religion anthropology quizlet religion anthropology quizlet

Rituals called rites of passage mark ones transition through the various stages in life, from as early as conception throughout life until death, and even afterwards. Seen in states. Anthropology of Religion Quizzes 1-7 Term 1 / 43 Tylor's definition of religion emphasizes Click the card to flip Definition 1 / 43 a belief in spiritual or "supernatural" beings Click the card to flip Flashcards Learn Test Match Created by MegJensen- Terms in this set (43) Tylor's definition of religion emphasizes At the end of the ritual process, the participants emerge with a new identity. As an example, Tibetan Buddhist monks ritually create elaborate mandalas, or sacred designs, using colored sand. Englishman 1871-1958. Anthropology of Religion Inquiring into the relationship between the divine, sacred, and the social order, and attendant beliefs, movements, and institutions are some of the oldest questions in Anthropology and continue to be some of the most relevant to the modern world. the study of people who are known only from their physical and cultural remains. Lower order systems are all about specific material goals, like money making and physical pleasures. Westerners do not usually consider that religion is the basis of morality. Consider the experimental results for the following randomized block design. She figured that power is accorded to the sex that is thought to embody the forces that a group is dependent on. A particular type of greeting on meeting someone may be a traditional ritual but is not always required. 2. The purpose is to mark time, to establish or maintain a connection between the performers and their cultures or communities, and to inspire active and regular participation of members of a tradition in its beliefs and practices. Used to describe religion. Proposed religion evolved from animism-polytheism-monotheism. They are based variously on ideas human social structures, emotions, or cognition. broward health medical center human resources phone number. Click the card to flip Definition 1 / 86 The quest for justice Click the card to flip Flashcards Learn Test Match Created by lizard2025 Terms in this set (86) What is the primary ethical duty of Khalsa Sikhs? She is able to obtain forecasted returns for the three securities for the years 2015 through 2021. ; 7 Which anthropologist argued that religious beliefs are . Cultural Universal. Religion Anthropology Flashcards | Quizlet Religion Anthropology Term 1 / 18 religion Click the card to flip Definition 1 / 18 cultural knowledge of supernatural (hidden reality) that people use to cope w/ultimate probs of human existence - associated w/ gods, ghosts, spirits, magic - beyond "normal" experience - provides unifying values They are often preceded by rituals of purification, and their performances are believed to bring power or blessedness. They go through ordeals/ humiliations together, which signify the destruction of the former state. Some rituals are seen to have little actual power, while others are believed to be highly efficacious. Elder brother vs younger brother Postcolonial, acculturative religious movements in Melanesia. You live away from your parents, but usually are not completely independent. 2. Some of the sand is given to spectators, who see it as sacred and may keep it on their home altars, while the remaining sand is poured into a flowing body of water. An example of the latter is a ritual of healing, in which a shaman reenacts a past event when a healing occurred or imitates the behavior of a particular spirit whose function it is to dispel disease or disease-causing agents. The three possible portfolio combinations are AB, AC, and BC. Anthropology of religion is the study of religion in relation to other social institutions and the comparison of religious beliefs and practices across cultures.. How do anthropologists view religion? What is the relationship between sociology and anthropology? The surface area $S$ of the body of an average person 4 feet tall who weighs $w \mathrm{lb}$ changes at the rate $S^{\prime}(w)=110 w^{-0.575} \mathrm{in}^2 / \mathrm{lb}$ 2. "religion in action"--> helps control things we otherwise cant explain. List three factors in James Dow's Universal Aspects of Symbolic Healing. It is universal, or has universal potential Anthropology Chapter 4: Applying Anthropology, Anthropology Chapter 1: What is anthropology, Anderson's Business Law and the Legal Environment, Comprehensive Volume, David Twomey, Marianne Jennings, Stephanie Greene, Operations Management: Sustainability and Supply Chain Management, Elliot Aronson, Robin M. Akert, Samuel R. Sommers, Timothy D. Wilson. A collective effervescence can develop in Religious contexts. - They are charged with protecting "The heart of the world" (live in Aluna and the physical world) Which of the following would not be an example of a rite of passage? Associated with social division and serves and emotional need. As of early 2015, The Netherlands, Spain, Canada, South Africa, Norway, Sweden, Portugal, Iceland, Argentina, Denmark, Brazil . \end{array} He was interested in a hierarchy of values. A lack of environmental security correlated with control of women. Explain. \text{Payment of interest} &19,000 & \text{Increase in current assets}\\ syncretism. Formal, repetitive, stereotyped behaviour; based on a liturgical order. theorized a linear evolution of religion, from magic to religion to science, adopted by Tylor and Frazer; theorizes that religion originates in an attempt to rationally explain the world but ultimately gives way to science, theorized that the natural beauty of the world inspires religion Are social acts. The consistency and degree of placebo response necessitates a common underlying mechanism or system of mind-body communication present in all forms of healing. ; 3 Religion: Crash Course Sociology #39; 4 What was the ceremony of purification and why was it needed? More science=less animism. A part time magico-religious practitioner. Tylor's definition of religion emphasizes, a belief in spiritual or "supernatural" beings, Which of the following is a "type" of religion that anthropologists have studied, Prehistoric religions, ancient religions, Indigenous religions of small scale societies. Mana It is then worn for 10 minutes-the boy cannot feel his arm because of the venom and may shake uncontrollably for days after. Ultimately, however, rituals serve as vehicles to create or enhance the proximity of the rituals beneficiaries to the realm of the divine, to influence the divine or supernatural, or to facilitate the attainment of power associated with the spirit being who is propitiated. - Took three trips-> on her first trip she saw the women as the 'other;' she focused on the male villagers b/c she thought they would have more important input -> She became increasingly aware that the women could be seen in a different light -> By her third visit she understood the women's heavy work load and lack of leisure. Ignore the cross product between the real rate of interest and the inflation rate. For example college years. Anthropology Anthropology Flashcards 05 2 - 25 cards 102 human origins - 29 cards 124P final - 64 cards 13/14 - 30 cards 2013 McDermott Scholars - 20 cards 207 Final - 136 cards 210 - 15 cards 215 Midterm - 218 cards 234 - 106 cards 2414 Anthro Test 1 - 48 cards 2nd mid term - 23 cards - 13 cards 34 Spleen - 73 cards 3rd Exam - 34 cards It is highly visible and, in the words of Raymond T. Firth (1995:214), represents "a massive output of human enterprise." Religious beliefs and are an enduring tribute to humankind's nearly infinite resourcefulness and adaptability in coping with the problems of daily life. Cultural, especial religious, mixes, emerging from acculturation. \end{array} It is universal, or has universal potential 4. &\text { Treatments }\\ T/F: Ritual can be thought of as patterned and formal behavior that communicates some kind of meaning. + sexually egalitarian, Thought of ritual as a performance planned or improvised that effects the transformation life to an alternative context within which the everyday is transformed These formulas are, in a sense, magic . Don't over reach on interpretation --> symbolism is open to individual interpretation, and our interpretation may be different. Also has priesthood and notions of divine power, views the supernatural differently- are manifestations of, or are under the control of a single eternal, omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent supreme being. Thus, attendance at ones graduation ceremony, for example, is not a prerequisite to graduate. Your chapter provides several reasons that animals are important as symbols, how do Emotionalists see them? The ritual marks the passage from child to adult male, each subgroup having its customs and expectations. (realigns your spiritual balance) These rituals have often been labeled magic by outsiders to the traditions in which they exist. +thought of them as racially pure If a stock investment with insignificant influence costs $10,000 and is sold for$12,000, how should the difference between these two amounts be recorded? Examples include daily meditation, prayers before meals, Sunday mass, or full moon services. Seen in Aztecs, Mexico, Africa, Asia, Rome, Greece. 2. When the double leaves the body the person dies. 1. Earliest form of religion, belief in spiritual beings. You have been asked to provide an approximation of the real interest rate considering following situation: the real risk-free rate of interest is 4.8% and the expected rate of inflation is constant at 3.1%. Stanford, CA 94305Phone: 650-723-3421anthropology [at] stanford.eduCampus Map. In many cultures, they now may be ready for marriage, and they can no longer freely mix with nonrelated females. It essentially removes them from their families and from the society around them. 2. It discusses various theoretical and contemporary perspectives on fieldwork and ethnography. Thinking through rituals: Philosophical perspectives. Anthropologies of 'World' Religions Although most anthropologists feel uneasy with the idea that so-called world religions such as Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, and Hinduism can be regarded as autonomous systems, there has been a move in recent decades for researchers to identify themselves as ethnographers of a particular religion. Describes antimodernist movements in various religions. 4. They are given special privileges as well as special restrictions. It is simple, elegant and well supported through time. . On the spiritual level, they serve as vehicles, in one manner or another, to draw beneficiaries closer to the divine, to enhance communication with spirit beings, to provide access to supernatural powers, or to facilitate ones path to salvation or enlightenment. Some cultures tend to be outer orientated (outside the domestic sphere) , while others were inner oriented (inside the domestic sphere). (2004). Using supernatural techniques to accomplish specific aims. African traditions remain strong, also strong Christian origins Has a notion of salvation, often from outside (a 'coming deliverer') 3. Most concentrate on one of these, but some combine them. A response will appear in the window below the question to let you know if you are correct. According to Ch. A physical inventory of Liverpool Company taken at December 31 reveals the following. Moreover, there is an increasing view that many of the problems in urbanized and westernized society are exacerbated by the lack of ritual tools and supports to address them. -An ecofeminism and witch -> interest in the Goddess, ecology, and the women's movement go hand in hand, -Argued that a defining characteristic of human societies is that they are engaged in a process of generating and sustaining systems of meaning that enable them to transcend the most basic, natural limits of existence. The presence of stone mounds or "carins" associated with Neanderthals, Cognitive/intellectual theories for the emergence of religion, Ways of explaining phenomena like floods or eclipses in absence of scientific understandings of earth's processes, Social theories for the emergence of religion. Early anthropological study of religion was guided by social theory that was informed by evolutionary biology. The body is a complex system, and the functions of its various parts can be a source for symbols for other complex processes in society. On the empirical level, they facilitate individual identity formation while validating and reaffirming the beliefs, values, and social cohesion and stability of the community. - Totem-ism: any situation in which a special relationship was thought to exist between a social group and one or more classes of material objects, specifically animals, plants, and other natural phenomena Common elements in these include a ritual bath, ascetic practices like fasting, repetition of certain prayers, a period of solitude, and sacrificial offerings. 1. Most people who do personal rituals do so as part of a regular adherence to religious beliefs. Seen in hunter gathers and Australian totemites. Discuss Peggy Sanday's conception of sex pole plans based on inner vs. outer orientations. inspiration leads to myths that lead to religion, theorized that desires and fantasies lead to religion, theorized that needs lead to a search for meaning that leads to religion, theorized that familiar relations lead to religion + work focused on connections between religion and social structure (animism). $$ Western societies are motivated by lower order values that are not considered sacred. Are polytheistic. "Theories are analytical tools for understanding, explaining, and making predictions about a given subject matter" (1). A religious system that assigns different plant and animal species to specific social groups and postulates a relationship between the group and the species formed during the period of creation. Ways of explaining the "glue" that holds societies together by encouraging moral behavior. Mimic how Europeans use or treat objects. **Requirements** People come together when they are initiated together. Puberty rituals are typical of rites of passage and are an important part of many cultures process of adult identity formation. Dung is a basic cooking fuel. T/F: According to your text, all religious traditions explicitly distinguish between natural and supernatural planes of existence. 5. and "What role do religions play in a society? Curing is often accomplished by restructuring a disorder in a mythic world Which of the following is not an example of a difference between how indigenous peoples view religion and how Westerners view religion? He asks volunteers from his second-period class to report how many dreams they had last week. Are revitalization movements. - Scientific model of the planet as a single 'organic' system, seen as analogous to a human body rather than as a series of atomized, unrelated elements, dim lit room -> soft music ->sit in chair with senior mediums in the room -> bow an close eyes-> mediums reach out but do not touch you, and move their hands over you-> realigns your spiritual balance, Describe Roy Rappaport's concepts of higher and lower order cosmologies. More science=less animism. Uses nature as a model for society. Non- Western societies are motivated by higher order values in which the environment is sacred. A teacher wants to know if nightmares are more common than dreams. It often forms a separate sphere of activity Robert Hertz A company uses four hours of direct labor to produce a product unit. If the child gains $3 \mathrm{lb}$ while remaining the same height, by how much will the surface area of the child's body increase. One important characteristic of ritual is that it always has religious overtones. All systems of symbolic healing are based on a model of experiential reality which he refers to as its "mythical world" Are rituals trans formative? Sate religions with professional priesthoods. Role of explaining. Not "imaginary". (Ed.). Prevents the killing of cattle, a valuable resource, even in times of need. Anthropology of Religion: Religious Leaders Religious Leaders All societies have individuals whose job it is to guide or supplement the religious practices of others. +social control -> controlling bodies= the ultimate outward sign of complete conformity to authority (posture, behavior, no privacy), - The body is a model which can stand for any bounded system. They thereby help to enhance bonds between members of a religious community and their belief system. The participants display total submission to the group or authority. Thus, vows and rituals go hand in hand. Religion as a Cultural System In the 20 th century, scholars began addressing religion from an interpretive analytical framework that aimed to develop a better understanding of the symbols and meanings that comprise religion as a cultural system. Sequences of words and actions invented prior to the current performance of the ritual in which they occur. A ceremonial cross of the John Frum cargo cult, Tanna island, New Hebrides (now Vanuatu ), 1967. - They were exploited by the Spanish until they fled into the Sierra Nevada mountains, - Put forward by the ex-NASA freelance physicist James Lovelock (used the name of a Greek earth Goddess) --> never intended his model to acquire the religious overtones. After reading chapters 1 and 2, can you guess where the author did much of his ethnographic fieldwork? Assume mpg is normally distributed. A good example of the difference can be seen in the communion bread and wine preparatory rituals in Christian churches. --> religious rituals open up everyday life to reality The exchange of cultural features when cultures come into continuous firsthand contact. During the liminal state, which can last from a few hours to days or weeks, the youth are separated from the rest of the society and undergo a process whereby they are supposed to let go of their previous state of mind and prepare for their new identity as adults. \hspace{10pt}\text{Less ending inventory (80,000 units x \$14 per unit)}&\underline{\hspace{10pt}1,120,000}\\ These categories are useful in application to ritual roles and functions as well. Such rituals can be either communal or individual and can be performed by the beneficiary or by an officiant. Some animals are venerated because they are important sources of food and other materials essential to human survival. Imitative or sympathetic rituals are rituals in which participants ceremonially remember or symbolically reenact special events in a religious traditions sacred past. Why is the study of religious beliefs challenging for anthropologists quizlet? Thus, ritual may involve DOING some behavior but it might also involve NOT DOING some behavior (as in the case of ritual "taboos.". Jane considers herself to be a rather conservative investor. In any of the possible two-stock portfolios, the weight of each stock in the portfolio will be 50%. A kind of religion. As the patient begins to accept the mythic world of the healer and believes an existential shift occurs which allows the patient to change and find new avenues for adaptation. We examine both the macro structure of the way politics emerge from religious conflict, why the distinction between religion and politics holds such force, and the microstructure of the way gods and spirits come to feel real to people. (typical of the transitional stage. Men are engaged in communitas to learn new things. It also explores how the evolutionary past of primates and early humans is used and understood by contemporary cultural anthropologists. These take the form of promises to fulfill certain duties or abstain from certain acts for a specified period of time. \hspace{10pt}\text{Fixed manufacturing costs}&\$\hspace{15pt}160,000\\ Satere Mawe right of passage. Effervenscene bubbling up of collective emotional intensity generated through worship Animism Weave Christian doctrine with aboriginal beliefs. The former has emblematic value, while the latter presents or shares in the essence of that which is symbolized. Belief and ritual concerned with supernatural beings, powers and forces (Anthony Wallace). If the average weekly salary for technical support personnel is $1,100, what is their yearly salary cost for technical support personnel? b. Which scholar suggested that mythology should be viewed as of secondary importance rather than primary importance in understanding the nature and function of ancient (and indigenous) religions? Want the cargo coming in on ships and planes. Durkheim wrote groundbreaking texts about modernity, sociological method, and suicide (among others); in 1896 he founded the journal L'Anne sociologique and trained or influenced a generation of French scholars including Marcel . A glove is woven and interlaced with ants. In these cultures, shamans are called upon for special and individualized rituals, such as performing exorcisms, curing illnesses, warding off curses, and mediating with the world or spirits and ancestors. - A founder of the functionalist school of anthropology. \text{Acquisition of land with cash } & 43,000 & \text{Payment of income tax} & 15,000\\ Term. On a very basic level, rituals are an inherent part of living. These typically include physical cleansing of participants, ritual items, and ritual sites. + trans-formative power (symbolic by nature). Which of the following is not a characteristic of a myth? ", Much of the success of traditional healers may be attributed to the kinds of conditions they treat. T/F: Ritual may have both positive and negative dimensions. In a personal ritual, the beneficiary is generally the person who performs it. They are now women and are expected to fulfill whatever role their cultures assign that state. Use manure to fertilize their fields. Magicians use this to produce a desired effect by imitating it. It can subsume or supplant a 'primal' religion 5. A religious ritual is a prescribed, routinized, and ceremonial action or set of actions, the function of which is symbolic and has specific significance to the performer and the performer's community. When the performer is a designated officiant, such as a priest or a shaman, then the ritual is a mediated one, undertaken for the benefit of another (usually a lay person). Publicly communicate values, morals and thoughts of a given group. +Studied circumcision rituals of the Merina of Madagascar These are meant to help prepare the participants physically, emotionally, and spiritually to perform the subsequent rituals, as well as to receive the blessings, forgiveness, or powers that other rituals are meant to confer. Such rituals may be periodic, as those mentioned above, or may be performed for special occasions. The first complete definition of culture in anthropology was provided by Edward Tylor, who defined the concept as "that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society." A principle of nonviolence that forbids the killing of animals generally. Religion is not seen as an explanation of the world, but as a means of making symbolic statements about society. That's why we know that religion has been important to all peoples throughout all time. Likewise, females become of marriage age after puberty, must now dress differently, can no longer play with their friends in the same way, must avoid all but necessary contact with nonrelated males, and so on. The body of a particular child who is 4 feet tall and weighs $50 \mathrm{lb}$ has surface area $1,365 \mathrm{in}^2$. In the anthropology of religion, the primary use of anthropomorphism is to embody the supernatural in human form. -Concepts like "Heaven " "Hell " or even "prayer . Separation-withdraw from group, begin move These can also include generalized goals like ideas of freedom and social cohesion. Thus, puberty rites confer more specified identities, roles, and responsibilities. -> take a passe everyday three days before treatment Terms in this set (210) anthropology. something that is beyond the realm of the observable world. "Aluna" is a parallel ethereal realm which mirrors the physical world -> exchanges are made in order to maintain fertility and cycles of existence, - concept of "communitas" to describe the unstructured, egalitarian, human relatedness Religion has been found in all societies studied by anthropologists. Dancing, singing or chanting, music, and the various forms of visual art all have religious origins and continue to be integral to most religious traditions. 3. Describe two things wrong with the design of this study. The actual creation can take up to a week. They can be seen in many forms of animal life, from ants to humans. Their society is ruled by the priestly class of Mamas The creation and performance of these are seen as ritual enactments. & \mathbf{5} & 8 & 7 & 8 Rites of passage are seen as a movement from structure to anti-structure and back again to structure. It is confined to a single language or ethnic group Sanday wanted a general theory on the inequality of the sexes. In the process, not only is the place or thing blessed, but the objects used in the ritual may then be seen as similarly sanctified. The study of religion emerged as a formal discipline during the 19th century, when the methods and approaches of history, philology, literary criticism, psychology, anthropology, sociology, economics, and other fields were brought to bear on the task of determining the history, origins, and functions of religion. This is because they function to serve as protectors and teachers to those who remain in and support the society. Success depends upon: belief in a common mythic world, faith in healer, choice of appropriate transaction symbols, and skill of the healer, Spirit medium, whom Dr. Fritz communicates through; 4th grade education, List three reasons Spiritism took hold and flourished in Brazil, 1. For boys to become men they must endure the bit of the bullet ant. SourceofVariationBetweenGroupsWithinGroupsTotalSS1034.511302.412336.92df25052MS517.2626.05F19.86p-value4.49E07. Abnormal consciousness ideas for the emergence of religion, Ways of explaining religion as a response to the accidental use of psychedelic plants by pre-historic peoples, Ritual theories for the emergence of religion, Behaviors predated beliefs and religion emerged as a result of these behaviors. 1. These range from greeting rituals to elaborate and highly complex governmental and national rituals. We ask how secular and sacred traditions are alike and different and attend to the distinctive questions which arise from the provocations of a theory of tradition itself. Every ritual has a beneficiary, someone or something for which the ritual is undertaken. Pilgrimage for example, is when a religious community comes together because they went through something together. -> thus all societies are structured around oppositions (raw vs. cooked) There is no practical knowledge to be gained by women since they already gained their knowledge from there mother. the study of human biology and evolution. emphasized summarizing symbols, which represent complex sets of ideas, and elaborating metaphors, including root metaphors and key scenarios, ritual involving the manipulation of religious symbols such as prayers, offerings, and readings of sacred literature, rituals that are required to be performed, rituals that arise spontaneously, frequently in times of crisis, rituals performed on a regular basis as part of a religious calendar, rituals performed when a particular need arises, such as a marriage or a death, rituals that attempt to influence or control nature, hunting and gathering rites of intensification, rituals that influence nature in the quest for food, rituals designed to protect the safety of people engaged in dangerous activities, rituals that seek information about the unknown, healing rituals; rituals that deal with illness, accident, and death, rituals that bring about illness, accident, or death, rituals that serve to maintain the normal functioning of a community, rituals that delineate codes of proper behavior and articulate the community's worldview, rituals that accompany changes in an individual's status in society, rituals that focus on the elimination of alien customs and a return to a native way of life, gifts or even bribes, or economic exchange designed to influence the supernatural, the anthropological study of medicinal plants, each position in a series of positions, each one defined in terms of appropriate behavior, rights and obligations, and relationships to one another, the relative placement of each position in the society, a ceremony whereby a male child becomes a member of the Jewish community, the first phase of a rite of passage, in which the individual is removed from his or her former status, the second step in a rite of passage, during which several activities take place that bring about the change in status, the final phase in a rite of passage, during which the individual reenters normal society, though in a new social relationship, the state of ambiguous marginality during which the metamorphisis takes place during a rite of passage, a state in which there is a sense of equality, but the mere fact that a group of individuals is moving through the process together brings about a sense of community and camaraderie, in many traditional societies, the boys who are initiated together and form very close bonds, a specific status defined by age, such as warrior or elder, the removal of the labia minora along with the clitoris, the removal of the entire clitoris, labia minora, and labia majora and the sewing together of the remnants of the labia majora, leaving a small opening for urination and the passing of menstrual blood, an impersonal supernatural force that is found concentrated in special places in the landscape, in particular objects, and in certain people, a characteristic of most symbols: no direct connection with the thing they refer to, the ability to use symbols to refer to things and activities that are remote from the user, the feature of symbols allowing one to create a new symbol, such as a name, to refer to a new object, has a positive meaning such as prosperity and good luck, but most Americans and Europeans looking at it experience anger or dread, any five-sided figure, but generally used to refer to a five-pointed star, the symbol most clearly associated with Christianity, a word that is derived from the first letter of a series of words, a pipe through which a spirit moves from a tomb into a temple sanctuary during rituals, a religious system focusing on expressions of sacred time and space, the fusion of elements from two different cultures, instruments that are struck, shaken, or rubbed, instruments that incorporate a taut membrane or skin, instruments with taut strings that can be plucked or strummed, hit, or sawed, instruments where air is blown across or into some type of passageway, such as a pipe, the manipulation of supernatural power as a direct means of achieving an end, magic depends on the apparent association or agreement between things, things that were once in contact continue to be connected after the connection is severed, assumes there is a causal relationship between things that appear to be similar, based on the premise that things that were once in contact always maintain a connection, the practice of making an image to represent a living person or animal, which can then be killed or injured through doing things to the image, such as sticking pins into the image or burning it, fertility rituals that function to facilitate the successful reproduction of a totem animal, the belief that signs telling of a plant's medical use are somehow embedded within the structure and nature of the plant itself, an oral text that is transmitted without change; the slightest deviation from its traditional form would invalidate the magic, an object in which supernatural power resides, antisocial magic, used to interfere with the economic activities of others and to bring about illness and even death, a perceived revival of pre-Christian religious practices, techniques for obtaining information about things unknown, including events that will occur in the future, involves some type of spiritual experience such as a direct contact with a supernatural being through an altered state of consciousness, usually possession, more magical ways of doing divination, including the reading of natural events as well as the manipulation of oracular devices, refers to a specific device that is used for divination and can refer to inspiration or noninspirational forms, divination that happens without any conscious effort on the part of the individual, divination that someone sets out to do, such as reading tarot cards or examining the liver of a sacrificed animal, refers to divination through contact with the dead or ancestors, fortuitous happenings, or conditions that provide information, reading the path and form of a flight of birds, refers to chance meeting with an animal, such as a black cat crossing one's path, the examination of the entrails of sacrificed animals, the placing of bones in a fire and reading the patterns of burns and cracks to determine a response, the use of flour (as in fortune cookies) for divination, using a forked stick to locate water underground, the reading of the lines of the palm of the hand, the study of the shape and structure of the head, either fortuitous or deliberate, an altered state of consciousness in which a supernatural being (be it an ancestor, a ghost, a spirit, or a god) communicates through an individual, fortuitous in that the prophet receives information through a vision unexpectedly, without any necessary overt action on the part of the individual, the possession of a medium by a spirit who then speaks through the medium, people who undergo deliberate possession involving an overt action whereby the individual falls into a trance, painful and often life-threatening tests that a person who is suspected of guilt may be forced to undergo, such as dipping a hand into hot oil, swallowing poison, or having a red-hot knife blade pressed against some part of the body, the assumption of a causal relationship between celestial phenomenal and terrestrial ones and the influence that the stars and planets have on the lives of human beings, relatively simple forms of magical thinking that represent simple behaviors that directly bring about a simple result, such as carrying a good luck charm, receives his or her power directly from the spirit world; acquires status and abilities, such as healing, through personal communication with the supernatural during shamanic trances or altered states of consciousness, a central vertical axis that links the middle zone, the upper world, and the lower world; allows the movement of the shaman between the realm of the natural and supernatural, a technique of body movements, or magical passes, aiming to increase awareness of the energy fields that humans are made of, "the near universal methods of shamanism without a specific cultural perspective", focused on an individual, as opposed to the community, often as a self-help means of improving one's life; choose to participate and focus on what they consider the positive aspects of shamanism, as opposed to the traditionally recognized "dark side of shamanism", full-time religious specialists associated with formalized religious institutions that may be linked with kinship groups, communities, or larger political units; given religious authority by those units or by formal religious organizations, participate in activities similar to those of U.S. medical practitioners; may set bones, treat sprains with cold, or administer drugs made from native plants and other materials, specialists in the use of plant and other material as cures; may prescribe the materials to be administered or may provide the material as prescribed by a healer or diviner, someone who practices divination, a series of techniques and activities that are used to obtain information about things that are not normally knowable, a mouthpiece of the gods; communicates the words and will of the gods to his or her community and to act as an intermediary between the gods and the people, refers to individuals who have an innate ability to do evil, not depending on ritual to achieve his or her evil ends but simply willing misfortune to occur, a belief in the gratification of one's desires, a new awareness of something that exists in the environment, occurs when a person, using the technology at hand, comes up with a solution to a particular problem, the apparent movement of cultural traits from one society to another, the process of inventing a new trait through the receiving of an idea of one culture from another, the rapid change experienced by a subordinate culture as traits from a dominant culture are accepted, often at a rate that is too rapid to properly integrate the traits of the dominant culture into the subordinate culture, when the dominated society has changed so much that is has ceased to have its own distinct identity, a fusing of traits from two cultures to form something new and yet, at the same time, permit the retention of the old by subsuming the old into a new form, the dispersion of a people from their homeland, a religious or secular movement to bring about a change in society, manifesting as a result of a reaction to assimilation, develop in societies in which the cultural gap between the dominant and subordinate cultures is vast; these movements stress the elimination of the dominant culture and a return to the past, keeping the desirable elements of the dominant culture to which the society has been exposed, but with these elements now under the control of the subordinate culture, attempt to revive what is often perceived as a past golden age in which ancient customs come to symbolize the noble features and legitimacy of the repressed culture, based on a vision of change through an apocalyptic transformation, believe that a divine savior in human form will bring about the solution to the problems that exist within the society, a belief system among members of a relatively undeveloped society in which adherents practice superstitious rituals hoping to bring modern goods supplied by a more technologically advanced society, a grammatically simplified means of communication that develops between two or more groups that do not have a language in common, refers to the deteriorating quality of decisions made by an individual after a long session of decision making.