The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 01 of 12)Frazer, James George
Religion
The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 01 of 12)
Frazer, James George
Magic; Mythology; Religion; Superstition
In these cases it may have been thought that the wayward and flighty
impulses of love and madness were counteracted by the steadying
influence of a heavy stone.
[Sidenote: Homoeopathic magic of special kinds of stones.]
But while a general magical efficacy may be supposed {p162} to reside in
all stones by reason of their common properties of weight and solidity,
special magical virtues are attributed to particular stones, or kinds
of stone, in accordance with their individual or specific qualities of
shape and colour. For example, a pot-hole in a rocky gorge of Central
Australia contains many rounded boulders which, in the opinion of the
Warramunga tribe, represent the kidneys, heart, tail, intestines, and
so forth of an old euro, a species of kangaroo. Hence the natives jump
into the pool, and after splashing the water all over their bodies rub
one another with the stones, believing that this will enable them to
catch euros.[590] Again, not very far from Alice Springs, in Central
Australia, there is a heap of stones supposed to be the vomit of two
men of the eagle-hawk totem who had dined too copiously on eagle-hawk
men, women, and children. The natives think that if any person caught
sight of these stones he would be taken very sick on the spot; hence
the heap is covered with sticks, to which every passer-by adds one
in order to prevent the evil magic from coming out and turning his
stomach.[591] The Indians of Peru employed certain stones for the
increase of maize, others for the increase of potatoes, and others
again for the increase of cattle. The stones used to make maize grow
were fashioned in the likeness of cobs of maize, and the stones
destined to multiply cattle had the shape of sheep.[592]
[Sidenote: Homoeopathic magic of stones in New Caledonia.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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