#

Cap.

PP.

1.

Panorama

15-36

2.

Ethnohistory

37-48

3.

Cosmos

49-77

6.

Body

111-33

7.

Odyssey

135-42

"In derivation, this word for spirit(s) comes from the s- nominalizer applied to the word meaning ‘dream,’ which breaks down into qe:l ‘stop,’ – al- ‘during’ - >itut ‘sleep’ (Bates, Hess, and Hilbert 1994, 18, 174) and means "an interlude during sleep." The s- indicates that this is "someone/something that comes during a dreamlike state," referring ... to all immortals".

"Most spirits, however, only visited their human partner in the winter months. During these long rainy {would this imply that such spirits were the aequivalents to the 10 Tlaloque pictured in the Codex Borgianus Mexicanus?} winters, people gathered to welcome back their spirits by singing and dancing a mime of how they had first met in some remote spot on the land or in the sea.

The rest of the year, the spirits lived in villages of their own "on the other side" of the human dimension, before spiraling all winter through the Salish country from the east to the north, west, and south. Towns knew their location along the route ... of such visits {a legendary migration along a spiraling route is likewise indicated in the Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel} and began to prepare to host their own power displays once they had been invited to the celebrations of the towns that always preceded them on the circuit."

"a woman ... was presumed to have a male spirit. ... .

... a famous Snoqualmi shaman at Tolt (now Carnation, Washington) went to the land of the dead with the aid of a female Little Earth".

p. 33

"Whenever a shaman enters a room or a native gathering, quiet quickly falls over the people. Since powerful spirits cannot be seen, everyone has to be especially careful not to give offence of any kind."

p. 34

"For present-day instances of cosmic disharmony and spiritual disaffection, a shaman is called, loudly and repeatedly so that his or her spirits will also know that they are needed."

"A shaman relied on his spirit helpers to indicate what was wrong with a patient and how to cure it. Lushootseed shamans had a characteristic gesture, placing the upper face near the crook of the arm, for making a diagnosis. By placing the back of the wrist against the forehead, normal sight was blocked to gain access to a curing spirit with X-ray sight that was believed to live in the lower arm."

"The shaman had to suck out whatever probing object had been magically shot into the body, often by using slack fists stacked atop each other to form a sucking tube."

"Spirit powers were acquired in youth ... . Every winter, when the spirit returned to its human, that mortal became ill ("sick to sing"". The first time this happened, a special shaman was called to "draw out" the song that had lodged in the throat of that man or woman. The shaman then sang the song of the initiate so that everyone in the house could hear and remember it, because thereafter, whenever that human became it, people had to gather with drums to sing while the invalid danced to become attuned to and strengthened by his or her bond."

"Half a day later, as Susie died, she gloated in the voice of Dr. Jackson claiming fatal responsibility."

{Surely, the possessing-spirit must have been merely Dr. Jackson helping-spirit impersonating him! It was evidently informing Susie’s relatives of its taking of righteous vengeance for the blameless Dr. Jackson.}

[Puget Salish] "a spirit called Shobadad (cumanan in his spelling) lives in a house on the edge of the world, leaving his home and "servants" during the winter to walk counterclockwise around the rim. Viewing the earth disk as a clock face, his house is at twelve, and his journey goes backward through the numbers until he reaches his farthest limit at two. All winter he walks and sings a special song. When spring comes, he changes his song and goes back home, where he stays all summer. His power is the ability to know every kind of illness, along with when and where it will strike. Human young men who encounter him receive the ability to predict the onset of illness throughout the world, but not to cure it ... .

At Swinomish, Joyce Wike (1941, 70-74) was given a map of the trails to the land of the dead followed by a shaman intent on a cure. While the route of life was supposed to be generally straight, the way used by ghosts was tortuous, with bends and switchbacks, along with rough terrain filled with rivers, a lake, and slopes."

category

deities

hunting & fishing

Badger, Pheasant, Clam, Duck

curing own wounds

Raccoon, Grizzly, Black Bear, Cougar, Wild Cat

undertakers

Wolf {cf. Kemetic god WP-WLwt}

shaman powers

Otter, Beaver, Hawk, Eagle, Shark, Whale, Salmon, Trout, Hound, Snake, Lizard, Owl, Woodpecker, Kingfisher

p. 58

[Snohomish] "the foremost of these lived in a house surrounded by a fence to keep out other spirits. A shaman with this power could stand at the opposite end of a human house from a patient, stretch out his hands, motion to grasp the disease, and thus remove it. He did not have to touch or even be near the patient.

Other great powers looked like giant snakes with retracting antlers {cf. retracting "horns" of snails?} or like giant lizards ("alligators") who lived in the mountains. These were fearsome, remote ... beings who only gifted a human who suffered great ...

p. 59

deprivations. The longer one quested and the farther one went away from civilization, the more powerful was the spirit acquired."

[according to Elmendorf 1960:489] "The powers that aided soul recovery included Blowfly, Graveyard Post, and Little Earths."

[according to Elmendorf 1960:499] "curing spirits were distinguished ..., with the greatest of all identified as a huge antlered snake and reptiles who live on the sides of high mountains, sliding down talus slopes.

... some of these powers (sea Lion, Cougar, Squirrel, Grouse) also gave magical weapons to cause illness ... by sorcery."

"all powers had their own homes, appropriate to their characteristics, whether or not humans realized what these were. ... Each spirit had an abode (a "holy home") where it could host visitors and instruct questers in the use of its talents and abilities."

Among the Twana, ... a Little Earth ... walked along the tops of trees and never traveled on the ground (Elmendorf 1993, 89, 227). {cf., e.g., "walking on the tops of the trees" (Ch, p. 118).} A shaman befriended by a Little Earth had the ability to go to the land of the dead and return".

"among his powerful helpers was the father of all trees, the only arboreal being who could grant power. Once, he tripped over a rock that turned out to be the pillow of the leader of the earth [p. 153, n. 3:19 : "such a "leader of the earth" would be a dwarf Little Earth who gave shamans the ability to journey to the afterworld."], gaining power in his hands and wrists to draw out sickness, power in his mouth to swallow it, and "power to see over the world and to recover minds that had strayed from their bodily homes" (Suttles 1955, 67)".

p. 63

the soul returned to the

p. 64

"Sometimes, a human was reincarnated, particularly when the Lord Above ... gave

p. 65

the same soul to a newborn. In the case of a reborn shadow, however, that person had only the appearance of the deceased."

"Humans could also inherit power from their ancestors, but then they only received an "echo" of the talent. To get power in full strength, people ... could actually enter the home of the spirit and receive instructions there first hand."

p. 70

Along the inside walls of Nusmatta hung cloaks of many species, especially ravens, eagles, whales, grizzlies, black bears, and sea birds. To start human society, the creator asked those dwelling in his house to choose a particular cloak and put it on, so as to transform immediately into that animal or bird. The creator then entrusted each of them with hereditary names, tools, houses, clothing, and foods in compressed form. He sent them to earth ..., with groups and couples landing on particular mountain

p. 71

Every winter solstice, the creator entered his house and his heat was so intense that all the immortals living there fled except for three, who then conferred with Him about the fates of humans during the coming year. ... Dreams sometimes forewarned humans of what their coming destiny would hold.

The animals and plants made by the carpenters’ crews had human forms and minds, and lived in plank houses, but humans ... rarely saw these dwellings as they really were. For example, some mountains were the homes of mountain goats, although humans did not realize they were hollow until a goat befriended a lone hunter and took him home. All species were given fire by the creator, with the color of their smoke being the same as that of their covering. Thus,"

the smoke from a __’s home

was __

mountain goat

white

beaver

black

squirrel

reddish

wolf

grey

"Species lived much as humans did, with health and illness treated by Grizzlies and Wolverines, who were the animals’ shamans."

While all skilled hunters engaged in this duty, those few women who assumed the avowedly male hunting role had to hire a man other than their husbands to conclude their chaste intervals (cf. Miller 1997, 171, note 8)."

Each post was decorated with the crest (species cloak) ... and it leaned over when its person became ill. During a cure, shamans went above to try to set it upright. When it fell over, the person died, so shamans could estimate the likely duration of a patient’s life from its angle of incline. A shaman diagnosed by consulting the curing power that lived in his or her wrist, using its strength to reverse the post’s decline."

p. 72

"At death, the person divided into a corpse, shadow, and ghost. The ... ghost ... traveled back through the generations of his or her ancestors to the family mountain peak, donned the cloak of the ancestral species, and ascended to Nusmatta."

which spirit-animals the soul-portions became after death :-

soul-portion

at the __

became a __

p. 72-3

vitality

feet

"disintegrated ..., provided that a nose ring was fastened through the septum"

p. 73

vitality

legs

"wolf"

voice

throat

"owl, which lived in a gigantic tree near Nusmatta." {cf. "The Owl goes first when they go to the land of the dead." (Snohomish – ShO, p. 39)}

"The shadow went to the land of the dead under Bella Coola Valley. After a long time there, it died again to be reborn as a human infant." (McIlwraith 1948:587)

p. 74

" "It’ (... their own power) has at least two aspects, a being and a song , although a third term used to refer to ... the vision itself. Some or all of these aspects "travel" during the year {they travel during the non-winter in order to evade being detected by animal-spirits of the species (e.g., bears) which hibernate during the winter} and only join together during the winter when the person becomes "possessed" (united, joined) by his or her spirit partner.

p. 75

During the day, spirits ... hover in the air (rather than tread on the ground) and are lower in the early morning than later in the afternoon. They are constantly aware of human actions and will leave if their partner becomes ... disrespectful. Then the spirit is said to "lift off" until it can be coaxed back by a shaman. ... Smith (1940, 57) reported ... spirits ... with their appetites and pleasure supplied vicariously through their links with humans." {In spirit-possession, the spirit commonly experienceth vicariously whatever (pleasures) its human host-body is undergoing.} A woman’s spirit power is regarded as a personal friend, while for men it is an impersonal force that infuses his entire body when it returns (Amoss 1978, 51)." {The latter ("infuses ...") is commonly the nature of spirit-possession.}

p. 75

Those ghosts who were still in contact with the living roamed the earth between 3:00 P.M. and 3:00 A.M. Ghosts were especially attracted to human gatherings ... when people were eating. In particular, a ghost was closest of all when its name was being inherited by a descendant. ... certain humans acted as mediums because they had a special relationship with a ghost who came unsought or who was initially contacted by sleeping ... near a gravebox. Such a medium learned from the ghost if some calamity was due to happen, and could thereby avert it ... . ...

p. 76

In some instances of soul loss, a medium could send a ghost partner to retrieve a missing entity."

p. 111

"The spirit was an immortal who attached itself to the infant, after it came unsought during childhood ... .

p. 112

... the soul is described as light and insubstantial, ... in the image of the person, ... gender specific".

"a body was wrapped in mats and placed high up in a tree {cf. "male corpses wrapped in untanned ox-hides were exposed on the tops of willow-trees – the Colchians bury only female corpses" (GM 152.b)} until ... reburial ... . Nobles were placed in a canoe ... {This exposure in a canoe (with reburial) is likewise done in, e.g., Borneo.} ...; this craft was believed to take them across a river to the land of the dead. ... A surviving spouse would visit the grave ... . Sometimes, the seemingly dead person revived and these visits by a mourner helped to rescue him or her from the bindings that held the mat coverings in place."

Two paths led to the land of the dead {cf. the "Book of the Two Ways", one of the Coffin Texts of the Kemetic Middle Kingdom era.}, one short and one circuitous. Those who were killed or died suddenly took the short one from which there was no return. The long route allowed shamans time possibly to retrieve the soul before it became a ghost."

p. 130

"To cure internal complaints, sucking shamans had extraction powers from Leech, Eel, Mosquito, or other appropriate animals. ... While a mind could be driven insane by fearful monsters, ghosts, and spirits or could temporarily be removed to another realm, these disasters could only happen if the soul was already in peril (Kew and Kew 1981). Souls could be lost by a sudden fright ... or snatched away by a ghost or the dead in general. ...

p. 131

If sadness, hopelessness, depression ... had started a soul on the long path to the land of the dead, a shaman went after it and brought it back. ... If a soul was snatched by a ghost, a shaman could send his power after it. A medium was able either to persuade (or trick) the dead to return the vitality or to have his own ghost helper snatch it back. ... While one medium called the dead and offered each one a plate of food, the other one grabbed the soul from that ghost when it let go to reach for food (Amoss 1978, 84)."

p. 131

"Salishans recognized three kinds of possession. The first was the unwanted attachment of the soul of someone else who was overly fond of the victim. ...

p. 132

The third type was ... occurring when ... spirits ... gave vent to this ... intrusion by gloating in the voice of the invasive". {Only this last type (involving speaking in the voice of the possessing-spirit) is what is usually designated as "spirit-possession"; elsewhere (such as in Africa) it is not usually uninvitedly "invasive", but rather caerimonially invited during a public ritual involving a chanted invitation (accompanied by music or incense) to enter.}

p. 132

"If a shaman arrived too late to perform a cure, he prevented ... final [postmortem] victory by binding the patient with cattail

p. 133

fiber twine. This kept the possessing spirit from escaping, consigning it to the grave with the body. ... (Smith 1940, 82)."

p.

site

137

"Along the way, the voyagers made routine stops to gather power ... . For example, a shaman used his cedarbark scarf {cf. Bodish caerimonial scarves} ... and ... objects from the land of the dead were also brought back entangled in its weave.

At the first stop, shamans visited a land filled with the spirits of artifacts, each of which sang its song. Moving among them, the healers learned and repeated these songs since knowing them would help people ... . Artifacts themselves represented ... spiritual inspiration. The manufacture of useful items required supernatural assistance because career powers enhanced ... abilities. Melville Jacobs (1958, 85) noted that

138

... major tools were regarded ... as ... "spirit-powers ... ." ... Tools ... often served as appropriate "houses" for spirits, contacted through song."

139

"the trip continued until they got to a berry thicket, which was also spiritual because the berries were the size of birds, hopping about in the shape of human babies. ... The Nuxalt had a similar belief that berries in their true forms looked like goggle-eyed little boys {cf. the goggled-eye Tlaloque, to whom little children were sacrificed} (McIlwratith 1948, 691)."

"Continuing on the journey, the shamans came next to a lake where their vehicle was reconfigured into a flat-water canoe. ... Indeed, a shaman with a lake-dwelling spirit like Otter called out its name to speed the canoe over the water."

"next, they came to a wide prairie where the shamans ... hunt meat."

"Fifth, they came to Mosquito Place where they were attacked by such insects the size of birds. ... Mosquitoes were shamans in the spirit world because of their ability to suck ... that was useful in curing".

"Moving on, the doctors came to Beaver Den, where they hunted".

"Afterward, the shamans went on to meet the Dawn after they had been traveling most of the night. ... the curers had to pause to "lift the daylight" by ... their poles over their heads. {cf. Maori myth lifting of the sky on poles by Tane-mahuta} . ... they had to lift it ... to move safely underneath and beyond the light. What was dawn for the shamans was sunset for the ghosts. After their exertion, the shamans rested all day long, since it was night in

140

night in the land of the dead ... . Sometimes, the lead shaman ... would take time to make a quick trip to the land of the dead to plan".

"The next day, once the journey was resumed, the major difficulty was a raging river with collapsing banks and on-rushing boulders. The shamans held a quick conference and decided to ... jump across the river, using their poles to vault. [cf. p. 56 "Moon took along a cane to vault over the river in the sky, which was the Milky Way."] A shaman was ... at the moment when he was suspended in the air supported only by his spirits."

{cf. "As the tree sprang upright again, they were hurled high into the air" (GM 96.b).}

"Near the ghosts’ town, the vehicle was beached. ... There they encountered a ghost ... out picking berries. [p. 141 "berries went to a woman since picking was her job."]

{"wild asparagus ... plants carry prominent clusters of red berries." (IM, Apr 2003, p. 138)} {Among "wild asparagus", the heroine Perigoune was found by Theseus (GM 96.c).}

They knew it was a ghost because he or she walked by crossing and recrossing the feet."

{Theseus "destroyed a fierce and monstrous wild sow" (GM 96.e).} {"pig-toe walking. ... he crosses his legs during quadripedal walking, exhibiting a scissoring gait" ("US")}

"Once they had boarded and pushed off, a shaman

{Theseus "lifted him ... and flung him into the sea." (GM 96.f)}

141

"threw his meanness" at the ghosts".

"the shamans arrived, each quivering with power.

Their leader came forward with the missing vitality ...

{Skiron was father of the heroine Endeis (GM 96.g) : cf. /endeia/ ‘deficiency’.}

pouring it into the head of the invalid." {via the head’s hair, which could be made up into a hair-do, such as the Manchurian pig-tail?}

{Theseus grappled Kerk-uon (GM 96.j), whose name would mean ‘tail of pig’.}

p. 141

"the used paraphernalia had to be dismantled quickly to close off the route to the afterworld. ... The only reason for such reuse was to enable a crew that had gone to the wrong town to embark immediately on the correct route."

p. 142

"Great urgency was needed because if ghosts got to ... the sticky lake, then the souls stayed in their keeping until the shamans mounted a full odyssey and fought to get them back."