Pasuk
Achuar · numen · Achuar traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Pasuk is a familiar or helper-spirit of the shaman in Jivaroan practice, bound to the water-realm of Tsunki from whose underwater household it is given. Guarding its master and carrying the invisible tsentsak darts against rivals, Pasuk appears in the form of an animal or a small person and belongs to the retinue of powers a shaman acquires and directs. It figures in the wider Achuar and Shuar understanding of curing and bewitching as a contest waged through unseen servants and projectiles, in which the shaman's strength is measured by the familiars at his command.
Domains
- shamanic familiars
Powers
- serves as a shaman's spirit helper and attacker
Epithets
- Pasuk, uwishnian yaimin — Pasuk, helper of the shamanMichael J. Harner, The Jivaro (1972) (secondary)
Relations
- companion: TsunkiGuardian and familiar issuing from Tsunki's underwater house.Michael J. Harner, The Jivaro (1972) (secondary)
Sources
- Pasuk is a familiar spirit associated with Tsunki that serves shamans as guardian and attacker.: Michael J. Harner, The Jivaro: People of the Sacred Waterfalls (1972) (secondary)