Aetiologies
Recurring causal models include soul loss, intrusion of an object or presence, breach of rule or taboo, sorcery, ancestral grievance, and fright.
- Soul retrieval: bring back what left
- Extraction: remove what entered
- Restitution: repair a broken relationship or rule
- Substitution: offer something in the patient's place
What is actually being treated
Clinical anthropology distinguishes disease (a biological process) from illness (the lived experience) and sickness (the social fact). Ritual healing often addresses the second and third with real effect while leaving the first untouched.
Limits, stated plainly
Ritual healing is not a treatment for cancer, infection, psychosis or injury. Where traditions themselves recognise this and refer patients onward, the atlas says so.