Aboriginal Men of High Degree: Initiation and Sorcery in the World's Oldest Tradition Paperback - 1993

First line

Everywhere in Aboriginal Australia the young male, on approaching or reaching puberty, leaves behind him the interests of childhood.

From the rear cover

ANTHROPOLOGY / RELIGION The first book to reveal the secret and sacred practices of Aboriginal shamans, Aboriginal Men of High Degree presents an extraordinary series of rites by which the young Aboriginal male begins the degrees of shamanic initiation--each marked by its own portion of esoteric knowledge. One of Australia's most eminent anthropologists, A. P. Elkin focuses on karadji, or men of high degree, who possess magical powers and who serve as channels between the Dreamtime beings and their own communities. As psychologists and psychic experts, the karadji are essential to the groups' social chesion. They are believed to cure and kill mysteriously, make rain, anticipate future events, and appear and disappear at will. Not content to explain away these phenomenon, Elkin boldly suggests that we enter into the karadji worldview and try to understand this remarkable culture on its own terms. Former head of the anthropology department at the University of Sydney, A. P. ELKIN (1891-1979) authored eight books and numerous articles in Australia, the United States, France, and England, including The Australian Aborigines.