Re: Animism\t rituals

From: julianlord <julian.lord_at_XMwjxzGJzbzgN8rd0PpPGpv1A1zmZMjT8ljiVEn9KPbTtq0HTRxZ-SuJhz7bUk9F>
Date: Sat, 30 Jan 2010 03:22:09 -0000


Peter :

> Chris Lemens wrote:
>
> >> If they were confronting the full power of the big evil spirits
> >> then they can't but they are not, just as the theists are not.
>
> > Hmm. So maybe some sort of ritual where you summon a small disease
> > spirit and defeat it, thus sending the "don't mess with us" message
> > to Mallia?
>
> No. They are not in a position to know what they confront is or is not
> Malia. All they are doing is confronting something that looks like Malia
> and at the same time they also know that what they are confronting is
> not as strong as Malia.

Yes, I have to agree.

Another point to bear in mind is that the animist method whereby you do NOT become the spirit that is being worshipped would also have to apply to the smaller spirits too.

With some exceptions, smaller spirits belonging to a Great Spirit would not in my opinion be directly identifiable with the Great Spirit itself. Counterexamples to show this point is that every krarshtkid is chaotically identical to Krarsht ; offspring of Bagog chaotically transform themselves over time and across the generations into copies of Bagog ; and I would suppose that Mallia is another exception as a self-replicating perversion of the Fertility Power.

But I think that the normal state of affairs would be one of differentiation rather than identification, belonging rather than being, and these differences if they are to be meaningful ones need to apply across the entire spectrum and in every direction.

Eiritha spirits I would see as being a horde of individual spirits belonging to the Eiritha herd, each with its individuality, each belonging to some shared defining characteristics such as species, sex, spirit/body, element, Rune, Tribe, Great Spirit (Eiritha), and so on...

Rather than focus on the general and on the process of identification that is present in theist magic, focus instead on the particular, the local, the individual, and the present need or story or character as opposed to the mythic imperatives of the past.

The social purpose of the real life shaman is to think, quite radically, outside the box. This quest for individuality is I think at the heart of the shaman's path... and at the heart of the spirit's path as well.

Julian Lord            

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