Purity and Danger

Dirt symbolizes disorder and anomaly, something “out of place.” To a large degree, dirt is contextual and exists in the eye of the beholder; it is not an absolute (2). Eliminating dirt is a positive action, a way of organizing our environment. In some cultures, dirt figures in rituals of death as a symbol of nullification, dissolution, or creative formlessness.

A witch is a person possessing in his or her psyche the ability to release evil forces in the universe. Douglas sees witches as symbols of the “non-structure”—that is, anomalies that do not fit into the social order. This is why they are hated, shunned and persecuted. Joan of Arc is cited as typical in that she was anomalous in various ways—a woman in armor, a peasant at court, etc.—and was persecuted as a witch. 

In primitive and tribal societies, a shaman is a person regarded as having access to the world of good and evil spirits. In Chapter 4, Douglas discusses a shamanistic cure involving “spell-binding and loosing” among the Ndembu tribe in Africa. She compares this treatment to a Freudian analytical session in that the shamanistic cure restored psychological and physical health to the subject and good order to the social relations of his community.