Sorry LetsEat, you missed the boat when you said "They reduce everything down to willpower and the beliefs necessary to direct the will, therefore the many ancient and venerable wisdom traditions become unreal" but it's a common trap many fall into, so I don't blame you. I can unpackage it like this: there are traditions of Shamans, Chaos Magick and the like over millennia doing spiritual rituals that are used primarily to shape "forming intent". In Chinese Shamanism they call this "Yìtú" in their Shamanic/magick culture and Tibetans and indigenous Africans I work with have done the same. There are elements of chaos magick akin to old Shamanic traditions in the world. Both have produced real hard objectives outcomes, which plenty I've witnessed from their version of remote viewing or accurately describing where undiagnosed tumors are growing in patients, etc. But they ALL use some traditions and are based on traditions, many which overlap. There is no "con" in directing willpower when it produces verifiable results.
Alex has done TONS of excellent interviews with sophisticated practitioners, including some former military, using Shamanism or occult "Magick" which have certainly all the ancient traditions behind them, but they are used in a context which seems to allow to let others learn the same shaping of self-willpower in cultivating and materializing results. I hate to play the "Dad" correcting people on Skeptiko but sometimes I can't help myself because I hate for people to miss major take-home points.
As a side, you are correct in that many modern day "Shamans", "Druids", "remote viewers", "Chaos Magick" are all full of shit. For sure. Either con artists or simply very unskilled (including some popular names in the US). But that does not discount those across time and the world embracing and doing this work with incredible skill and master the game authentically, often quietly without any show to the public.
-John