Victorian comparative religion
This volume explores the concept of the external soul—the belief that one's life force can be separated from the body and hidden in external objects, animals, or plants for safekeeping. Frazer analyzes folktales and myths where heroes deposit their souls in eggs, trees, animals, or distant locations to achieve invulnerability. The work examines life-tokens, sympathetic connections between soul and repository, and the widespread motif of the soul's external location. Frazer connects this to Balder's vulnerability through mistletoe, proposing that Norse myths preserve ancient soul separation beliefs.
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