The heart of Palo practice is the nganga (also prenda or nkisi), a consecrated iron cauldron or vessel packed with earth, sticks, herbs and other materials, at whose centre stands a bond with the spirit of a specific dead person, the nfumbi. Through this pact the palero enters a reciprocal relationship: the spirit is fed, honoured and housed, and in return it works on the practitioner's behalf in matters of healing, protection, divination and the resolution of conflict. The wider unseen world is populated by the mpungu, great nature-powers analogous to, and often syncretised with, the orichas of Santeria and Catholic saints, each associated with forces such as thunder, iron, the sea or the cemetery.
Divination is commonly performed with a set of shells or coconut discs. Palo is organised into several branches or ramas, chiefly Mayombe, Briyumba (Brillumba) and Kimbisa, which differ in emphasis, in the degree of Christian and other influence they admit, and in ritual detail; Kimbisa in particular openly incorporates Catholic and Espiritismo elements. Because its power is real and morally double-edged in practitioners' own understanding, Palo has often been sensationalised by outsiders as sorcery, a characterisation its adherents reject.