Note 106 — Chapter IV · MAGIC
Reading edition
Charms (and possibly rites and spells) are sometimes revealed in dreams (Howitt, The Native Tribes of South-East Australia, p. 378; and Hose and McDougall, Pagan Tribes of Borneo, I. p. 110). But this can only happen either where the belief in charms already exists (as in the cases cited), or by the coincidence of the dream with good or bad fortune. The connexion of events must first of all present itself as something observed: whether waking or dreaming is indifferent.
For further illustrations of the influence of coincidences in establishing a belief in Magic, see ch. viii. § 5.