otter or human.Being · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Legendary

🇺🇸 United StatesBall-tailed cat A North American fearsome critter with a heavy ball on its tail for striking preyBeing · Cursing and harm Legendary

🇨🇦 CanadaMistapewmistâpêw (ᒥᐢᑖᐤ) A spirit-being of the Cree peoples, known as the Great Man or Bigfoot.Being · Protection · Healing Living 🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreMuut A Cahuilla spirit who guides souls, often shown as an owlBeing · Speaking with spirits and the dead Legendary

🇫🇮 Finland and 1 moreVäinämöinen An ancient Finnish demigod and master singer from the Kalevala epicBeing · Wonder and entertainment Historical 🇲🇽 MexicoOtomitl A giant son of Aztec myth who settled the land after a great flood.Being Legendary

🇺🇸 United States and 2 moreHoop snake A legendary rolling serpent found in North American and Australian folkloreBeing · Cursing and harm Legendary 🇺🇸 United StatesWoman in Black A spectral figure from Appalachian folklore said to punish men for moral failingsBeing · Cursing and harm · Protection Legendary 🇺🇸 United StatesChepi A spirit of the dead in Narragansett belief, called upon for vengeance.Being · Cursing and harm · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical 🇺🇸 United StatesGonakadet A mythical sea creature of the Pacific Northwest believed to bring wealth and luck.Being · Luck and prosperity Legendary 🇲🇽 MexicoTlanchana A water spirit of the Matlatzinca people, born from an Otomi goddess.Being · Seeing and foretelling Legendary 🇬🇱 GreenlandIdlirvirissong A sky spirit who tests the dead with a dance and punishes laughter by disembowelling them.Being · Cursing and harm Legendary

🇺🇸 United StatesBell Witch A Tennessee legend of a shapeshifting spirit that tormented the Bell family in the early nineteenth century.Being · Cursing and harm Legendary 🇺🇸 United StatesBeaman Monster A Missouri cryptid said to be a giant ape or wolf-like creature from the early 1900sBeing Legendary

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

Jersey Devil: Dystopiamatt, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Mistapew: Alarichall, CC0, source
Nanabozho: D. Gordon E. Robertson, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Night hag: Henry Fuseli, Public domain, source
Baron Samedi: markbenecke, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Väinämöinen: Akseli Gallen-Kallela, Public domain, source
Mothman: Tim Bertelink, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Goatman: Jack Boucher, Public domain, source
Ashtar: Evedawn99, Public domain, source
Squonk: Coert Du Bois and by William T. Cox;, Public domain, source
Snallygaster: Tripodero, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Ball-tailed cat: Fearsome Critters, Written by Henry H. Tryon • Illustrated by Margaret, CC0, source
Hoop snake: Fearsome Critters, Written by Henry H. Tryon • Illustrated by Margaret, CC0, source
Rougarou: XxxJohnDoExxxx, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Bell Witch: Unknown author, Public domain, source
The Gray Man: Phoebe, CC BY-SA 4.0, source