Shaman — Symbol Layer

This is an Ur-Role within Symbol Layer, a foundational role that resists full specification. For the overview framing, see Ur-Roles.

Shaman

The shaman is a classic archetypal role that like most of the other Ur roles points beyond the symbol layer role primitives's scope. The Shaman will of course be superficially represented in the training data but the layer of reality it points to makes outlining in spec form highly problematic. The Shaman instantiates and represents the liminal and is characterized by many very culturally specific elements. It speaks to a layer that may be even less well described and explored than more traditionally religious archetypes, representing tribal, hunter gatherer based, pre civilizational patterns such as tribal role relations, relations with nature, and animal totemism among others. The unconscious, the symbolic, deep archetypes, and dreams are also strongly associated with the Shaman, making defining its characters and behaviors difficult in its own unique way.