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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Yaarel" data-source="post: 8298562" data-attributes="member: 58172">That is a helpful quote to understand MTG.I hate to say it, but. WotC must make an effort to tread carefully when describing a shaman. In old school D&D, the Orc mages were called "shamans" because they had lower Intelligence and were less civilized. This was potently racist against reallife shamanic cultures, nevermind racist against "less civilized" cultures as if less intelligent.The thing is, there is some truth to the MTG description of a Shaman. As far as I can tell, the following sounds somewhat accurate."The shaman wields magic from ... personal experiences of nature ... from the world around her. ... Many shamans believe ... in ... the fundamental forces of nature. ... The values of self-expression ... and individual freedom ... flavor ... the shamans."The following is incorrect: "The shaman derives magical power." Rather, the shaman is a magical power. Every being in nature is a magical power, including each human.Shamanic traditions empathize with features of nature, both human and nonhuman. Shaman can relate to the instincts of animals, and sometimes even self-identify as animals. Some even take on the mind of animal, and some of these even shapeshift into the form of an animal. But likewise can empathize with stones and trees, and other features of the world. Nonhuman aspects of our planet are important, and the shaman personalizes the relationship with them.Nevertheless, the following descriptions seem to imply that shamans are less intelligent and less sophisticated, and make me uncomfortable."The shaman ... wields magic from the gut, who lets her emotions ... guide her enlightenment. The shaman derives magical power ... without allowing too much abstract, ivory-tower thinking to get in the way. A shaman derives power from her passion and her instincts. Many shamans believe fervently in the importance of ... their own instincts. ... The values of ... motivation by instinct and passion rather than forethought, ... hit ... the flavor of shamans right on the head."Ouch.Perhaps it is extremely important to explicitly identify shamanism with "psionics". So the intellectual connotations of the psionic classes can mitigate the potential racism against the "less intelligent" cultures.Psionics is the power of any mind, whether a human mind or a nonhuman mind. The mind includes both thinking and feeling.</blockquote>

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