>Me> But once you integrated them (and you can only integrate them
> > once), they cease to have a separate existence and can't be
> > contacted by anybody else.
>Until you die.
Considering that most ghosts still have magic, I doubt this.
>I think that *much* depends on whether your Magical Tradition is
>Inclusive or Exclusive.
I would really need a definition of Inclusive or Exclusive traditions before I can comment further.
>Baboon shamans consider their Ancestors to be part of the Tribe ;
>and while they don't Integrate them, they don't consider them to
>have so much separate existence (They Are Us : We Are They) as a
>Kolating would consider the Storm Spirits to enjoy.
But if They Are Us, then they would view the integration of an ancestor to be the moral equivalent of taking another baboon's life. Which leaves us where we started.
>I think that it would be a bad idea to encourage a One True Shamanism
>approach, beyond any necessary cohesion of HW rules issues.
I simply pointed out that whomever integrated their ancestors would have to deal with the issue of the extinction of their ancestor's individuality (and also the consequent wastage of talents). This isn't a blanket "Nobody shall integrate ancestors", but rather "I would like to see a plausible reason for a culture to integrate ancestors".
>Another solution : perhaps "Drosox' bravery" is one of Drosox'
>Integrated Spirits, that his descendant can magically
>inherit/wrest/Integrate from his Ancestor ?
Ripping integrated spirits from people has been stated as something that only great spirits could do. I don't think it's a common animist technique.
--Peter Metcalfe
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