Kikituk

Three kikituk carvings at the University of Alaska Museum of the North

A kikituk is an animal carving or effigy that serves as an object of power and symbolizes a shaman's animalistic spirit in the Inuit religion.[1] The kikituk is used as a spiritual weapon, whereby a shaman brings the effigy to life and casts it towards their target.[2] The kikituk is said to then destroy the opponent's heart and wait to be retrieved.[3]

The animals represented by the kikituk are often meant to be weasel-like.[3] Sometimes the kikituk is referred to as a specific type of sea-faring reptile that hunts humans.[4]

In the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, the kikituk is a kind of golem made from an intact whale skeleton.[5]

References

  1. ^ Lyon, William S. Encyclopedia of Native American Healing. W. W. Norton & Company. p. 17. ISBN 978-0-393-31735-0. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
  2. ^ VanStone, James W. (1990). "The Nordenskiöld Collection of Eskimo Material Culture from Port Clarence, Alaska". Fieldiana. Anthropology (14): i–56. ISSN 0071-4739. JSTOR 29782575. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
  3. ^ a b Vitebsky, Piers. Shamanism. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 83. ISBN 978-0-8061-3328-7. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
  4. ^ McNeil Jr, Donald G. (29 April 2003). "Dragons, a Brief History Long in Miles". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
  5. ^ Jacobs, James (2017). Bestiary 6. Redmond, WA: Paizo Inc. p. 177. ISBN 978-1-60125-931-8.
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