I just wanted to say a big hello to everyone who is in this LJ community. I also wanted to introduce myself before doing anything else, like posting any questions, stuff like that
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I have read it, if what you are referring to is the community's profile page. I then re read it just in case your comment suggested I'd said something offensive.
Can I ask whether you meant that it's a great place to start for info? or if you meant that I'd done something wrong?
Ummm.....OK, It's clear that I've apparently offended people somehow without meaning to.
Like I say, I'm pretty new to it, all I know is what I've read, which I stated. I could copy paste everything I've read to answer your question but that would just be a massive wall of text.
I find it a little....upsetting to be honest that people seem to think that I can't follow a path the way I want and how I want. From what I've been reading on that website and through other sources has led me to believe that I should be able to do that as long as I agree with the fundamental ideals.
Maybe it's just the way I'm reading the comments on this post but it kinda feels like everyone's coming down on me like a tonne of bricks without actually telling me HOW I have offended them.
I am not sure what type of Shamanism you are looking at, but usually it refers to the native priestly practitioners of tribal cultures including animism, other world travels, and preparing for hunts as well as healing the community members, plus much more. I have always thought of it like a job title (although of course it is more than that) rather than a religion.
Wicca is a priesthood and arguably it has spiritual roots in Britians tribal era native shamansim or later its druidry, however,I wouldn't think that is what it is now nor what it has been for a long time.
There is so much misinformation on the internet and in popular books (those that are not peer reviewed) that it is hard to send you to better resources, but our community information is a good start.
I know next to nothing about Shamanism, but I was under the impression that, because shamanistic practices usually belong to particular tribes or cultures, they often have more "rules" than Wicca (as defined by this community), depending on which tribe/culture one belongs to. I guess I should do some reading as well. :)
From what I've read, the "rules" are mostly similar to some of the most well known ones from wicca. My reading has suggested that most..modern? shamans (I mean people of my generation or not of the tribes that shamanism came from) don't really have a set of rules apart from, be thankful of the spirits and the earth and show respect.
Like I say though, I'm still new to it but the link I pasted and everything that the person who wrote it links on to is how I would view it as I agree with what is written there.
You are right about the differences in each tribe/culture that practice shamanism though. One of the things that is always consistent (from what I can find) is the web of power, the tree of life, spirit guides and the medicine wheel.
I'll go ahead and start you off - No Cash for Craft. You've found a site that charges for "Living Wicca Lessons" so right up front, its absolutely not a good source of information on Wicca. If any of the "Elders" on the site have valid Wiccan training, they didn't mention it on their bios.
The bastardization of New Age/Core Shamanism should be avoided as the worst sort of cultural appropriation.
The bastardization of New Age/Core Shamanism should be avoided as the worst sort of cultural appropriation.
Which, incidentally, has a lot more to do with my lack of knowledge of shamanism than my lack of reading on it. Shamanism has always struck me as within the category of "those who know don't talk and those who talk don't know," so I've always looked askance at sources that talk about knowing. And I'm horribly uncomfortable with the idea of waltzing into the living room of someone who doesn't know me from Steve and saying "teach my just-got-off-the-train sparkly ass all the wisdom you've been cultivating for centuries! what do you mean, 'no'?!?!" I've been on the receiving end of that, and it sucks.
As the moderator (big boss lady) I'm popping in a little side-note;
The focus of this community is [BTW] Wicca but we also embrace Neo-wicca, Paganism, and about a million other religious, philosophical, occult, paranormal, natural, spiritual practices, etc.
This community puts a lot of focus on defining Wicca correctly as there's a lot of misinformation out there so we try to make sure the information we exchange is as reliable as possible, and that we're all talking the same language.
No offence is taken when a new member maybe defines things differently to this community, it's just that sometimes we can be a little knee-jerk about definitions as it's very important to make sure everyone is on the same page. Unfortunately many new members take this the wrong way, we don't mean to cause any upset we just want to keep this community as a reliable source of information.
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Can I ask whether you meant that it's a great place to start for info? or if you meant that I'd done something wrong?
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So, what things from Wicca, as we define it on this community, are you privy to, which you think can be incorporated into a shamanic path?
Hint, it's likely that nothing on TCC has anything to do with Wicca as we define it on this community.
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Like I say, I'm pretty new to it, all I know is what I've read, which I stated. I could copy paste everything I've read to answer your question but that would just be a massive wall of text.
I find it a little....upsetting to be honest that people seem to think that I can't follow a path the way I want and how I want. From what I've been reading on that website and through other sources has led me to believe that I should be able to do that as long as I agree with the fundamental ideals.
Maybe it's just the way I'm reading the comments on this post but it kinda feels like everyone's coming down on me like a tonne of bricks without actually telling me HOW I have offended them.
Reply
Wicca is a priesthood and arguably it has spiritual roots in Britians tribal era native shamansim or later its druidry, however,I wouldn't think that is what it is now nor what it has been for a long time.
There is so much misinformation on the internet and in popular books (those that are not peer reviewed) that it is hard to send you to better resources, but our community information is a good start.
Reply
Reply
http://www.wicca.com/celtic/wyldkat/shmnindex.htm
From what I've read, the "rules" are mostly similar to some of the most well known ones from wicca. My reading has suggested that most..modern? shamans (I mean people of my generation or not of the tribes that shamanism came from) don't really have a set of rules apart from, be thankful of the spirits and the earth and show respect.
Like I say though, I'm still new to it but the link I pasted and everything that the person who wrote it links on to is how I would view it as I agree with what is written there.
You are right about the differences in each tribe/culture that practice shamanism though. One of the things that is always consistent (from what I can find) is the web of power, the tree of life, spirit guides and the medicine wheel.
Reply
The bastardization of New Age/Core Shamanism should be avoided as the worst sort of cultural appropriation.
Reply
Which, incidentally, has a lot more to do with my lack of knowledge of shamanism than my lack of reading on it. Shamanism has always struck me as within the category of "those who know don't talk and those who talk don't know," so I've always looked askance at sources that talk about knowing. And I'm horribly uncomfortable with the idea of waltzing into the living room of someone who doesn't know me from Steve and saying "teach my just-got-off-the-train sparkly ass all the wisdom you've been cultivating for centuries! what do you mean, 'no'?!?!" I've been on the receiving end of that, and it sucks.
Reply
Reply
The focus of this community is [BTW] Wicca but we also embrace Neo-wicca, Paganism, and about a million other religious, philosophical, occult, paranormal, natural, spiritual practices, etc.
This community puts a lot of focus on defining Wicca correctly as there's a lot of misinformation out there so we try to make sure the information we exchange is as reliable as possible, and that we're all talking the same language.
No offence is taken when a new member maybe defines things differently to this community, it's just that sometimes we can be a little knee-jerk about definitions as it's very important to make sure everyone is on the same page. Unfortunately many new members take this the wrong way, we don't mean to cause any upset we just want to keep this community as a reliable source of information.
Reply
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