Peter Metcalfe:
> >Since Garangordos had an insight of the pulsation of Langamul when
> >he returned from his Life Quest and brought the Ompalam, i thought
> >that it could be generalized as the annual cosmic rebirth, which
> >sounds quite the time when Langamul would manifest.
>
> I disagree for the very simple reason that Langamul (through Bolongo's
> actions) lies beyond what is reachable through ordinary animism. What
> everybody gets now is Amuron at best (who is difficult to reach).
In the light of this, I suddenly remember what the Orlanthi call Silence. It's not that they talk about it very often. I finally found that Other Reference to the pulsation of Langamul too, p. 29 of RM. The pulsation could nevertheless suggest something regular, like the flow and ebb of life force in the world, or something like that.
> >In summary, other Great Spirits' demesnes are all inside the Great
> >Horned Serpent's demesne which, as far as i can see,
> >is the (Doraddi) Spirit World. The (potential) fetch always comes
> >from a particular demesne here.
>
> A fetch is not a sign of dedication to a great spirit as there are
> several brands of Shamanism that do not have a fetch. Secondly the
> Fetch has been described in the HW as part of the self. I'm not
> stating that it is impossible for Doraddi (or Hsunchen or Praxians)
> to have fetches that are autonomous spirits from the spirit world -
> but rather it's unwise to define shamanism in terms of a particular
> brand of shaman.
I think that all Shamans have a mundane self, and an Otherworld self which is described in the HW rules as their Fetch, whether autonomous or not. This is for the purpose of transcending the duality of Nature and the Spirit World, as Noruma says...
Like Noruma, Shamans are both male & female, death & life, nature & spirit, fuel & combustive, the Firemakers, etc. at least when they make fire.
> >Better say that Shamans go to the spirit world and are autonomous
> >and able to travel there & find what they're looking for.
>
> The trouble I have with this statement is that it means non-Shamanic
> Animists are hopeless heroquesters (which is also the problem I
> have with the current slant of Animism rules in HW:RiG).
Many dead people would be hopeless dead without a psychopomp. A shamanic hero can travel to places of the Spirit World proper if he is supported by a shaman, and maybe an Otherworld ally could support as well. Riding on the back of a spirit animal comes to mind. (Like the Nazgūl in reverse). Waiting for Heroquest (and maybe its new Heroplanes) is another option.
> >Maybe one could say that they understand the cosmic laws that
> >underlie the Spirit World.
>
> I prefer not to invoke Malkioni concepts in a description of
> what Shamanism is and is not. Instead I want a statement of
> what it means to be a shaman in animistic terms (life, death,
> spirit, integration, ecstatic communion etc).
An attempt (using all the keywords).
Shamans are people who open a passage between the Natural World and the Spirit World through their own bodies, by means of Ecstatic Communion with the spirit entity they are dedicated to. Doing this they are able to leave their body (or become disembodied) and transform into their spiritual self with spiritual eyes (spirit sight, second sight) which allow them to make sense of the Spirit World, and a spiritual body which they can move in the Spirit World to travel there (spirit journey).
Shamans interact with the spirits ("Spirit Combat" because those beings are often hostile), driving away the evil spirits and integrating the good ones into their bodies, or those of others, or binding them into fetishes, that is, they integrate spirits into the Natural World and thus strengthen its life force against the powers of death. Alternatively, they can send or carry living beings' spirits to the spirit world as well. They are the physical intercessors between the worlds of the living and the dead.
Jerome
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