Lakefingers said:

Usually a shaman can be picked out from a crowd because they have bad taste
in clothes and look old for their age due to alcohol, cigarette and other
substance abuse. They usually talk idly and neurotically about basic things
that any semi-intelligent person can figure out, but have some distance
to this that any semi-intelligent person does not have. By email you can
recognize them through the spam mail they send you about drum courses that
leave people unsatisfied and just prey on the weak that haven't experienced
anything shamanic on their own such as psychedelics, meditative states or
any other sort of insight where the ego is broken down. Most of this money
goes to alcohol, cigarettes and trips to exotic places where they obtain
herbs for their drum courses. So the problem here is that it because
a profession, a source of income.

Of course, there are some shamans than aren't hacks and could impress
even the picky through their hypnotic deeds. Thankfully I've also met one of these.

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