Ancient Wisdom Atlas

Motif

human-animal identity through transferred soul

human_animal_identity_through_transferred_soul

A motif of the Shapeshifter and Transformation family, within the sub-family Animal Bodies and Soul Transmigration. Every row below is a tagged passage; each rests on a quote in its source text.

1 occurrences

1 traditions


comparative

  • The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion (Vol. 2 of 2) The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion (Vol. 2 of 2) / CONTENTS; lines 7602-7660 confidence: medium

    The passage describes an exchange of life or souls and recounts a Basque hunter who said a bear killed him, breathed its soul into him, and died in body while the hunter became a bear by being animated by the bear’s soul.

    The hunter says he is a bear because he is animated by the bear’s soul; the initiated lad is said to live again as an animal with the animal’s soul in him.

    read in the book