When we say that someone is "at a crossroads", we mean that they have an important, often life-altering, decision to make. The phrase comes from an ancient custom, reaching at least as far back as Babylonian times, of summoning demons to make a pact with them, often at a crossroads. Demon summoning can happen anywhere, at any time, and often involved certain "favors" being done with the demon in order to muhuri the deal. If a woman did the summoning and had a child out of the act, that child was aliyopewa over to the demon. In many cases, such as the famous story of Faust, the person did not just...
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