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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 1, Discovering the Way.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why is Harner afraid to take maikua?
(a) It is a poison that affects the liver and impairs eyesight.
(b) Nobody has ever taken maikua and lived to tell about it.
(c) He's heard stories of death and madness that result from taking it.
(d) Its bitterness leaves his mouth dry and burns his throat.

2. What does the author encounter when he drinks maikua?
(a) Winged benevolent beings.
(b) Dangerous creatures.
(c) Beloved pets he knew as a child.
(d) A frightening emptiness.

3. To learn more about shamanism, what does Harner do?
(a) Enrolls in a class on shamanism at his community college.
(b) Asks the oldest shaman in the world to mentor him.
(c) Lives among tribal people to learn their shamanic ways.
(d) Assembles a team of seven shamans from every corner of the world.

4. Why does Harner say it's important that the shaman does not tell the patient's family that he already has the ordinary form of the spirit in his mouth?
(a) The family should not know what is happening to the patient without the patient's explicit permission.
(b) It will frighten the family, and this fear will work against the energies applied by the shaman.
(c) The physical manifestation that has infected the patient will read the family's thoughts, rendering the cure useless.
(d) The symbolic act of expelling the ordinary form is part of the ritual rather than the actual act that removes the intruder spirit.

5. Harner indicates that becoming a shaman involves pain, facing fears, and a willingness to:
(a) Leave behind all that one holds near and dear.
(b) Confront the unknown.
(c) Cross dangerous jungles.
(d) Consume exotic foods.

Short Answer Questions

1. In his attempt to find spirit helpers with the assistance of a Jivaro shaman from Ecuador, what does the author do?

2. What does the Jivaro shaman help Harner acquire?

3. Why does Harner include the examples of the Lakota Sioux and Coast Salish tribes for Westerners in particular?

4. Through numerous examples, the author shows the commonality of experiences by shamans regardless of what?

5. Among other sensations in his experience with the Conibo, Harner experiences a sense of flying inside what?

(see the answer key)

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