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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does Harner end his first shamanic journey exercise for the reader?

2. On his or her first guided journey, the shaman student is asked by Harner to visualize what?

3. How might a shaman be distinguished from other medicine men?

4. What is the name of the Jivaro shaman Harner works with?

5. What does the Jivaro shaman help Harner acquire?

Short Essay Questions

1. What are some of the similarities Harner notes in first-hand shamanic experiences reported by middle-class Americans?

2. Describe the tunnel a shaman utilizes to journey into the Lowerworld.

3. Describe Harner's experience of spiritually going to a cave beneath a waterfall with a Jivaro shaman.

4. Who is Akachu, and how does he help Harner?

5. How old is shamanism, and what cultures have best preserved this practice?

6. How does a shaman take care of his or her tsentak?

7. What does the author say shamans feel about what they see in the non-ordinary reality or shamanic state of consciousness (SSC)?

8. Summarize the first shamanic journey exercise presented to the reader in Chapter 2.

9. Describe Harner's journey with Akachu.

10. Describe the spirit helpers known as tsentak.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Why would a Westerner with no prior experience with shamanistic practices develop an interest in them? How might he or she benefit from knowing and practicing some of these rituals? What precautions might he or she need to take?

Essay Topic 2

The author strives to show commonalities between the world's various shamanic traditions and systems.

Part 1) Describe spiritual and practical commonalities Harner describes between different shamanic traditions.

Part 2) Why do you think there are similarities in shamanism even between cultures that are geographically separated and have had no contact with each other?

Essay Topic 3

Define, compare, and contrast the shamanic state of consciousness (SSC) and the ordinary state of consciousness (OSC).

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