In Inuit mythology, an inua (ᐃᓄᐊ; plural inuat ᐃᓄᐊᑦ) is a spirit or soul that exists in all people, animals, lakes, mountains, and plants. This is not an individual soul, but rather "the vital force representing a chain or continuum of all the individual spirits of that genus which had lived, were living, or were to live." a foundational belief of the continuum and inter-connectivity of all life and spirit of all that is, has been, and is yet to be. The concept is similar to mana.
Masks worn by shamans and non-shamanic dancers can represent animal spirits. Spirit masks represent the inua of the genus, not of an individual of that genus. A spirit mask of a seal, for example, represents an abstraction or communal essence of the spirit of all seals.