Quote Originally Posted by mrdevious
it's a really fascinating subject, one that modern society isn't raised on and therefor isn't intimately familiar with. I absolutely love the practices of pagan, extinct-faith's, tribal, or just general shamanic traditions that don't hold to mass monotheistic dogma. There's an incredible wealth of information from so many traditions long extinct or isolated in small areas, I wish the general populace was more knowledgeable about them. Heck, I wish I was more knowledgeable about them!
What I found most interesting about so far, 4 pages into The Way of Wyrd, where it reincarnates a tribal exorcism of a woman who has a physical ailment. It is as though the shaman is driving the evil spirit out of her, by force. This bears some similarity with the prevailing medicinal paradigm which views illness as the "invader" and the immune system as a defence mechanism. Perhaps various writers have reinterpreted the original meaning. Maybe its also a valid metaphor to use to explain and cure/relieve illness?

There seems to be nearly as many ways of looking at things as there are things!

I just feel that that was undermining the value of this semi-historical account. Nonetheless the shaman way seems to be peaceful, and offering lots of great isomorphisms with current holistic medicine. It ALL makes so much fucking sense when you look at all the different ways of dealing with life and death.