Right With The Spooks

SM Stirling, The Sword Of The Lady (New York, 2009).

After a battle, Rudi Mackenzie invokes:

the Lady of the Ravens;
the Lord of Death;
the Guardians of the Western Gate;
the Mother-of-all -

- on behalf of the slain foemen. Jake sunna Jake is highly impressed:

"'Hey, that's a good saying word t' keep spooks down...'" (Chapter One, p. 21)

He can tell that Rudi and Edain are not like Iowans who "'...pray to the Jesus-man.'" (ibid.)

Later, when Jake offers the Chieftainship to Rudi, he enumerates how much Rudi can teach his people, including:

"'...how to get right with the spooks...'" (Chapter Four, p. 109)

Jake probably imagines real vengeful ghosts. An instructor in Zen meditation might tell him that:

each of us has "spooks" or "demons";
they are inner consequences of past actions;
they must be faced, not suppressed;
in this way, it is possible to get right with them.