Zu is the immanent, active aspect of the divine in Dan religion: the holy spirit-power that emanates from the distant creator Zlan and permeates daily life. Because Zlan is unreachable, it is zu that people actually address, harnessing it by fashioning an object or mask for the power to inhabit, and receiving its guidance through dreams and divination. The Gio and southern communities use the cognate term du for this mediating force; du also names the individual soul that every being receives at birth and that, at death, may pass into another person or an animal. Sources differ on how sharply zu and du should be distinguished, some treating them as dialectal names for a single power, others separating the impersonal spirit-force from the personal soul.