Devereux] MOHAVE ETHNOPSYCHIATRY AND SUICIDE 59 



Evei-y shaman is viewed as a potential source of danger, since, as 

 stated above, he can both cause and cure the illness over which he 

 has control. In fact, every shaman's first supernatural act is to be- 

 witch someone publicly, so as to advertise his newly acquired shama- 

 nistic powers (Devereux, 1937 c) . Hence, not even a shaman who has 

 an untarnished reputation as a healer is safe from sudden accusations 

 of witchcraft. Thus, according to Hama : Utce :, "Hivsu : Tupo : ma 

 is a good shaman, who never bewitched anyone. Yet, even as he was 

 singing himself hoarse, night after night, trying to cure a young 

 man, his patient accused him of having bewitched him (Cases 1, 44). 

 It nearly broke the old man's heart." Accusations of witchcraft are 

 readily believed even by the friends of the accused. Some months 

 before his death Hivsu : Tupo : ma, who, as we just saw, was believed 

 to be exclusively a healer, confessed to me that he had bewitched cer- 

 tain people (Devereux, 1948 i). "VVlien, after his death, I communi- 

 cated this information to Tcatc and to Hama: Utce:, who were his 

 friends quite as much as mine, they were amazed, but did not doubt 

 my word. Their implicit reaction was: "It just goes to show that 

 you camiot be sure of any shaman, no matter how good his repu- 

 tation may be." One wrongly accused shaman even committed suicide 

 (Case 106). 



The touchiness and uncertain temper of the shaman further in- 

 crease the risk wliich he represents for society. In fact, many a 

 quick-tempered person is, ipso facto, believed to be a shaman. Thus, 

 when Tcatc was asked to comment on the rumor that she had shama- 

 nistic powers, she replied indignantly : "It is not true at all ! I only 

 have a temper." Due to the shaman's susceptibility and quick tem- 

 per, one never knows just how far one can go with him ; should he 

 suddenly decide that someone has offended him, or that a layman dis- 

 cusses shamanistic matters too freely, or that another shaman's views 

 deviate too much from his own, he may decide to bewitch the offender 

 (Devereux, 1957 b). 



The tendency of bad shamans to bewitch especially their own rela- 

 tives, and other strongly, but ambivalently, loved individuals, makes 

 them especially dangerous to their closest associates. 



The Mohave are also quite critical of the shaman as a person : "All 

 shamans are crazy and cowards at heart," is a frequently expressed 

 opinion. Likewise, ostentatious misbehavior in childhood and ado- 

 lescence is thought to be caused by the budding of shamanistic powers, 

 and shamans are believed to be especially prone to commit extremely 

 perverted acts and even incest (Devereux, 1937 c; and pt. 6, pp. 282- 

 285). 



The potential explosiveness of the Mohave tribe's ambivalence 

 toward shamans is also underscored by the fact that, for several dec- 



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