Basic Information
A shaman is one who routinely interacts with spirits, whether for solely religious reasons or to work theurgy with their assistance.
Some shamen are natural mediums whilst others use mind altering substances such as muscarine, ergotamine, peyote or datura to enter an altered state of conciousness in which they can perceive and deal with spirits. Some natural mediums use chemical enhancement anyway either to boost their powers or to enable themselves to alter their thought processess in a way that helps them understand those of the spirits. Authypnosis, fasting and the use of smoke lodges are also popular ways of attuning to the spirit world.
In general, a shaman works by bargaining with spirits rather than worshipping them - although praise, flattery and sacrifices may well be part of the deal. In some cases the spirit will be allowed to take temporary possession of the shaman's body - or someone else's - so that it can experience various new sensations in return for its help. Regardless, there will be a sense of quid pro quo which is absent from both true worship and from summoning-and-binding style magic.
It should be noted that shamanistic magic is rarely clean or pleasant to perform - most traditions involve self mortification to some degree or the other as noted above and the workings themselves are often painful and/or psychologically alien experiences.
A shaman will act as a priestly figure in his community if their predominate religion is something like shamanism or animism, otherwise he is likely to be an outsider.
And on the subject of "he" … it is not uncommon for a shaman to be a eunuch, a berdache, intersexed or gender-queer in some other way. Many shamanistic societies regard such folk as being dual-souled and thus better equipped to make contact with the other side.
Sources
Game and Story Use
- Shamanism is generally ignored as a magical tradition in RPGs … despite being a popular source of "primitive magic" into the present day.
- When faced with problem spirits, these are almost certainly the people to go to.
