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Chapter Three. Phases of Life |
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causes of illness ; supernatural; seers and shamans |
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Illness was usually attributed to the action of supernatural beings, and seers and shamans were employed to discover the cause of an affliction and placate the spirit or god responsible. Some seers claimed that in their dreams they were able to enter the land of the dead, and if they encountered there a man or woman who was still alive on earth, they knew that that person's soul was already dissociated from its body and that the man or woman concerned would soon die. However, sacrifices to Gawang or to other gods could avert death and lure the truant soul back from the land of the dead. |
