Note (return) — Chapter I · - PRIMITIVE FAITH: RELIGION BEFORE BOOKS
Reading edition
In actual Shamanism or Animism there may or there may not be a belief in or conception of a single all-powerful Creator above and beyond all.12 Usually there is not such a belief, though, even if there be, the actual government of the physical world and its surroundings is believed to lie in the hands of many spirits or gods benevolent and malevolent. Earth, air, water, all things teem with beings that are malevolent and constantly active. In time of disaster, famine, epidemic the universe seems as overcrowded with them as stagnant water seems to be when the solar microscope throw its contents into apparition upon the screen. It is absolutely necessary to propitiate these spirits by magic rites and incantations.