For tribal cultures around the world, it explains illness and death. The temporary separation of the soul from the body can cause illness; permanent separation indicates death.
In the animistic belief system (see Animism), a person's soul (or one of his souls) is considered capable of separating from the body and wandering at night in a dream. It is believed that some people, especially shamans, are able to induce and control such wanderings, which, in essence, are out-of-body perceptions. Such journeys of the soul are considered normal and do not cause concern, unless the soul, for one reason or another, cannot find its way back to the body.
Soul loss can have many different reasons, besides the simple inability of the soul to find its way back home. Sometimes the soul is lost because it is carried away by the ghost of a recently deceased person. The loss of the soul can also be explained by black magic, witchcraft, the action of malicious supernatural beings, or it can be the result of external injury or physical shock experienced by the body. You can kill a person by suddenly waking him up when his soul has not yet returned from its nocturnal wanderings.
Diseases resulting from soul loss are predominantly psychological in nature. Sudden fainting spells, epileptic seizures, and other types of loss of consciousness are sure indicators of soul loss.
After its separation from the body, the soul usually goes to the land of the dead, and the closer it comes to its goal, the weaker and crazier its owner becomes. When the loss of a soul occurs, the shaman must find it and return it to the body. This is usually possible if the soul has not yet reached the land of the dead, but if the illness was caused by witchcraft or the action of some disembodied entity, then the shaman must fight the guilty side.
The loss of the soul can also occur in such a way that its owner does not feel any signs of illness. In this case, the person does not know that his soul has departed from him until the shaman tells him about it, who can learn about this event through sleep and must take steps to return it.
See also Shamanism.