placation

• of ghosts preceded coercion, supplication, conciliation, and propitiation

87:2.1In re­li­gion the neg­a­tive pro­gram of ghost pla­ca­tion long pre­ceded the pos­i­tive pro­gram of spirit co­er­cion and sup­pli­ca­tion. The first acts of hu­man wor­ship were phe­nom­ena of de­fense, not rev­er­ence. Mod­ern man deems it wise to in­sure against fire; so the sav­age thought it the bet­ter part of wis­dom to pro­vide in­sur­ance against ghost bad luck. The ef­fort to se­cure this pro­tec­tion con­sti­tuted the tech­niques and rit­u­als of the ghost cult.

• of ghosts preceded coercion, supplication, conciliation, and propitiation

89:4.4As re­li­gion evolved, the sac­ri­fi­cial rites of con­cil­i­a­tion and pro­pi­ti­a­tion re­placed the older meth­ods of avoid­ance, pla­ca­tion, and ex­or­cism.

• of ghosts preceded coercion, supplication, conciliation, and propitiation

90:0.1The evo­lu­tion of re­li­gious ob­ser­vances pro­gressed from pla­ca­tion, avoid­ance, ex­or­cism, co­er­cion, con­cil­i­a­tion, and pro­pi­ti­a­tion to sac­ri­fice, atone­ment, and re­demp­tion. The tech­nique of re­li­gious rit­ual passed from the forms of the prim­i­tive cult through fe­tishes to magic and mir­a­cles; and as rit­ual be­came more com­plex in re­sponse to man’s in­creas­ingly com­plex con­cept of the super­ma­te­rial realms, it was in­evitably dom­i­nated by med­i­cine men, shamans, and priests.