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Hostile demons, scattered in various locations, haunt the different levels of the universe. They are busy devouring souls, which they capture by surprise inside the dwellings. If they are vigilant, if they have knowledge and power, the protecting shamans recognize them immediately thanks to the fact that each demon has his own particular path and odor. The shamans know how to avoid the perils that threaten those who approach supernatural beings and how to restore their souls to the sufferers; if they fail, the soul is “eaten” and the body, deprived of its energy, of its “center,” gradually wastes away and dies.
Transformed into hekura, the shamans travel through cosmic space to recover a soul from a demon or from enemies, or to steal one in order to “eat” it. They transport themselves instantaneously to distant places, traveling horizontally from one point of the compass to another, and vertically to reach the celestial disk or to penetrate into the underworld. They are able to describe unknown regions, to name communities or persons known to them only: Their knowledge is not limited to mythological and historical times but encompasses a three-dimensional space.
Whenever necessary, the shamans represent the souls materially: A bouquet of feathers, a bow, an arrow, or a scarlet passionflower stands for a man, a loincloth or a carrying basket for a woman.
Near rivers live dark-feathered, swallow-like birds with a two-pronged tail; they swoop over the streams, sometimes skimming the water, snatch insects in flight, and gather on the dead branches of trees that have fallen into the water.
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