Mohanes
Shamans or medicine-men of the Indians of the Peruvian Andes. Joseph Skinner writing of them in his State of Peru, London 1805, says: "These admit an evil being, the inhabitant of the centre of the earth, whom they consider as the author of their misfortunes, and at the mention of whose name they tremble. The most shrewd among them take advantage of this belief, to obtain respect; and represent themselves as his delegates. Under the denomination of Mohanes, or Agoreros, they are consulted even on the most trivial occasions. They preside over the intrigues of love, the health of the community, and the taking of the field. Whatever repeatedly occurs to defeat their prognostics, falls on themselves; and they are wont to pay their deceptions very dearly. They chew a species of vegetable called puripiri, and throw it into the air, accompanying this act by certain recitals and incantations, to injure some, to benefit others, to procure rain, and the inundation of the rivers, or, on the other hand, to occasion settled weather, and a plentiful store of agricultural productions. Any such result having been casually verified on a single occasion, suffices to confirm the Indians in their faith, although they may have been cheated a thousand times. Fully persuaded that they cannot resist the influence of the puripiri, as soon as they know that they have been solicited by its means, they fix their eyes on the impassioned object, and discover a thousand amiable traits, either real or fanciful, which indifference had before concealed from their view. 66
But the principal power, efficacy, and, it may be said misfortune, of the Mohanes, consist in the cure of the sick. Every malady is ascribed to their enchantments, and means are instantly taken to ascertain by whom the mischief may have been wrought. For this purpose the nearest relative takes a quantity of the juice of floripondium, and suddenly falls, intoxicated by the violence of the plant. He is placed in a fit posture to prevent suffocation, and on his coming to himself, at the end of three days, the Mohan who has the greatest resemblance to the sorcerer he saw in his visions, is to undertake the cure, or if, in the interim, the sick man has perished, it is customary to subject him to the same fate. When not any sorcerer occurs in the visions, the first Mohan they encounter has the misfortune to represent his image.' دو Methods of Medicine Men. -It cannot be denied, that the Mohanes have, by practice and tradition, acquired a profound knowledge of many plants and poisons, with which they effect surprising cures on the one hand, and do much mischief on the other; but the mania of ascribing the whole to a preternatural virtue, occasions them to blend with their practice a thousand charms and superstitions. The most customary method of cure is to place two hammocks close to each other, either in the dwelling, or in the open air: in one of them the patient lies extended, and in the other the Mohan, or Agorero. The latter, in contact with the sick man, begins by rocking himself, and then proceeds by a strain in falsetto, to call on the birds, quadrupeds, and fishes, to give health to the patient. From time to time he rises on his seat, and makes a thousand extravagant gestures over the sick man, to whom he applies his powders and herbs, or sucks the wounded or diseased parts. If the malady augments, the Agorero, having been joined by many of the people, chants a short Monad hymn, addressed to the soul of the patient, with this burden: "Thou must not go, thou must not go." In repeating this he is joined by the people, until at length a terrible clamour is raised, and augmented in proportion as the sick man becomes still fainter and fainter, to the end that it may reach his ears.
Molucca Beans as Amulets: (See Fascination.) Monaciello, The: The Monaciello or Little Monk seems to have lived exclusively in that portion of Southern Italy called Naples. The precise place where he dwelt does not appear to be accurately known, but it is supposed to have been in the remains of Abbeys and Monasteries. When the Monaciello appeared to mortals, it was always at the dead of night; and then only to those who were in sorest need, who themselves had done all that mortal could do to prevent or alleviate the distress that had befallen them, and after all humain aid had failed. Then it was that the Monk appeared, and mutely beckoning them to follow, he led them to where treasure was concealed-stipulating no conditions for its expenditure, demanding no promise of repayment, exacting no duty or service in return. Men have vainly asked, was it actual treasure he gave, or did it merely appear so to the external senses, to be changed into leaves or stones when the day and the occasion of its requirement had passed? And if actual treasure, how did it come in the place of its concealment, and by whom was it there deposited ?
In Germany, the wood-spirit Rubezahl performed similar acts of beneficence and kindness to poor and deserving, persons and the money he gave proved to be, or passed for the current coin of the realm; while in Ireland, the O'Donoghue, who dwelt beneath the waters of an inland lake, and rode over its surface on a steed white as the foam of its waves, distributed treasures that proved genuine to the good, but spurious to the undeserving.
Monad is a theosophical term which literally means a unit (Greek Monas). The Monad is frequently described as a "Divine Spark," and this impression is particularly apt, for it is a part of the Logos, the Divine Fire. The Logos has three aspects, Will, Wisdom and Activity, and, since the Monad is part of the Logos, it also has these three aspects It abides continually in its appropriate world, the monadic, but, that the divine evolutionary purposes may be carried out, its ray is borne downwards through the various spheres of matter when the outpouring of the third life wave takes place. It first passes into the Spiritual Sphere by clothing itself with an atom of spiritual matter and thus manifests itself in an atomic body, as a spirit possessing three aspects. When it passes into the next sphere, the Intuitional, it leaves its aspect of Will behind and in the Intuitional Sphere, appears in an Intuitional body as a spirit possessing the aspects of Wisdom and Activity. On passing in turn, from this sphere to the next the higher mental, it leaves the aspect of Wisdom behind, and appears in a casual body as a spirit possessing the aspect of activity. To put this somewhat abstruse doctrine in another form, the Monad has, at this stage, manifested itself in three spheres. In the spiritual it has transfused spirit with Will, in the Intuitional it has transfused spirit with Wisdom, and in the higher Mental it has transfused spirit with Activity or Intellect, and it is now a human ego, corresponding approximately to the common term soul," an ego which, despite all changes, remains the same until eventually the evolutionary purpose is fulfilled and it is received back again into the Logos. From the higher mental sphere the Monad descends to the lower mental sphere and appears in a mental body as possessing mind, then betakes itself to the astral sphere and appears in the astral body as possessing emotions, and finally to the hhysical sphere and appears in a physical body as possessing vitality. These three lower bodies, the 66 mental, the astral, and the physical, constitute the human personality which dies at death and is renewed when the Monad, in fulfilment of the process of reincarnation, again manifests itself in these bodies. (See Theosophy, Evolution, Sphere, Life Waves, Monadic Sphere, Logos.)