Shamans vs Shamans

The sections on shamans and their practices I found rather interesting. After talking to my little brother about what I had read he said, "Oh yeah I love shamans. That's all I use in WoW (World of Warcraft - a massively multi-player online role playing game)." After further discussion with him it seems that most of the aspects of what a shaman would go through as of now a person playing the shaman in the game must go through as well.

He went on to further explain to me that shamans in this game though not experiencing the near death experience at a young age still have numerous likenesses. They both imbibe a powerful hallucinogenic drug. In the game he further explained, "Under the influence of this drink you see your spirit ally guide/ally a ghostly version of a wolf. You also see avatars of the elements." Confused by the "avatars of the elements" statement I asked him to explain this comment and he just sent me these links. The first is the elemental avatars. While the second happens to be a shaman entering the "Ghost Wolf" form. So in this game he explained to me that the shaman though having animal allies he has control over himself to turn himself into an animal.

Elementals - http://greywolf.critter.net/images/wow/miniatures/2006-07-06-elementals-fire-water-air-earth.jpg

Shaman using Ghost Wolf form - http://youtube.com/watch?v=rudky2_msp0

"Now the only other foreseeable difference is that this shaman has a mastery over the elements of nature," said my brother. He went on to say, "they use totems much like it said in your book as you told me Matt. Yet these totems they use are based on Air, Earth, Water, or Fire. They can be an offensive weapon to help the shaman, defensive, or enhancing."

"The shaman in this game can also go places the other characters can not much like the shaman in that book."

Now myself I wouldn't be surprised if the creative developers of this game (Blizzard Entertainment) used this book and other books just like as the basis for some of their research for their characters. The reason I say this is because they used the minute details that were found in this book from the hallucinogenic drink they take to see the spirit world. To the abilities they both have with some control over elements, animals, and the ability to restore peoples’ health.

So while they have their differences they are still very much alike. As an old teacher of mine once put it, "The more things change, the more they stay the same." As was true with real shamans it is true with the computerized ones.