Pass by me like a shadow,
I am applying the charm called the ‘Drunken Stars[145]’
Drunken stars are on my left,
A full moon (lit. 14th day moon) is on my right,
And the Umbrella of Si Lanchang is opposite to me
Grant this by virtue of ‘There is no god but God,’” etc.
The statement that this dough image should represent the opposite sex to that of the patient should be received with caution, and requires further investigation to clear it up. My informant explained that the “Flying Paper” (krĕtas layang-layang) referred to the soul-cloth, and the “cup” to the image, but if this explanation is accepted, it is yet not unlikely that a real cup was used in the original charm. The “drunken stars” he explained as referring to the parched rice scattered on his left, and the full moon to the eyes of the image. Arguing from the analogy of other ceremonies conducted on the same lines, the wandering soul would be recalled and induced to enter the so-called cup (i.e. the dough image), and being transferred thence to the soul-cloth underneath it, would be passed on to the patient in the soul-cloth itself.
Another way to recall a soul (which was taught me by ’Che ʿAbas of Kelantan) is to take seven betel-leaves with meeting leaf-ribs (sirih bĕrtĕmu urat), and make them up into seven “chews” of betel. Then take a plateful of saffron-rice, parched rice, and washed rice, and seven pieces of parti-coloured thread (bĕnang pancharona tujoh urat) and an egg; deposit these at the feet of the sick man, giving him one end of the thread to hold, and fastening the other end to the egg.
The soul is then called upon to return to the house which it has deserted, is caught in a soul-cloth, and passed (it is thought) first of all into the egg, and thence back into the patient’s body by means of the thread which connects the egg with the patient. The charm runs as follows:—
“Peace be with you, O Breath!