Hermetic Mages look to each other and to scientific methods to learn magic, but with the shaman it is different. The magic finds the shaman. Sometime in their life they meet their totem, and if they accept each other, then the shaman becomes a follower of the totem. The totem is generally an ideal form of an animal.
Summary[]
The first shaman with magic as we know it were probably the natives of North America. However, that tradition is not exclusive to Native Americans. Since then, many people worldwide have met with their totem. There are many different totems. For example, Eagle, Bear, Coyote, Falcon, Fox, Rat, Raccoon, and Wolf are all considered well known totems. It is doubtful a complete list of totems will ever be made, as there are documented totems to nearly every known animal and surely many yet to be discovered.
Special cases of the shaman include the Insect Shaman and the Toxic Shaman, which are often characterized as evil or alien. Sometimes, Druids are classified as Shaman, but the Druiden distinguish themselves from the Shamanic Tradition.
Summoning Spirits[]
Shaman can summon Nature Spirits. Depending on the personality of the totem, some types of spirits can be easier than others to summon. Insect Shaman are not particularly popular, because they can summon Insect Spirits, but suffer from a bad reputation due to the Universal Brotherhood and Chicago incidents. Toxic Shaman have become warped in some way, sometimes due to pollution, and are twisted forms of the traditional Shaman.
Famous Shaman[]
See Also[]
This page was translated from Shadowhelix's Schamanismus page