In Umbanda, eshus are spirits that can be at different levels of discernment that help spiritual work whether or not they incorporate mediums while working in the religions that worship them. They are also present in other Afro-Brazilian religions, such as Candomblé for example.
Legend[]
Exu is understood as a spirit that, by origin and similarity, starts to use the name of an Orisha, that Orisha being Exu, to perform works similar to that of this Divinity, so we can find exus of Crossroads, like the known ones "Tranca-Ruas" and "Sete Encruzilhadas", exus linked to the movement, such as "Exu Gira-Mundo" and "Exu Gererê", exus of prosperity, such as "Exu Chama-Dinheiro" and "Exu Pedra-Negra", among others that are originally patronages of Exu.
In 1908, Umbanda began to receive influences from Kardecism, according to Zélio Fernandino de Morais, the Exus came to be seen in Umbanda theology as agents of the law of karma.
In some Umbanda traditions, the Exus would be spiritual entities with the same evolution as other entities, such as caboclos and pretos-velhos. The exus, as well as pombajiras and exus-mirins, would act in a very dense spiritual plane, having more freedom of movement than the other entities, and thus being able to know and better solve the most immediate human needs.
Due to the Catholic influence in the colonization and political-social formation of Brazil, the Eshu was soon associated with the Devil even in the early days of Umbanda, not because of his functional characteristics, but because of aspects of his appearance, since the Eshu from the Yoruba religion is a virile member to whom horns were attributed to. This association also occurred in English translations, Èṣù in Samuel Ajayi Crowther's "Vocabulary of the Yoruba" (1842) is translated as devil or satan. Even today, there are Umbanda points that refer to this syncretism.
Since, however, Umbanda is not an essentially Manichean religion, the Exu, even though it acts in the "negative" pole, is considered a benign being.