CHAPTER 1

Shamans: An Overview

It was an opportunity of a lifetime, an offer seemingly
just out of reach. For years Shawna had wished for the
anthropologist's dream: an assignment to Lima, Peru,
jumping off place for the Andes. And now a group was
being formed and she was asked if she wanted to go. But
the obstacles seemed almost unsurmountable. Slaving
over a maze of reports from her last assignment, Shawna
was not even remotely ready to go. She was also flat
broke. Shawna spent hours in the July heat of Los An-
geles calculating the costs, pouring over the calendar,
and figuring in any possible assets she could turn into
cash. Neither the figures nor the dates on the calendar
added up.
In frustration, Shawna threw her pencil across the
room where it bounced and spun into her favorite cotton-
wood drum, a gift from her grandfather in New Mexico.
He wasn't really her grandfather but she called him that.
Old Bill was everybody's grandfather. Shawna had spent
a few summers with the ancient Apache and now she
suddenly recalled something he had taught her. "When
your heart is sad and you have lost your path, go inside
for help. When your heart speaks its truth, you cannot
know failure." Suddenly Shawna relaxed. How could she
be so foolish as to give up her dream because of a few
calculations?
Swiftly crossing the room, she picked up the drum.
Sitting quietly for a time, she began to sing a little song
Old Bill had taught her, accompanied by a light drumbeat.
"Falcon I am calling, Falcon I am calling, Come and be
with me..." Closing her eyes, Shawna could see the
ebony of the falcon's wing feathers as he flashed by her.
"Falcon," she whispered, "I could use a little help. I want
to go to Lima but as you can see I am stymied. Any sug-
gestions?" The image of the falcon appeared to look her
straight in the eye and say without opening his beak,
"Melanie, call Melanie. You will go, you will go." Then he
vanished across an imaginary horizon.
Shawna rubbed her eyes. Melanie? The only Melanie
she knew was a former employer from pre-graduate

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