396 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BulL 175 



or else commit actual suicide. This interpretation is quite com- 

 patible with the well-established fact that a certain proportion of 

 suicides represent a flight from psychosis."^ The general theoretical 

 point to be made in this context is that accepted cultural beliefs often 

 serve to rationalize and justify unconscious impulses, thereby making 

 possible their actualization in overt behavior. This finding applies 

 quite as much to the acting out of neurotic or psychotic conflicts or 

 impulses as to the cultural reinforcement or activation of defenses 

 against such conflicts or impulses. 



The strength of cultural motivations in the vicarious suicide of 

 witches must be discussed both in terms of the shaman's intense belief 

 in shamanistic powers, and in terms of the reality of his affective re- 

 actions to the culturally postulated disadvantages of dying a natural 

 death. 



The reality of the Mohave shaman's belief in his own powers was 

 cogently emphasized by Kroeber (1925 a). The following incident is 

 cited simply in order to show that this belief is strong enough to effect a 

 cure even in the absence of the actual therapist. 



CASE 94 (Informant Hivsii: Tupo:ma; interpreter, Hama : Utce: ) (1933) : 



Once I had a bad cold and pain in my throat ; there seemed to be a swelling 

 where my Adam's apple is. I stayed in bed, feeling very sick and finally decided 

 to go for help to a certain crippled shaman, who is one of Hama : Utce :'s uncles. 

 There was a fire in his house and I lay down in front of the fire and dreamed. 

 Something came to me in my dream and said: "Well, you are here. What is 

 the matter?" I answered in my dream and explained what was wrong with me: 

 "I came here because this is the place where that shaman lives, but he is not 

 at home." Then this thing said to me : "Get up and go home ; you are all right." 

 At that moment someone woke me up, because I was saying "a-a-a" in my 

 dream. <^o However, when I woke up, I felt much better and, after one night's 

 sleep, I was even able to eat some solid food. After that I went to see the res- 

 ervation physician, who swabbed my throat with iodine. Then I made a complete 

 recovery. 



Comment 

 Apart from the fact that this account demonstrates the faith of shamans 

 in each other's powers, Hivsit : Tupo :ma's narrative is also interesting in that 

 it not only indicates that the subjective experience of being healed may be a 

 dream experience (cf. also Case 29), but actually suggests that he was healed 

 by means of an Aesculapian "incubation" (Terapelschlaf ) experience, and in 

 the absence of any human therapist. This point is of some importance, since 

 therapeutic incubation has not been previously reported from the Mohave. 



As regards the witch's affective acceptance of the belief that he has 

 nothing to gain and everything to lose by allowing himself to die a 

 natural death, it is sufficient to state that, according to Tcatc, "a witch 



"•Thus, an American psycLotlc In remission committed suicide when he felt that he 

 was about to become acutely psychotic once more. 



«» Hlvsu : Tupo :ma also made sounds when dreaming of intercourse with one of his 

 victims (Devereux, 1939 a). 



