shamanism

From: David Cake <davidc_at_cs.uwa.edu.au>
Date: Tue, 13 Aug 1996 01:32:24 +0800


Nick Effingham rails against the monomyth

> The Horned Man cult of unaligned shamanism is dead IMHO -- a God Learner
>fake. No culture worships him.

        Yes and no. I think many shamanic cultures have a figure similar to the Horned Man, a culture hero/deity who brought the knowledge of magic to mankind. He may bear very little resembalance to the Horned Man (frex I think its Cronisper, Pamalts crazy old grandfather, for Doraddi). And while many cultures have gods that have very close ties to shamanism, or whose priests are half shamans (like Aldrya or Kygor Litor), that doesn't mean that all shamans are strongly tied to a cult.

        To take trolls (whose shamanic practices have been best explored) as an example, Nick says
>Troll (Kyger Litor, Daka Fal, Gorakiki, Aranea)

        but trolls probably have lots of shamans that are not heavily involved in any of these four, and that are involved in many others besides. Certainly I think Gorakiki and Aranea are specialised cults, and Kygor Litor priestesses do not have access to some of the important troll spirits. Trolls have a whole host of spirit cults that are widespread, and I think many of their shamans are heavily involved with them. Troll shamans worship Boztakang Chaos Fighter, Hombobom, Gore and Gash, Dehore, even Vaneekara the Hurler or Asrelia.

        I think this is typical of shamanic practice throughout Glorantha, and what we know of the other cultures tends to bear it out. Most nomad shamans might be in the Waha cult, but they also have a host of other spirits to deal with. Same with Doraddi shamans, same with Orlanthi shamans (there is a nice list for the Far Point region in Questlines), probably the same with most of them. Hsunchchen shamans too.

        In Glorantha, shamanic and divine worship is a very blurred distinction. But that doesn't mean that all shamans are involved with large divine cults. I think the small spirit cults are very important to almost all shamans in Glorantha. Which is what the GOG Horned God writeup is about, much more than it is about the Universal worship of a Horned God. So I guess what I am saying is there may be no actual Horned God worshipped throughout Glorantha, but the stuff in the Horned Man writeup in GOG is still mostly valid and very important.

        Cheers

                David



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