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After entering it, he rid himself of his breechcloth and the coverings were immediately dropped. The song continued 5 minutes, when all stopped for a moment and then recommenced. During the song the theurgist mixed various herbs in a gourd over which he poured water.
Sopater further alleged that Initiation established a kinship of the soul with the divine Nature, and in the exoteric Hymn to Demeter covert references are made to the holy child, Iacchus, and to his death and resurrection, as dealt with in the Mysteries. From Iamblichus, the great theurgist of the third and fourth centuries A.D., much may be learned as to the object of the Mysteries.
The theurgist carried a bowl of water and pine needles, and an attendant bore a gourd of water, a small vase of powdered herbs, and an Apache basket containing corn meal, buckskin bags, horn of the mountain sheep and a piece of hide cut from between the eyes of the animal. The theurgist and attendant took seats to the right of the entrance of the sweat house west of the medicine lodge.
The prayer being offered, the parcels were given by the theurgist to an attendant, who deposited them in line three feet apart along the side of the dancing ground in front of the lodge. Their proper place is immediately on the ground that is to be danced upon, but to prevent them from being trampled on they are laid to one side.
There was a constant din of rattle and chanting, the gods disappeared, and immediately thereafter the theurgist gathered the twelve wands from the base of the sweat house. He removed the blue reed from the basket and laid it a little to the left of the priest of the sweat house, who in turn handed it to an attendant to be deposited with the wood of the sweat house in a neighboring tree.
Two bits of tobacco were laid upon the ground and upon these the body was placed, the figure in a recumbent position with the arms over the head. The invalid for whom this ceremony was held spared no expense in having the theurgist make the most elaborate explanation to his near relatives of the secrets of the medicine tubes.
The theurgist repeated a prayer during the sprinkling of the pollen, then handed the bag of pollen to the priest of the sweat house, who repeated the sprinkling of the masks, when everyone in the lodge, each having his individual bag of pollen, hastened forward and sprinkled the masks, at the same time offering prayers.
Not only the exorbitant fee of the theurgist must be paid, but the entire assemblage must be fed during the nine days’ ceremonial at the expense of the invalid, assisted by his near relatives. Gaming ring. A bright fire burned in the lodge, and shortly after dark the invalid appeared and sat upon a blanket, which was placed in front of the song-priest.
The theurgist then produced a large medicine bag, from which a reed was selected. The reed was rubbed with a polishing stone, or, more accurately speaking, the polishing stone was rubbed with the reed, as the reed was held in the right hand and rubbed against the stone, which was held in the left.
On this particular occasion there were two blue, two white, and one yellow. These grains were, after the ceremony, dried and ground by the theurgist and placed among his medicines.
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