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See also:EXORCISM (Gr. EEop,d av, to conjure out)
, the See also:expulsion of evil See also:spirits from persons or places by incantations, magical See also:rites or other means
.
As a corollary of the animistic theory of diseases and of belief in See also:Possession (q.v.), we find widely spread customs whose See also:object is to get rid of See also:Lie evil influen::es
.
These customs may take the See also:form of a -;eneral expulsion of evils, either once a See also:year or at irregular intervals; the evils, which are often regarded as spirits, sometimes as the souls of the dead, may be expelled, according to See also:primitive See also:philosophy, either immediately by spells, purifications or some form of See also:coercion; or they may be put on the back of ascapegoat or other material vehicle
.
Among the means of compelling the evil spirits are assaults with warlike weapons or sticks, the See also:noise of musical See also:instruments or of the human See also:voice, the use of masks, the invocation of more powerful See also:good spirits, &c.; both See also:fire and See also:water are used to drive them out, and the use of See also:iron is a See also:common means of holding them at See also:bay
.
The See also:term See also:exorcism is applied more especially to the freeing of an individual from a possessing or disease-causing spirit; the means adopted are frequently the same as those mentioned above; in the See also:East Indies the sufferer sometimes dances See also:round a small See also:ship, into which the spirit passes and is then set adrift
.
The patient may be beaten or means may be employed whose efficiency depends largely on their suggestive nature
.
Among the Dakota See also:Indians the See also:medicine-See also:man chants hi-le-li-lahl at the See also:bed of the sick man and accompanies his See also:chant with the rattle; he then sucks at the affected See also:part till the possessing spirit is supposed to come out and take its See also:flight, when men fire guns at it from the See also:door of the See also:tent
.
The Zulus believe that they can get rid of the souls of the dead, which cause diseases, by sacrifices of See also:cattle, or by expostulating with the spirits; so too the shaman or magician in other parts of the See also:world offers the possessing spirit See also:objects or animals
.
The professional See also:exorcist was known among the See also:Jews; in See also:Greece the See also:art was practised by See also:women, and it is recorded that the mothers of See also:Epicurus and See also:Aeschines belonged to this class; both were bitterly reproached, the one by the See also:Stoics, the other by See also:Demosthenes, with having taken part in the practices in question
.
The prominence of exorcism in the See also:early ages of the See also:Christian See also:
Then, laying his right See also:hand on the demoniac's See also:head, he repeats the form of exorcism as follows: " I exorcise thee, unclean spirit, in the name' of Jesus See also:Christ; tremble, 0 Satan, See also:thou enemy of the faith, thou foe of mankind, who hast brought See also:death into the world, who hast deprived men of See also:life, and hast rebelled against See also:justice, thou seducer of mankind, thou See also:root of evil, thou source of avarice, discord and envy." Houses and other places supposed to be haunted by uncleanspirits are likewise to beexorcised with similar rites, and in See also:general exorcism has a See also:place in all the ceremonies for consecrating and blessing persons or things (see See also:BENEDICTION)
.
See See also:Tylor, Primitive Culture; See also:Skeat, See also:Malay Magic, p
.
427 seq.; Frazer,
.
See also:Golden Bough, vol. iii
.
189; See also:Krafft, Ausfiihrliche Historic von Exorcismus; Koldeweg, Der Exorcismus See also:im Herzogthum Braunschweigg ; Brecher, Das Transcendentale, Magic, etc. imTalmud, pp
.
195-203 : Zeitschr. See also:fur Assyriologie (Dec
.
1893, See also:April 1894) ; See also:Herzog, Realencykl., s.v
.
" Exorcismus "; Waldmeier, Autobiography, p
.
64; L
.
W
.
See also: See also:Thompson, Devils and Evil Spirits of Babylonia . |
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