| From: | Robert Watkins <bob@**.NTU.EDU.AU> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Re: Interesting Idea |
| Date: | Tue, 19 Sep 1995 19:10:08 +0930 |
Everyone has their ideas about what shamanism is, and what the totems are.
Well, here's mine, in terms of the SR universe. I'd like to point out that:
a) No, I'm not a practising shaman.
b) No, I don't really believe in totems.
c) No, I don't really believe in gods, either (this will be relevant. :) )
d) Sorry if I'm stepping on anyones toes, or offending their beliefs, but
hey, it's only a game...
Okay, that disclaimer aside: What are the totems? Well, the totems are
simply sources of power. Because of some basic property, each source of
power like this can only be accessed by the right mind set. After all,
working magic is affected totally by the way you view the world. WYTIWYG,
and all that.
So it's not that a shaman choses his totem, or the totem choses him (or
her... I shouldn't be sexist). It's simply the case that because of the
shaman's world views, that totem is the choice that shaman can make.
What about the awareness of totems? These are simply powerful spirits (if
you can say simply about something that's so magically powerful as to blow
your socks off). The Great Ones mentioned in HB (not all of which were the
totem spirits). They share the mind set that allows the shamans, and the
spirits, to tap into the source of magical power. Sometimes, they may have
schemes in the real world of their own, and so they send messages to their
allys, the shamans.
And what about other ways of looking at the world? Hermetic magic can be
explained this way. Powers of faith healers, the shamanic powers of that
Catholic order of priests, all of this can be explained using this idea.
It also explains insect spirits... not all of the powers need to be
friendly, ya know.
So, why do they have these totem animals. WYTIWYG, again. Popular BELIEF
has assigned these animal forms to the totems, and in so doing so, they
change the way the world behaves, magically. As in quantum physics, the ACT
of observation is as important as WHAT you are observing.
Heck, this could even explain where the power comes from... from the great
unwashed pool of human conciousness. (Though, of course that doesn't
explain the cycles).
Just my $0.02 worth...
--
Robert Watkins bob@**.ntu.edu.au
Real Programmers never work 9 to 5. If any real programmers
are around at 9 am, it's because they were up all night.
*** Finger me for my geek code ***
