“It is wrong for charmers to call forth Dark Spirits. Any charmer so doing within the borders of the enlightened land shall be accursed, so he be seized by the nightfiend. If such be done, and the Dark Spirits wander out of control, then one of the Twice Born shall be called upon to return them to their dark abode”.
“It is not sufficient for men to shun the ways of wickedness, for unless the Lord of the Body be clothed in brightness they who watch for him in the Land of the Dawning will wait in vain. Those who lack that which would bring them into the Place of Light will fall prey to the Lords of the Dark Places and be forever lost to those who love them”.
“All those who are Awakeners of the Dead shall be accursed and delivered to the lukim of madness. If any of my people deal with them, then they too shall be accursed so that they become prey to the terrors of the night. It is futile to consult the Departed Ones, for what can they do but advise on matters of little import? If they have anything of importance to impart they will come unbidden to men of understanding and made it known”. When Yosira came with his sons and those with them into the true land of Tamuera, he strove with the people of Kantiyamtu who followed the ways of wickedness and ignorance. He remained among the people of Tamerua during the days of Gabu, dwelling at the place where now stands the Temple of the Skyseer, in an abode of reeds, by the moving waters.
In those days the people of Earth united themselves with those who were in the land of Morning Light by the powers within the body of a womanchild, seeking in this manner to preserve the hokew of their kindred. When Yosira saw the wickedness of the custom he placed a great curse upon all the land and upon those who split the body of a womanchild, so that her flesh cried out from within them. Therefore, the land became stricken with a great plague. Since then never has anyone in the enlightened lands eaten the flesh of man or woman, and no womanchild is violated in the great wickedness of ignorance. The people of Tamuera greatly feared the curse of Yosira.
Yosira taught the people that the power of hokew resided not in the flesh of the body but in the bones, and that each bone contained the essence of all the being, man and woman. Then the people began to seek union with the Departed Ones in the land of the Morning Light, by the power of the bones, and Yosira forbade this not, though he knew it was futile. But where there was healing in the bones and they were able to draw it forth, Yosira was not displeased, for all things pertaining to the good of the people were well in his sight. Nevertheless, he forbade to women the burden of the bones of their husbands, and since then no shades has risen to molest them. This was because of the protecting power which he drew forth to fill all the land, it relieved the women of their burden, raising it from their backs.
All the charmers who brought forth shades from the Land of Dawning and all the Questioners of the Dead and the Awakeners of the Dead were cursed, and this curse hovers over the land even to this day. Yet there are still some who seek to call forth a shade from the swathed body made eternal, but all they raise up is an ill-omened messenger from the Place of Darkness.
Yosira did not forbid to the people the rites of homage due to their departed kinsfolk, for in the Place of Morning Light these were the powers most interested in the welfare of any mortal man. Yosira never forbade anything that was to the benefit of men, taking away nought but the things which were futile or harmful. In those days there were no rites of written record, but Yosira caused them to be given to the people. Not so that these should renew life in the Departed Ones upon Earth, but so that the Lord of the Body should be sustained and strengthened in the Place of the Morning Light by the link of hokew, sacrificed by those remaining on Earth.
Yosira spoke to the people, giving them laws which were recorded in this manner: ‘These are words of the God of Gods Who created man and beast upon the sacred island. No beast shall be mated with another not of its kind, and if this happen, then both shall be slain and their bodies burnt. If this be done with the permission of a man, that man will be accursed. Neither shall any beast be yoked together with another not of its own kind. During the first year of its life no beast shall be made to take up the burden of man”.
When Yosira came to Kambusis he found there a man of the Hestabwis bound and prepared for sacrifice, and he cried out against the deed but none gave ear to his word. So, standing off, Yosira placed a staff of power upright into the ground and danced around it, singing the song for drawing forth the spirit. When they saw this, the people were wroth against him and called upon their charmers to curse him so he departed from the Earth. Their curses were ineffective and when one charmer approached the dance ring of Yosira, Yosira called forth a tongue of flame which consumed the charmer. Then the people became afraid and fled. So Yosira released the man who was bound upon the place of sacrifice, but he was not yet whole. Yosira also cursed all those who offered the Hestabwis as a sacrifice to their gods; since that day no man of the Hestabwis was ever slain upon the altars.
Yosira did not curse the charmers of that place, instead he called them to him and gave them dominion over the Dark Spirits which left their abode to wander Earth, molesting men in their habitation. Thus the charmers became greater in the eyes of the people, and from that day onward they have cleansed the land of all Dark Spirits. However, Yosira forbade them the calling forth of the Lord of the Body from any man so that he became the servant of another, and he placed a great curse upon any charmer who disobeyed this law. Yet this is done even now, but those who transgress the laws of Yosira do not escape the awful fate due to them, for his power is yet potent in the lands of his people. When the transgressors stand before him in awful judgement, their deeds will witness against them.
Yosira forbade those who sat in judgement the right to judge men by the fat of crocodiles or by the horn or skin. Instead he revealed to them the manner of making judgement through corn and by the burning sword. He also taught them how to brew drink which loosened the bonds from the tongues of men, so that Truth was no longer restrained.
The people dwelling among the trees, along the banks of the moving waters, lived in fear of tree apes. They held these sacred and would never harm them. They believed that these tree apes snatched the departing Lord of the Body and ate it, that they lurked in wait to catch it in a mighty unseen net. So Yosira went about cursing the food reserve for the tree apes so that it became fire in their bellies, causing the life within them to come up as foam out of their mouths. Thus the land was freed from fear of the tree apes, and henceforth the Departed Ones have gone in peace, no longer being molested by the tree apes.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN THE WAY OF YOSIRA
Yosira taught that within each man resides a little man who is the Lord of the Body, and this is the life of men. While man sleeps the little man wanders abroad to journey as it will, at death departing from him forever. The Lord of the Body cannot be seen by mortal eyes, but it is not hidden from all seeing eyes of the Twice Born. When departing at death it comes out from the mortal mouth, waiting awhile until it grows celestial wings. Then it flies away to the Western Kingdom where the wings are shed.
In the place whither it journeys the Lord of the Body needs no earth-made abode, therefore burning the earthly habitations of a Departed One is futile. However, if the habitation remains and it is not purified, it becomes the gathering place for shades arising from the Place of Darkness, for the habitation need not be destroyed, it must be purified by incense and water and refilled with protective hokew.