Epilsen
In Yurok cosmology of northwestern California, the world is inhabited by wo'gey — powerful spirit-beings who shaped the landscape before humans arrived and who still dwell in sacred places: high mountain peaks, remote springs, old-growth redwood groves, and stone enclosures called tsekteya. An Epilsen belongs to this class of spirit-beings, a resident of the high country where Yurok medicine-makers and pilgrims travel to cry and shout for help, seeking visions and spiritual power. The Yurok believe that all features of nature — trails, rocks, trees, springs — possess consciousness and power, a