Orenda
Orenda is the academic neologism for a theorized Iroquoian belief in an invisible force that pervades people and the rest of the world. It was coined in 1902 by J. N. B. Hewitt. It is argued that it is a spiritual/magical power that can be used by its possessor according to their will. Anthropologist J. N. B. Hewitt believed that orenda is a collective power of nature's energies through the living energy of all natural objects regardless of whether they are animate and inanimate. In his study of Seneca mythology, Arthur C. Parker views orenda as a magical power that makes its possessor the master of nature. Hewitt's theory of orenda has been challenged by both scholars and indigenous communities who view it as misrepresenting core parts of the evidence available and the Haudenosaunee worldview.
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