Nkisi Module — Spiritual Entities

Commission of African spirits, often depicted as enslaved Africans or African elders. Work with strength, protection, and grounding. Among the most powerful commissions.

Commission of Arab or Moorish spirits. Work with commerce, prosperity, and esoteric knowledge. Reflect historical Moorish presence in Iberian culture transmitted to the Caribbean.

Also known as: Arab, Moro

Commission of highly evolved or elevated spirits associated with light, purity, and spiritual advancement. May include spirits identified as angels or exalted ancestors.

Also known as: Comision Celestial

Commission of Kongo-derived spirits in Espiritismo. Work with earthy, transformative, and protective matters. Bridge between Espiritismo and Palo traditions in syncretic practice.

Commission of Romani spirits. Work with divination, luck, commerce, and love. Often approached for card reading and matters of fortune.

Also known as: Gypsy

Commission of Indigenous American spirits. Work with nature, healing, and the land. Common in Cuban, Puerto Rican, and Dominican Espiritismo reflecting indigenous Taino presence.

Also known as: Native American

Spirits who died in conflict, trauma, or without resolution. Worked cautiously; associated with unrest and unfinished business. Distinct from the other commissions in that they are engaged for specific workings rather than as ongoing guides.

Also known as: Espiritu Intranquilo

Intranquil spirits occupy a contested category in Espiritismo — some practitioners consider them dangerous and do not work with them. Document lineage position via iroko:contestedNotes.

Commission of maternal African or Afro-Caribbean women spirits, often depicted as market women or healers. Work with protection, home, healing, and practical matters.

Commission of sailor or seafaring spirits. Work with travel, navigation, and matters of the sea. Reflect Caribbean maritime culture.

Also known as: Sailor

Commission of spirits who were doctors, healers, or medical practitioners in life. Work with healing and health matters. Sometimes called upon in misa for diagnosis.

Also known as: Comision Medica

Adversarial cosmic forces in Yoruba cosmology. The principal Ajogun are Iku (Death), Arun (Disease), Ofo (Loss), Egba (Paralysis), Oran (Legal Trouble), Epe (Curse), Ewon (Imprisonment), and Ese (all other afflictions). Powerful forces that are propitiated or deflected rather than worshipped. Not deities; not ancestors; ontologically distinct from orisa.

Also known as: Adversarial Force

Ajogun are not evil spirits in a moral sense but cosmic forces of adversity that must be balanced. Their propitiation is a legitimate archival and ritual category distinct from orisa worship.

The ancestral dead across Afro-Atlantic traditions. Not tradition-specific: encompasses egungún (Yoruba), the dead honored at boveda (Espiritismo), ancestral courts in Vodou, and the honored dead in all traditions where ancestors are engaged. The dead precede and supersede the orisa and lwa in most traditions.

Also known as: Ancestors, Eggun, The Dead

Egun as a category is deliberately cross-traditional. Tradition-specific practices of ancestral engagement are documented via the iroko:tradition property on individual instances.

A personal spirit guide in the Espiritismo tradition. Part of an individual's cuadro espiritual (spiritual frame). Guides may be ancestral relatives, historical figures, or evolved spirits assigned to assist a specific person. Identified through mediumship and misa espiritual.

Also known as: Guide, Spirit Guide

A spirit belonging to a named commission (comision) in Espiritismo. Commissions are groups of spirits sharing a common historical, cultural, or archetypal identity. Commission type is documented via iroko:commissionType property and the CommissionTypeScheme.

Also known as: Commission Spirit

Spirits of the Ghede nanchon in Haitian Vodou. Govern death, sexuality, resurrection, and the boundary between living and dead. Liminal in temperament. Composite New World origins distinct from both Rada and Petwo.

Also known as: Gede, Loa Gede

Spirits of the Petwo nanchon in Haitian Vodou. Hot, fierce, and transformative in temperament. Kongo, New World maroon, and creole origins. Associated with fire and gunpowder.

Also known as: Loa Petro

Spirits of the Rada nanchon in Haitian Vodou. Generally cool, sweet, and beneficent in temperament. Primary Fon/Dahomey origins. Received with white and light colors.

Also known as: Loa Rada

Divine forces in Bantu-derived traditions: Mpungo in Palo Monte and Mayombe, Inquice in Candomble Angola. These are the same cosmic powers known by different names in the Kongo religious continuum. Example: Zarabanda (Palo) corresponds to Ogum (Candomble Angola).

Also known as: Inquice, Mpungu

The human dead bound to a nganga in Palo Monte and Mayombe. Ontologically distinct from free ancestors (egun): the nfumbe enters a specific contractual and coercive relationship with the Palero and the nganga vessel. The nfumbe works within the nganga and is not free.

Nfumbe should not be classified as egun. The bound nature of the nfumbe is a defining characteristic with significant ethical and archival implications.

The individual divine head and personal destiny in Yoruba and Yoruba-derived traditions. Not an external spirit but the innermost self and personal divine principle. Ori has a shrine (ile ori), receives rogacion and propitiation, and is considered the most important force in an individual's life. Its guidance supersedes that of the orisa.

Ori is ontologically distinct from the orisa — personal rather than cosmic, internal rather than external. It should not be classified under orisa.

Divine forces in Yoruba and Yoruba-derived traditions (Lucumi, Candomble Ketu, Trinidad Orisha, Oyotunji). Orisa are cosmic powers governing natural and human domains, each with specific attributes, offerings, colors, and numbers.

Also known as: Orisha, Orixa

Spirits governing elemental forces — water, wind, fire, earth, lightning — not otherwise classified as orisa, lwa, or other named divine powers. Includes elemental presences recognized in folk traditions and syncretic contexts.

Also known as: Elemental Spirit

Spirits tied to specific locations, landscapes, or natural features: forests, rivers, crossroads, mountains, specific trees or stones. Not the dead, not divine powers, not malevolent by nature. Engaged through offering and acknowledgment. Found across multiple traditions including Hoodoo and syncretic folk practices.

Also known as: Faires, Spirit of the Land, Woodland Spirit

The term Faires may reflect crossover from European folk traditions into Hoodoo and syncretic contexts. Terminological certainty varies by regional tradition. Document tradition-specific terminology via iroko:alternateNames and iroko:tradition on individual instances.

Divine forces in Fon/Ewe-derived traditions including Arara in Cuba. Related to but distinct from Haitian lwa; represents the continental Dahomean tradition.

Also known as: Vodu

Animal sacrifice or offering. Category is public; specific animals, method, and context are initiated-only.

Candles or other light sources offered or burned for an entity.

Fabric, beads, or clothing offered or draped for an entity in the entity's sacred colors.

Liquids offered to an entity: water, rum, wine, honey, etc.

Prepared or natural foods offered to an entity. Specific foods are tradition and entity specific.

Dedicated labor, service, or action performed as offering. Example: building a shrine, completing a vow, acts of charity associated with an entity's domain.

Coins or currency offered to an entity, particularly common with Elegba, Oshun, and market-oriented spirits.

Songs, drumming, or music performed in honor of an entity. General category is public; specific songs and rhythms are initiated-only.

Plants, flowers, or herbal preparations offered to an entity. Links to ewe:Plant instances.

Ritual objects, implements, or symbolic items offered or dedicated to an entity.

Fresh water, ocean water, river water, or blessed water offered to an entity.

Masculine and feminine qualities are simultaneously present and inseparable. Distinct from aspect-dependent, where polarity shifts between manifestations.

Not described in gendered or polarity terms, or explicitly transcending the masculine/feminine binary. Not the same as unknown.

Also known as: Beyond polarity

Polarity varies by named camino, avatar, path, or manifestation. Individual paths should carry their own polarity assertion via iroko:RelationshipAssertion with assertionScope.

Also known as: Camino-dependent

Consistent feminine polarity in ritual address, manifestation, and alignment across known caminos.

Consistent masculine polarity in ritual address, manifestation, and alignment across known caminos.

Polarity shifts according to time of year, liturgical calendar, season, or ritual period. The shift is cyclical and predictable, not camino-specific.

Also known as: Seasonal polarity shift

kinship-brother-of

kinship-child-of

kinship-father-of

kinship-mother-of

kinship-parent-of

Use when the gendered parent role is unspecified or ambiguous in source material.

kinship-sibling-of

Use when gendered sibling distinction is absent or contested in source material.

kinship-sister-of

kinship-spouse-of

kinship-twin-of

In Lucumí cosmology, Ibeji (twins) hold specific sacred status. This relation type should be used with iroko:assertionStatus to indicate whether the twin relationship is consensual or lineage-specific.

Entities of cool, gentle, beneficent energy. Approached with white and light colors, cool water, and gentle offerings. Example: Obatala, Yemaya (certain paths), Rada lwa.

Also known as: Frio, Rada

Entities of hot, intense, warrior energy. Approached with fire, iron, rum, and strong offerings. Example: Ogun, Shango, Petwo lwa.

Also known as: Caliente, Petwo

Entities who exist at thresholds — between life and death, sacred and profane, this world and the next. Example: Ghede lwa, Eshu/Elegba as gatekeeper, Oya Igbale.

Entities whose primary nature is change, transition, and transformation. Neither simply cool nor hot; work with both destruction and creation. Example: Oya, Elegba.