From: | "Brian F. Wong" <rook@****.RAD-INET.COM> |
---|---|
Subject: | Shamans vs. Hermetic (Re: Lupin III and Goemen) |
Date: | Wed, 7 Oct 1998 09:38:10 -0700 |
>>
>> On the other hand, those Indians and pagans have no political power.
>> Let's use their religions for our game, they won't mind.
>>
>> Pity. Of course, not much is said about the actual world-effects of this.
>> "Oh, we're sorry, major monotheistic religions of the world, it seems
>> you're wrong, and all those pagan/animist religions were right"
>>
> Which was sort of my reasoning. If variou pagan types can call down lightning
> bolts, cause earthquakes, etc, and the Pope CAN'T, then Catholicism (and most
> other monotheist religions) will drop to 'weirdo fringe cult' status pretty
> quick. Why worship a God who doesn't grant you any tangible real world
> benefits, when there are otehr Gods out there who DO? (Lizard has a pragmatic
> view of religion...)
Well. Some points to bear in mind:
The totems are not so much dieties as archetypes of psychological themes.
Shamans pick various totems in accordance to their psych. Not their religion.
Different countries have been shown to have different systems. This indicates
some method of the manifestation having to do with the 'nature' of the region.
Totems make sense for North America as that is what has been floating around in
the mass subconscious there for most of that regions history.
(I take this from the druids of the london book and the voodoo stuff
I hear is in Awakenings.)
It makes sense for only non-monotheistic belief systems to have Shamans. This
mirrors history. The hermetic concept of magic comes from (historicly) and
attempt by organized religions (to include the medival church) to understand and
catalog the shamanic magic traditions they found.
So judging just from history, people of non-organized religions should
not be allowed to be hermetic... and people of organized faiths (to include
atheism) should not be allowed to be shamans.
Oh, I'm sending this to the shadowrun list and Bccing you guys, so
I can see what they have to say. Though I don't imagine they have anyone there
who has a grasp of real world occult theory. Maybe I'll get lucky.
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