The rest of this post was all very relevant (mostly previous answers to my own questions, actually :), but this bit:
>> That's my main problem. Is the Circle a help, or just a necessary
>> minimum requirement?
>
>It's not even a minimum requirement - if you are a good enough shaman
>you
>can open a path to the spirit world without a circle
...was later corrected by Roderick, who then said a circle was a necessity, sort of like creating the door before Spirit World travel opens it.
Wulf
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