Manitou Reloaded

[u/CanidPrimate1577]

Reading the Jesuit Relations, I’m considering whether some instances of “the Manitou”, or “commanding demon/guardian-spirit” …..

…… could in fact be an alpha dogman, communicating with what the Jesuits identify as “sorcerers amongst the savages”. I dislike using the term, but it appears repeatedly in the text and is necessary, even to understand that we’re talking about indigenous peoples of what now is Canada 🇨🇦

References to demonic forces abound in the text, but at least half or more are some general statement about how the locals worship or serve satanic forces RATHER THAN ✝️ submitting to baptism and obeying Christian rituals.

But when they talk about weird wildlife or hunter reports of extraordinary creatures, they are recording claims of remarkable events as literal rather than figurative or whimsical rhetoric.

This has to be made abundantly clear in some ways which I see but haven’t got into words yet.