Back to the main page

Mailing List Logs for ShadowRN

Message no. 1
From: Karsten_DÃŒrotin karsten@****.net
Subject: Shamanism and Monotheism, and a friendly "Hello"
Date: Thu, 27 May 1999 03:40:21 +0200
Hello!

I am new to this list, so I thought a little introduction would be in
order.

My name is Karsten, I'm from Germany, and while I am new here, the same
cannot be said about me and the net (3 years) nor about me and Shadowrun
(8 years). I stumbled across this list a few days ago and decided to
subscribe. I hope I'll be a valuable addition... :-)

>I have always thought that the Totms chose the shaman. If I were a
>Totem (wouldnt that be nice :)
>I would choose Shamans based on their ability to further my cause. If
>Snake did not think I as a
>Muslim or Catholic or whatever , would be willing to answer that call
>to shamanism, why bother
>calling that Muslim Catholic whatever person in the first place?


Perhaps my experience with Mage: the Ascension shows through here, but I
am still more leaning towards the notion that it is more the magician
"choosing" his path initially. In my world of Shadowrun, no one would
become a Shaman without, consciously or subconsciously, believing in
what Shamanism, and his particular totem stand for. Of course, from the
view of a Shaman, he is "called" by the totem, but I agree: why should
the totem choose someone who isn't suited for that worldview, because he
denies to believe in it?

Performing magic is a matter of will and belief, and IMO a magician can
only channel the energies if he really believes in and accepts what he
does. That's the reason why there are so many "paths of magic": Every
path is chosen by the folks who can accept that particular path to
channel their power through. Additionally, those paths have perpetuated
themselves through the time when there was no magic, by being rooted in
popular culture or religion. Also, I think that even within those paths,
every magician has to find his own path, being a totem, hermetic school
or even a more personal path. This also allows for a lot of roleplaying
with a young mage who slowly comes to develop his own beliefs better and
"grow into" his magic.

--- Karsten

Further Reading

If you enjoyed reading about Shamanism and Monotheism, and a friendly "Hello", you may also be interested in:

Disclaimer

These messages were posted a long time ago on a mailing list far, far away. The copyright to their contents probably lies with the original authors of the individual messages, but since they were published in an electronic forum that anyone could subscribe to, and the logs were available to subscribers and most likely non-subscribers as well, it's felt that re-publishing them here is a kind of public service.