{"id":4653,"date":"2026-04-27T09:48:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T09:48:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iwell-guard.com\/glossary\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T14:27:55","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T14:27:55","slug":"glossary","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/iwell-guard.com\/en\/glossary\/","title":{"rendered":"Glossary"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Glossary, terms of the classes of beings explained<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Glossary<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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The glossary gathers the central terms used on iWell Guard: from methodological concepts to the most important practical vocabulary of the magic<\/span> and protection tradition<\/span>, with the core vocabulary of the classes of beings explained, including the taxonomy applied across the site.<\/p>

It is intended as a reference work, not as a historical account of how terms developed; where a term carries different meanings in different traditions, the meaning that is binding for iWell Guard is marked.<\/p>

Anyone who comes across a term in a specific article and is unsure what is meant will find the short definition here, with a cross-reference to the detailed treatment. The terms are organised into the three areas classes of beings<\/strong>, sub-categories<\/strong> and practices<\/strong>.<\/p>

The glossary explains the core terms of the classes of beings.<\/p>

Methodological role of the glossary<\/h3>

On iWell Guard, the glossary is not a mere list of terms but a methodological tool that enables the comparative-religion<\/span> sorting of the documented beings and practices. Each term carries a clearly delimitable definitional function: it sets out a framework of assignment into which individual detail pages can be placed.<\/p>

The formation of terms follows two principles: first, the academic tradition of religious studies<\/span> (Burkert for Greek religion, Bott\u00e9ro for Mesopotamian, Schimmel for Islamic, Eliade for comparative concepts), second, the classification logic specific to iWell Guard (classes of beings, tradition pills, protection mantra<\/span> layers).<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Classes of beings<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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God \/ goddess:<\/strong> Personified highest power in the pantheon<\/span> of a culture. Gods have a proper name, defined areas of responsibility (sky, war, death, love, creation), fixed attributes (animals, plants, tools) and stand within a hierarchical pantheon<\/span> structure.<\/p>

On iWell Guard the term god is reserved for the pinnacle of the respective religious tradition; lower supernatural beings are classified as demons<\/span>, spirits<\/span> or beings of light. See overview Gods<\/a>.<\/p>

Demon<\/span>:<\/strong> Supernatural being below the gods, in the narrower sense of religious history oriented towards harm. The term carries a semantic shift: in the Greek daimonion<\/em> originally ambivalent or neutral (Socrates’ inner voice is called this too), in Christian theology<\/span> and its received form charged exclusively negatively.<\/p>

We use the term in the modern sense common in religious studies, a being oriented towards harm, and make shifts of meaning explicit in the individual presentations. See overview Demons<\/a>.<\/p>

Spirit<\/span>:<\/strong> Being connected to the deceased, to places in nature or to threshold experiences. Spirits are often bound to a place (spring, forest, cemetery) or to a time (spirits of the hours).<\/p>

The class encompasses both apparitions of the deceased (Yuurei, Edimmu, Preta) and nature and elemental beings (Rusalka, Kappa, kobold). See overview Spirits<\/a>.<\/p>

Beings of light:<\/strong> Spiritual helper figure of Western

The class is young in religious history; older components (the Jewish-Christian-Islamic hierarchy of archangels) are treated with full source material, newer components (ascended masters) with an explicit reference to the theosophical-modern origin. See overview Beings of light<\/a>.<\/p>

Extended definitions of the classes of beings<\/h3>

Ascended masters<\/strong>. Collective term of the theosophical-American lightworker tradition for transcendent teacher figures who were developed into a religious class in the 20th century through Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, Charles Webster Leadbeater, Guy Ballard and Elizabeth Clare Prophet.<\/p>

The most important representatives are Saint Germain, El Morya, Kuthumi, Sananda, Maitreya. In religious history the class is modern; it combines Eastern bodhisattva<\/span> ideas with Western angelology and hermetic alchemy<\/span> into a distinct synthesis.<\/p>

Archangels<\/strong>. In the Jewish-Christian-Islamic tradition the highest class of angel<\/span> with its own name. The canonical<\/span> four are Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel; in the Eastern Orthodox and Coptic tradition seven archangels are counted (additionally Selaphiel, Jegudiel, Barachiel).<\/p>

In Jewish mysticism<\/span> Metatron appears as a special figure above the class of archangels. In the ritual-magical<\/span> tradition the archangels are assigned to the four cardinal directions, following the Golden Dawn tradition Michael south, Gabriel north, Raphael east, Uriel west.<\/p>

Lwa and orisha<\/strong>. Lwa are the spirit<\/span> beings of the Haitian Vodou tradition, organised into the pantheons Rada (cool, of West African Fon origin) and Petro (hot, of Creole origin). Structurally related are the orisha of the Yoruba tradition of West Africa and their Afro-Brazilian adaptation as orix\u00e1 in the Candombl\u00e9 tradition.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Sub-categories (selection)<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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High deities: The highest gods of a pantheon, Zeus in the Olympian, Odin in the Germanic, An in the Sumerian, Re or Amun in the Egyptian system. High deities are as a rule patrilineal, linked with sky and thunder attributes, often with a creation or order function.<\/p>

Death deities: rulers of the underworld, Hades, Osiris, Hel, Yama. Death deities are especially constant in religious history; many cultures distinguish between a death deity<\/span> (with its own royal status in the underworld) and spirits of the dead (the deceased themselves).<\/p>

Protective deities: guardians and keepers of persons, places, professions, Bes as protective god of pregnant women in Egypt, Tyche\/Fortuna as protective goddess of the city in the Hellenistic-Roman world, Inari as protector of rice farmers in Japan.<\/p>

Anti-gods: powers of chaos and adversaries, often as a counterpole to the high deities, Tiamat in the Babylonian creation myth<\/span>, Apophis as the serpent opponent of Re, Loki in Germanic mythology<\/span>, Mara in the Buddhist corpus.<\/p>

Spirits of the dead: spirits of the deceased, Edimmu (Mesopotamian), Yuurei (Japanese), Preta (Buddhist), Banshee (Irish). The class is especially broadly documented across cultures.<\/p>

Water spirits, forest spirits, shapeshifters: nature spirits bound to a place. Water spirits are often female (Rusalka, nixie, Mami Wata), bound to springs, rivers or lakes. Forest spirits are central in the Slavic and Germanic traditions (Leshy, wood-maiden); shapeshifters are especially differentiated as a category of their own in the Celtic, Japanese and Chinese tradition.<\/p>

Angels<\/span> and archangels: messengers and figures of hierarchy of the Jewish-Christian-Islamic tradition; on iWell Guard listed under beings of light, with the four archangels Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel as well as Metatron as central figures.<\/p>

Extended sub-categories<\/h3>

Goetia<\/strong>. Tradition of the ritual-magical invocation<\/span> of 72 demons from the Lemegeton<\/span> (Lesser Key of Solomon). In religious history European and of the early modern period<\/span>, with Jewish-apocryphal<\/span>, Hellenistic and Arabic roots.<\/p>

The most important editions are Pseudomonarchia Daemonum (Weyer 1577), Discoverie of Witchcraft (Scot 1584), The Goetia (Mathers<\/span>\/Crowley 1904) and The Lesser Key of Solomon (Peterson 2001). A detailed treatment is offered by the hub page \/goetia\/<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>

Vodou<\/strong>. Haitian religious synthesis from West African Fon and Yoruba traditions with Creole-Caribbean elements, developed in the early modern slavery diaspora. Structurally related are Santer\u00eda (Cuba), Candombl\u00e9 (Brazil) and Lukum\u00ed (diaspora).<\/p>

The most important academic treatment is Maya Deren, Divine Horsemen<\/em> (1953), Karen McCarthy Brown, Mama Lola<\/em> (1991), Patrick Bellegarde-Smith, Haiti and the Truth of Vodou<\/em> (2006). A detailed treatment is offered by the hub page \/vodou\/<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>

Goetia \/ Lemegeton<\/strong>. Important: Lemegeton denotes the entire collected work of five books (Goetia, Theurgia-Goetia, Ars Paulina, Ars Almadel, Ars Notoria); Goetia in the narrower sense denotes only the first part. In popular reception both terms are frequently used synonymously, which is inaccurate in religious history.<\/p>

Shem HaMephorash<\/strong>. In Jewish mysticism<\/span> the 72-part name of God, derived from the three verses Exodus 14:19, 21 (each verse 72 letters).<\/p>

In medieval Kabbalah<\/span> (Sefer Raziel HaMalakh, Zohar<\/span>) 72 angels<\/span> are assigned to the 72 verses, which in turn are set against the 72 Goetia demons as a protective layer in the ritual-magical tradition (Athanasius Kircher, Eliphas Levi<\/span>, Golden Dawn).<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Practices (selection)<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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