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Mage: the Ascension
The Spirit Ways
An-an, dan ji! Wey-wey, oh oh!
The secrets of the spirit world reflect every corner of reality. Show respect to the spirits and they respond to your dances and songs. Bring reverence to the spirits and you may walk in their world. No mans flawed magick compares to the spirits, archetypes of all creation. Let the barriers between flesh and spirit fall away and answer the call of the world made whole.
When the Shaman Calls, the Spirits Answer
For shamans and spiritualists of all Traditions, the compromises, bargains and rituals of magick are rooted in ties between human and nature. See what awaits in the Mirror World with new Abilities, Merits and Flaws for shamanic characters, an in-depth look at shamanistic cultures across the world, and a host of spirits and their realms. Plus, fetishes, rotes and spiritual investments for truly devoted seekers.
The secrets of the spirit world reflect every corner of reality. Show respect to the spirits and they respond to your dances and songs. Bring reverence to the spirits and you may walk in their world. No mans flawed magick compares to the spirits, archetypes of all creation. Let the barriers between flesh and spirit fall away and answer the call of the world made whole.
When the Shaman Calls, the Spirits Answer
For shamans and spiritualists of all Traditions, the compromises, bargains and rituals of magick are rooted in ties between human and nature. See what awaits in the Mirror World with new Abilities, Merits and Flaws for shamanic characters, an in-depth look at shamanistic cultures across the world, and a host of spirits and their realms. Plus, fetishes, rotes and spiritual investments for truly devoted seekers.
112 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1999
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About the author
Eric Taylor
99 books3 followersThere are several authors on Goodreads with this name.
For the musicologist, see Eric Taylor.
For the child psychiatrist, see Eric A. Taylor.
For the musicologist, see Eric Taylor.
For the child psychiatrist, see Eric A. Taylor.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 28, 2020
This book is very much a mixed bag. On the plus side, it is in many ways the most useful primarily-Mage book for dealing with Spirits. Chapter 3 has a lot of useful things in it, regarding what's in the Umbra, how spirits relate to each other and to mages, etc. It has the clearest delineation of the different levels of spirit (Gaffling, Jaggling, Incarna, Celestine) that I've seen in a Mage book as well. The appendix has some useful things, many of the rotes are good, the fetishes and talens provide a fun contrast to the usual lists of talismans, and even some of the merits and flaws are interesting.
And then there's chapters 1 and 2. These chapters are largely terrible. They seem to be trying to distance shamanism from the Dreamspeakers so hard that they end up sounding like Euthanatoi and occasionally Ecstatics, and the Dreamspeakers just wouldn't qualify. There are a lot of strange choices in the writing, including making the viewpoint character a Jewish kid being introduced to worship of the orishas, which has its own problems. On top of all that, almost every bit of history of cultural discussion is factually incorrect. Claims like the middle east not having indigenous shamanistic practices (there exist books titled things like "Recovering the Shamanic in Judaism" by respected rabbis) and the discussion of Africa has a distressing sense of Noble Savage to it.
In general, the book ends up mixed, and the first two chapters on Shamanism in practice are mostly negative, but the discussion of spirits and the Umbra is one of the clearer ones in the game line, despite there being two entire books dedicated solely to the Umbra.
And then there's chapters 1 and 2. These chapters are largely terrible. They seem to be trying to distance shamanism from the Dreamspeakers so hard that they end up sounding like Euthanatoi and occasionally Ecstatics, and the Dreamspeakers just wouldn't qualify. There are a lot of strange choices in the writing, including making the viewpoint character a Jewish kid being introduced to worship of the orishas, which has its own problems. On top of all that, almost every bit of history of cultural discussion is factually incorrect. Claims like the middle east not having indigenous shamanistic practices (there exist books titled things like "Recovering the Shamanic in Judaism" by respected rabbis) and the discussion of Africa has a distressing sense of Noble Savage to it.
In general, the book ends up mixed, and the first two chapters on Shamanism in practice are mostly negative, but the discussion of spirits and the Umbra is one of the clearer ones in the game line, despite there being two entire books dedicated solely to the Umbra.
April 20, 2021
Remarkably well-researched and balanced (for an RPG book). Despite its occassional slips into thinking-like-a-westerner territory, this book manages to give a mostly fair and accurate portrayal of the non-western paradigm that would inform the approach of an indigenous person to “magic”. As a student of such traditions “in real life” as well as a life-long RPG hobbyist who loves the premise and approach of the Mage game, I found this book quite refreshing and inspiring. Will probably be very helpful for devising a chronicle around indigenous shamans and shape-shifters. Loved it.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews