My father-in-law is Javanese and was recently treated by a shaman extracting a needle from his skin. FIL was indeed suffering symptoms which could be psychosomatic, such as high blood pressure and nervousness. This nervousness led him to mistrust both the shaman and Western medicine. He was eventually cured for good by uncovering a voodoo doll buried in his yard, which was burned to end the long term effects of the spell.
My father-in-law is Javanese and was recently treated by a shaman extracting a needle from his skin. FIL was indeed suffering symptoms which could be psychosomatic, such as high blood pressure and nervousness. This nervousness led him to mistrust both the shaman and Western medicine. He was eventually cured for good by uncovering a voodoo doll buried in his yard, which was burned to end the long term effects of the spell.
"You have quartz cooties! Better get a cootie shot"
"Perhaps some sorcerers even skew the odds in their favor by actually killing their target, in secret."
There's a lovecraft story about this, lol.
Always interesting to see how strange and specific human universals.
By the way, I'm very happy to see this blog updating again!
That was very interesting and insightful. Thanks.