Speech acts — copying the divine gestures of creation
The author bases the article around selected themes of creation myths, known from folk tales and also found in ritual behavior and magical practices.
Such practices — attempting to change the state of reality by imitating the divine gesture of creation— are subject to strict rules, communicated by verbal orders and based upon the representation of force, and in particular, of its compulsion model.
The author introduces three ritual scenes inspired by the divine act of creation: the ritual of first sowing, the ritual of the wedding blessing and magic healing practices referring to the life-restoring power of the divine breath. The intention of behaviour evoking the divine gesture is to gain access to the power of the sacred in order to set in motion a solicited change, a blessing or successful initiation efforts. That is why the framework for relation with the sacred is constructed upon the imaging pattern of the force and its schemata, namely compulsion.
The motifs of sowing, blessing and divine breath are the prototype models depicting acts of creation.
The lexemes “sow” and “breathe” form the onomasiological basis for naming the creative process zasiać ideę — literally “to sow a new idea”, the disclosure of talent natchnąć — “to inspire” and its derivatives natchnienie — “inspiration”; natchniony — “inspired”; duch — “spirit”; duchowość — “spirituality”, while kląć — “to curse” and błogosławić — “to bless” and their derivatives contain a meaning that speaks of the power active within the word.