lustration

It is neither immersion nor sprinkling nor any other mode of lustration which marks us out as God's.

As water is the most common element, so also is it the most common magical means of lustration.

In the primitive cult ceremonies of the Australians, lustration is effected almost exclusively by fire.

Here again, as in the Australian initiation ceremonies, lustration by fire signifies a magic act having reference to the future.

Less common, on the whole, is the third form of lustration, that by magical transference.