Yee Naaldlooshii (Skinwalker)

Sources characterize the yee naaldlooshii as a member of the human community who has violated sacred norms and undertaken clandestine, tabooed rituals to gain power. The emphasis in available accounts is on moral and spiritual transgression — a perversion of hózhǫ́ (the Diné principle of balance and harmony) — rather than a primordial mythic origin. Descriptions in the cited materials note "heinous rituals required for their transformation," but the excerpts provided do not publish ritual formulas or procedural details and emphasize that information is culturally sensitive and subject to strong taboos against public discussion.

Traditional and scholarly summaries present the yee naaldlooshii primarily as a human practitioner who turns into, possesses, or disguises themselves as an animal; popular secondary accounts elaborate on specific animal forms and uncanny visual motifs. Across sources the most commonly named animal forms are coyote, wolf, and owl. Some modern retellings add motifs such as rapid or unnatural movement and glowing eyes, but the core, repeatedly attested point in the available materials is shapeshifting between human and animal modes and the image captured by the Navajo name — "one who walks on all fours."

Cited summaries describe the yee naaldlooshii as able to "turn into, possess, or disguise themselves as an animal," and as a practitioner whose use of illicit spiritual knowledge is aimed at harming others. Cultural accounts attribute to them the causing of illness, madness, and death as effects of their harmful witchcraft. Sources also stress their role as social betrayers — the term is explicitly not applied to recognized healers — and note the social power of secrecy and taboo surrounding talk of them.