A tulpa is a materialized being or thought-form, typically in human shape, that is created through spiritual practice and intense concentration. The term is borrowed from the Tibetan language. Modern practitioners, who call themselves "tulpamancers", use the term to refer to a type of willed imaginary friend whom practitioners consider sentient and relatively independent. Modern practitioners predominantly consider tulpas a psychological rather than a paranormal phenomenon. The idea became an important belief in Theosophy.