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Kupon, when it goes into your body, enters by way of the head, tormenting you with dizziness. It turns, and turns. Your head will react like it is crazy. Your mind will turn and turn like you want to fight with everyone. You fall down. When you fall like that it is like you are drunk. It is Kupon that makes you act like that. It is this that turns your mind. It is this that makes you crazy. (12:515) |
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This action of the deity is said to shift one's mind to the side. It is this misalignment that is said to make one feel dizzy. |
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Consultants often are distinguished from their peers even as children. Youngsters who eventually will become consultants are frequently described as being "tormented" or "dizzy" (5:18). Women who are pregnant with children who will become consultants say they can feel the difference while such babies are still in the womb. The considerable movement of these children is said to give a characteristic sensation (ache) during the pregnancy (6:229). The identity of these babies as future consultants is also observed at the time they are born. The midwife in particular is trained to observe their characteristics. As one person asserted emphatically, "When you give birth to this child, you know that he will be a consultant" (6:229). |
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It is said that such children, even as babies, have an overly active bayama, a word that means simultaneously "mind," "thought," and "bile." This bayama manifests itself most strongly as a form of energy that emerges in the course of both anger and intellectual reflection. Yafuata Tano explained accordingly that "the bayama is found in your forehead. It is your thought. It makes you not forget what you said. Bile is also called bayama. This is the thought of animals. It goes together with the head, and it is these together that give advice." (12:478). |
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Children with a very active bayama are said to display, from a very early age, the characteristic features of hyperactivity and manic behavior. They are said frequently to act with reckless abandon. They are constantly in motion. For this reason, they have trouble concentrating and considerable difficulty in adjusting to school (6:16). As one consultant stated, "This happens first when you are still young. It bothered me and made me act without thinking, like I was crazy. It was at this time that they gave me medication to take and I calmed down" (6:72). The behavior of one young girl was described: |
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On the day when she became troubled with this, she grabbed a basket, calabash, and pipe from people attending a gathering and ran with them all the way to the river. She yelled as she ran that something was following her, when in fact it was we who were trying to catch up with her. At the river she threw the calabash and pipe into the water and stood there yelling. (12:494) |
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In such cases the person is treated by a consultant with various calming medications. If this works, then during subsequent crises the person will be given additional medication. |
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In addition to being distinguished by their bouts with manic behavior, children who will be consultants are also said to be characterized by their extraordinary |
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