p. 145

"Barral (1964, 144) ... explains that the word wisiratu is "composed of three words : gu:isi (pain), era (much), and arotu (master), meaning gu:isi-(e)ra-(aro)tu, grand master of pain."

p. 146

c) to place yuruma ... within the sanctuary of the Supreme Hebu; ...

p. 147

g) when there is a tempest, ... drive away the clouds by forcefully blowing at them, waving their hands at them, making grimaces at them".

"if his village has a hebu ahanoko (also called kwaihanoko), a temple that houses a sacred kanobo stone (the material representation of a patron supreme spirit or kanobo), he will inherit the important position known as kanobo arima – father of the kanobo."

p. 147

"Haburi [the culture hero] invented the dugout canoe, and escaped [from the treacherous frog woman] with his mothers [with whom he committed incest] to the northern world mountain, at the edge of the earth. ... The canoe, however, transformed itself into a giant snake-woman and the paddle into a man. They returned as the cachicamo [tree] (canoe) and the white cachicamo [tree] (paddle), to the center of the earth, where the Warao had since come into existence. The cachicamo woman became Dauarani, the Mother of the Forest. She was the first priest-shaman (wishiratu) on earth. Eventually she departed from earth to take up

p. 148

residence on a world mountain at the end of the universe in the southwest (where her body lives) and in the southeast (where her soul remains). The paddle stayed in the center of the earth with the Warao." ["The frog woman referred to in the narrative is Wau-uta ..., who, before she was changed into a frog, was a female shaman who sang with her rattle" (p. 148).]

serpents".

Hebu illnesses can be inflicted ... by the supreme spirits, the kanobotuma, who live at the cardinal and intercardinal points of the universe ... . ... The disorders they cause are sent via hebutuma, the ancestor spirits who correspond to particular kanobotuma and materialize into or take possession of a particular animal, a breeze {"who maketh his angels winds" (Epistle to the Hebrews 1:7)}, or a noise. ... Thus, to ward off hebu illnesses, the wisiratu priest-shaman must constantly keep the kanobotuma fed ... and once a year must offer yuruma cakes during the nahanamu ritual complex".

p. 157

"Wilbert (1983, 359) relates fever diseases to the kanobo of the southern world mountain, Karoshima, the toad god. He writes : "the cardinal god of the South, the Toad ... . His special scourges are febrile diseases"".

"Respiratory diseases ... are included in the domain of ... the kanobo of the northern world mountain ... . Wilbert (1983, 360) explains ... : "The god of the North, the owl-face Butterfly ... travels with the speed of light that reflects in his mirrors ... . His specialty are respiratory ailments"".

p. 158

"In a curing ritual a wisiratu "feeds" his spirit helpers, which reside in his throat and chest and inside his hebu mataro rattle (which are manifested as kareko spirits embodied as quartz pebbles). ... To effect a cure, the wisiratu must name the correct hebu or the animal or object whose essence has become embodied by the hebu. He names through song (wara); and with his hebu helpers and the power of his hebu mataro rattle, he takes control of the malevolent hebu, removing it by massage into his hand. Then he shuffles his feet and forcibly blows into his raised fist, thereby sending the evil hebu into the wind, admonishing it to return to the place from whence it came. ...

p. 159

The wisiratu ... slowly releases the smoke and his spirit sons from his mouth with a masked voice, often producing the gravelly sounds "o, oi" (or "owai, yae, yae") and "e e e e e." These masked vocables "reflect the difficulty that the spirits encounter in passing through the larynx and pharynx" and are viewed by the Warao ... as "... audible traces of the participation of spirits" (Briggs ...)." ... Voice masking, ... produced during the wisiratu’s curing ritual ..., is believed to be caused by the wisiratu’s spirit helpers within his chest and throat. ... When ... for the purpose of ecstatic flight, voice masking can be ... aided by the inhalation of a vapor from the melted resin of the takamahaka (in Warao) or curucay (in Spanish) tree. In its solid form, called sibu in Warao and caran~a in Spanish (Protium heptaphyllum) ..., this resin is melted with ... burning ... as the wisiratu begins to call his helping spirits."

p. 162

"The first sounds the wisiratu makes during a curing ceremony are "oi, o, e e e e e e," which function as sonic carriers of the released shaman’s ... spirit helpers that slowly exit from deep within the wisiratu’s chest and out of his mouth."

p. 182

The wisiratu "tells who the hebu is ... : ... "You are a hebu who sleeps when the sun’s rays hit you"; "It is a water snake which sleeps ..., when the sun’s rays hit him he dreams"".

p. 186

"the evil hebu, reveals himself as homuniya, a hebu called "crazy water," a word that Barral (1957, 118) translates (jo-muni from jo moni) as ... "water spout in the river," and "whirlpool.""

"the wisiratu’s helping spirits frequently appear to their father in dreams, telling him the cause of an illness".

p. 197

"The bahanarotu shaman is a Warao religious practitioner who has special ties to the eastern cosmic realm called hokonamu, where the sun rises."

p. 198

"Bahanarao is the plural form of bahanarotu. ... According ... to Barral (1964, 149) it [/bahana/] is the past participle of baja`, meaning "to suck" (chupar in Spanish) or extract something with the mouth."

"Bahanarotu illnesses are physically characterized by gastrointestinal maladies ... . ... Another common bahana sickness is ... epileptic fit."

p. 199

"Given the title shinakarani or "Mother of Seizure," the wife of the first bahanarotu shaman passed down her special curing powers to other bahanarotu wives. ... a bahanarotu shamaness is summoned to cure her husband (or any other male patient) of a nicotine seizure, which she does by ... mentally communicating with the tobacco spirits believed to be causing the convulsions."

p. 199

[quoted from Wilbert 1972b, 69 :] "after eight days the bahanarotu ascended. His wife followed shortly, but when they entered the House of Smoke, the Supreme Bahana suffered a seizure. {nicotine seizure} ... Walking up to the Supreme Bahana she transformed herself into a beautiful black sea bird (probably the Magnificent Frigate Bird, Fregata magnificens, also known as the Man-of-War Bird, with a wingspread of seven or eight feet). She spread out her wings, shook them like rattles, and ...

p. 200

... said he. "Remain here, Sinaka Aidamo, spirit of seizures." So there they are, the bahanarotu and his wife".

[quoted from Wilbert 1972b, 69-70 :] (primaeval initiation, conducted in heaven, into bahanarotu shamanship) "He sent Smoke for the right side of the youth’s chest, and Rocks for his left side. Smoke became the Elder Brother, Rocks the Younger. ... The bahana spirits entered his body and became his helpers. But when he woke up ..., the people ... were transformed into the River Crab people and became the Masters of Earth. ... Again the young bahanarotu ... shot the same pair of bahana spirits down to earth from the House of Smoke."

"There four bahanas are Black Bee, Wasp, Termite, and Honey Bee. Black Bee hits hard ... . Then Wasp, Termite, and Honey Bee tear painfully into his body. ... The novice falls into a trance ... . And in this state, ... The ... apprentice perceives the sonorous vibrations of the four bahana insect spirits. Louder and louder they grow, until the trees of the forest are transformed into gigantic rattles, swinging and swaying and emitting sounds that are most agreeable to his ears. He feels exalted and, euphoric with the marvelous sound, embarks on his initiatory journey across the celestial bridge and its rainbow of colors. {the "Rainbow" is likewise of the Hopi "Bahana" (RO)} ...

Awakening at last from his ecstasy, the new bahanarotu clutches his chest which encloses the gift of bahana : White Smoke and White Rocks." {are these "White Rocks" "the fragment of the stone tablet to the Bahanas" (4thWH)?}

p. 204

"His transformation into the shamanic realm slowly begins when a small hole appears in the palm of each hand, functioning as the end of a tube extending through each of his arms to his chest, the abode of his spirit sons ... . {these tubes are likewise known in Navaho and in Vajra-yana occult physiologies} The spirit sons will assist their father during curing rituals by exiting through these holes in the bahanarotu’s hands. (This contrasts with the wisiratu shaman, whose spirit helpers are released through his mouth ... .)"

[quoted from Wilbert 1972b, 71 :] "The stick travels past the spirit in the chest and through the arm of the new bahanarotu and is "born" white through the mystical hole in the palm of the

p. 205

"Now swallow the white sticks," orders the master. ... Now the white sticks travel past the bahanas in the chest and through the arms, this time to be born as white crystal beads."

p. 205

[quoted from Wilbert 1972b, 71 :] "Now the bahanarotu ... lifts the hand with the magic arrow to his mouth, ... and sends the projectile on its way. A bahanarotu shooting magic arrows of sickness in this fashion is known as a hatabu-arotu, "master of the arrow.""

p. 209

"some Warao had dolls with faces and arms that were used for killing people. A bahanarotu shaman with the special knowledge of the dolls is known as daunonarima, and through song he can make the doll dance {cf. doll of Huitzil-opochtli, which was magically caused to dance by Tezcatli-poca (NR 3:247)} and sit and can send it over great distances through the air and into his victim to kill him or her."

p. 205

"Not all bahanarotu shamans, however, agree to the demands of the ancestor wizards. [A certain shaman], for example, sang and explained another dream song ... in which he was asked by the supernatural to bring illness to someone."

p. 206

"I said [sang], "... How come you told me in this dream top do this evil thing? This bad thing cannot be. ..."

p. 207

They said [sang], "No, my father, this is a game. Talking this way is our joke. {instance of a "cruel joke of God"?!} We are ... playing.""

p. 213

The third type is also for sending the bahana off and away."

p. 214

"That which has a name is the witch that is put in the head, and it more or less moves. The head shakes." {"Some mediums’ heads would snap around, sometimes dangerously it appeared to me" (RP, p. 46).}

p.

deity

bird identified with deity

221

Mawari

"swallow-tailed kite"

222

Waekare

"waimare, the gavilan culebrero or snake sparrow hawk"

Yoromahore

"yoroa, the brown pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis)"

p. 232

"the pain-causing object inside the patient has been put there by the Bahanarao, or the wizards of the arrows living in hokonamu. This material object was "thought" (el pensamiento) by an evil bahanarotu and with the help of the Bahanarao in hokonamu was placed within the body of the malevolent bahanarotu’s victim. ... When properly named, it vibrates and then is physically and spiritually ... removed through suction with the help of the curing bahanarotu’s spirit sons."

p. 236

"far away in the country, at the beginning of the world [at the eastern edge], there is a small settlement where the wizards of the arrows, the Bahanarao, live. Thus, another bahanarotu, in his dream {the settlement of the Bahanarao being located in the dream-world}, asked of him ... .

p. 237

... thought evil {thought-of evil} ... comes from the beginning of the world [hokonamu], very far away. ... Thus, with the song of the bahanarotu, he calls it and it comes".

p. 240

"Spanish ... called the hokonamana bird pa`jaro tijeras or scissors bird because of its long, bifurcated tail. ... this bird is known in Venezuela "as gavila`n tijereta : scissor-tailed kite (Waraoan : hokonamana or hokono kahamana).""

[quoted from Wilbert 1972b, 66-70 "The House of Tobacco Smoke" :] "Domu Hokonamana Ariawara, "Creator Bird of the Dawn." With his left wing he held a bow ..., and his right wing shook a rattle. The plumes of his body chanted incessantly the new song that was heard in the East. {the hymns of the Veda are said to be produced from rustlings of the feathers of the Garud.a-bird} The thoughts of the Bird of the Dawn now fell on a house – and immediately it appeared : a round, white house".

[quoted from Wilbert 1985, 147-8 :] "At the foot of the eastern World-Tree Mountain there is a hollow that contains two eggs. {cf. the two egg-born avian brethren Arun.a & Garud.a} ...

p. 241

the blue bees in the blue room."

p. 253

"At the western terminus of the world where the sun sets, ... is Hoebo, the lord of death, the Supreme Hoa, embodied as a scarlet macaw (Ara chloroptera) with the color of the setting sun

p. 254

and dusk. It is the hoarotu’s mission to provide human food for Hoebo and the Haorao or souls of dead hoarotu shamans who live with him. (Hoarao is the plural form of hoarotu. ...)"

[concerning Hoebo’s supernatural abode, which is also known as Hoebo -- quoted from Wilbert 1972b, 73 :] "The stench of human cadavers and clotted blood saturates the air; and the stream of hoarotu shamans who come from all parts ... with cadavers hanging head down from their holders is endless. It has to be endless if the Supreme Hoa and spirit companions, called hoarao, are to continue living : the former by eating human hearts {which were likewise food for Aztec gods} and livers, the latter by devouring their bodies. All hoarao in the Hoebo drink human blood from a gigantic canoe made of human bone."

[quoted from Wilbert 1972b, 73-4 :] "There was an old man by the name of Miana (Without Sight). ... he had no eyes. He lived alone in the zenith and begot a son whose name, like that of the Abode of Darkness, was Hoebo. Hoebo had learned to sing like his father, in order to activate the search for blood by the celestial umbilicus. ... Father and son set out on their journey. They heard the humming chant of the Spirits of the West when they had gone

p. 255

only half way. They also beheld the bright lights of white and yellow penetrating the darkness of the Hoebo. "See the hoa ahutu artery," {as a macrocosmic correlative of a "tube" of the sort mentioned on p. 204, this would be a macrocosmic acupuncture-meridian rather than a physiological artery} said Miana to his son. "Listen to its humming." The youth[’s] ... eyes fell on a beautiful girl below him in [an earthly] village. He decided to marry her, but when he lowered himself head first from the hao ahutu umbilicus to the dancing platform in the center of the village, a jealous rival for the girl cut off Hoebo’s head. ... All the people present felt a sharp pain in their stomachs." {The pain in their bellies (navels) was caused, of course, by the displeasure of the divine macrocosmic umbilical cord.}

p. 256

["Origin of the hoarotu-s" quoted from Wilbert 1969, pp. 59-60 :] "Hoebo was already above the Warao when they danced, but he lowered himself down even more from above. At that moment the other young man (the fl[a]utist) appeared ... with his machete. ... Then the ungrateful young man ..., with his machete in hand, raced

p. 257

toward the center of the area where the Warao were dancing. There he swung his machete at Hoebo who was just lowering himself down from above, and he cut him completely in half. As soon as he split Hoebo in two, all the Warao who were dancing felt ill. They remained like that ... . ... Half of Hoebo’s body went off to the West on its own volition".

[hoarotu shaman’s hearing {during dreams} of the Macaw’s trumpet] "Hoebo remains in his abode of darkness at the place of the western cosmic mountain in the aitona, the end of the universe, cut off from the rest of the universe. His soul, however, remains on the lesser mountain at the western end of the earth. {if so, then the blow which "split Hoebo in two" actually divided his soul from his body.} Only hoarotu shamans can traverse this lonely road on their celestial journeys to the hoebo. On their way they hear musical sounds that are ... the macabre remnants of Abajera’s clarinet and flute playing."

"This young male musician-butcher was named Abajera (scarlet macaw = lit. "he of painful death" ...)."

The piercing sounds of a clarinet can also be heard. The instrument is made of long human bones and has a skull as its resonance chamber."

p. 258

"As "owner of Hoa" (Hoa arotu), the hoarotu shaman has two Hoa spirit "sons" dwelling within his chest, which he acquires during his strenuous initiation. Through dreams the spirit sons communicate with their hoaratu father, mediating between him and the hoebo ... . ... A hoarotu acquires his inflicting and curing powers during an extensive initiation period that includes ... learning the song formulas for both types of power. During this time he receives this spirit sons in his chest who will assist him with his kaidoko tobacco-smoke snares; and in the curing phase they search out the illness-causing essence within the patient’s body. The hoarotu’s kaidoko tobacco-smoke snares are activated during inflicting and curing when they sinuate ... like tendrils ... .

p. 259

In his malevolent role the hoarotu’s kaidokotuma (plural form) wind out ... and reach towards his victim, ultimately wrapping themselves around the latter’s neck to weaken him or her through strangulation ... . At this point the hoarotu sings mentally to name the Hoa, ... whose essence he shoots off as a magical arrow that travels through the air ... to be lodged into the victim’s body."

p. 267

a domesticated bird. ...

the essences of the earth such as its ornaments, silence, coldness, teeth, ... and movement."

p. 268

"the humpback ... comes to look for and carry off a wisiratu when he dies. The animal is, in other words, a psychopomp, a supernatural guide that leads a soul to the afterlife."

p. 269

Together ... the movements of your sharp blades ... will destroy ... . ...

p. 270

With all of your breath I ask you, Hoebo, to send Hoa in order to grab and destroy ... ."

p. 280

[animals or humans]

p. 281

v. Hebu that remains near the sun"

r. Illness of the sick and crazy hebu"

Hoatuma that are related to __

symbolize __

"collars"

"difficulty ... in ... swallowing"

"the sun"

"the patient’s fever"

"coldness of the Orinoco river"

the patient’s "chills"

noise

"the patient’s ... coughing"

"stuttering"

"the patient’s incoherent speech"

silence

"the patient’s loss of speech"

p. 284

a large toad that is sitting there in hokonamu ...

p. 285

the large hat of the hebutuma from the hills next to the sea."