Note 37 — PREFACE. (continued 4)

For instance: When a mystic priest was summoned to come and examine a patient he would first drink the awa. Then some people would remark: “Drink the awa to strengthen the [power of] the spirits.” For if the mystic priest did not drink the awa the efficacy of its power would not properly settle upon him. Sometimes, however, awa was not the only inducement for the spirit power “to settle;” it simply happened. Such operations were called a “sitting of the deity.”37