The ounfò is the temple, usually a walled compound containing several rooms — including the badji or sanctuary with the altars, and the djèvo where initiates are secluded — arranged around the peristil, a roofed open-sided floor for dancing. At the centre of the peristil stands the potomitan, a decorated post running from floor to roof, understood as the axis down which the lwa descend and around which the dancing turns. The house belongs to the oungan or manbo personally, is frequently their home, and is inherited or founded rather than assigned. Authority is entirely personal: there is no diocese, no synod, no seminary, no national council with power over doctrine or practice, and no mechanism by which one house can be disciplined by another. Practice varies substantially between houses and regions, and no one is in a position to declare a variant incorrect.