| A | B |
|---|
| Ancestors | For the Australian Aboriginal religion, these are supernatural beings (or deities) who emerged and roamed the earth during the time of the Dreaming, giving shape to the landscape and creating various forms of life. When the word "ancestors" is lowercased, it refers to the deceased, who can assist the living while requiring religious devotion. |
| Axis mundi | Latin for "axis of the universe." Common to many religions, an entity such as a mountain, tree, or pole that is believed to connect the heavens and the earth, and is sometimes regarded as the center of the world. |
| Divination | The use of various techniques, such as throwing bones or shells and then interpreting the pattern in which they fall, for gainin gknowledge about and individual's future or about the cause of a personal problem; important among many religions worldwide. |
| Diviners | Ritual practitioners who specialize in the art of divination. |
| The Dreaming | The mythic time of Australian Aboriginal religion when the Ancestors inhabited the earth. |
| Orishas | Yoruba "head source." The hundreds of various Yoruba deities who are the main objects of ritual attention, including Orisha-nla, the creator god; Ogun, the god of iron and of war, and Esu, the trickster figure. |
| Quetzalcoatl | Nahuatl "feathered serpent." Mesoamerican creator god worshiped at Teotihuacan and by the Toltecs; believed by the Aztecs to have presided over a golden age. His earthly representative was Topiltzin X, a legendary Toltec priest-king. |
| Sun Dance | Ritual of the Lakota and other tribes of the North American Plains that celbrates the new year and prepares the tribe for the annual buffalo hunt; performed in the late spring or early summer in a specially constructed lodge. |
| Taboo / Tabu | A system of social ordering that dictates that specific objects and activities, owing to their sacred nature, are set aside for specific groups and are strictly forbidden to others; common to many primal peoples. |
| Tenochtitlan | Capital city of the Aztec empire, believed to be the center of the world. Home of the Great Temple, or Serpent Mountain. Site of present-day Mexico City. |
| Totem | A natural entity, such as an animal or a feature of the landscape, that symbolizes an individual or group and that has special significance for the religious life of that individual or group. |
| Trickster figure | A type of supernatural being who tends to disrupt the normal course of life, found among many primal peoples. |
| Vision quest | A means of seeking spiritual power through an encounter with a guardian spirit or other medium, usually in the form of an animal or other natural entity, following a period of fasting and other forms of self-denial. |
| Wakan Tanka | Lakota "most sacred." Lakota name for the supreme reality, often referring collectively to sixteen separate deities. |
