>I've been reading THE GOLDEN BOUGH and in the descriptions of the way
>various tribes sacrifice to the Gods the animals who are most precious
>to them, I've finally managed to understand what Greg and Co. were going
>on about with the sacrificial model of magic which lead them to the idea
>of Yinkin worshippers slaughtering shadowcats to Yinkin (and, more
>absurdly, Lhankhor Mhy worshippers burning books to please the god).
I particularly like Intriplicatos, the god of bureaucratic paperwork in the Lunar Empire created by Nick Brooke and/or Chris Gidlow. Worshipers burn the most legible copy of each document to their god.
In the case of Yinkini, I would guess that sacrificing shadow cats would have similar conotations to human sacrifice, depending on how hsunchen you like to make them. Perhaps they substitute the sacrifice of shadow cats for human sacrifice?
For knowledge worshipers (Lankor Mhy, Irripi Ontor, etc) the sacrifice of books can also make sense in certain circumstances. Wholesale book burning would make no more sense than the wholesale slaughter of cattle would to a cattle sacrificing culture. On the other hand the sacrifice of a beautiful coppy of a valuable tome, probably made explicitly for this purpose, might be considered to be a very pious act.
Sacrifice does not necesserily mean destruction. The book might be buried in the tomb of a respected accademic, for example. The Egyptians used to write magical formulae on papyrun, soak it in beer and then consume the beer to invoke the magic. The sacrifice of a valuable hunting cat might simply consist of releasing it into the wild. I suppose it depends on the purpose of the sacrifice.
Simon Hibbs
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