05.05.2020
(…) The idea is rooted in a family of KhoeSan beliefs linking perceptions of vitality, spirit and wind. These foundational ideas underpin a notion that every organism contains the divine breath of life. This equates to its own wind or smell that holds its characteristics. The wind or smell of an organism can enter another person or animal where it lodges inside them in a positive sense by allowing that person to 'own' the source phenomenon and thereby 'work with' that particular phenomenon. The are 'that sort of person'. The idea is a complex one in which wind, as the breath of life, is in the blood and makes a person alive. A person's or animal's wind represents who they are as a batch of characteristics, some of which can change during their life (…)
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When Qing speaks of taming eland and snakes, what he is referring to is the KhoeSan practice of 'owning', 'possessing' or having 'mastership' of an animal either by having its wind essence inside them or by being the sort of person who can 'work with them'.
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Source: KhoeSan shamanistic relationships with snakes and rain; by Chris Low; Journal of Namibian Studies 12 (2012): 71-96
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