Observations placeholder
A P Elkin - Aboriginal men of high degree - Willing the Sorcerors to stop
Identifier
003288
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
A description of the experience
From Aboriginal Men of High degree - A P Elkin
From a translation of a local account
When the "clever man" sees the two sorcerers going out to practice milin (bruising), he gazes or concentrates in such a way as to make their nerves cold (dead). When you see a clever man, his small eyes and your eyes meet and hold each other. He holds the sorcerers in this way, when he talks to them. They "feel" (but do not hear) his words, because their nerves are deadened.
He makes them walk away from him, by exerting the strong Power in his nerves, which begin to twitch. The men, under the influence of his gaze, weaken, and become as if asleep, and so when he says, "Go on, you! Walk down to the camp", they go.
He tells them further: "Don't get up with the intention of performing sorcery'. So they lie down and get up in the morning good (i.e., rid of the idea of performing sorcery).
And, concludes the clever man, “That is the way some of us talk."