The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 03 of 12)Frazer, James George
Religion
The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 03 of 12)
Frazer, James George
Magic; Mythology; Religion; Superstition
The Algonquin Indians also used nets to catch souls, but only as a measure
of defence. They feared lest passing souls, which had just quitted the
bodies of dying people, should enter their huts and carry off the souls of
the inmates to deadland. So they spread nets about their houses to catch
and entangle these ghostly intruders in the meshes.(226)
(M49) Among the Sereres of Senegambia, when a man wishes to revenge
himself on his enemy he goes to the _Fitaure_ (chief and priest in one),
and prevails on him by presents to conjure the soul of his enemy into a
large jar of red earthenware, which is then deposited under a consecrated
tree. The man whose soul is shut up in the jar soon dies.(227) Among the
Baoules of the Ivory Coast it happened once that a chief’s soul was
extracted by the magic of an enemy, who succeeded in shutting it up in a
box. To recover it, two men held a garment of the sick man, while a witch
performed certain enchantments. After a time she declared that the soul
was now in the garment, which was accordingly rolled up and hastily
wrapped about the invalid for the purpose of restoring his spirit to
him.(228) Some of the Congo negroes think that enchanters can get
possession of human souls, and enclosing them in tusks of ivory, sell them
to the white man, who makes them work for him in his country under the
sea. It is believed that very many of the coast labourers are men thus
obtained; so when these people go to trade they often look anxiously about
for their dead relations. The man whose soul is thus sold into slavery
will die “in due course, if not at the time.”(229) In some parts of West
Africa, indeed, wizards are continually setting traps to catch souls that
wander from their bodies in sleep; and when they have caught one, they tie
it up over the fire, and as it shrivels in the heat the owner sickens.
This is done, not out of any grudge towards the sufferer, but purely as a
matter of business. The wizard does not care whose soul he has captured,
and will readily restore it to its owner if only he is paid for doing so.
Some sorcerers keep regular asylums for strayed souls, and anybody who has
lost or mislaid his own soul can always have another one from the asylum
on payment of the usual fee. No blame whatever attaches to men who keep
these private asylums or set traps for passing souls; it is their
profession, and in the exercise of it they are actuated by no harsh or
unkindly feelings. But there are also wretches who from pure spite or for
the sake of lucre set and bait traps with the deliberate purpose of
catching the soul of a particular man; and in the bottom of the pot,
hidden by the bait, are knives and sharp hooks which tear and rend the
poor soul, either killing it outright or mauling it so as to impair the
health of its owner when it succeeds in escaping and returning to him.
Miss Kingsley knew a Kruman who became very anxious about his soul,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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