#cemies

When we talk about Taíno cosmology, it is important to be precise about what that actually means.

This is not a fully preserved system we can reconstruct in complete detail. Instead, this article is discussing the core of it, a partial understanding built from archaeology, early colonial accounts, modern scholarly interpretation and individual family oral histories.

Cosmology, in this sense, refers to how a society understands:

the structure of the world

the relationship between humans and non-human forces

and the ways meaning is organized through land, objects, and experience

For Taíno societies, these ideas are not preserved as a single written system. They are inferred through material culture, recorded descriptions, and patterns that appear across the different sources listed.

For the purpose of this article, I am referring to it as a worldview instead of a belief system. It can be limiting to frame Taíno cosmology only as a “religion” or fixed set of beliefs, so I am not going to. Many Indigenous Caribbean systems are better understood as relational worldviews, where:

spiritual and physical worlds are not fully separated

objects, land, and beings can carry relational meaning

and knowledge is expressed through practice, place, and material engagement

Once again - this does not mean we can fully reconstruct those systems. It means we have to be careful not to force them into categories that may not fit and to keep in mind that every community may not fully commit or agree on all aspects.

One of the most consistent themes across interpretations and practices is that Taíno cosmology is often described in relational terms rather than abstract doctrine. Meaning theres priority to the relationship over abstraction.

Instead of a strict “system of beliefs,” what appears is:

connection between people and ancestral forces

interaction between material objects and meaning

and a landscape that holds significance beyond utility

Because cosmology is often popularized in simplified ways, it is important not to:

flatten Taíno worldview into a single unified doctrine

assume all symbolic meanings are fully known or decoded

or project modern spiritual categories onto fragmented historical evidence

What survives is partial, and different sources may not always align.

I’m explicitly stating all this before getting into it because the more you learn, the more you engage with different sectors of the Taíno community online- you are going to see disagreements on this and MANY authority-esque peoples stating things that are true for their yukayekes but not for others.

You also have to bear in mind the heavy influence of Christianity in the Caribbean. As a result, there are many communities trying to adopt the Taíno Cosmology through a Christian lens, or trying to practice it as a Christian, which often results in them referring to Cemí’nos as “helpers” or other demeaning and minimizing references instead of it being a scared object one should respect because its an extension of a deity or one’s own ancestral spirit. Many contemporary practitioners understand cemís as more than symbolic objects and may describe them as embodiments, manifestations, imbuements, or extensions of spiritual and ancestral relationships. Many struggle to respect Taíno cosmology/spirituality with the same respect they provide to modern religions. Its best to always listen and consider all of these factors when discussing the cosmology and spirituality.

Taíno Cosmology Basics

The most basic place to start is that the world isn’t singular. One of the most widely taught contemporary Taíno cosmological models organizes existence into multiple realms. In the Caney tradition (should note, they didn’t “invent” this model. It is widely believed and has been widely passed down in oral tradition. They are simply the best online resource and most open about discussing it,) these are often described as :

Turey (the Sky Realm)

Ku (the Earth or Middle Realm)

Koa Bay (the ancestral or spirit realm, as referred to as “Coa”)

Different yukayekes and spiritual lineages may describe these realms differently or recognize additional realms, but the three-realm framework is one of the most commonly encountered introductions to Taíno cosmology within contemporary practice.

Image is from the Caney Circle community, depicting the medicine wheel within the realm cosmology (https://www.caneycircle.org/legends/). This particular community is VERY open with their beliefs and you can interact with the Chief Behike online. He’s VERY active and open to discussion and including reconnecting peoples.

This is the most basic accepted cosmology. We acknowledge that there are refences and oral histories that include MORE realms than these, that are more complex. That’s valid. As seen above there's more to the cosmology, but we're just discussing the general core of it. Should you join a yukayeke, you can talk with your Behike directly and discuss. I am not a Behike, and thus will not have this conversation beyond the basic accepted shared cosmology.

Taíno discourse

A specific explanation I have heard for the variance in realm discussions is that some yukayekes connect to different energies and thus have access to specific realms others don’t or cannot. This is also the how and why many in the Caribbean practicing Yoruba spiritualities cross into Taíno cosmology and practice both. This is just a general conversation I’ve seen passed around, but I feel it helps others to understand why I keep saying calling it just a belief system isn’t fully encompassing the realities of what Taíno spirituality is, can be, and is accepted as.

Back to cosmology discussion

The most basic cosmology worldview is widely accepted because it is a) paired down to the very core, and b) it can mirror Christian ideology enough making it very easy to pass down in oral histories and making it most likely to be accurate in regards to preservation.

Contemporary Taíno communities are not limited to archaeology and colonial texts. Many communities maintain oral teachings, ceremonial practices, and cosmological interpretations that function as living traditions in the present. These should not automatically be treated as interchangeable with sixteenth-century historical evidence, but neither should they be dismissed simply because they are contemporary Indigenous knowledge.

If you wish to learn more- seek open Taíno spiritual communities, yukayekes, and ceremonial communities.

Citations Below