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CHAPTER IV 
BEINGS OF THE SUPERNATURAL WORLD 
“ Long ago the vianidos or supernatural powers gathered somewhere and summoned 
a few Indians through dreams, giving them power to fly through the air to the 
meeting-place. The Indians (i.e., their souls) travelled thither, and the manidos 
taught them about the supernatural world and the powers they had received from 
the Great Spirit. Then they sent the Indians to their homes again ” (Pegah- 
magabow) . 
In myths of this character, and in their own experiences, the Parry 
Island Ojibwa find authority for their belief in a world of supernatural 
beings around them. Yet to call these beings supernatural slightly mis- 
interprets the Indians’ conception. They are a part of the natural order 
of the universe no less than man himself, whom they resemble in the 
possession of intelligence and emotions. Like man, too, they are male 
or female, and in some cases at least may even have families of their 
own. Some are tied down to definite localities, some move from place to 
place at will ; some are friendly to the Indians, others hostile. All of them 
are invisible to human eyes in the ordinary course of life; but just as the 
soul of a medicine-man may travel under various guises (e.g., as a dog, 
a bird, etc.), so the manidos, which are most nearly akin to souls, may 
assume any form they wish and make themselves visible whenever they 
so desire. Some manidos, of course, possess far greater power than man; 
others much less, though it may be different in kind. But there are 
manidos everywhere, or there were until the white man came, for today, 
the Indians say, most of them have moved away. 
Highest in the scale of these supernatural beings is Kitchi Manido, 
the Great Spirit, who is regarded not as the creator of all things, but 
as the source of all the power inherent to a greater or less extent in 
everything that exists. Occasionally the Parry Islanders speak of a 
Madji Manido, Bad Spirit, referring either to some lesser being malignant 
to man (most commonly the great serpent or water spirit), or else to 
some vague evil power that is apparently independent of the Great Spirit. 
This second notion may have been derived from the teachings of the early 
Jesuits; yet it seems so logical a development of the aboriginal beliefs, 
and so easily within the reach of the more speculative Indians, that it 
probably dates back to prehistoric times. Certainly it was widely spread 
as early as the end of the seventeenth century, for La Potherie notes it 
among the Cree and other Indians who frequented the trading posts on 
Hudson bay: 
“ They recognize a good and an evil spirit. They call the former Quichemanitou. 
He is the god of prosperity. It is he from whom they imagine that they receive 
all the good things of life; it is he who presides over all the pleasant aspects of 
nature. The Matchimanitou, on the contrary, is the god of misfortune. They worship 
him more from fear than from love . . . These two spirits, according to the 
belief of most of them, are the sun and the moon. They seem to recognize the 
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