Chapter 13 Perils of the Soul: Out-of-body and Spiritualism

It is generally believed that the soul enters and exits through the natural orifices of the body, especially the mouth and nose.Therefore, the inhabitants of Celebes sometimes bind the nose, navel, and feet of the sick with fishing hooks, so that if the soul of the sick man tries to escape, it will be caught by the hook and cannot escape.The Dulik people on the Baran River in Borneo wear hooked gemstones and refuse to take them off, because they think that the hook can hook his soul to him, so that his spiritual part will not become an appendage of the physical part. .When shamans or witch doctors of the Sarawak Dayaks [a clan of Indonesians in the interior of Borneo] began to practice medicine, they carried fishhooks on their fingers in order to catch fleeing souls and return them to their patients.But it is clear that the hook can catch the soul of a friend as well as an enemy.According to this principle, the head-hunting barbarians of Borneo always hung the hook of the stake next to the severed head of the enemy, thinking that this would help them hunt more heads.One of the tools used by the Haida [Indian tribe inhabiting Alaska, British Columbia] medicine men was a hollow bone that contained the disembodied souls and then returned them to their original bodies.When Hindus see someone yawning in front of them, they always yawn with their middle finger and thumb, thinking that this can prevent the soul from escaping from the open mouth.The inhabitants of the Marquesas [in Oceania] always hold the mouth and nose of the dying man, in order not to cause his soul to depart and cause them death.It is reported that the natives of New Caledonia [the French island west of Australia in the Southwest Pacific Ocean] have the same custom.The Bagobo people of the Philippine Islands place copper wire loops on the wrists or ankles of their patients for the same purpose.On the other hand, the Idorama people of South America cover the eyes, nose, and mouth of a dying person to prevent the soul from leaving the body and taking other souls with it.For the same reason, the Nias are afraid of the souls of the newly dead. They examine the breath, verify death, plug the nostrils of the dead, bind the upper and lower jaws of the dead, and try to make their wandering souls still inhabit their earthly bodies. .The Wakerbula people in Australia always put some burning coals near the ears of the dead when they leave the body. The purpose is to keep the soul of the dead in the body and not come out immediately. Not on them.In South Celebes [the Indonesian island, east of Borneo. ], the nurse always wraps the body of the woman in labor tightly with a belt to prevent the soul of the mother from leaving.The Minangkabul people in Sumatra also have a similar custom. They sometimes tie a string around the wrist or waist of a woman in labor, so that if her soul wants to leave when she is in labor, the exit from her body is blocked.In order to prevent the soul of the newborn baby from being lost, the Alfur people of Celebes carefully close all the doors, windows and even the keyholes on the door before the baby is about to be born, block any gaps in the wall, and at the same time keep the inside and outside of the house The mouths of all the animals were bound, lest they should swallow the souls of babies.For the same reason, everyone in the house, even the mother herself, had to keep their lips tightly shut throughout the labor.When asked why they do not cover their nostrils as well, to prevent the baby's spirit from entering their bodies through the nasal cavity, the answer is that the breath is inhaled and exhaled through the nasal cavity, and if the soul enters the nasal cavity, it will be exhaled before it settles down. .In the language commonly used by civilized people, such as "to have one's heart in one's mouth" "the soul on the lips or in the nose" (literally translated into Chinese is: a person's "heart in his mouth" "soul in the mouth") on the lips or in the nose", meaning "very startled"), which naturally reflects the idea that life or soul can escape through the mouth or nose.

People usually think of the soul as a bird that can fly away at any time.This concept has left traces in almost most languages, and it also exists in poetry as a metaphor.The Malayan concept of this "bird-like soul" has many peculiar expressions.If the soul is a bird in flight, it may be attracted by the rice, so that it neither flies away nor abandons its perilous journey to return to its original body.When a Javanese baby is first lowered to the ground (a time considered especially dangerous by savages), the baby is always placed in the henhouse, and the mother makes a clucking sound, like a hen calling her chicks. .In an area called Sindang in Borneo, if a person (male, female, or child) falls from a house or a tree and is carried home, his wife or other female relatives go to the place of the accident as soon as possible, spreading Put down the golden yellow rice, while muttering: "Hey! Hey! Hey! Soul! So-and-so has returned home. Hey! Hey! Hey! Soul!" Then he took the scattered rice back into the basket and took it with him. Go to the patient, sprinkle rice on his head, and repeat the original words: "Hey! Hey! Hey! Soul!..." The purpose of doing this is very clear, that is, to lure back the wandering souls back to the patient. back into the body (head).

People think that when a person falls asleep, the soul leaves the body and wanders outside, visiting places, meeting people, and doing what it dreams of doing.For example, an Indian in Brazil or Guyana, waking from a deep sleep, was convinced that his spirit had indeed gone hunting, fishing, chopping down trees, or doing whatever it was in his dreams, and that his His body remained motionless in his hammock.Once, a village of the Bororo [Northern Branch of the Hamites of North Africa] was in utter terror and nearly evacuated all its inhabitants, simply because some dreamed that an enemy was quietly attacking their village.A Marcusi Indian, who was in poor health, dreamed that his employer wanted him to pull a canoe across several rapids in a series of floods, and woke up the next morning to scold his master for being inconsiderate of him and asking him to be so pitiful. Sick people go out late at night to do such hard work.The Indians of the vast lowlands between Paraguay, Argentina, and Bolivia] often tell incredible stories of what they saw and heard, so that strangers who don't know them will think they are lying.In fact, these Indians were convinced that what they said was true, because they could not distinguish between the strange things they saw in their dreams and the reality in their waking state.

When a person sleeps, the soul leaves the body, which is dangerous.Because if the soul is blocked for a long time and cannot return to the body, the person will die because of the loss of the soul.The Germans believed that after a person fell asleep, the soul left in the form of a white mouse or a chicken, and if it was not allowed to return to the person, the person was in danger of dying.In Transylvania [central Romanian highlands] it is said that a child must not sleep with his mouth open, otherwise the spirit of the child will slip out in the shape of a mouse, and the child will never wake up again.There are many reasons why people's souls are imprisoned when they fall asleep.For example, the soul of the person may encounter the soul of another sleeping person, and the two souls may fight.A Guinean black man woke up with sore muscles and bones in the morning, thinking that he was beaten by someone else's spirit in his sleep at night.It could also be the encounter with the spirit of a newly deceased, who is forcibly taken away by him.On the Aru Islands [on the Arafula Sea, southwest of New Guinea] no one dared to sleep there that night in any house where there was a dead person, because it was believed that the dead soul remained in the house, and they were afraid that they would be with him in their sleep. meet.When a person falls asleep, the soul may be blocked by accidental disasters or material forces and cannot return to the human body.If a Dayak dreamed that he fell into the water, he thought that his soul had really fallen into the water, so he invited a magician to fish out his soul with a net in the basin filled with water, until he caught it and returned it to his body.There is a story among the Santhal [natives of Kolar in southern India]: A man fell asleep and felt thirsty, his soul left his body and entered a small jar in the form of a lizard to drink. water.At this time, it happened that the owner of the pitcher put the lid on the pitcher, so the soul could not return to the body, and the person died.When his friends were about to cremate his body, they occasionally lifted the lid of the jug to get water, and the lizard escaped and returned to the body, and the man immediately came back to life; he sat up and asked his friends Why were they weeping, they told him that he had died and was going to burn his body.He said that he just went into a well to drink water, but found it difficult to get out, so he didn't come back until now.So everyone understood what was going on.

According to the custom among primitive peoples, it is not allowed to wake up a sleeping person, because his soul has gone out and has not had time to come back, so if he is woken up, he will get sick.If it is necessary to wake him up, it must be done slowly so that his spirit has time to come back.Matuku Island [an island in the Fiji archipelago in Oceania. ] A Fijian man on board was suddenly awakened by someone stepping on his foot when he was dozing off. Before his soul returned to his body, he shouted loudly to summon his soul.He was dreaming about traveling in Tonga, and suddenly woke up and found himself in Matuku, which made him very panicked.If his soul does not immediately return across the sea and return to the cottage, death is imminent.The man would have died of fright had not a nearby missionary allayed his panic.

But in case a man's soul leaves his body, he does not necessarily have to be asleep, but can leave when he is awake, and then he will fall ill, be in a trance, or die.A man from the Woollungeri tribe in Australia lies dying in bed as his spirit leaves his body.A wizard was chasing the departed soul everywhere, and caught it just as it was about to enter the sunset glow, which is actually the time when the soul of the dead enters and exits the underworld (it is the time when the sun goes down to rest). place) released.After the witch doctor caught the departed soul, he put it under a weasel blanket and took it home. He lay down on the body of the dying man himself, and sent the soul into his body. After a while, the man came back to life. up.The Karen people of Burma [indigenous peoples of southern and southwestern Burma] are always concerned about their souls, fearing that they will die if they leave the body.If anyone fears that his soul will take this step, certain rituals are performed to retain or recall the soul.The whole family must attend the ceremony.There was also a meal to be prepared, which consisted of a rooster, a hen, rice and bananas.The parent taps three times on the top of the common household ladder with the rice bowl and says: "Prrroo! Come out, and you will be heated; gnats will bite you, leeches will bite you, tigers will eat you, and thunder and lightning will bomb you. B-r-lo! Come back, soul! See how comfortable your home is, and you will have nothing. What is missing. Come back, sit in the house, not afraid of the wind and waves, and eat in peace and ease!" After finishing speaking, the whole family ate together, and after the meal, each person tied a string on the right wrist that the magician had recited. , the ceremony is over.Similarly, Luoluo [referring to the Yi nationality in China] in Southwest my country believes that the soul leaves the body of the chronically ill.In such cases they say a well-prepared prayer, calling the name of the soul to return from where it has strayed—valleys, streams, woods, fields.At the same time, there are still cups and bowls at the door, containing water, wine, and rice, for the tired souls who have returned from a long journey.After the ceremony, a red band is tied around the patient's arm to tie his soul until the band decays and falls away.

There is such a legend among the Indians: there was a king whose soul strayed into the body of a dead Brahman; the king's body was occupied by the soul of a hunchback.So the hunchback became the king, and the king became the Brahmin.Later, someone lured the hunchback to show his skills and introduced his soul into a dead parrot. At this time, the king's soul took the opportunity to return to his body.There are similar stories among the Malays, but the details are slightly different.A king's soul accidentally strayed into the body of a monkey, and a minister tactfully got his soul into the king's body, thus occupying the queen and the throne, but the real king was tortured in the court under the appearance of a monkey. torment.One day the fake king watched the ram arrive at the horn and placed a big bet. Unexpectedly, the sheep he bet on was defeated and died. The special instinct in the heart made his soul enter the body of the dead sheep, and the sheep finally came back to life.The real king's soul found his own opportunity in the monkey's body, so he jumped into his own body immediately and regained his own body. The usurper's soul got the slaughter it deserved in the ram's body.

The soul leaves the body, sometimes involuntarily, but forced by ghosts, demons or witchcraft.Therefore, when a mourner passes by someone's door, the Karan people [natives in southern and southeastern Burma] always use a special rope to tie their children to a special place in the house until the mourner walks. Until it is out of sight from a distance, in case the child's soul leaves its body and strays into the dead bodies passing by.When the mourners arrive at the cemetery, they place the body of the deceased in the tomb. Before filling the soil, family members and relatives and friends stand around the tomb, each holding a bamboo stick and crutches. His soul indicated that in this way he could climb out of the grave.When filling the tomb with soil, the bamboo sticks are moved to other places, lest one's own soul be buried on the bamboo sticks.When mourners leave the cemetery, they all carry bamboo sticks, praying for their own souls to go back with them.On the way back, each of them took three hooks made of tree branches. They walked all the way, shouting from time to time to let their souls follow behind them. When they returned home, they held the hooks in their hands and threw the hooks on the ground. .All these practices are to prevent one's own soul from being detained with the soul of the dead.

Man's soul is robbed, often attributed to the devil.The Chinese generally attribute fainting and convulsions to the work of certain evil spirits who love to capture the souls of the living.In Xiamen, those elves who play tricks on babies and children all enjoy famous titles: "the god who rides astride a steed" and "the Wenqu star who lives in the middle of the sky".When a baby convulsed and rolled over, the panic-stricken mother ran to the roof, tied the baby's clothes to one end of the bamboo pole, waved it over the roof, and kept shouting, "So-and-so, My child, come back, come home quickly!" At the same time, another person in the family was beating the gong in the house, hoping to attract the attention of the wandering soul that was lost outside, recognize its familiar clothes and return to the body.Then take the clothes to the child or put them on the child, thinking that the child's soul has been attached to the clothes. If the child does not die, it will definitely recover sooner or later.Similarly, some Hindus take the lost soul of a person and put it in a boot, and when the patient puts on the boot, the soul returns to the body.

People who have just moved into a new house are especially afraid of ghosts.The Alfur people in Minnahasa on Celebes Island will invite priests to hold a ceremony when they "warm the house" (that is, hold a celebration banquet when they move into a new house), hoping to make the souls of the people who live in the new house live in their bodies Do not be dissociated due to moving into a new residence.The priest hangs a bag where the offering is made, and consults a list of all the gods.There were so many names of gods that he had to spend the whole night looking them up, and the next morning he would sacrifice eggs and rice to these gods to express his gratitude.It is believed that by this time the souls of all who lived in the new house had been summoned in the hanging bag, and the priest held the bag over the head of the head of the family and said, "Take back your soul. ’ Then said to the soul: ‘And stay till tomorrow before leaving.The Alfur people also have a method of returning the soul of the patient to the body, which is to put a bowl on a belt from the window to the outside, catch the lost soul of the patient like fishing, and only lift it up after catching it.In addition, when the priest catches the lost soul of a patient and wraps it in a cloth and sends it home, a girl will often lead the way.She held a large palm leaf in her hand to cover him and the patient's soul, like an umbrella, in case it rained and drenched them; at the same time, a man behind the priest kept waving a steel knife to prevent Other souls come and snatch the captured soul for whatever motive.

Sometimes lost souls are returned in visible form.The Salish or Fraserd Indians of Oregon [Oregon in the United States] believed that the soul of a man could leave the body for a period of time without causing his death or being aware of it.However, the lost soul must be retrieved as soon as possible to return to the body, otherwise the person will die sooner or later.The wizard could know the name of the lost soul in his dream, so he quickly informed the lost soul.Usually several people have this encounter at the same time; their names appear in the wizard's dream, and they all come to ask the magician to help them call out the spirit.These lost souls walked from door to door in the village, singing and dancing, without sleep all night.At dawn the next day, I walked into a lonely hut with closed doors and windows, and the house was pitch black.Then poked a small hole in the roof, and the magician took a feather duster in his hand, and swept many small pieces of bones and other things into the house from the small hole. There was a mat in the house, and the lost souls were attached to these. Things like broken bones were swept in together.At this time, lights were lit in the house, and the wizard began to sort out the souls that had been swept in under the firelight.He first picked out the ghost of the dead and put it aside (there are always several such ghosts of the dead every time. If the wizard puts the ghost of the dead into a living person, the living person will die immediately).Then he picked up the souls of all the people present one by one, and made all these people sit in front of him. He took everyone's soul, a small piece of bone or a piece of wood, or a shell, and put it on the top of his head. While chanting words, the body made various twisted postures, and slapped the soul into his body until the soul entered the body and returned to its original position. Not only demons and ghosts can take away and detain people's souls, but people (especially wizards) can do the same.In Fiji, when a criminal refused to confess his crime, the chief asked someone to fetch a turban and used it to capture the criminal's soul.As soon as the prisoner saw the turban, or even heard of it, he generally confessed it immediately.For, if he did not confess, the turban would wave over his head, take his soul, and fold it, and nail it to the stern of the chief's little canoe, and he would languish and die of lost soul.Dangerous Island [also known as Nanzi Island, commonly known as Ailuo Xiazhi, or Nanzi Reef, Yongxing South Island, which is commonly known as my country's Nansha Islands today. ] The wizards of the land used to cast snares to catch the souls of men.This kind of net is made of strong thin rope, about 15 to 30 feet long, with meshes of different sizes on both sides, suitable for netting souls of different sizes: fat souls have large meshes to catch them, thin ones The soul has small nets that can be caught. If someone who has a grudge with the wizard falls ill, the wizard will set up a net near the person's house to watch for his soul to escape.If it flies away in the form of a bird or insect, it will be caught in a net and the person will inevitably die.In some parts of West Africa, wizards keep setting traps to capture the souls of people traveling in dreams. Every time they catch one, they are tied up and hung over the fire to roast.Wizards do this not out of hatred for their victims, but to make money.No matter whose soul they catch, as long as they give them money, it will be returned to the owner immediately.Some wizards have opened soul shelters for a long time to take in lost souls. Anyone who loses his soul or leaves it somewhere by mistake can get another soul from the shelter only by paying a certain amount of money to the wizard.There is no censure in society against those who run private soul asylums or trap souls, because that is the profession of some people, and they carry it out with no cruel or ill intentions.However, there are also some villains who set traps and bait out of malice or desire to catch someone's soul premeditatedly. They often put sharp knife hooks at the bottom of the bait jar to strangle and tear the poor soul. Their methods are either It is to kill the soul immediately, or to injure it, so that even if the soul escapes and returns to itself, its health will be damaged.Miss Kingsley knew a Kru [black Liberian in West Africa] who, for several nights in his sleep, smelled smoked lobster flavored with paprika, which made him very anxious for his soul, because apparently there was something wrong with him. Well-meaning people are setting a trap with delicious food as bait to lure his sleepwalking spirit, hurting his body and spirit.So for several nights after that he endured great pain trying not to let his soul wander outside in his sleep.On that sultry tropical night, wrapped in a blanket, covering his nose and mouth with a handkerchief, he lay on the bed, sweating, snorting to keep his precious soul out of his body.In Hawaii, wizards captured the souls of living people and put them into gourds for people to eat.They grasp the soul, and with a firm squeeze in the palm of their hand, they can discover the place where the person is buried secretly. Perhaps nowhere in the world can it be compared to the consummate art of shamans in the Malay Peninsula to seduce people's souls.They use various methods and various motives, sometimes trying to destroy an enemy, sometimes trying to win the love of a shy and indifferent beauty.Here is an example of the latter.When the wizard wanted to drive a girl mad, he captured her soul, and he did this: the moon had just risen over the eastern horizon, and looked like a ball of red, and he went outside, and stood under the moon, Put the big toe of the right foot on top of the big toe of the left foot, hold the right hand in the shape of a microphone and put it next to the lips, and recite the following words aloud: I draw a bow and shoot an arrow. An arrow shoots out, the moonlight dims; Two arrows shoot out, the sun is darkened; Three arrows are shot, and the stars hide. But I don't mean to shoot the sun, the stars and the moon, I only shot in the heart of that beautiful and lovely girl in the crowd! Go, go, go! Soul of so-and-so, Come, come with me, Come, sit with me, Come, sleep with me, Go, go, go! Soul, soul! Repeat this three times, and every time you say it, slightly hold your right palm as a microphone and blow once.In this way, the soul of the person can be captured in the turban covering the head.You can also do this: on the night of the full moon and the two nights after the full moon, go outside every night, sit on the anthill, face the bright moon, burn incense and pray, and chant mantras: I bring you betel leaves, O fierce prince! Put the lemon fruit on the leaf, Let her - the daughter of the prince of entertainment - taste it. When the sun rises and the sun sets, May you love me madly. May you miss your parents as much as you do, miss me. May you miss the house and the stairs at home, miss me. When the thunder rumbles, thinking about me. When the wind howls, thinking about me. when it rains, thinking about me. When the cock crows, thinking about me. When talking birds tell stories, thinking about me. When you look up at the sun, thinking about me. When you look up at the moon, thinking of me, Because I am in that moon. Heck, heck! So-and-so's soul, Come to me. I don't want to give you my soul, But to have your soul with mine. After reciting the mantra, wave the turban towards the moon; seven times in a row.Then go back into the house and put the hood under the pillow.If you want to wear it during the day, burn incense and say: "I am not wearing a turban, but someone's soul." Indians along the Nass River in British Columbia held to their belief that doctors might mistakenly swallow the souls of their patients.If a doctor does this, the other doctors keep him by the side of the patient, one of them sticks his finger down his throat, another massages his stomach with his knuckles, and another taps his palm on his back. hit.If the patient's soul is not in its belly, do this to all the doctors. If the patient's soul is not found, then it must be hidden in the medicine chest of the leading doctor.So the group of doctors went to visit the head doctor's house together and asked him to take out the medicine box. He took out the medicine box according to the doctor's request, took out all the things in it and put it on a new mat, and everyone held up the medicine box. A master disciple of the God of Medicine grabbed his heels, put his head in a hole in the ground, washed his head with water, and then poured all the rest of the shampoo on the patient's head.There is no doubt that the lost soul of the patient is in that water.