geoggravation, n. the supposed response of a deity outraged by the weaknesses of believers, manifested specifically in geological phenomena: earthquakes, volcanic activity, sinkholes, mudslides, and so on. geoggravate, geoggravating, v. and v.t.
The term was coined by missionaries who operated throughout various Pacific islands in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and documented many tribal customs based around the avoidance, amelioration, and supplication of potential and perceived geological restitution supposedly meted out by enraged deities.
One Doctor of Theology, a Dr. Eugene Planck from Potsdam, Germany, observed a group of 23 females from a group visiting Matua Island systematically sacrifice over 1,000 Common Ravens (Corvus corax) by drowning at the island's Eastern shore in an attempt to minimise the possible geoggravation caused by their inadvertently setting fire to a ceremonial woven-palm basket. Planck used the term in a letter to his English colleague, Albert Fleming:
"...and then they took the birds, poor things, and drowned them until the whole of the lagoon was verily adrift with bedraggled bodies. Alas, despite these efforts, Matua erupted the following morning and the entire party was forced to flee the results of their geoggravation; several boats capsized and three additional ceremonial baskets were lost in the melee..."
This brief excerpt suggests the term was in common use during the period.
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