Really bad at knowing which is the proper forum for this question, but anyway.
Witch Patron is a concept if I understood right, it does not even have to be a self-conscious entity. Witch working under the patron Time does not work under an outsider who controls time, it is Time itself, the very concept of time, that fuels Witch and commands her. This is how I understand it.
But what exactly are Shaman spirits? Are they undead? Are they concepts too?
And then there is the Spiritualist that defines spirits in a way that they are merely souls that escaped undeath by locking themselves to hosts. So what are the shaman spirits? Are they souls of people or concepts?
Patron: This patron is a vague and mysterious force, granting the witch power for reasons that she might not entirely understand.
The patron is a force, usually considered to be a being from an outer plane who supports the witch, but the force could be something else.
Spirit: A shaman forms a mystical bond with the spirits of the world.
The spirit and phantom are spiritual entities, not undead. The spirit is akin to an animism, or living expression of the world. In some ways, an incorporeal fey.
Phantom: A spiritualist begins play with the aid of a powerful and versatile spirit entity called a phantom.
The phantom is the remains of a living being's will, they are specifically called out as resisting the corruption of undeath. These spirits wound up in the ethereal, and bind to the spiritualist not unlike an eidilon binds to a summoner.
/cevah