Anishinaabe Traditional Beliefs - Aadizookaan - Spiritual Beings

Spiritual Beings

In the aadizookaan many manidoog ("spiritual beings") are encountered. They include, but not limited, to the following.

• Aadizookaanag (singular Aadizookaan) - Manifestation of the traditional teachings, often seen as being the Muses.
• Animikiig ("thunderers", singular animikii) also called "thunderbirds" (binesiwag, singular binesi)
• Aniwye is a skunk spirit and was the first skunk to be given the smell by Nanabozho when he was starving.
• Bagwajiwininiwag - Anishinaabe for Bigfoot or Sasquatch, literally meaning "Wildmen" or "Wildernessmen." In the aadizookaan, they represent honesty.
• Bakaak is a flying skeleton. He is in this form for committing an act of murder and this is form of punishment for that act.
• Chakenapok or Chakekenapok - in the aadizookaan with Chekenapok, Nanbozho is the second son (and Bapakiwis is omitted) and instead Chakenapok is added as the youngest of E-bangishimog 's four sons.
• Earth-Mother, aka Nookomis - "Algonquin legend says that "eneath the clouds the Earth-Mother from whom is derived the Water of Life, who at her bosom feeds plants, animals and men" (Larousse 428). (8) She is known as Nokomis, the Grandmother." Also known as Ogashiinan ("Dearest Mother"), Omizakamigokwe ("Throughout the Earth Woman") or Giizhigookwe ("Sky Woman").
• E-bangishimog - The west wind, manidoo of ultimate destiny. E-bangishimog is considered to be the father of Majiikiwis, Bapakiwis, Jiibayaabooz and Nanabozho.
• Elbow Witch
• Gaa-biboonikaan - Bringer of winter.
• Gichi-manidoo is the father of life, "The Great Spirit, the Supreme Being"
• Jiibayaabooz - "Spirit Rabbit" who taught methods of communication with the manidoog through dreams, vision quests and purification ceremonies. He is the "Chief of the Underworld."
• Majiikiwis - Eldest son of E-bangishimog and brother of Nanabozho in the aadizookaan but was cast as the father of Hiawatha in The Song of Hiawatha by Longfellow.
• Mandaamin - Maize manidoo
• Memegwesi (or variously as Omemengweshii, Memengwesi, Memegweshi, etc.) - usually described as a hairy-faced river bank-dwelling dwarfs, often travelling in small groups, appearing only to those of "pure mind" and often to children.
• Mishibizhiw (meaning "Great Lynx"; also known as Mishipeshu) is a horned panther living in the waters, often associated with copper. While not strictly evil, Mishibizhiw was greatly feared, and often said to cause drowning deaths.
• Mishi-ginebig (also known as Mishikinebik) is a great horned snake, a powerful underground manidoo that was the guardian spirit brings that brings wisdom and healing.
• Mizaawaabikamoo/Ozaawaabikamoo - Rock manidoo
• Nibiinaabewag/niibinaabekwewag ("Watermen"/"Waterman-women", singular nibiinaabe/nibiinaabekwe) are mermen and mermaids
• Wemicus is a trickster spirit.
• Wiindigoog (singular wiindigoo) are giant, powerful, malevolent cannibalistic spirits associated with the Winter and the North. If a human ever resorts to cannibalism to survive, they are said to become possessed by the spirit of a wiindigoo, and develop an overpowering desire for more human flesh.
• Wiisagejaak - Crane manidoo, also known as "Whiskey Jack"
• Wiininwaa - A woman entitled as "Norishment" who became immortal through manidoowiziwin (the process of taking on qualities of a Manitou); daughter of Nookomis and mother of Nanabozho.