In Palo, the spirits of both ancestors and of the natural world are termed "mpungus". The spirits of the dead are more specifically also called "muerto" or "nfumbi". Some of these spirits have their own names, among them Nsasi or Sarabanda or Baluandé. Certain spirits may also have different aspects or manifestations, which have their specific names too. Practitioners are expected to make agreements with the spirits of trees and rivers. The scholar Judith Bettelheim described Palo as being "centered on assistance from ancestors and a relationship with the earth, one's land, one's home."