Ya, quite a few Rk1 spells are purchased via plat from the vendors in "Feerrott the Dream" (new Feerrott) near the HoT zoneline. There are some, though, that don't show up there, and I'm not quite sure where you get those. I know a few are purchased from the elf vendor near RM zoneline in Feerrott the Dream using "Dream Motes", which are obtained by doing missions. However, you also need to get faction in order to purchase those spells from him... I had to do 4-6 quests in order to get my faction to indifferent, I believe... at which point he opened up some rk1 spells to me.
Fortunately, you might not have to worry a whole lot about the Rk1's, because the Rk2's are pretty damn easy to get and are generally quite a bit better than rk1's. The spell system is very much like the OoW spell system, with some added likeability.
Rank 2 spells are obtained from the gnome female Kaelynn Stearns in Feerrott the Dream near Rathe Mountains zoneline. You say "spells" to her, and she will offer you one of 5 quests (for each level of spells). 86 spells require Minor fragments; 87 = Lesser; 88 = Median; 89 = Greater; 90 = Glowing. Just get the appropriate-level spell from her, then hand in your fragment. Frags are obtained by killing named mobs; as quest chest rewards; and sometiems as just rare drops on trash. They are also droppable (like OoW), so you can purchase them in bazaar... and they seem to be very common, so while they're a tad expensive now, they've already dropped a lot in price and should only go down from here.
Btw, you initially can only get spell quests for levels 86-88. As before with the faction, I had to get indifferent, I believe, which required about 5 missions. After that, she opened up 89-90 spells to me.
See:
http://eqbeastiary.allakhazam.com/search.shtml?id=35718 for Alla's NPC/quest info.
See:
http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/spel ... ion=search for shaman spells 86-90. Keep in mind that some of those listed are not actual spells, but effects of other spells.
The great thing is you can actually select which spell you want when you choose your quest reward, instead of having to get 6 "crap" spells before you get Unity, for instance.