folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, r ...

and ethnography, a spirit is an "immaterial being", "supernatural agent", the "

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '':wikt:soul, soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The ea ...

of a deceased person", an "invisible entity", or the "soul of a seriously suffering person". Often spirits have an intermediate status between

gods A deity or god is a supernatural being who is considered divine or sacred. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines deity as a god or goddess, or anything revered as divine. C. Scott Littleton defines a deity as "a being with powers great ...

and humans, sharing some properties with gods (

Incorporeality Incorporeality is "the state or quality of being incorporeal or bodiless; immateriality; incorporealism." Incorporeal (Greek: ἀσώματος) means "Not composed of matter; having no material existence." Incorporeality is a quality of souls, ...

, greater powers) and some with humans (finite, not

omniscience Omniscience () is the capacity to know everything. In Hinduism, Sikhism and the Abrahamic religions, this is an attribute of God. In Jainism, omniscience is an attribute that any individual can eventually attain. In Buddhism, there are di ...

). Thus, a spirit would have a form of existing and

thinking In their most common sense, the terms thought and thinking refer to conscious cognitive processes that can happen independently of sensory stimulation. Their most paradigmatic forms are judging, reasoning, concept formation, problem solving, an ...

; it would exist without being generally visible; often popular traditions endow it with miraculous powers and more or less occult influences on the physical world.

Typology

Spirits can be classified according to the science in charge of their study:

angels In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God. Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles include ...

and

demons A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in religion, occultism, literature, fiction, mythology, and folklore; as well as in Media (communication), media such as comics, video ...

belong to

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing th ...

, ghosts and spirits to

metapsychology Metapsychology (Greek: ''meta'' 'beyond, transcending', and ''ψυχολογία'' 'psychology') is that aspect of any psychological theory which refers to the structure of the theory itself (hence the prefix "meta") rather than to the entity it d ...

fairies A fairy (also fay, fae, fey, fair folk, or faerie) is a type of mythical being or legendary creature found in the folklore of multiple European cultures (including Celtic, Slavic, Germanic, English, and French folklore), a form of spirit, of ...

and

gnomes A gnome is a mythological creature and diminutive spirit in Renaissance magic and alchemy, first introduced by Paracelsus in the 16th century and later adopted by more recent authors including those of modern fantasy literature. Its character ...

, the souls of the dead to the

cult of the dead The veneration of the dead, including one's ancestors, is based on love and respect for the deceased. In some cultures, it is related to beliefs that the dead have a continued existence, and may possess the ability to influence the fortune of ...

spiritualism Spiritualism is the metaphysical school of thought opposing physicalism and also is the category of all spiritual beliefs/views (in monism and dualism) from ancient to modern. In the long nineteenth century, Spiritualism (when not lowercase) ...

magic Magic or Magick most commonly refers to: * Magic (supernatural), beliefs and actions employed to influence supernatural beings and forces * Ceremonial magic, encompasses a wide variety of rituals of magic * Magical thinking, the belief that unrela ...

necromancy Necromancy () is the practice of magic or black magic involving communication with the dead by summoning their spirits as apparitions or visions, or by resurrection for the purpose of divination; imparting the means to foretell future events ...

. However, there are frequent hesitations.''Apologie'', 18, 4 Alternatively, a historical approach can be taken. Medieval texts are full of planetary spirits (inhabitants of the planets), angelic spirits (angels,

archangels Archangels () are the second lowest rank of angel in the hierarchy of angels. The word ''archangel'' itself is usually associated with the Abrahamic religions, but beings that are very similar to archangels are found in a number of other relig ...

, guardian angels, etc.), nature spirits (

undines Undines (; also ondines) are a category of elemental beings associated with water, stemming from the alchemical writings of Paracelsus. Later writers developed the undine into a water nymph in its own right, and it continues to live in modern li ...

sylphs A sylph (also called sylphid) is an air spirit stemming from the 16th-century works of Paracelsus, who describes sylphs as (invisible) beings of the air, his elementals of air. A significant number of subsequent literary and occult works have bee ...

, etc.), place spirits, etc. Spirits are often classified by the worlds they inhabit: underworld, earth, atmospheric, or heaven. They are also classified as good and bad, or as neutral: the word "devil" is pejorative, but the word "demon" changes the value. In 17th century Europe, spirits included angels, demons, and disembodied souls.

Dom Calmet Antoine Augustin Calmet, O.S.B. (26 February 167225 October 1757), a French Benedictine monk, was born at Ménil-la-Horgne, then in the Duchy of Bar, part of the Holy Roman Empire (now the French department of Meuse, located in the regio ...

, a specialist on the subject, explained that he was writing "on the apparitions of angels, demons and souls separated from the body". The Lalande dictionary follows suit: "God, angels, demons, disembodied souls of people after death are the spirits". In some cultures, the "spirits of nature" refers to the elementals, spirits linked to the four classical elements:

for earth,

for water,

for air,

salamanders Salamanders are a group of amphibians typically characterized by their lizard-like appearance, with slender bodies, blunt snouts, short limbs projecting at right angles to the body, and the presence of a tail in both larvae and adults. All te ...

for fire).

History in the West

Ancient period

Greeks

In his ''Theogony'', written in the 7th century B.C.,

Hesiod Hesiod (; grc-gre, Ἡσίοδος ''Hēsíodos'') was an ancient Greek poet generally thought to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer. He is generally regarded by western authors as 'the first written poet i ...

distinguishes five categories of powers: superior demons or gods (golden race), inferior demons (silver race), deceased from the Hades (bronze race), heroes without posthumous promotion, and humans of the past (iron race).

Pythagoras Pythagoras of Samos ( grc, Πυθαγόρας ὁ Σάμιος, Pythagóras ho Sámios, Pythagoras the Samian, or simply ; in Ionian Greek; ) was an ancient Ionian Greek philosopher and the eponymous founder of Pythagoreanism. His politic ...

sees souls or spirits everywhere, as detached particles of the ether: Pythagoras identifies four types of spiritual beings: gods, heroes, demons, and humans. While the gods are immortal souls, the humans are mortal souls. Gods inhabit the stars, glorious heroes inhabit the ether, and demons inhabit the earth. The heroes are the demigods. A little bit similar to Hesiod, in ''Timaeus'',

Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institutio ...

mentions gods, demons, inhabitants in the Hades, heroes and humans of the past.

Romans

The Romans admitted gods, goddesses, masons (souls of the dead), lares (tutelary spirits protecting houses, etc.), genies (spirits presiding over the destiny of a place, a group, or an individual), lemurs (specters of the dead), etc. Theologians began thinking of angels in the 3rd century, with Origen and the Cappadocians (Gregory of Nazianzus, Gregory of Nyssa, Basil of Caesarea).

Justin Martyr Justin Martyr ( el, Ἰουστῖνος ὁ μάρτυς, Ioustinos ho martys; c. AD 100 – c. AD 165), also known as Justin the Philosopher, was an early Christian apologist and philosopher. Most of his works are lost, but two apologies and ...

(2nd century) was the first to see the gods of paganism as messengers of the Devil (''Apologies'', I, 5, 25-27). Numerous theologians would follow him, including Tertullian (''De spectaculis'') and Lactantius (4th century). The Neoplatonist

Porphyry of Tyre Porphyry of Tyre (; grc-gre, Πορφύριος, ''Porphýrios''; ar, فُرْفُورِيُوس, ''Furfūriyūs''; – ) was a Neoplatonic philosopher born in Tyre, Roman Phoenicia during Roman rule. He edited and published '' The Enneads ...

(c. 260) carefully asks how to distinguish high-ranking divine beings (gods, archangels,

, demons, heroes, archons of the cosmos or matter) from mere souls, not to mention malignant spirits (''antitheoi''): Pagan angels and archangels have Persian origin.

Saint Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Afri ...

equates angels with uncreated light, born of the Word; he believes that demons have celestial bodies; he considers fauns to be monstrous children between women and devils. In the 5th century,

Martianus Capella Martianus Minneus Felix Capella (fl. c. 410–420) was a jurist, polymath and Latin prose writer of late antiquity, one of the earliest developers of the system of the seven liberal arts that structured early medieval education. He was a nati ...

described a world inhabited by spirits, satyrs, etc: In his ''Commentary on Timaeus'' (439),

Proclus Proclus Lycius (; 8 February 412 – 17 April 485), called Proclus the Successor ( grc-gre, Πρόκλος ὁ Διάδοχος, ''Próklos ho Diádokhos''), was a Greek Neoplatonist philosopher, one of the last major classical philosophe ...

admits nine levels of reality: One, being, life, mind, reason, animals, plants, animate beings, and prime matter. He posits a hierarchy of gods in nine degrees: 1) the One, the first god; 2) the henads; 3) the intelligible gods; 4) the intelligible-intellective gods; 5) the intellective gods; 6) the hyper cosmic gods; 7) the encosmic gods; 8) the universal souls; 9) the angels, demons, heroes (according to Pierre Hadot).

Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite (or Dionysius the Pseudo-Areopagite) was a Greek author, Christian theologian and Neoplatonic philosopher of the late 5th to early 6th century, who wrote a set of works known as the ''Corpus Areopagiticum'' ...

, c. 490, influenced by Proclos and

Saint Paul Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...

, classified the heavenly spirits into three triads, thus forming the nine heavenly choirs (from top to bottom): Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, Lordships, Powers, Dominions, Principalities, Archangels, and Angels.

Middle Age

Michel Psellos, a great Byzantine scholar of the 12th century, lists six categories of demons in a famous treatise used by Ronsard: Treated by energy dialogue or devil's operation (translated 1511). His categories are: igneous spirits, aerial spirits, terrestrial spirits, aquatic spirits, subterranean spirits, and tenebrous spirits.

Honorius Augustodunensis Honorius Augustodunensis (c. 1080 – c. 1140), commonly known as Honorius of Autun, was a very popular 12th-century Christian theologian who wrote prolifically on many subjects. He wrote in a non-scholastic manner, with a lively style, and his wor ...

(1075-1157), in his ''

Elucidarium ''Elucidarium'' (also ''Elucidarius'', so called because it "elucidates the obscurity of various things") is an encyclopedic work or ''summa'' about medieval Christian theology and folk belief, originally written in the late 11th century by Hono ...

'', admits the existence of spirits such as angels, demons, and disembodied souls. He argues that "angels have bodies of ether, demons of air, humans of earth". In his prose novel ''

Merlin Merlin ( cy, Myrddin, kw, Marzhin, br, Merzhin) is a mythical figure prominently featured in the legend of King Arthur and best known as a mage, with several other main roles. His usual depiction, based on an amalgamation of historic and le ...

'' (7th to 8th century),

Robert de Boron Robert de Boron (also spelled in the manuscripts "Roberz", "Borron", "Bouron", "Beron") was a French poet of the late 12th and early 13th centuries, notable as the reputed author of the poems and ''Merlin''. Although little is known of him apart ...

introduces his heroes as children of a virgin and a devil, who is therefore an

incubus An incubus is a demon in male form in folklore that seeks to have sexual intercourse with sleeping women; the corresponding spirit in female form is called a succubus. In medieval Europe, union with an incubus was supposed by some to result in t ...

, a sexual demon. The novel ''Huon de Bordeaux'' (early 13th century) mixes two categories of spirits: the spirits spoken of by theologians (angels, demons, etc.), and the spirits spoken of by storytellers (dwarfs, giants, ogres, evil animals, etc). In 1398, 1241, 1270 and 1277, the Paris Faculty of Theology condemned the thesis that other eternal entities existed in addition to God.

Renaissance

Paracelsus Paracelsus (; ; 1493 – 24 September 1541), born Theophrastus von Hohenheim (full name Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim), was a Swiss physician, alchemist, lay theologian, and philosopher of the German Renaissance. H ...

The Germanic peoples">Germans , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...

developed an "astonishing proliferation of supernatural creatures:" primordial giants (who personified "the great supernatural forces"), dwarves (who "are the dead"), elves (''alves''), trölls ("gigantic dead"), ''landvaettir'' ("tutelary deities of places"), ''disir'', ''fylgja'' ("female figure following or accompanying each human being and embodies his destiny"), ''hamr'' ("form that everyone carries and which escapes from its support"), ''hamingja'' (form applied to the entire family), ''hugr'' ("spirit of the world"). Johann Weyer is a witchcraft specialist, with his ''De praestigiis daemonorum ac incantationibus'' (1563). He classifies demons by their elemental nature (fire, water, air, earth, and subterranean), and by their habitat (demons of the four cardinal points, day and night demons, wood demons, mountain demons, country demons, domestic demons).

17th and subsequent centuries

In his novel ''The Count of Gabalis, or Interviews on the Secret Sciences'' (1670), Abbé

Henri de Montfaucon de Villars Nicolas-Pierre-Henri de Montfaucon de Villars (1635 or 1638 –1673), the abbot of Villars, also known as Henri de Montfaucon de Villars, was a French abbot and writer in the 17th century. The "Nicolas-Pierre" (attributed to it only since the b ...

correlates demons and elements, simplifying Psellus and continuing Paracelsus. Sylphs are of air; undines, water; gnomes, earth; salamanders, fire. Rationalist Descartes uses the physiological term "animal spirits" to refer to corpuscles composed of the "most vivid and subtle" parts of the blood, which move the body as they circulate from brain to muscle (''Discours de la méthode'', V) (1637). These are not entities, then; they are nerve impulses. In the spiritualism codified by Allan Kardec, the word "spirits" denotes the souls of the deceased with whom a medium can communicate. Kardec's first book is entitled: ''

The Spirits Book ''The Spirits' Book'' (''Le Livre des Esprits'' in French) is part of the Spiritist Codification, and is regarded as one of the five fundamental works on Spiritism. It was published by the French educator Hippolyte Léon Denizard Rivail, und ...

, which contain the principles of Spiritist doctrine on the immortality of the soul, the nature of spirits and their relationship with mankind; moral laws, the present life, the future life and the future of mankind. According to the teachings given by the Higher Spirits through various mediums collected and organized by Allan Kardec (1857)'', he affirms:

Edward Tylor Sir Edward Burnett Tylor (2 October 18322 January 1917) was an English anthropologist, and professor of anthropology. Tylor's ideas typify 19th-century cultural evolutionism. In his works '' Primitive Culture'' (1871) and ''Anthropology'' ...

, one of the founders of

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of be ...

, introduced the concept of

animism Animism (from Latin: ' meaning 'breath, Soul, spirit, life') is the belief that objects, places, and creatures all possess a distinct Spirituality, spiritual essence. Potentially, animism perceives all things—Animal, animals, Plant, plants, Ro ...

in 1871 to provide, according to him, "a rudimentary definition of religion," and he posits "the minimal definition of religion as the belief in spiritual beings, within the framework of evolutionism:"

Outside the West

Sub-Saharan Africa

According to Pierre Alexandre, in Sub-Saharan Africa: For Ernst Dammann, in addition to nature spirits, which consist of "a large number of protective spirits of houses, settlements, professions, and social classes", there are "animal spirits" (e.g. spirits attached to giraffes among the

Nuer Nuer may refer to: * Nuer people * Nuer language The Nuer language (Thok Naath) ("people's language") is a Nilotic language of the Western Nilotic group. It is spoken by the Nuer people of South Sudan and in western Ethiopia (region of Gambela) ...

), "auxiliary spirits" ("found in drums, gourds, baskets, etc."), and certain civilizing heroes.

North America

Haiti

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

(

voodoo Voodoo may refer to: Religions * African or West African Vodun, practiced by Gbe-speaking ethnic groups * African diaspora religions, a list of related religions sometimes called Vodou/Voodoo ** Candomblé Jejé, also known as Brazilian Vodu ...

Native Americans

Concerning the

Amerindians The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the inhabitants of the Americas before the arrival of the European settlers in the 15th century, and the ethnic groups who now identify themselves with those peoples. Many Indigenous peoples of the A ...

, according to A. Métraux: In principle, the same representations are found in North America, although they do not dominate religion there to the same degree as in the tropical jungles of South America. Belief in a personal tutelary genie, which can be inherited or acquired through a vision, and which in some cases can be bought or sold, exists in both Americas. In

Mesoamerica Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area in southern North America and most of Central America. It extends from approximately central Mexico through Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and northern Costa Rica. W ...

, the ''

nahual In Mesoamerican folk religion, a nagual (pronounced a'wal is a human being who has the power to shapeshift into their tonal animal counterpart. Nagualism is tied to the belief one can access power and spiritual insight by connecting with the ...

'', both human and animal (or divine), is a tutelar deity. Among the

Lakota Lakota may refer to: * Lakota people, a confederation of seven related Native American tribes *Lakota language, the language of the Lakota peoples Place names In the United States: *Lakota, Iowa *Lakota, North Dakota, seat of Nelson County *Lakot ...

, the practice of vision questing enables them to communicate with the spirits.

History in Asia

Japan

In Japan:

kami are the deities, divinities, spirits, phenomena or "holy powers", that are venerated in the Shinto religion. They can be elements of the landscape, forces of nature, or beings and the qualities that these beings express; they can also be the ...

Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the F ...

, the Assyro-Babylonians admitted gods (''ilum''), planetary genies, ancestral gods (''ilû abbêni''), personal gods (''ilîni''), spirits of the dead (''etemmû''), and numerous demons (

udug The udug (), later known in Akkadian as the utukku, were an ambiguous class of demons from ancient Mesopotamian mythology who were sometimes thought of as good and sometimes as evil. In exorcism texts, the "good udug" is sometimes invoked agains ...

Mongolia

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 millio ...

(the case of the

Buryats The Buryats ( bua, Буряад, Buryaad; mn, Буриад, Buriad) are a Mongolic ethnic group native to southeastern Siberia who speak the Buryat language. They are one of the two largest indigenous groups in Siberia, the other being the Ya ...

): Specialists in Mongolian shamanism have proposed "a classification of the various entities inhabiting the supernature of the Mongols." The Mongolian Buryats admit: ''tenger'' (atmospheric skies and the spirits that reside there), ''ancestors'' (masters of places and waters), ''zajaan'' (spirits of the deceased victims of unnatural death), and spirits from the souls of the dead. In addition, shamans know: auxiliaries (zoomorphic and protective spirits), ''udxa'' (the shaman's protective spirits seen collectively as a shamanic lineage or ancestry), troublemakers (''ongon''), wandering souls of the recently dead, mythical founders and legendary ancestors (such as Buxa Nojon, Dajan Deerx), local master-spirits (of the forest or a locality).

Siberia

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part o ...

(the case of the

Tungus Tungusic peoples are an ethno-linguistic group formed by the speakers of Tungusic languages (or Manchu–Tungus languages). They are native to Siberia and Northeast Asia. The Tungusic phylum is divided into two main branches, northern (Evenic or ...

), in the context of

shamanism Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a Spirit world (Spiritualism), spirit world through Altered state of consciousness, altered states of consciousness, such as tranc ...

and even "before the establishment of shamanism", "master spirits are the 'masters' of certain animal species, of territories where game roosts, of natural phenomena such as fire, lightning, wind, etc." The

address various spirits, without the intermediary of the

shaman Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a Spirit world (Spiritualism), spirit world through Altered state of consciousness, altered states of consciousness, such as tranc ...

: fire master-spirits, forest master-spirits, water master-spirits, clan territories master-spirits, sites master-spirits, and mythical territories master-spirits. The Tungus shaman, on the other hand, addresses shamanic spirits: shamanic ancestors, zoomorphic spirits serving the shaman, spirits likely to be mastered by the shaman (which excludes the great celestial deity and the master spirits of fire, forest, and water).

In religion

Buddhism

Theravada ''Theravāda'' () ( si, ථේරවාදය, my, ထေရဝါဒ, th, เถรวาท, km, ថេរវាទ, lo, ເຖຣະວາດ, pi, , ) is the most commonly accepted name of Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school' ...

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

, there are up to 31 planes of existence with, from the lowest to the highest: beings of the underworld, hungry spirits (''petâ''), demigods (''asurâ''), deities (''devâ''), including Brahmâ (in planes 12-14). In addition, there are minor earthly deities such as genies (''yakkhâ'' and ''yakkhinî''), snakes (N''âgâ''), spirits associated with nature, or spirits of ancestors or Indian gods, local gods, and mythological or historical heroes.

Tibetan Buddhism Tibetan Buddhism (also referred to as Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Lamaism, Lamaistic Buddhism, Himalayan Buddhism, and Northern Buddhism) is the form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet and Bhutan, where it is the dominant religion. It is also in maj ...

classifies "nature spirits into eight types of being: minor gods, lords of death, harmful demons, wrathful mothers, rock demons, king-spirits, spirits of natural wealth and water spirits."

Christianity

Christian theologians regard spirits as demons, fallen angels.

likened the demons of Greco-Roman paganism to fallen angels, rebelling against divine authority and wishing to lead man into evil.

Interpretation

Auguste Comte Isidore Marie Auguste François Xavier Comte (; 19 January 1798 – 5 September 1857) was a French philosopher and writer who formulated the doctrine of positivism. He is often regarded as the first philosopher of science in the modern sense ...

's positivism, according to his

law of three stages The law of three stages is an idea developed by Auguste Comte in his work '' The Course in Positive Philosophy''. It states that society as a whole, and each particular science, develops through three mentally conceived stages: (1) the theological ...

, brings belief in spirits into the most remote era or conception, that of the theological stage, more precisely into its second phase,

polytheism Polytheism is the belief in multiple deities, which are usually assembled into a pantheon of gods and goddesses, along with their own religious sects and rituals. Polytheism is a type of theism. Within theism, it contrasts with monotheism, ...

, where "life is finally withdrawn from material objects, to be mysteriously transported to various fictitious beings, usually invisible, whose continuous active intervention henceforth becomes the source of all external phenomena, and even then of human phenomena."