This recent phenomenon has caused no end of controversy among students and scholars of Celtic tradition. There are now ongoing workshops and classes in Celtic shamanism in which attendees pass through a graded curriculum of knowledge in order to qualify or be certified as bona fide practitioners of the tradition. These primary writers have inspired a host of imitators. In recent years authors such as John and Caitlin Mathews, Tom Cowan, and others, have spread the idea of a Celtic shamanism through their books and workshops. We will draw upon sources both ancient and modern, literary as well as from folk and oral tradition. What validity is there to the claim of these authors that Celtic peoples posessed an indigenous shamanism, similar and equal to the shamanic systems of Native Americans and other tribal peoples? This chapter will endeavor to examine the claims for an indigenous Celtic shamanism. Various authors and workshop presenters have promulgated the idea of a Celtic shamanism. Why would I take an Elemental Shaman in my party? What more does a Mage or a Hunter give me, for example? Nothing, that’s right, and that’s the whole Shaman’s problem overall: it does the same thing as other classes, but often with a lot of flaws not compensated for elsewhere.The idea of shamanism as a part of Celtic tradition has become very popular in recent years. To support this idea, let us specify that the Elemental and Shaman Improvement specializations are among the few that do nothing more than their melee or ranged counterparts. Do we know, historically, a class as neglected as the Shaman in PvE? Even with a lot of bad faith, difficult to find one! Of course, let’s not overlook the incredible lack of interest of the Shaman in most PvE content: it was very rare to see a group claiming a Shaman pending before Patch 9.1 … And again, this sudden attraction only affects the Restoration specialization if the player has chosen to play Kyrian. This unpleasant feeling has been going on for a long time now, and even if some efforts have been made to improve the visual of elementals quite recently, for example, this remains too little compared to the Druid to whom this class is strongly related. The Warlock in particular, the Druid also obviously, but the Hunter has already benefited from it in the past as well and benefits from it passively with the regular addition of new types of tame pets. Regularly, certain classes benefit from small appreciable cosmetic changes, often the same ones besides. The only two new obtainable forms arrive with Patch 9.2 and are, forgive us the words, miserable glyphs that can be bought from the local Calligrapher in exchange for a few coins. On the Shaman’s side, it’s been the same soup forever, and Shadowlands hasn’t changed that if you don’t go for the Night Fae Congregation. A bewildering amount of new felines and bears were roaming all over the place, not to mention the Killer Whale Form, of cheetah and other forms of related theft. Going back to Legion in particular, the Druids benefited from new forms through their prodigious weapon. Additional content of course, but content. Better yet, each of these forms is obtained in a very specific way: little secret requiring research to be successful, defeat a raid boss, open a treasure or kill a rare, they are always awarded in exchange for a small one. While the Nocturnal Fae, one of the Shadowlands Congregations, regularly see an astronomical (and even absurd in force) amount of new forms added for their Soul Form, the Druids have very recently benefited from four exclusive forms. The title of this passage will undoubtedly hurt our Shaman friends, yet it is clear that this is the path that Blizzard seems to have chosen to take for many years already, at least visually speaking, and again. The Spectral Lupine Form The Shaman, a sub-Druid?
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