Shamans
From Harath Rules
Magic comes from a shaman’s connection to the power of nature and the spirits. These latter forces are the mani- festation of the living earth; her children, the spirits, guide and aid the shaman, often through the auspices of a mentor spirit they call totems.
Shamans feel an intense bond to nature and natural things. They believe that spirits can play important roles in human lives and in fact in the lives of the world itself. They believe that the gods are simply powerful Spirits. Spirits aren’t worshiped as gods by the Shamans, rather they are revered. Shamans do not cast magic directly, rather they conjure the Spirits to work for them. In many ways, the Shaman is unique to the spell casting world. Their conjuration, however, is treated much like a spell roll.
Conjuration
The shamans’ primary skills are Astral Theory and Conjuration. Ritual Magic and Meditation are secondary and tertiary skills. Shamans do not learn Magical Theory. Rather, the Shaman works through interactions with the Spirit world. All “magic” that a Shaman casts are done via spirits that are conjured. Below are the steps for conjuring a Spirit:
- Determine the range, radius, and effort of the Conjuration as you would normally.
- Typically Area of Effect will be 0.
- Typically range is 0, but could be farther away. The Shaman has a mental link with the Spirit so long as there is a service remaining.
- Power is calculated by Power = Effort x Astral Theory.
- Drain taken = Range + Radius + Effort - Ss on Astral Theory skill
- Size and number of services are paid from out of the total power for the spell. The table below shows the cost for each level.
| Services | Power | Services | Power | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | 6 | 36 | ||
| 2 | 10 | 7 | 45 | ||
| 3 | 15 | 8 | 55 | ||
| 4 | 21 | 9 | 66 | ||
| 5 | 28 | 10 | 78 |
| Force | Power | Force | Power | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 | 11 | 105 | |
| 2 | 15 | 12 | 120 | |
| 3 | 21 | 13 | 136 | |
| 4 | 28 | 14 | 153 | |
| 5 | 36 | 15 | 171 | |
| 6 | 45 | 16 | 190 | |
| 7 | 55 | 17 | 210 | |
| 8 | 66 | 18 | 231 | |
| 9 | 78 | 19 | 253 | |
| 10 | 91 | 20 | 276 |
A shaman can be linked to a number of spirits serving you equal to your Astral Theory or your Quickness, whichever is less. This will take almost all of their concentration.
Rolling no Successes
If the shaman rolls 0 successes on their spell roll, then the spirit has refused them. The door to Astral Space is till open and the link to the spirit has still been made. The Spirit, now aware of the shaman, may decide to walk through. This is especially bad for evil spirits like demons and toxic spirits. Typically, good spirits simply ignore the request.
Spirits and Spirit Domains
| Spirit Type | Spirit | Spirit Domain | % | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spirits of Man | Hearth Spirit | A home or living area, e.g. A house, an apartment building. This includes the “property” of the home, e.g. the yard, commons of a building, patios, etc. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| City Spirit | A city or village. This includes the streets, subways, elevated platforms, etc. City Spirits can go into Fields and Hearths. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Field Spirit | Any man-made field. This includes parks, playgrounds, sports fields, and agricultural fields. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spirits of Health | Possessing Spirit | Places where sentient beings have died or are buried. This includes hospitals, homes, fields, etc. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Healing Spirit | Anyplace except where extreme disease or possession spirits live. Hospitals aren’t extreme disease or possession unless they are wards where no attempts to heal are being made. For example, a leper colony or 1920’s style mental hospitals. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Disease Spirit | Anyplace where disease runs rampant. This includes any place where living creatures congregate. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spirits of Celestial | Passion Spirit | Passion spirits are found anywhere living creatures live or where large residue of emotions run. For example, Auschwitz may contain Passion Spirits due to the overwhelming despair which occurred there. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Moon Spirit | Moon spirits can be summoned anytime the moon is visible to the conjurer. Please, keep in mind that the moon is often visible during the day. During new moons, Moon Spirits cannot be summoned. Moon’s power waxes and wanes as follows:
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| Sun Spirit | Sun Spirits can be summoned anywhere the sun is shining.
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| Spirits of Land | Desert Spirit | Any area which generally receive less than 250 mm (10 in) of precipitation each year. This includes both hot and cold deserts. Some cold deserts are far from the ocean and others are separated by mountain ranges from the sea and in both cases there is insufficient moisture in the air to cause much precipitation. The largest of these deserts are found in Central Asia. Others occur on the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains, the eastern side of the southern Andes and in southern Australia. Polar deserts are a particular class of cold desert. The air is very cold and carries little moisture so little precipitation occurs and what does fall, usually as snow, is carried along in the often strong wind and may form blizzards, drifts and dunes similar to those caused by dust and sand in other desert regions. In Antarctica, for example, the annual precipitation is about 50 mm (2 in) on the central plateau and some ten times that amount on some major peninsulas. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Forest Spirit | Natural woodlands where greater than 25% of the cover comes from natural woody vegetation, generally greater than 6 meters tall. In areas, where there is less than 25% tree cover, the GM may allow for Forest spirit summoning with a limitation on the F. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mountain Spirit | Mountain Spirits are found anywhere a natural elevation of the earth surface rising more or less abruptly from the surrounding level and attaining an altitude which, relatively to the adjacent elevation, is impressive or notable. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Prairie Spirit | regions which receive between 250 and 500 mm (10 and 20 in) and when clad in grass, these are known as steppes. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spirits of Water | Ocean Spirit | Anywhere on or in any body of salt water. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Lake Spirit | A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, apart from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| River Spirit | A river is a flowing freshwater watercourse flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Swamp Spirit | A swamp is a forested wetland. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spirits of Sky | Sky Spirit | The Sky spirit domain is everything above the land. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Mist Spirit | The mist (or fog) domain requires visible droplets of water causing a mist. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Storm Spirit | The storm domain occurs when there is an atomospheric disturbance. This includes gale-force (or greater) winds, tornadoes, hail, thunder and lightning (a thunderstorm), heavy precipitation (snowstorm, rainstorm), heavy freezing rain (ice storm), strong winds (tropical cyclone, windstorm), or wind transporting some substance through the atmosphere as in a dust storm, blizzard, sandstorm, etc. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wind Spirit | The wind spirit is similar to the storm spirit. However, the Wind spirit can also be found in light breezes. |
Spirits Services
There are four types of services that a spirit can perform for a shaman. Shamans don’t have to announce all their services at the time of conjuration; however, at sunrise, the spirit will assume that hanging around waiting was one of the services. In other words, if the shaman was granted 3 services and used 2 on the first day, the spirit would leave at sunrise of that day–assuming that simply hanging around was enough. It’s important to note that the spirit is willingly performing these services. Spirits are intelligent and generally well informed. Their answers and actions can be trusted to be in the shaman’s best interests. The shaman can, before sunrise, ask for a physical service that would extend their service (see below):
- Cast Spell–The shaman may request that the spirit case a specific spell for the shaman. The most common use of this is conjuring a Healing Spirit.
- Information Service–the shaman may request knowledge of the spirit. The spirit will tell the caster all they know about the topic. Once the spirit’s knowledge is exhausted, the shaman may ask for a multiple information services that will each take up to 24 hours of investigation to perform. A week’s worth of investigation would take 8 services; one for the initial discussion and then 7 for each day of investigation. The spirit will tell the shaman all it knows and all it discovers relating to the question–it cannot hold back.
- Physical Service–The shaman may request that the spirit perform a physical service. Like detailed information services, each physical service is limited to 24 hours. Please note, that the shaman cannot stipulate how the spirit performs the service, on;y what needs to be done. This direction can be quite specific, e.g. “Protect me from any arrows fired by Gunther from 6pm to 9pm.” Potential physical services include the following:
- Attack someone to kill, maim, or capture
- Search an area
- Watch someone or something and report
- Carry the shaman
- Move something
Spirit senses
Spirits do not view the world the same way as humans. They are an innate part of the natural element that forms them. They understand this element well, but others are confusing to them. For example, a hearth spirit will understand human motivations and objects of great emotional attachment well, but will be confused and will not understand the ideas and actions of a deer in the forest. Likewise, a forest spirit does not understand human language or objects. When a shaman has a link with the spirit they can attune themselves to the spirit’s senses and will experience the world as they do. They may be able to add some meaning to the scene, but the basic experience is that of the spirits. Since spirits are astral beings, they can see physical objects, but these do not impede movement. And tough they can recognize one human from another, this is based more on astral persona than physical characteristics. For example, shamans are seen as representations of their totem, not their physical form. In addition, spirits recognize and can report on aura color. Depending on the Spirits, they may or may not be able to recognize and understand human speech. A spirit will only know common languages for that region, e.g. elvish in an elvish forest, or common and native language of a city for a hearth spirit, but since spoken language is a physical thing and not an astral one, spirit needs to be more experienced to understand it. The basic level that a spirit understand is their Force-3. Use the following table for modifications to this basic number:
| Spirits of Man | Hearth Spirit | +3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| City Spirit | +2 | ||
| Field Spirit | +1 | ||
| Spirits of Health | Possessing Spirit | +2 | |
| Healing Spirit | +1 | ||
| Disease Spirit | +0 | ||
| Spirits of Celestial | Passion Spirit | +1 | |
| Moon Spirit | -1 | ||
| Sun Spirit | -2 | ||
| Spirits of Land | Desert Spirit | +0 | |
| Forest Spirit | +0 | ||
| Mountain Spirit | +0 | ||
| Prairie Spirit | +0 | ||
| Spirits of Water | Ocean Spirit | -1 | |
| Lake Spirit | +0 | ||
| River Spirit | +0 | ||
| Swamp Spirit | -1 | ||
| Spirits of Sky | Sky Spirit | -1 | |
| Mist Spirit | -1 | ||
| Storm Spirit | -1 | ||
| Wind Spirit | -1 |
Auras
The Aura is a reflection of our being at any given moment. Our being, (essence or True Nature) is what is left when we recognize and discard all our habits, stereotypes, manners, and pretending, superficial behavior and become fully conscious, truly natural and spontaneous. Some people are so attached to their manners and habits that it is very hard, if not impossible, to discover who they really are unless we look into their auric field. In general, the more colorful, cleaner and brighter the aura, the better and more spiritually advanced the person. Also, the more uniform the energy distribution in the aura, the healthier and more balanced the person is. With practice, we can use the distribution of the energy in the aura as a diagnostic tool. Some resources mentioned that it’s the aura around the head area that is most important for interpretation purposes. Usually, there will be one or two dominating colors (strong points) in the aura. These colors will be most likely their favorite colors. In addition to dominant colors, the Aura reflects thoughts, feelings and desires, which appear like “flashes”, “clouds” or “flames”, usually further away from the head. For example a flash of orange in the Aura indicates a thought or desire to exercise power and control. Orange as a dominant color is a sign of power and general ability to control people. Quickly changing “flashes” indicate quickly changing thoughts. Several hours before the death, the Aura becomes white, and greatly increases in intensity. For this reason in most cultures “death” is depicted in WHITE (not black), because in the past, people could actually see a white aura before death. Reflects other energy. Often represents a new, not yet designated energy in the aura. Spiritual, etheric and non-physical qualities, transcendent, higher dimensions. Meaning of Dirty colors: Colors appearing darker than background more like a smoke than a glow.
| Red | Passion, strong feelings. Love, when mixed with rose. New birth, transmutation; affects the circulatory system, the reproductive system (sexual energy) an awakening of latent abilities and talents. Too much red (or muddiness) can indicate over-stimulation, inflammation, imbalance, nervousness, temper, aggression, impulsiveness, or excitement. Red relates to the physical body, heart or circulation. The densest color, it creates the most friction. Friction attracts or repels; money worries or obsessions; anger or unforgiveness; anxiety or nervousness. | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Clear Red | Moving anger, Powerful, energetic, competitive, sexual, passionate. | ||
| Dark Red | Stagnated anger | ||
| Red-orange | Sexual passion, materialistic thoughts, thoughts about the physical body, strong energy, fire, primal, creative force, life-promoting energy, hot, strong passion, mind; will, dynamic color that can reflects love, anger, hate and unexpected change. | ||
| Deep Red | Grounded, realistic, active, strong will-power, survival-oriented. | ||
| Muddied Red | Anger (repelling) | ||
| Maroon | Moving into one’s task | ||
| Pink | To obtain a clean pink, you need to mix the purple (the highest frequency we perceive) with red (the lowest frequency). Pink Aura indicates that the person has achieved a perfect balance between spiritual awareness and material existence. The most advanced people have not only a yellow halo around the head (a permanent strong point in the aura) but also a large pink aura extending further away. The pink color in the aura is quite rare on Earth and appears only as a temporary thought, never as a strong point in the aura. | ||
| Bright Pink and Light Pink | Loving, tender, sensitive, sensual, artistic, affectionate, pure, compassionate, joyful, new or revived romantic relationship. Can indicate clairaudience, comfort, a strong sense of companionship, a quiet/modest type of individual, a love of art and beauty. Depending on the shade of pink it can also reflect immaturity, truthfulness (or a lack of), new love and new vision. | ||
| Dark and Murky Pink | Immature and/or dishonest nature | ||
| Orange | Ambition. Uplifting and absorbing. Inspiring. A sign of power. Ability and/or desire to control people. When orange becomes a strong point, it usually contributes to a yellow halo, which then becomes gold, indicating not only a spiritual teacher, but a powerful spiritual teacher, someone capable of demonstrating his/her unique abilities. Relates to reproductive organs and emotions. The color of vitality, vigor, good health and excitement. Lots of energy and stamina, productive, adventurous, courageous, outgoing social nature; currently experiencing stress related to appetites and addictions. Warmth, creativity, emotions, indication of courage, joy, socialness, opening of new awareness (especially to the subtle realms or astral planes of life.) Depending on the shade it can also mean emotional imbalances and agitation. Muddier shades can reflect pride, flamboyance, worry and vanity. | ||
| Orange Red | Confidence, creative power. Can be conflicted with bad intentions and romance. | ||
| Orange-Yellow | Creative, intelligent, detail oriented, perfectionist, scientific. | ||
| Yellow | Intellect, freedom, freeing or releasing vital forces. People who glow yellow are full of inner joy, very generous and not attached to anything. Yellow halo around the head: high spiritual development. A signature of a spiritual teacher. Buddha and Christ had yellow halos extending to their arms. Today it is rare on Earth to find a person with a halo larger than 1 inch. Yellow halo appears as a result of a highly active brow Relates to the spleen and life energy. It is the color of awakening, inspiration, intelligence and action shared, creative, playful, optimistic, easy-going. Pale yellow can indicate optimism. Yellow is the color of mental activity and new sunshine, reflects new learning, opportunities, lightness, wisdom, awakening of psychic abilities, clairsentience, and intellect. More pastel shades reflect an enthusiasm for something in life, the power of ideas and spiritual development. Muddier shades reflect excessive thinking, feelings of being deprived of recognition and being dogmatic. | ||
| Light or Pale Yellow | Emerging psychic and spiritual awareness; optimism and hopefulness; positive excitement about new ideas. | ||
| Bright Lemon Yellow | Struggling to maintain power and control in a personal or business relationship; fear of losing control, prestige, respect, and/or power. | ||
| Green | Healing, healer, nurturer. Relates to heart and lungs. It is a very comfortable, healthy color of nature. When seen in the aura this usually represents growth and balance, and most of all, something that leads to change. Love of people, animals, nature; teacher; social. Sensitivity, growing compassion, abundance, strength, friendliness, reflects growth, sympathy, calmness; a person who is reliable, dependable and open-minded. | ||
| Bright blue-greens | indicate healing ability. | ||
| Bright Emerald Green | A healer, also a love-centered person. | ||
| Yellow-Green | Creative with heart, communicative. | ||
| Dark or Muddy Forest Green | Jealousy, resentment, feeling like a victim of the world; blaming self or others; insecurity and low self-esteem; lack of understanding or personal responsibility, sensitive to perceived criticism, uncertainty, possessiveness, self-doubt, mistrust and miserliness. | ||
| Blue | Teacher, balanced existence, sustaining life, eased nerve system, transmitting forces and energy. People with blue strong point in their aura are relaxed, balanced and feel ready to live in a cave and survive. They are born survivors. Calm, quietness, reflects devotion, truth, seriousness, sometimes indicates the ability of clairaudience and development of telepathy. Relates to the throat, thyroid. Cool and collected. Caring, loving, loves to help others, sensitive, intuitive. | ||
| Lighter shades | Peacefulness, clarity and communication; truthful; intuitive, active imagination. | ||
| Electric blue | can override any other color in the aura, when the person is receiving and/or transmitting information in a telepathic communication. | ||
| Deeper shades | Sense of loneliness, life-long quest for the Divine, and levels of devotion. | ||
| Royal blue | honesty, good judgment, indicates that the person has found or about to find his or her chosen work (the work they must finish in this lifetime). | ||
| Muddier shades | blocked perceptions, melancholy, rushing, worrying, domineering, fearfulness, forgetfulness, and oversensitivity. | ||
| Bright Royal Blue | Clairvoyant; highly spiritual nature; generous; on the right path; new opportunities are coming. | ||
| Dark or Muddy Blue | Fear of the future; fear of self-expression; fear of facing or speaking the truth. | ||
| Turquoise | Indicates dynamic quality of being, highly energized personality, capable of projection, influencing other people. People with turquoise strong point in their aura can do many things simultaneously and are good organizers. They feel bored when forced to concentrate on one thing. People love bosses with turquoise auras, because such bosses explain their goals and influence their team rather than demand executing their commands. Turquoise thought is a thought about organizing and influencing others. Relates to the immune system. Sensitive, compassionate, healer, therapist. | ||
| Purple | Deeper connection to spirit indicates spiritual thoughts. Purple is never a strong point in the aura. It appears only as temporary “clouds” and “flames”, indicating truly spiritual thoughts. Ability to handle affairs with practicality (and worldliness). | ||
| Paler shades | Humility and spirituality. | ||
| Red-purple shades | Great passion, or strength of will, and a need for greater individual effort. | ||
| Muddier shades | Need to overcome something, intense erotic imaginations, tendencies to be overbearing, needing sympathy, and feeling misunderstood. | ||
| Indigo | Moving toward a deeper connection to spirit. Relates to the third eye, visual and pituitary gland. Intuitive, sensitive, deep feeling. | ||
| Violet | Relates to crown, pineal gland and nervous system. The most sensitive and wisest of colors. This is the intuitive color in the aura, and reveals psychic power of attunement with self. Intuitive, visionary, futuristic, idealistic, artistic, magical. Warmth, transmutation, the blending of the heart and the mind, the physical with the spiritual, independence, intuition, dynamic (and important) dream activity, and can reflect one who is searching. | ||
| Paler Violet shades | Humility, and spirituality. | ||
| Lavender | Spirit, imagination, visionary, daydreamer, etheric. | ||
| White | Purity and truth; angelic qualities, an awakening of greater creativity. Serious disease, artificial stimulation (drugs). Why does the white color in the Aura indicate problems? White color is like a noise, rather than a set of harmonious tones (monochromatic colors). The white aura indicates a lack of harmony in the body and mind. | ||
| Very Bright White | |||
| White sparkles or flashes of white light | Angels are nearby; can indicate that the person is pregnant or will be soon. | ||
| Gold | Connection to God. In the service of humankind, Godlike love. The color of enlightenment and divine protection. When seen within the aura, it says that the person is being guided by their highest good. It is divine guidance. Protection, wisdom, inner knowledge, spiritual mind, intuitive thinker. Reflects dynamic spiritual energy, coming into one’s own power, higher energies of devotion, restoration of harmony, strong enthusiasm, great inspiration, and a time of revitalizing. | ||
| Muddier shades | Indicates that the person is still in the process of awakening higher inspiration, not yet clarified it within their life, and indicates alchemical process is still active (the person is still working to turn the lead of their life into gold. | ||
| Clear Metallic, Shiny and Bright | Spiritual energy and power activated and awakened; an inspired person. | ||
| Dark Brownish Yellow | A student or one who is straining at studying; overly analytical to the point of feeling fatigued or stressed; trying to make up for “lost time” by learning everything all at once. | ||
| Silver | Communication. This is the color of abundance, both spiritual and physical. Lots of bright silver can reflect to plenty of money, and/or awakening of the cosmic mind. | ||
| Bright Metallic | Receptive to new ideas; intuitive; nurturing. | ||
| Black | Absence of light or profound forgetting, thwarted ambition (cancer). Draws or pulls energy to it and in so doing, transforms it. It captures light and consumes it. Usually indicates long-term unforgiveness (toward others or another) collected in a specific area of the body, which can lead to health problems; also, entitities within a person’s aura, chakras, or body; past life hurts; unreleased grief from abortions if it appears in the ovaries. Color of protection, a color that can shield individuals from outside energies, reflects that the person is protecting themselves, indicates secrets, a new understanding of burdens and sacrifices will manifest. Can also indicate imbalances (physical imbalances usually show up black or darkened in those areas around the body) can indicate holes in the auric field (substance abusers or abuse victims, usually). This is a difficult color to interpret, so don’t jump to conclusions. | ||
| Black Velvet | Like black holes in space, doorways to other realities. | ||
| Earth Aura Colors | Soil, wood, mineral, plant. These colors display a love of the Earth, of being grounded and is seen in those who live and work on the outdoors….construction, farming, etc. These colors are important and are a good sign. | ||
| Rainbows | Rainbow-colored stripes, sticking out like sunbeams from the hand, head or body. A Reiki healer, or a starperson (someone who is in the first incarnation on Earth) | ||
| Pastels | A sensitive blend of light and color, more so than basic colors. Shows sensitivity and a need for serenity. | ||
| Brown | Unsettling, distracting, materialistic, negating spirituality. Holding onto energies. Insecurity. Color of the earth, reflects new growth (especially above the head and around the feet), establishing new roots, a desire to accomplish, reflects industry, organization, a lack of and need for discrimination (across face or touching the head), if seen in chakra areas can mean those chakras need to be cleansed. This color can be difficult to interpret, so don’t jump to any conclusions. | ||
| Gray | Dark thoughts, depressing thoughts, unclear intentions, presence of a dark side of personality. Color of initiation, and indicates movement toward unveiling innate abilities. | ||
| Silver shades | Reflects an awakening of the feminine energies (energies of illumination, intuition and creative imagination.) | ||
| Darker shades | Physical imbalances, indicates a need to leave no task undone, secretive, the lone-wolf type. | ||
| Dark and Muddy Gray | Residue of fear is accumulating in the body, with a potential for health problems, especially if gray clusters seen in specific areas of the body. Blocking energies. Guardedness. | ||
| Sulfur (color of mustard) | pain or lack of ease, anger. | ||
Totems
Animals play an important role to a Shaman, acting as omens and message-bearers, as well as representations of animal spirit guides.